All Terrain Armored Transport/Legends

"We had the Battle of Gormen won, until the AT-ATs arrived. They came out of the fog and ripped apart the front lines. The locals ran in terror, but the experienced soldiers surrendered. We knew that you can't outrun an AT-AT."

- Major Bren Derlin, Rebel Alliance field commander

The All Terrain Armored Transport (AT-AT) walker was a major part of the Galactic Empire's army.

Description
AT-ATs were large, quadrepedal machines resembling great mechanical beasts. Their primary purpose was transportation of more vulnerable units across the battlefield, but the Empire would also use them as weapons of terror. One of its few shortcomings was a weak point in its neck, which, when attacked, could bring easy destruction to the walker.

The AT-AT also lacked armor covering on its underbelly, leaving the spot vulnerable to mounted guns or portable missile launchers. To remedy this weakness, AT-STs were usually stationed around the feet of the walker to ensure nothing was given a clear shot at the AT-AT's weak underside.



Walkers were most useful in operations involving an assault on shield-protected emplacements, which could not be destroyed by orbital bombardment nor penetrated by repulsor-equipped landing craft. They could carry either 40 Imperial stormtroopers and 5 speeder bikes, or 2 AT-ST units (which were carried disassembled, due to the otherwise prohibitive size of the AT-ST). The stormtroopers could be deployed via rappeling cable, but the heavier ordnance could only exit after the slow and comparatively awkward process of the AT-AT kneeling and extending its ramps.

AT-ATs and AT-STs were deployed from orbit by dropships like the Warlord and Y-85 Titan, both of which could carry a full platoon of four AT-ATs, or the smaller Theta-class barge, which could only carry a single vehicle.

The arsenal of the AT-AT was quite devastating, as they possessed two chin-mounted heavy laser cannons to destroy slow, bulky targets and two temple-mounted medium blaster cannons which could engage lighter targets. The armor plating was too thick for blasters to penetrate, and they could walk over&mdash;and thereby crush&mdash;people and equipment. Powering the walking system of the AT-AT was a fuel slug underneath the body of the vehicle.

History
AT-ATs were assembled by Kuat Drive Yards, and evolved from the AT-TE walkers first employed in the Battle of Geonosis. The first-generation AT-AT walkers saw their debut during the Battle of Jabiim, later on in the Clone Wars.



During the time of the Galactic Empire, Maximilian Veers resurrected the idea, bringing the AT-AT into full Imperial service, even in early campaigns like the one at Kashyyyk. The first prototype was shown as a demonstration to Emperor Palpatine, Grand Moff Tarkin and Darth Vader on the planet Carida by Veers. The Emperor believed that AT-AT would quickly become a feared warmachine despite Tarkin's belief that the nearing completion Death star project would make ground battles unnecessary. During the demonstration, the AT-AT was shown destroying several platoons of pirates, a rancor and a Rebel Alliance Strike force with vehicles attempting to destroy the prototype but failed which showed that the AT-AT was capable of handling unexpected situations as well. The AT-AT was deployed on a wide array of worlds in the months following the Battle of Yavin, including Corellia and Chandrilla. Nearly three years after the Battle of Yavin, Veers neared completion on a superior model of the walker on Zaloriis. With the prototype Blizzard I, which was constructed in Camp Culroon, he assaulted the planet's capital when they declared affiliation with the Rebellion.

At the Battle of Hoth, the Empire used the Blizzard Force walkers to land beyond the limits of the Rebel Alliance's shield. General Maximilian Veers commanded the ground forces and advanced on the shield generator.



Faced with such forces, Luke Skywalker employed a strategy earlier devised by himself and strategist Beryl Chiffonage to disable the walkers: his team of snowspeeders would use their magnetic harpoons and tow cables to entangle the walkers' feet, causing them to fall. Wedge Antilles and his gunner Wes Janson managed to disable one walker this way. Luke destroyed a second by cutting a hole in it with his lightsaber and tossing in a concussion grenade, and a third was destroyed when a speeder crashed into it.

Despite these small successes, they were ultimately insufficient to turn the tide of the battle, and the Battle of Hoth was one of the most devastating losses for the Rebels in the entire Galactic Civil War. The AT-ATs succeeded in destroying the shield generator, thereby allowing the main Imperial force to land and attack Echo Base.

The walkers later patrolled the garrison base on the Forest Moon of Endor, but were limited in their range by the dense foliage of the moon; as a result, smaller vehicles such as AT-STs saw far more use.



Sometime after the Battle of Endor, the Empire replaced the AT-AT's lasers and blasters with light turbolasers, easily capable of defeating many highly protected defensive weapons emplacements.

During the reborn Emperor Palpatine's insurgency in a clone body from 10 ABY to 11 ABY, the Empire developed a new variant of the AT-AT that was equipped with the most powerful Imperial turbolasers and the new X-80 power cells. These were deployed during an attack on New Alderaan. During the battle, they vaporized many buildings, gun emplacements, and starfighters.

Following the Galactic Civil War, AT-ATs were also used by the New Republic, the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances, and various other governments. During the Yuuzhan Vong War, the Myrkr strike team found one of these vehicles on the Yuuzhan Vong Koros-strohna Baanu Raas in 27 ABY. AT-ATs were also deployed by the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances during the liberation of Coruscant in 30 ABY.

Behind the scenes

 * The word "AT-AT" is never said in The Empire Strikes Back. Instead, the machines are referred to as "Imperial walkers".


 * The AT-ATs used in The Empire Strikes Back and the brief appearance in Return of the Jedi were created with the use of stop-motion animation.


 * While Expanded Universe sources based on West End Games' Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game list the AT-AT at a height of 15 meters, Inside the Worlds of Star Wars Trilogy uses measurements from the movie to place it at a larger size of 22.5 meters.




 * Star Wars: Empire at War and Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds both have a mission which describes the creation of the AT-ATs and their introduction to the service of the Empire. All this happens right before the Battle of Hoth. However, there are several appearances of the AT-ATs in BBY sources, including the games Rebel Assault and Star Wars: X-wing. The first is S-canon; however, the latter is accepted as C-canon and shows them in the Battle of Orion IV. In the Star Wars: Republic story-arc about the Battle of Jabiim during the Clone Wars, first-generation AT-AT walkers were featured.


 * Whilst generally said "aytee-aytee", they are pronounced "At-At" in Star Wars: Battlefront II and Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds. They are also called "At-At"s briefly in Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader. However, the former is probably correct.


 * George Lucas says he got the idea from the massive tripods in War of the Worlds.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Republic: The Battle of Jabiim
 * It Takes a Thief in Clone Wars Adventures: Volume 6
 * Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns
 * The Battle of Cadinth
 * Star Wars: Empire at War
 * Dark Forces: Soldier for the Empire
 * Star Wars Empire: To the Last Man
 * Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
 * Star Wars: Force Commander
 * Star Wars: Galaxies
 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
 * Moment of Doubt
 * Star Wars: Rogue Squadron
 * Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader
 * Star Wars: Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike
 * Star Wars: Demolition
 * Shadows of the Empire
 * Star Wars: Battlefront
 * Star Wars: Battlefront II
 * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
 * Dark Forces: Jedi Knight
 * X-wing Rogue Squadron: Mandatory Retirement
 * X-Wing: Rogue Squadron
 * X-wing: Isard's Revenge
 * Dark Empire
 * Dark Empire II
 * Dark Apprentice
 * Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
 * Revenants
 * Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse
 * Star by Star
 * The Unifying Force