Why Star Wars Ground Battles Make No Sense

On today's Star Wars Lore video, we look at the many ways Star Wars Ground Battles really make no sense.
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From the Battle of Geonosis in the Clone Wars, to the Second Battle of Yavin during the Galactic Civil War, and the Battle of Crait during the Sequel Trilogy, we'll examine the use (and lack of use) of Orbital Bombardments.
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Why Star Wars ships make no sense: • Why Star Wars Ships Ma...
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[@EckhartsLadder]

Drinking and playing Minecraft tonight (lol) at 9pm EST: kzbin.info Thumbnail art: www.artstation.com/artwork/KRzJo

[@simplythebest2k]

politics dude....politics.

[@JANEMBA9000]

Hi dude made a video about what happened to Gee no cist on Star Wars Rebels where the planet was dead an there was only 1 bug with a queen egg for those of us who don't read the books an comics & yes I know I butchered the name of the planet but I think you get what I mean. ....

[@jordanhendrix2619]

Intelligence gathering. One may want to download files, documents, maps, plans, and they may want some high profile prisoners to interrogate. Can't do that if everything is reduced to rubble.

[@theurbangoose6918]

You know why they did ground battle geonosis BECAUSE PLOT

[@theurbangoose6918]

Also I’ll be watching you tonight I do love me some Minecraft nothing will beat it it’s such a great game that even Fortnite which people thought would outdo Minecraft fame lol

[@thatguy4084]

"I payed for the whole army I'm going to use the whole army"

[@zacherykingsbury3322]

Me when playing strategy

[@Sabbatai-Zevi]

Paid*

[@andreproudian7032]

I mean when you put it like that it does sound valid....

[@clonkers]

@Odin *pdai

[@xirsnow3025]

@@Sabbatai-Zevi diap*

[@commondognut]

Oh my guy, orbital bombardment isn’t the issue. The issue is the standing completely out in the open and charges akin to those of ww1

[@breaden4381]

It's even more like 18th century line battles.

[@luizmarciano1945]

they are called storm troopers for a reason

[@arandomperson7713]

for the droids maybe but the clones were more big brain so they used cover more often

[@commondognut]

Joseph Stalin watch the Attack of the Clones and point out clones using cover. While this was definitely improved in the CW show there are still plenty of times when clones are completely out in the open standing still or charging the droids

[@arandomperson7713]

@@commondognut it wasnt the clones, it was the jedi that ordered them to charge.if it was to the clones, they would have used their air superiority to beat up the clankers big time

[@LiterallyRyan_Gosling]

*"made for children"* "Master skywalker. There are too many of them, what are we going to do?"

[@buddy5196]

*A s h o w m a d e f o r c h i l d r e n*

[@lisaruhm6681]

"This is going to be fun."

[@seawind930]

Lucas said he made it for Children, and from all the nostalgia tards out there I would agree.

[@darthspam4710]

i was not expecting engineer gaming

[@ygotsvlog3762]

@@lisaruhm6681 this is where the fun begins

[@RobinSwede]

"We're just ground battles, we're meant to make sense" "Not to me"

[@jasoethesentienteyeshapedg4847]

*N O T TO U S!!!*

[@alikhamis3367]

Cant they just use shields. Like in that rebels episode and on hoth.

[@christopherkidwell9817]

@@alikhamis3367 Shields are usually single place emplacements and they have to be dropped to fight back AND they can be collapsed by enough firepower being brought to bear.

[@wilberdebeer4696]

@@alikhamis3367 Even if the shield itself is very powerful you can shoot the ground around the shield and eventually open a magma fissure that will seep pass the shield and might overwhelm it.

[@thedarkestnight9600]

Some people get it. Bombard with 10 star destroyers. K so what? If the enemy has a shield generator and like 3 ion cannons your air force is fucked.

[@r2b2ct1]

The mission isn't always just to destroy as many enemies and their stuff as possible regardless of fallout. A lot of times they are trying to recover intel, property, capture prisoners, and/or rescue prisoners. It's also hard to confirm whether you killed a VIP, destroyed valuable intel, or accidentally killed your own captured soldiers if you just bombed the crap out of everything. And many battles happen on inhabited planets with innocent people nearby on top of that.

[@bobbyburgle4536]

Along with that, what if you dont want to destroy the planet, but occupy it. Why would you destroy the infrastructure that's already in place.

[@germanshepherd2701]

Bobby Burgle and to top it all off, there’s still laws (and morality) against such indiscriminate warfare and war crimes. Jedi’s leading role would also no doubt play a role in lessening the use of such tactics. Plus, in this tenuous civil war the Republic is fighting with the separatists, being so harsh and cold-hearted would only drive more systems to secession from the Republic, exacerbating the crisis no matter how you look at it.

[@rancorlover]

Not to mention rhe republic was not just one government. Planets would probably deny bombarding cities because they would like to keep some buildings from being destroyed. Historical monuments and buildings that would cost million/billions to repair. Just because a place means nothing to you, it means somthing to someone else to build it. However, their are sacrifices to be made to win a war. This is a plot issue with the starwars universe.

[@germanshepherd2701]

That too. And also there’s the threat of mutual destruction. If one side starts glassing parts planets or destroying entire battlefields, especially if it’s a city, then that will prompt the other side to react in kind. That sort of escalation is not good for anyone. Such great discussion, I love this community lol

[@cancelanime1507]

r2b2ct1 Exactly and factions like the republic can’t afford to get a bad reputation for that

[@Werrf1]

I just tend to assume that unless stated otherwise, all planets have some form of planetary shield, even if it's not mentioned. For example, we know that Geonosis had planetary shields, because a major plot point in Rebels was the team recovering the core from one of them.

[@uwesca6263]

Well that and maybe orbital bombardment was seen as equivilent to nukes. Sure you can do it but its a big nono for an interstellar society.

[@greenmonkeyman3165]

@@uwesca6263 death star.

[@lucakun3455]

well probably it also depends on the planet size because you have to be stable at a certain hight above the planet and if the planet has a bit to much gravity your around trops would just feel a bit heavier but your ships aren't stable at the hight you would need them at

[@Chimpmunk15]

@@uwesca6263 true but the empire was also fine with destroying an emtire planet with the death star

[@nutyyyy]

I mean that's exactly what happens in the Empire Strikes Back with Hoth. Now it makes sense for the Empire to be willing to bombard the rebel base on Hoth since its not a populated area and there's only rebels there (and we already know the Empire is willing to destroy an entire planet). But other targets can be of much greater value. Its the same reason we don't use nukes at every opportunity.

[@DizDiq]

Space: The Ultimate High Ground

[@Raptorrex65]

Trust the Awesomeness 😉

[@BumAssNigga408]

DizDiq obi wan wants to know your location

[@scottthewaterwarrior]

The high ground is actually a disadvantage in melee combat...

[@scottthewaterwarrior]

@@santiagofaiella1255 That is in large scale battles, in 1 on 1 combat with melee weapons the high ground is a disadvantage. Your arms are located on the upper half of your body, therefor if you are above your opponent, your weapon is futher away from them so you get less reach. You would likeky have to crouch just to be able to swing at your openent, while they can chop at your legs all day long.

[@jonathandickey1]

@@scottthewaterwarrior History degree holder here. Most of the time the high ground was the preferred choice. Your archers/artillery can spot and fire from further away, forces would approach you slower, they'd have a worse firing angle, and they'd be more exhausted once they'd reached the top. There are a few exceptions such as Agincourt which had a multitude of geological features and England's longbow-dominant army composition that baited the French into an ambush. Had they not been so foolish they'd have flanked his army and burned his supply camp & baggage train with half their cavalry (which they started to, one of the reasons prisoners were all killed on the field) but also sent their infantry through the forests on the sides where they'd have not just the high ground but cover from arrow fire. Once the English retreated they could use infantry to dismantle the stakes, then charge the retreating English with their other half and catch them in a pincer move.

[@peterpan6027]

Grievous just wanted Ventress’s lightsaber .

[@Youngsquid97]

Peter Pan you deserve more likes

[@sjbrown4145]

@@Youngsquid97 I concur

[@chubibi06]

most likely yes

[@grimmshredsanguinus2915]

Grievous would do anything for his collection

[@peterpan6027]

John Renardo Thanks 😁

[@vaporhtrail4350]

As generals during the Iraq war said. "You can drop as many bombs as you'd like. Shell them with artillery. But they'll somehow survive in pockets. That's where my marines come in."

[@algar6616]

😢

[@danielgroff4172]

Not only that but if you want Intel than total destruction is a no go or you will destroy what you want to get ahold of.

[@dogf421]

its bizarrely true, if it wasnt ukraine would have lost on day 1

[@holdynvaughn85]

If that’s the case, you could do orbital bombardment and THEN send ground troops to comb through the wreckage and eliminate any survivors. Kinda like what happened at Mandalore

[@johndillard8588]

The purpose of the infantry is to close with and destroy the enemy. 🇺🇸

[@L.J.Kommer]

"God fights on the side with the best artillery. " -Napoleon Bonaparte

[@ihateeveryoneofyou]

Shame Napoleon never met the VietCong

[@ihateeveryoneofyou]

@Robert Boudreau in no universe did they have the "best" artillery though.

[@zero5496]

Not for starwars

[@Stego1819]

@Daniel Scott Do you realize the losses the vietcong had compared to the US?

[@Kakarot64.]

@@ihateeveryoneofyou They also only won by default because the American public got tired of letting them get slaughtered like lambs (barring a few exceptions here or there)

[@sleepybread9665]

Clone wars: is made for children Also clone wars: Has some of the most gruesome deaths.

[@coledavis5212]

That’s so true lol On Mortis Ahsoka was literally possessed and then killed by a fucking big ass blade

[@Jesus_Offical]

@@coledavis5212 and Cursed

[@burningpotato9447]

A guy gets cut in half by a metal door

[@ronaldreaganthegoat3828]

I think the first season was more for kids

[@lukasvillar9328]

Clone Wars was made for children? When I was a kid I loved the series because it was a war on a galactic scale where basically everyone gets screwed in the end...

[@lordgaroro]

Well the empire couldn't cause they had to maintain a good image, remember they tried to constantly act as the good guys, and tried to pass off the Rebel alliance as just terrorists. Also the Republic could not as it might cause the senate to loose faith in them, as orbital bombing is super cruel. The CIS was being manuplated by palps, so their main purpose wasn't just pure domination by eradication, but instead to create conflict, and what better way to create conflict by holding ground battles rather than just destroying planets.

[@brandenmoore8813]

Like the Canadian government

[@salkin350]

The CIS is a republick too so they would loose faith too

[@itssimon500]

but CIS was good to ( the real good guys)

[@lordgaroro]

@@itssimon500 both the CIS and the Republic had good guys, like padme and her seperatist homie. But overall, the main forces controlling both CIS and GAR were evil.

[@brandenmoore8813]

@@lordgaroro technically dooku was in control of the cis and he had relatively noble ideals if he had eventually succeeded in overthrowing Palpatine we could have seen one of the most peaceful Era in the galaxy rather than imperial rule

[@Lumbiejack]

Hears "maybe shouldn't bomb the crap out of the civilians" *Laughs in Warhammer 40K*

[@inquisitorthomasdefinitely536]

Austin Miller civilians no such thing just soldiers who aren’t on the front line yet

[@mitchells7634]

EXTERMINATUS TIME!

[@DerDoctor69]

Austin Miller civilians? I don’t know what this is. Did you perhaps mean Acceptable Casualties?

[@inquisitorthomasdefinitely536]

Der Doctor same difference

[@inquisitorthomasdefinitely536]

Justin B no the penal Legions are cannon fodder

[@スイッチ-n5l]

After World War 1 and the introduction of aerial combat, there were some military commanders who predicted that all future large-scale warfare would be conducted through long-range bombing raids, and that the age of infantry was over, today some nations have the technological ability to strike anywhere on the face of the planet with ICBMs and cruise missiles, and yet the use of infantry remains a persistent part of warfare. The objective of warfare isn't to simply destroy your opponent, if it was all modern warfare would be conducted with nuclear weapons as a first resort, which is also a factor against the use of orbital bombardment. Despite the proliferation of not only nuclear weapons, but unspeakably deadly biological weapons, we don't (often) see their use due to the principle of mutually assured destruction, which is essentially a gentleman's agreement that the potential consequences of both sides using such weapons far outweigh any possible benefits. The objective of most international warfare is to either capture and hold territory, or to defend your own territory against an enemy force trying to the same thing, and the only way that you can do that is with boots on the ground. No matter how much you bomb a location into submission, if you don't capture and hold it, the enemy will always be able to return -even to a pile of ashes- and plant their flag on top of the ruins. And if you sufficiently bomb a location into such a degree of desolation that the enemy have no desire to return, then you too have no use for that location either. You may consider that this is a viable tactic for purely military targets, but generally speaking military targets are very rarely in complete isolation, but more often nearby cities, ports, factories or other such civilian areas. I understand that you are very knowledgeable about Star Wars, but it would seem to me that you have a typical civilian understanding of warfare and the motivations behind large scale combat, such things are incredibly complex and nuanced. But then I guess we are also talking about science fiction here.

[@DJRobSunset]

Great points. But Star Wars is more like science fantasy than fiction. Like space wizards with pew pew lasers

[@cancelanime1507]

DJRobSunset It’s a mix of both kinda. Like with all the cool star fighters and capital ships and advanced weapons and technology and then we have the fantasy side with the sith and Jedi, it fits together very well. Oh and btw blasters don’t shoot lasers, they shoot bolts plasma..

[@bengale9977]

I mean you are right most factions good or bad wouldn't want to just destroy cities because of political and also economic ramifications. In situations like Yavin 4, Hoth, Creat and Naboo grassland we are dealing with almost empty planets/locations with no desirable infrastructure so orbital bombing would be a very viable option. Planetary shields would be the main reason orbital bombardment isn't more widely used but it should be attempted more than we see.

[@candys7285]

@@DJRobSunset All science fiction is fantasy, and Star Wars is more intellectually honest and scientifically accurate than its long time rival.

[@cleanerben9636]

WW1 proved chemical weapons are shit so why they even bother pursuing their use makes no sense to me. Instantaneous lead poisoning is still the best way.

[@jtillman8251]

I was expecting a bit of commentary on the way a lot of clone troopers didn't take cover. A lot of battles in clone wars had the look of like a civil war fusillade as lines of troops exchanged fire standing right across from one another.

[@Z.O.M.G]

IKR, it's like the US civil war all over again

[@counterclockwisefilms3814]

Well, as much as Plo Koon would disagree, clones were mostly expendable. Troopers were, at least.

[@xavierrodriguez2463]

yeah just clone troopers and battle droids firing down a narrow corridor and standing there to get shot and die I noticed that even the mandolorians did it too, and they also just got into a head on melee for no reason with clones all down a narrow corridor where no one was taking any cover

[@Jiub_SN]

I always took it as no one had fought a war in thousands of years, they didn't real know how to fight eachother effectively. It also works with the napoleonic navy battles we see with the star ships (heavy armament on the sides of ships shooting at eachother)

[@ΒασίληςΒλάχος-τ3κ]

Lore wise I imagine they could tank some hits with their armor, even if that's not what we see. If the armor wasn't at all effective why would they be wearing it? That, combined with the fact that we know they have to used higher power but lower fire rate plasma at long range, and I can see how some battles could go back to looking like the age of the musket,

[@ImperialTrooperProductions]

Me here in Germany wants to going to bed Eck: Oh I dont Think so

[@nirek3676]

DEUTSCHLAND

[@Truest_Eagle]

Same😅

[@ryandinh6065]

Und ich hab morgen noch Schule 😂😂

[@shaxxercize8094]

@@ryandinh6065 Ehre

[@Sam-ih4qr]

Same haha Grüße!

[@theshackledgamer799]

I'm surprised that Thrawn's bombardment of Atallon wasn't mentioned. Also, straight up bombing the temple would have generated sympathy for the Jedi by making them casualties of the war.

[@oluwatolaayedun8195]

Right survivors would be hard to make out as traitors when thousands died heroes literally yesterday

[@aedwynn6474]

It would have risked tipping ol' Sheev's hand too early, I think. Orders and the use of a capital ships batteries tend to get recorded. Additionally, I think the Jedi Temple probably would have been shielded or something. It's a major landmark in a time of war. They'd probably have put some thought into protecting it.

[@Messothelioma]

The jedi were merely a religion to most people across the galaxy. The temple being bombed wouldn't have garnered much support they didn't already have.

[@Kjf365]

@@Messothelioma It's one thing for some religious people to get blown away, it's another for people who are seen as war heroes and commanders, including children, to be obliterated by hostile invaders.

[@Messothelioma]

@@Kjf365 that's the thing, like I said, most people across the galaxy weren't directly involved in the war, remember it was clones vs droids. The civilian casualties were mostly those who were bombed provoking the battles we saw, not exactly many were there first hand to witness, that is why they were legends. Remember Anakin's mom did not let him go because the jedi had some known high nobility, they were nothing more than men in robes to her. She just wanted her son to have a better life. The rebels didn't really form until long after the temple had been abandoned. The jedi were not (with very few exceptions) a traveling circus, they were not using their powers openly (those who did usually didn't make it very long). The chances you would see force powers in the star wars universe is realistically that of you seeing aliens in real life.

[@SaltyGinger23]

May have been said already Palpatine wanted the Jedi Temple intact so he could raid the archives and the vaults, destroying it would have been a waste

[@MrDude826]

Also, he wanted to live in it as his personal palace. They say the Grand Master's bedroom is exquisite and full of artwork.

[@R2Parmly]

"Am I wrong to think Palpatine should have just ordered the CIS to blow up the Jedi Temple?" Well, he probably didn't want the galaxy's last memory of the Jedi to be their going out heroically as martyrs. Also, his ultimate seizure of power was supposed to be justified by a Jedi insurrection. That's probably a lot easier to swallow if the Jedi are still a galaxy spanning order than if it's "the Jedi. The Jedi... Wait, you mean those three guys? Didn't they used to have a temple or something?"

[@yannmalfrait3235]

The jedis could have been taken by surprise if the cis had attacked their temple, but nowhere near as much as with the clones

[@RollerDerbyHigh]

yep. plus there are so many valuables inside the jedi temple. no one should want to destroy those

[@grimmshredsanguinus2915]

Boring thing If lucas thought of that..

[@pedroivog.s.6870]

Also there was a Sith temple beneath

[@pastaaura925]

Palpatine just wanted to turn it into his palace

[@jamesbuck2378]

Think about it, why would you go into a battle over a planet and its resources, just to obliterate all of it to collect the skeleton of the world after? We fight for ideology, pride, but most importantly resources.

[@ExternalDialogue]

yeah there is no point fighting over an irradiated glassed hellscape.

[@praevasc4299]

It was not about "obliterate the planet" versus "no bombs at all". Limited, targeted bombing could pave the way for a ground assault, or support it by taking out enemy bases or artillery.

[@tuppernoot3902]

Chrirugical orbital bombardment are possible too. In the RC Hard Contact novel. An acclamator does a really precise strike which cover the Omega Squad assault of an enemy base. And it doesn’t obliterate much more than just dirts.

[@marrqi7wini54]

@FISHYFREAK 12 Depends on the civilization.

[@redhairdavid]

space has all the resources a planet does, and lot and lots more by volume, and if your already traveling space that easily, its easier to mine from than on a planet with pesky gravity and bugs and stuff.

[@TKMG-yo8pd]

Geonosis was a proving ground for the clone army, heavy equipment and tactics. Bombardment would have been more efficient however it appears the goal was to battle-harden the initial wave of clone troopers to develop their level of experience. The siege on Umbara was the best Clone Wars operation in the series. Why didn’t they develop the Republic Commando unit rather than the Bad Batch team. The RCs are much more interesting.

[@KuDastardly]

Not under General Krell's command. Especially when he purposely sabotaged the clones' effort to takeover the planet. His goal was to deliberately wipe out as many clone troopers as possible under the guise of KIA.

[@lomborg4876]

Delta squad FTW!

[@ericcook8254]

Geonosis was a disaster. Showed the clone commandos how worthless their Jedi generals were. The Jedi lost alot of the first impression respect during that battle from both elite and standard clones.

[@justaguy1253]

I think Filoni and others at Lucasfilm are probably scared of doing RCs in any meaningful capacity because they know they would have eventually do Delta Squad at some point. Its a tough one but I hope someone step ups and that Lucasfilm green lights it.

[@hanzzimmer1132]

They have different mission sets

[@jeizen]

Palpatine would probably have known about the Sith artifacts kept in/under the Jedi temple. I doubt he would have risked their destruction.

[@GAdmThrawn]

There's also the fact that Coruscant had a lot of planetary shields in place in case such an attack were to occur.

[@olsta1306]

He also turned the temple into his palace, why would he blow up his own home?

[@GAdmThrawn]

@@olsta1306 Nah man, he can just make a new and bigger one. Like he did in Legends.

[@zorkmid1083]

Also, there probably was a lot of useful knowledge in the Jedi libraries. After killing virtually all of the Jedi masters, he probably wasn't expecting the last newbie to get him, otherwise he might have had a contingency plan to blow up the temple.

[@olsta1306]

@@GAdmThrawn then he'd lose all the sith artifacts & knowledge the temple holds. That'd be like taking over Las Vegas & blowing up all the casinos, it makes no sense

[@TheFirehands150]

Eckharts: Ground battles don't make sense! Death Star: Thats... why I'm here

[@Dinoakin991]

Dathomir, grievous just likes the thrill of the fight let’s be honest

[@zigzaghyena]

Historically speaking that does check out.

[@zingtea]

@@zigzaghyena It's an older trope sir, but it checks out.

[@vulkandude00]

zingtea XD

[@TheTendermen]

Plus due to their unique abilities, it is probably best to wipe them out personally rather than risk any of them escaping and/or surviving

[@aturefrati7407]

Jackson Sailer i mean he fucked the Nightsisters up anyways it’s not like droid lives matter

[@HawkTheRed]

they make no sense because thousands of years ago, some General drank the stupid juice, and that trait been passed down

[@Aristocratic13]

TheRed Hawk Whoa... A talking hawk

[@guapocat203]

I just assumed the advanced battle tech in Star Wars has some kind of “Minovsky Effect” similar to the mobile suit Gundam universe. Basically anything that uses advanced energy fusion produces super particles that expand into the surrounding atmosphere and interferes with communications, targeting, and long-range combat, making close-range combat unavoidable where precession is important. Figured that’s why usually only the most brilliant or ruthless tacticians in Star Wars could pull off a long-range bombardment successfully.

[@RavishingSailor]

Great observation! Makes a lot of sense.

[@wirbelass4212]

Halfway through reading Twilight Company and the battles so far seem fairly realistic Also, I’d guess that to do a precise orbital bombardment you need to be dangerously low Finally, on Dathomir the Nightwitch Base was quite far underground and Talzin, Grievous’ target, could probably escape further down if he tried a bombardment

[@DIEGhostfish]

And for imprecise ones the planet itself is worth more than the resources to take it.

[@grand_max66]

I always thought of orbital bombardment in situations like full war like the clone wars or during rebellions to be it like nukes in civ. Sure, you could just spam nukes on your enemy's cites, but then there will be nothing for you to claim without spending even more resources trying to fix it all and make it workable. All those cities, resources and -Slave labour- people wasted.

[@lukeb8526]

Plus your public opinion goes SPLAT when you start dropping nukes. Also just saying that civ III is still the best

[@CaptainBones222]

Exactly, Ide imagine that it would only be used when the war gets desperate like with japan in ww2

[@viperstriker4728]

When Japan was nuked it was still a secret project so I doubt the nukes had the same stigma at the time. If I'm not mistaken, Einstein didn't realize how horrible has equation could be till after the nuke was dropped, then regretted coming up with it.

[@zekedia2223]

I’ll point out, the nuke was an bad alternative for a horrible option. You either kill millions or hundreds of thousands.

[@A-Forty3707]

@@zekedia2223 so? Killing million or billion isn't a problem when you are a galactic Spaning empire

[@wittypunhere703]

"Is there a reason besides aesthetics and drama for ground invasion instead of orbital bombardment?" 2, actually. While the crews of Thrawn and Pallaeon were capable of precision bombardment, there are references that orbital strikes were not known for accuracy (one such instance is where C'baoth makes a comment about that in HttE), making the destruction of large areas possible, but also leaving many survivors that can then retreat into hiding unless you saturate the area (and cause potentially unwanted collateral damage. Even so, ensuring there were no survivors would be a difficult task in the aftermath). A ground invasion is able to cut off access to paths to retreat and ensure the enemy is completely wiped out (not that the Empire is ever presented as being very good at this -we need more instances of the Empire being an actual capable entity in its position as "the big bad"). Also, bear in mind, while numerous, the number of Star Destroyers was indeed limited -being a Star Destroyer captain was a mark of prestige. We don't often see bombardment (with accuracy) depicted on anything smaller than an Imperial Star Destroyer., and most ships in a standard fleet were other designs. So ground invasions were more useful in ensuring the complete destruction of the target (without destroying everything else nearby), and in ensuring the capture/elimination of the enemies on the ground. ...whether they were run practically and competently is another issue (in general the Empire was impractical, incompetent and inefficient).

[@mattd6931]

Yeah, given how inaccurate the Star Destroyers seem to be (Look at the start of Episode 4 as an example, a ton of shots miss the Blockade Runner even at that close a range) and it's easy to imagine orbital bombardment would cause widespread devastation (similar to Carpet bombing in WW2) rather than being precision weapons like a GPS guided bomb. In those situations a ground assault may be more beneficial, especially if there is an objective (or high value target) you needed to obtain. And that's without assuming the planet has any defensive measures in the form of ion cannons, anti-ship weapons, or shielding.

[@mattd6931]

@@telperinquarcurufinyelde1597 True, but if they dig in you can also drop from orbit behind their fortifications and attack from the rear where they haven't got facing guns and defensive barriers. And you can also bypass the fortifications completely and starve them out, or use ground launched precision strikes which are less destructive than an orbital bombardment.

[@Derpy-qg9hn]

@@mattd6931 Anti-air is demonstrably a thing in the far-far-away. Several clone wars episodes show LAATs getting mulched by large concentrations of AAA; "just drop behind them" won't work if half your manpower gets vaporized after atmospheric entry.

[@mattd6931]

@@Derpy-qg9hn If your Army cares about casualties, that's certainly a valid point. But I don't think a loss of easily replacable clones was a big concern, given how they threw them into the slaughter time and time again, and after the Empire came into power, they definitely didn't care about a few million casualties (as seen in Solo where they are throwing wave after wave of ground troops into a massacre.) The other point about those clone wars episodes is they never show any support for the LAATs. For example, the Empire would have sent in Tie Bombers to take out some of those AAA guns prior to the orbital drop, not because they were concerned about the losses, but because it would make taking the objectives quicker and easier, and remove the risk of fouling the LZ with a destroyed dropship.

[@RaynmanPlays]

...As empires tend to be. Seriously, people talk about the "collapse of the Roman Empire," but the Roman Empire was collapsing before it was even reformed into an empire.

[@Dingusdoofus]

Your answer to why the Jedi didn’t do orbital bombardment on the factories with their Acclamator fleet that was present: “Meanwhile, the Republic army's goal was to capture the Separatists leadership and as much of the Geonosian droid foundries intact as possible in order to uncover the depths of the Separatist conspiracy, precluding the indiscriminate use of starship weapons. The resulting battle would mostly consist of ground combat then,” - Wookiepedia Out of the 12 Acclamtors that made up the Jedi assault fleet, most of them were either on the atmosphere, or in orbit around Geonosis, which is more than enough to take out some unarmed core ships and lightly armed Hardcell transports. So I don’t understand why the Jedi didn’t engage the Separatist fleet as it was escaping the system.

[@jahcobtomas2840]

Lack of military experience

[@Dingusdoofus]

Jacob Thomas Urquilla honestly true. 1000 years of peace is not a good thing if the Jedi are to act like soldiers instead of peacekeepers. War corrupted the Jedi, who knew nothing of war for centuries.

[@zekedia2223]

Yeah, centuries of peace aren’t really good. Look at korea. When the Japanese tried invading Korea after the Sengoku Jidai, the Korean forces were no match. They only won due to having Admiral Yi, Being supported by China, and the guy who first started the invasion of Korea dying.

[@derptomistic]

Meanwhile in Warhammer... "Sir, somebody appears to be flipping us off on the ground!" *"Prepare the fleet! Burn this heresy!"*

[@13thSystem]

I'm guessing anti ship weapons, but they just forgot to show a bit more attention to detail. Ships that come into range can easily be bombarded back and ground based weapons isn't as limited by weight, bulk or power as a ship based weapon would be and can be hidden anywhere, in a mountain, under the city, a tiny hole in the middle of a desert, etc...

[@joshuahadams]

The ion cannon the Rebels had on Hoth comes to mind. It shut down an ISD in one volley. While supplying cover fire for the evacuation.

[@IslamistSocialist371]

They had magnipulse Cannon

[@xanaxbarf]

Starwars: *has ground battles* Eckhart: *It’s treason then.*

[@flickinggamer]

The US could have sat off and flattened every city in Iraq without breaking a sweat. Of course, the world press and public opinion would have ended up isolating the US. So you do things the hard way to avoid that. And there is a lot more prestige in capturing something relatively intact (so that you can use it later) rather than just capturing a big pile of rubble. Why fight for something to begin with if all you wanted to do was blow it up? If you just want it destroyed then you don't send the troops. Seems to cover most of these battles. They were trying to capture facilities, not just wipe it out and leave.

[@mikek5322]

Iraq wasn't an actual threat to the United States whereas the rebels/ new republic was an absolute threat to their very survival. In such a case there would absolutely be a case for full scale bombardment from space, artillery, and air. Never forget the United States DID nuke Japan... Twice.

[@kekboy5127]

PA pared which killed less people than the fire bombings and an invasion would have killed. They were also showing off the nukes to scare the Soviets from trying to invade the rest of Europe.

[@mikek5322]

@@kekboy5127 No argument there I'm saying it was a good decision to use the nuclear option as opposed to only ground forces as in star wars.

[@mikek5322]

@The one and only exotic Butters I completely agree it was ultimately the better choice. I am fully in support of the nuking/orbital bombardment of the Japanese/ Rebel alliance.

[@karsonkammerzell6955]

Oh yeah, let's just compare the morals in reality to Star Wars with the Dark Side, stations that can destroy planets or moons, and basically evil for the sake of it, lol.

[@Callsign_Prophet]

This logic is what congress had about the middle east and boy were they wrong.

[@asdfasdf3989]

True, though I'm not sure the objective was always conventional defeat, but rather societal destabilization at the behest if Israel.

[@teekayfourtwoone4686]

"Nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure." Easy for the bad guys to lay waste to everything from orbit than it is for the good guys. If you want any of the resources/infrastructure, or prisoners, then landing troops is the way to go. Some limited precision orbital strikes could still be possible in many cases though. The shields are typically "energy shields". The capital ships and AT-ATs couldn't shoot through it, but the walkers could walk through it.

[@a.murdoch5446]

ironically, nuking the site from orbit makes it really difficult to be sure you destroyed your target. It makes it really hard to send in troops afterwards to confirm destruction

[@21Arrozito]

so if they're energy shields then just drop solid projectiles through it, there's still no need for a ground assault

[@clokworkpig]

But in Aliens they had already had boots on the ground, to detect and identify what the situation was! (And fortunately it was just a single, small, area.) Unlike in star wars, the aliens had no ability to hit back against ships in orbit (well, aside from...)

[@oluwatolaayedun8195]

@@21Arrozito i think shield stop fast moving objects to in the TV show they show clones slow rolling EMP grenades to take out the shield droid one person rolls to fast it bounced off

[@Corsair-Mandrake]

he has started to bring the christian minecraft servers back its a pathway ah screw it

[@jacksonscott3667]

Christian Minecraft servers are a pathway to many censored swears some may consider to be unnatural.

[@christiannewaye7306]

J Sc I would like to learn this server

[@bigusdickus9903]

If what's in the shows and movies are cannon, then I suppose that their weapons are simply far too inaccurate to destroy targets without demolishing everything on the same hemisphere.

[@TheShawnDubs]

I think that the CIS might have had a more valid reason than other factions for ground invasions. That being their armies being much more disposable than others. And taking into consideration it may be taxing energy wise for a capital ship to do orbital bombardment, it may be more cost effective for them to land troops instead. This is mostly reliant on how often a capital ship would have to refuel/rearm due to orbital bombardment.

[@alyssinclair8598]

Tbh they could end up leaving with more soldiers than they landed with if they set up factories

[@JacobHillenberg]

Well you brought up a good point about planetary shields but also sometimes militaries want to take control of a base or strong hold, or gather intelligence about future planned tactics or other base locations. That's not very effective if the base or strong hold has been completely destroyed.

[@rocksolid7676]

And there's the 1000 other reasons why it does make sense 1. John Williams music

[@coll5342]

2nd Battle of geonosis should have gone like this: Fleet appears at the system, they move into position Obi Wan: let’s soften them up a little, admiral, begin orbital bombardment Yularen: very good sir, all batteries fire at will (Bombardment starts and later stops, they then go down to the surface as usual before suddenly coming under attack) A clone: I thought we bomber the hell out of these bugs?!? Obi Wan: the geonosians live underground! Our bombardment wasn’t that effective! Get the tanks down now! Then the rest of the episode as usual

[@michaelramon2411]

Artillery is a powerful tool, but I think you are overestimating its power, especially against fortifications. Consider the Western Front of World War I, where millions of tons of artillery rounds were used over several years against the trench lines without being able to break them. In the World War II Pacific Theater, US battleships would give islands what they called "the Spruance Haircut" (so named because it would seem to have cut down every tree on the island) and troops would still have to engage in massive ground assaults to actually clear the Japanese defenders out. Turbolasers don't appear to be any more powerful or accurate than those examples' cannons.

[@EXPLODERMAN9000]

Finally, someone understands. You would need to blow a chunk of the whole ass planet off in order to damage any defenses. Since the beginning of time, military officials have dreamed of being able to end wars without putting troops on the ground. Zeppelins, bombers, artillery, and even nukes were all meant to “break the enemy” without ground assault. It almost never worked. Look at Stalingrad, Berlin, or Leningrad. These battles had artillery decimate the land, chopping the city into dust, yet the defenses held. Things like this don’t just go away due to space artillery.

[@destroyer1667]

Yes, but that's more on the stupidity of the people in charge of building these ships. Why Equip them with cannons that are only as strong as ww2 artillery? Why not rapid fire high yield nuke cannons to glass whole continents in a Salvo?

[@EXPLODERMAN9000]

@@destroyer1667 prolly because they want the planet intact, I mean, if you want to glass a planet that’s what the death star is meant to do.

[@destroyer1667]

@@EXPLODERMAN9000 well, most of the time, glassing everything isn't really needed. But there's no reason to not just nuke the military installations that are far away from civilian locations anyway. Even if they are close, with how many Warcrimes have been committed in the clone wars show alone, I don't think anyone would be concerned about that.

[@EXPLODERMAN9000]

@@destroyer1667 but that requires that you have all intel of military instillations, and guerrilla warfare is still a thing

[@defeatSpace]

I'm sure that Palpatine would've really liked to give the Jedi Temple an "accident", but there're also a ton of things he'd like to collect from there too.

[@TheSahaquiel]

*A series made for children* "It's treason then."

[@wedgewizard5429]

"Why didn't Gandalf just get the eagles to take the ring straight to Mount Doom?" Because then there would be no story or those ground battles you love so much.

[@SkyForceOne2]

your comment still misses the point.

[@wedgewizard5429]

@@SkyForceOne2 I think you missed the point.

[@DerDoctor69]

But the ring thing is actually explained in the lore of LOTR.

[@TorianTammas]

@@DerDoctor69 Yes they need to stick a ring to a hobbit and then used the Eagles to carry it to Mount Doom. End of story.

[@silent_stalker3687]

Wedge Wizard Let’s see... fly in open sky on a big bird while holding a ring that alerts everything to us... where there’s dragons and the lesser dragon like things, not to mention whatever the orcs have for air

[@davidknowsbetter8495]

There's a amazing example of this in star wars rebels... Grand Admiral Thrawn engaged the rebel cell Phoenix Squadron on chopper base.... they had a small shield generator but it was old so it quickly over heated but before it did that Thrawn ceased the bombing and sent down transports and walkers....

[@maccabee3753]

He couldn’t have known that it was about to collapse, I mean all they could see was a shield over the base from orbit where to him it made sense to go under the shield and capture the phoenix officers which was far more important to him then just blowing them sky high. Other wise it’s just a bit of good tv.

[@ryanthegreat4137]

Awesome video. For Dathomere though, Grevious couldn’t bomb the base since Dooku’s voodoo doll was in there. Bombing the witches would kill Dooku and lose the war for the separatists.

[@guywithrevolver]

I'm waiting for a star wars version of the Geneva convention to get released and see if orbital bombardment is a war crime or not. Besides that it hasn't stopped the republic from commiting a few war crimes themselves

[@kennethjuarez5384]

That would be cool. It's like why they use laser and not bullets. Slugthrowers were considered crude to them.

[@Riv_Dyl97]

@@kennethjuarez5384 doesn't the standard issue Republic rifles use high velocity bolts as ammo?

[@rapliberationarmy089]

I believe the droid factories were shielded as shown in clone wars, also you can see the geonosian AA-Guns ripping acclamators apart that go too low.

[@leoncarrillo89]

Consider that in some of those battles the primary objective was to retrieve someone or something that is on the ground, like wanting to arrest Gunray (TPM), rescue Obi Wan (AOTC), trying to arrest Dooku (also AOTC), capturing the chancellor (ROTS), Darth Vader wanting to capture the Millenium Falcon in the battle of Hoth, etc...

[@hazmatt3250]

The rescue portion of the battle of Geonosis made up a relatively small part of a much larger event. After the Jedi were secure, ships in orbit could have easily started picking off TradeFed core ships before the left the ground.

[@flickinggamer]

@@hazmatt3250 Who is to say they didn't. The movies don't cover everything. We don't see anyone head off to pee during the movies either.

[@leoncarrillo89]

@@hazmatt3250 I agree to some extend. The battle of Geonosis was particullary chaotic, mainly because there wasn't a fully stablished plan rather than "I'll gather the Jedi, you go for the clones and we'll meet there". A blockade should also have been made by the Republic in orbit so nobody could go in or out the planet, but still a ground battle was inevitable.

[@leoncarrillo89]

@@flickinggamer I think they didn't, if they had blockaded the planet's orbit it's most likely that the separatist leaders and Dooku would have been captured.

[@hazmatt3250]

flickinggamer I mean an orbital strike is a pretty important part of a battle I would think. Sure it doesn’t cover it in the movies but there’s also a bunch of other media out there that would probably cover it one way or another. That last argument is completely irrelevant to the topic though. An understood part of biology vs. a tactic in war are two very different things, one which would probably deserve screen time/some sort of coverage, and one that everyone knows probably happens

[@211pirate6]

The battle of Umbara definitely needed a few orbital bombardments. The land assault was necessary, but the Umbarans had a few strongholds that needed some good ol’ space elbow grease.

[@VexingWeeb]

"A show made ultimately for children" All those clones and prisoners who get shot in the face,burned,executed: I agree with this

[@mcsmedia8081]

Might be able to swing a cultural explanation, sort of along the same lines as 17th to 19th century European military conduct and what was and was not considered to be acceptable military strategy.

[@jacobitewiseman3696]

That is sometimes like saying why not use nukes for all battles. Um that's a last resort tactic.

[@alyssinclair8598]

I mean... yeah they had cultural reasons to fight like that but that style of fighting had many advantages. Mostly in how keeping commanders alive allowed for large scale Surrender

[@StarGazer2gaming]

There were some cases where orbital bombardment would make things easier but there were a few things holding that tactic back. - For Yavin 4, the Empire didn't bombard it because the rebels were rushing to get out of there and hide which would leave some potential intel, and the base wouldn't be going anywhere so the focused on eliminating the remaining rebels. The First Order did the exact opposite which in turn destroyed intel and let the enemy escape. - In the Clone Wars I believe that the Jedi Code prevented many of the Jedi Generals from wanting to perform such an act, an act that would possible aid the CIS in gaining allies. For the CIS there is not much to stop them from committing to orbital bombardment, hell doing so would help Palpatine to be granted more government powers against the "evil" separatists, other than that they are in a war and trying to claim territory. How long would a planet remain obedient to those who just bombed them? How useful would burnt farmland be? Why spend resources building a new outpost when you can take over the one that is already there? I'm not against the video, yes there are plenty of occasions where bombardment would help win the battles. I'm just nit-picking.

[@CaptainCoolzCT-]

...but the Empire was going to fire a Planet-killing weapon on Yavin IV, wha pt do you mean the Empire didn’t bombard it?

[@yamadiyoo9658]

@@CaptainCoolzCT- I guess you can say bombardment was the empires endgame...

[@StarGazer2gaming]

@@CaptainCoolzCT- The battle AFTER the Death Star was destroyed. Rebel tactics are to hit and run, and since the Empire knew the Rebel base was on Yavin IV now they needed to get the heck out of there. The Empire retaliated by sending a fleet to Yavin IV to try and capture/kill any Rebel stragglers they could as well as recover intel to find other Rebel allies and cells.

[@CaptainCoolzCT-]

Star Gazer2 oh, I thought you meant the initial attack instead of the fight in BF2 2017 where the Rebels are just trying to escape after the Death Star while also disposing of all intel left behind.

[@StarGazer2gaming]

@@CaptainCoolzCT- Yes, and the Empire tried to stop them and recover any said intel but failed, only get useless bits. You'll notice that the First Order in episode 8 failed outright by bombarding the base first, destroying any intel left behind, and giving the Resistance plenty of time to form up and escape.

[@MomoKemonoTTV]

A good half of your points can be negated when you remember that Palpatine wanted the war to look like a genuine struggle to gain control over the senate.

[@VexRavenhardt]

Palpatine didnt just destroy the jedi temple from orbit because it was a key part of turning anakin to the dark side. He needed the younglings to survive, so anakin could kill them. Also, I would be surprised if coruscant didnt have planetary shields.

[@frag2k12]

Coruscant does have a shield, its what kept the CIS fleet in orbit at the start of ep 3, they trapped them inside it.

[@charleswhatley6702]

1. In the battle of Hoth, Vader knew Luke was his son. Using an orbital bombardment would have made it much more likely that Luke would’ve been killed than it would be with a ground attack. 2. Throughout the vast majority of the clone wars, separatists and the republic were trying to get as many planets as possible to be on their side. Orbital bombardment would result in more deaths of the local population than ground attacks would.

[@captainez4387]

Nobody: Every single KZbin ad: Mike Bloomberg (I’m not trying to get political)

[@napalmblaziken]

I don't know who he is, but I am sick of him.

[@LN37275]

Only for 4.25% of the world population :P

[@napalmblaziken]

@Dmitry The Kebob Remover So... every politician?

[@henryblack9553]

He’s racist af too

[@jaide1312]

@@arfcaptainvoid1188 Nah, he's more like the opposite of that, trying to buy his way to the top, that's why he spams that many ads.

[@nateavery2875]

Geonosis had a large cave system. Orbital bombardment wouldn't have been effective.

[@invincibleironman1782]

Nate Avery yup, underrated point

[@SephirothRyu]

One way to make this make more sense: Planetary bombardment is both expensive and very risky, as you need to use a special, disposable/consumable thing (i.e. refit your guns with parts that wear out very quickly or use some special substance in place of whatever normally passes for ammo on a plasma "laser" turret) in order to make your capital ships' weapons shoot that far with that accuracy. Even then, power of the weapon might be reduced (or at least easier to block with shields), to where shields in general are quite effective for their generators' size. Let us also say that even after all this, the power use of the weapons skyrocket, to the point where the bombarding capital ship will more often then not have to outright turn off its engines and shields just to fire consistently, unless it is a vessel explicitly designed for bombardment with the necessary over-generation of power (or a special bombardment weapon that gets around these limitations). If we make these assumptions, then not only do you need the necessary and expensive stuff needed to actually perform bombardment, but you need to make sure you have TOTAL control of the situation. Because nothing is worse then getting into bombardment mode only for an enemy fleet to jump out right next to your mostly engines-off, unshielded fleet that is already stressing its power systems to the limit to ensure that their damage reaches the surface. In the event that they need to actually swap out weapon parts and not just use some special gas as ammo or something, then they are also caught such that they can not actually use any weapon set up in "bombardment mode" against whoever is now threatening them until they swap the parts back out (since one of my assumptions above is that the long range bombardment setup is weaker to shields than normal fire). Why do I suggest these things? Well, think about it. The weapons have a seemingly set range in normal combat. Why wouldn't it take something special to actually shoot far enough (and through a whole atmosphere) while still delivering accuracy and payload? Under these assumptions, the absolute worst of the scenarios you mentioned could just be explained as "they were literally too cheap to give the guy bombardment "ammo." And as such, the poor nutcase had no choice but to send in a whole bunch of droids instead." Or, you know, Palpatine manipulations. Cause he doesn't just like to puppet-master for his goals. Its his hobby too. Once he got to his ideal empire in some alternate universe where everything went right for him, he would just continue puppet-mastering stuff as a hobby, all the way up to the day where there is nothing more that can be done to preserve his body and mind, and in some greatly aged delerium, he is hallucinating and performing a literal puppet show while his next-of-Sith is just sighing and going about his business. ...You know, the mental image of that alone is well worth me typing that all out.

[@alec1020]

Maybe its just a really frowned upon practice, like the galaxy seems to be at war alot so maybe theres some kind of an unspoken agreement that causing more damage to planets than needed with an orbital bombardment is just not cool (but the again the death star is a thing so idk)

[@Riv_Dyl97]

Just like how we don't launch nukes at each other when we get grumpy #MAD

[@Jedi_Spartan]

A ground attack in the Battle of Kashyyyk (Clone Wars/Order 66) makes sense as there were valuable hyperspace routes mapped out within the city the Droids attack, along with a refinery according to original Battlefront 2.

[@freedog632]

I think the ground battle was a test of the clones' effectiveness.

[@Cryogenius333]

Yes it was a vetting of the Clone army.

[@rorowang7872]

A very bloody and wasteful test.

[@freedog632]

@@rorowang7872 most battles are.

[@Novice_Maker]

"Damn sir, we just turned the entire Jedi into vapor, and bored a hole from the spire down to the undercity. Guess we shouldn't have let a B1 do a B2 job...."

[@Imladris-lm3bo]

Love your content but, do you think you could make it clearer when you switch from canon to legends? Thanks for everything you do

[@Red-jr9qm]

#AskEck What if the jedi had led the droid army instead of the clone army?

[@Eztli122]

Now i need answer to this! CIS clones vs Republic droids

[@kirknay]

This screams something to look into! Not only would it result in a lot less casualties (the better generals were CIS anyway, and Jedi could just throw endless droids at them), but it would be far better at painting a picture of "evil jedi massacring brave troopers" that Palpatine would be able to use against them.

[@dhaburuk6494]

I agree, this is worth consideration. Not sure if it is worth a dedicated video, but certainly consideration. #AskEck Ultimately the corporations that chiefly contributed to the CIS military already had the designs and infrastructure to produce droid forces, and it was the Republic that was both militarily and economically unprepared for an interstellar war. Still... lets play with it. Jedi leading battle-droids... I have to wonder how useful the Jedi would have been as leaders for droids. Rather than good leaders, I think the Jedi would be dangerous weapons against the Clones - precognition augmented by surface-level mind-reading, at least. Master Rancisis could have demoralized them with Battle-meditation and left the droids to fight directly... then again, the Jedi would desire to capture their organic enemies rather than slaughter them. Unless the Clones were highly resistant to capture or even suicidal in such a situation, the Republic would soon have a mass-POW problem. While some Jedi might be swayed to darker behaviour by the act of fighting and killing organic enemies in battle I think many would begin to object to the war. The pro-peace Senators of Alderaan, Chandrilla, Naboo, etc may have found more support for their moral stance if the enemy fielded mostly organic troops. On the PR front, the corrupt Republic was frequently painted as evil for implementing a secretly produced slave-army. Were the CIS to do so would turn a huge morality point the other way. 'The Republic might be corrupt, but at least it doesnt use slave-armies to fight its wars.' or somesuch. A large part of the reason planets and systems left the Republic for the CIS was due to the overwhelming evidence of corruption and double-standards. The Clone army classed as slavery had no real counter argument, merely the excuse of 'we have no choice against CIS aggression' which is weak at best - GAR attacked first with the First Battle of Geonosis. Slavery had long been outlawed, yet the Hutts and many other crime syndicates perpetuated the slave-trade almost unopposed while the Republic little more than police its own territory with moderate to poor results. Even though morally the same as slavery, 'indentured servitude' was disturbingly common throughout Republic territory.

[@SovietReunionYT]

The only good excuse I can come up with is that planetary atmospheres mean ships have to get relatively close to the ground to shoot effectively, but doing so puts them in range of very heavy planetary defense cannons that can easily outgun and destroy even capital ships. Or maybe capital ship shields don't work in atmospheres and even not-so-heavy guns can take them out. I vaguely remember a Clone Wars episode where the Republic had to infiltrate a CIS-occupied city and destroy the anti-air guns to allow the orbiting capital ships to enter the atmosphere and provide fire support.

[@Grounders10]

shields are less effective in atmosphere (this is noted mostly with fighters however so, who knows about large ships)

[@jtonguam]

They need to add a "dial-a-yield" kinetic bombardment weapon. Simple solid metal rod with a shield on it and a small drive. Adjust the speed of the drive, adjust the yield of the weapon. Would have worked awesome on Geonosis.

[@scottlloyd9762]

Yes the good old Rod from God. This is a technology we have now.

[@andrewcox9940]

Strangely, they exist (at least in Legends) but lack the dial-a-yield ability. starwars.fandom.com/wiki/De-Orbiting_Kinetic_Anti-emplacement_Weapon

[@striderpup1169]

Bombing a shield, if it is smaller like the Hoth Base shield, will eventually overload the generator. At least with a Star Destroyer, because it can output a huge amount of turbolaser fire. (And yes, I know that turbolasers decrease in power as they enter atmosphere)

[@jaimiekasper4466]

The best thing to see once you've gotten home is a new eckharts ladder video

[@Glorymoon97]

I feel like orbital bombardment while is effective, our current parallel is nuclear weapons. Both destroy the environment and any resources that might be in the area

[@magpie1353]

Palpatine wanted the knowledge in the Jedi archives. I would guess I’m the case of the empire that they underestimated their opponents and treated battles as practice for their troops

[@adamm.6595]

In short: The best usages of aerial bombardment is to target and destroy anything it sees. And then to forget about it. In long: If the intent to attack a planet (or city, town, village, house) is to (eventually) seize control and use it within your coalition (confederacy, empire, republic, etc), keeping the damage minimal will allow for the continuance of normal day-to-day operations with the local populace. Keeping as much of the infrastructure intact and in relative good condition allows it to be restored to its proper form quickly with little impact on the lives of those subjugated, and keeping the basic necessities running may in fact turn many over to your side by showing that you care for the populace. Additionally, the cost expenditure of rebuilding or repairing large amounts of infrastructure and basic necessity systems (such as running water or sewage treatment) would require more specialized personnel (engineers etc) and security to manage those operations, not to mention the increased monetary expenditure. And while those systems are down, the local populace suffers and is more likely to retaliate/revolt (or try to), requiring you to (perhaps) use more lethal force than initially desired to try to quell the unrest, which only sends you further down the rabbit hole. Keep in mind, also, that there is most likely a local insurgency already established to do everything and anything they can to prevent your ability to restore and/or increase the living conditions of those of the local populace, because if you fail, they win eventually. There is still no clear definitive answer to combating local insurgencies outside of full cooperation of the local population that does not have ties to the insurgency. That requires winning the hearts and minds of the people as quickly as possible. As reference to present day usage of aerial attacks during invasions, the initial surge into Iraq during the 2003 - 2004 opening year saw much of the local necessary-living infrastructure damaged or destroyed by Coalition air forces. The intent was to prevent Saddam’s regime from utilizing those necessities in their defense against Coalition ground/air forces as the invasion was underway. The outcome, however, was a lengthy occupation, faulty and/or uncompleted rebuilding/restoration projects, $2.4 trillion expended far as 2017, the rise of locally armed, independent, and capable militias, an insurgency which claimed just shy of 5,000 Coalition forces lives + shy of 25,000 civilian lives, and a corrupt and mistrusted local/federal government/defense system which aided in the rise of a most violent terrorist organization.

[@spacefrog_2203]

This guy: explaining why it makes no sense Some clone: WATCH OUT FOR THOSE WRISTROCKETS

[@buckeyebeliever3397]

“We’re all nerd here, this will get nerdy...” yeah Eck, that’s why we’re here lol thank goodness someone with editing skills and a smooth voice has the same interest as myself and everyone who agrees 👍🏼

[@illmaticTKD]

Grab a few beers and come join us "Mom can I have some beers for minecraft"

[@games4beginners685]

I think it's a combination of factors ranging from a desire to see the enemy leadership captured, to pressure from ground commanders to get an opportunity to show their tactical skills and advance through the ranks. Plus in the case of the Empire, their opponent almost never committed their entire force to one operation. So even if they could conceivably wipe them out from orbit, they would lose any chance to search for information that might lead them to other cells, or potential plans that may cause headaches for the Empire. The rebellion typically destroyed such information quickly, but it was still worth it for the empire to try as often as possible.

[@dhaburuk6494]

Excellent points, and briefly made too. IRL deleted data can sometimes be recovered, so every Rebel base is worth screening. These thoughts and considerations will make fine additions to my collections.

[@salmonmankingoftheocean7624]

What if orbital bombardment was never really conducted because Palpatine wanted to try and get some Jedi out of the way early, or make them rely more heavily on their clones, building a trust on the field of battle not found in orbital bombardment tactics?

[@shutout951]

You never addressed a planet's ability to shoot back. It doesn't take away the effectiveness of an orbital bombardment, but it does explain fighting on the ground. You'd want to send on ground troops to try to take out planetary batteries

[@Arashmickey]

Many times I have put myself in the boots of a Star Wars commander and found myself saying: "WTF is even going on in this universe?"

[@frag2k12]

As a fanfiction writer in the middle of drawing up a multiverse story where the MC ends up in the SW universe after a few others this is his thoughs too.

[@Ryoga100]

Dathomir actually makes some sense. Grievous was in a hurry or dooku would have died and...well...its grievous. He likes to take things close and personal

[@celdur4635]

Dooku and Palpatine wanted the treasures of the Witches.

[@ignaciorodriguez5636]

It can be said that orbital bombardments were a war crime or something like that and that even for the Empire it was inmoral. It can be an excuse I would get along with

[@750tiprogamer]

i could see some of the empire leaders thinking just bombarding from orbit would make them look weak or scared or something

[@patrickmalone1373]

Then they built a planet killer in the death star? Kinda the epitome of orbital bombardment.

[@dhwwiiexpert]

Base Delta Zero aka Nano-Exterminatus.

[@lorenzouria8849]

Ignacio Rodriguez yeah but the Death Star is totally fine

[@hafor2846]

The Empire had forced labour and planetkillers, used nerve gas on their own populations and was ruled by an evil space wizard that killed people for fun. War crimes is what they do. And the citizens are either in favour of it, joining the fight against it or are way too scared to speak up.

[@zombierinbglord]

About the only time I would have thought this would suit is in the Clone Wars Battle for Ryloth when Dooku says "we shall show them the cost of a Republic victory." but instead of orbital bombardment they used bombers

[@napzkins]

2:28 Good thing those bugs can’t aim

[@hesthatguy]

Enemy combatants on the ground generally can't surrender to ships in space. It takes boots on the ground to disarm and take custody of POWs. The first rule of warfare is "don't kill who you can just capture without bloodshed."

[@saadqureshi7127]

They had to rescue anakin and obi-wan so that's why they didn't do orbital bombardment.

[@Arjun66700]

Yh my theory is that the jedi had 2 go rescue ani and obi wan and then the clones didn't bombard the planet as A : that would kill innocents B: they thought they would stand a better chance once they had picked up the jedi C : dooku wouldn't hv been killed

[@mattdickinson3144]

My personal favorite example of a planetary bombardment is during the old republic with the Mandalorian crusades. It’s the Battle of Serroco where the Mandalorians basically nuke an entire city cause the republic practically used them as human shields.

[@presofcamelot]

"You cant just GLASS a planet!" **GLASSES PLANET**

[@f.b.l.9813]

It's like using a Nuke I guess, it's really effective at de-living your enemies but just because you have a Nuke doesn't mean you'd want to use it.

[@linesteppr]

This. An orbital bombardment in the Star Wars universe would effectively be like multiple super-volcanoes going off on the planet. It would make the surface a hellscape requiring years or massive geo-engineering to return to a survivable environment. Better to send in a bunch of semi-expendable battle droids, clone troopers, etc.

[@assassinaria]

My take is that sitting still in one spot or taking cover for too long will result in getting shot by aerial/space vehicles. That's why in every Star Wars battle, everyone's moving about a lot; a stationary target is as good as dead. That's why the Battle of Hoth seems to make the least amount of sense to me compared to the battles in the Prequels.

[@hyperiongm330]

The shield generator on Hoth was powerful enough to repel the combined firepower of Death Squadron, including the Executor herself. Unless they wanted to pound the thing for months and risk a daring counter-strike from the still very much intact Rebel fleet, then a ground assault was the most prudent option. Planetary shields are no joke, unless it's something Sabine rigged up in which case bolts little more powerful than an AT-ST's main guns will nearly kill the thing after about five seconds of mass bombardment.

[@jasonjavelin]

I could’ve sworn by the thumbnail you were going to talk about how the Clones were rushing forward with assets against a force that had to make a beach landing. Especially when they are driving a huge Turbo Tank into the oncoming force fully exposing it instead of having it sit back and use its firepower at range from cover

[@Dankdalorde]

They just look cool

[@carlosdias854]

A ground battle filled with flying bolts of laser and explosions is more appealling to the eye than a onesided orbital bombardment massacre

[@thatoneguy9734]

Imagine if in the Last Jedi instead of the Battle of Crait the First Order just pummeled the mountain until it was flattened.

[@zacharypueschel2005]

Yes, you are kind of wrong, because Palpatine wanted the Temple for himself after the war. I mean, it did later become the Imperial Palace

[@Warsie]

That's new canon old legends shoes the imperial palace was built from the old republican presidential palace

[@spencer1980]

The advantage of ground attacks is their ability to preserve existing structures. Even in modern day conflicts, we can level a city with the push of a button. Collateral damage is generally kept to a minimum with ground assaults.

[@rarfrar6871]

I just love the part where he says "A series ultimately made for children" with the amount of war crimes torture and etc in the show like the fake surrendering made by Anakin Same with Avatar the Last Airbender, mass genocide, war prisoners, child labor etc