Sorry for the late response here, but I've been busy.

What I'm gonna do is copy/paste my lengthy replies from REbelscum to this very topic there.  I won't include quotes I addressed, but I think you'll get the gist of Q's or points I countered by my replies...

I'll keep these all separate too.  Here we go:


The weather argument doesn't sit particularly well with me... WHile it was disevowed for this argument, it's still a paramount reason to disregard the idea that "the cold" had anything to do with not using X-Wings.

Short and sweet of it is that it's WAY colder in space than on Hoth.

As far as moisture goes... Luke's X-Wing was submerged, but flew perfectly fine after being taken from the swamp on Dagobah. Moisture obviously has no effect on Starships, or at least the X-Wing. With that in mind, climate, temperature, weather and the like seem inappropriate "reasons" all together by film evidence.

Also, we hear that the Speeders need adapted to the cold, but not the snubfighters which we could assume were all FLOWN to Hoth, nor the transports seemed to need adaptation to the inclement weather.

I would say it's all in strategy...

The Battle of Hoth is a route, not really a "battle". It's a mass retreat more than combat. As such, minimal support to hold off the walkers is going to be placed at the trenches. One squad of pilots it would seem flew Snowspeeders (That was a good analogy that they are more suited to ground combat as helicopters are in our own warfare, by the way. Their very physics seen in the film convey this), and it's debateable how many footsoldiers, but it didn't look like a TON there in the trenches either.

Basically, the line to hold off the mechanized armor lines of the Empire were cannon fodder. These guys, from the pilots to the grunts, knew they had to just wreak as much havoc for the oncoming walkers, at whatever the cost.

The Fighters, if you're to follow the Rogue Squadron Video games and how they play out the battle in more detail, have the Snubfighters at a rally point beyond a mountain ridge (assuming the ALliance base runs through this mountain ridge) for protection of all transports as well as protection of evacuating pilots straggling in from the speeder groups.

The Empire then has two objectives that are paramount... 1) blockade ANYTHING you can from leaving the planet, or better yet, shoot it down before it even gets off the ground. This is where the Empire then will divert remaining fighter/bomber units that aren't in orbit with the Destroyers flying escort for them. And 2) is that the Empire wants the ground assault to bring down the shield generators so the attack on the fleeing personnel on the ground can begin, and so that Imperial troop transports can "land" and disable the Ion Cannon wreaking havoc with their picket lines in orbit.

First the Walkers have to do their job "at any cost" one would assume... Even if it means a real out and out slugfest between Imperial and Alliance army units.

Upon that assault's completion, then they can swarm in with TIE's to assault the escaping transports that haven't left or are just taking off, and they can pound any forces still trying to make it to the rally point.

About the Speederbikes... I've always envisioned them as flying ahead of the AT-AT's feet scouting for possible mines that would blow the AT-AT's foot off at the ankle. That would/could be pretty nasty.

A TIE Pilot is seen ejecting in TESB actually, so it's canon that they CAN eject...  He ejects on fire when an asteroid hits his fighter, but he ejects straight upward, nonetheless.

EU claims both Imperial and ALliance pilots CAN eject, but Imperials use an automated system as opposed to a manual one, and the Alliance can use either/or.  Automated if they're prepared to use it (IE: set it to on, and have their life-supprt gear on), or manual if they need to get their stuff on if they know they're in a bad situation they aren't getting out of.

Consequently, it's one of the more fragile systems in all fighters, and often the first to be rendered inoperable it seems....  Then again, flight control was lost very often for me in the X-Wing sims as well.  Hated when that happened.  If I was lucky, nobody was targeting me and I either culd dump all power to engines and hope to outrun anyone who came for me (in a straight, unmaneuverable line away from combat), or I was hosed....  And if engines went too, I was more or less FUBAR.

Got my mint one last night...  Finally...  Last MINT one that store had.  Was a tad bit of a fiasco, but it got done.  

I used to watch it, but didn't religiously.  The Gym episodes were so hauntingly realistic...  Uh, not for me of course, I was an athletic god, and stuff.  

It was underappreciated, and part of the show's problem was that it was on at like 8 on a Friday wasn't it?  Old people watch shows at 8 on Friday...  And well, freaks and geeks.  

If you nab an extra mint one Matt, keep me in mind, just because I don't know what my odds of going to a TRU tomorrow are between the weather here and the fact I have an exam Monday again.  I just want to keep my 25th figure set going on a 1-per-figure and mint basis.    

My ex-girlfriend called me today and said she was pregnant, and it's mine.



It wasn't all that funny, really. I about **** my pants though.

It would've been funnier had she said it wasn't yours.    Not to you of course.  Jokes never are funny when they're against you I guess.

This brings me to a thought though...

There's a guy over at Rebelscum who, so I don't mix words here, I simply dislike.  He's a kid, and generally that garners some sympathy from me, but not in this instance.  He's just annoying.

He changes his name more than his clothes, he posts incessantly with "Me too!" type crap, he clutters the "poll" feature there...  Very silly.

And now to top it off, he's taking a nutty on everyone posting stupid April Fool's Day joke threads.

Now, granted, it is stupid...  I hate April Fool's Day because it wastes some of my time generally, and none of it's REAL funny (Save Greg's admission of his CC.com Fandom), but it's just dull to me for the most part and time consuming in the end.

With that, I have to say I dislike the "day", but I don't get PO'd about it.  This kid at Scum's running around telling people that post that they're spamming (which is irony defined) and then yelling at them demanding that some of them "Go to Hell" as was his last line of idiocy.

Getting mad about AFD is counteractive.  It's made for the only entertainment I got out of yesterday, again short of that picture of GNT.

I know you're not mad about it Tydirium, but I'm citing mostly this other individual (and a couple others) at Scum who've posted multiple times, in multiple threads, in multiple sections, about how vehemently they despise AFD and want people who like it to shut up and leave the forums for a time.

To me, it's a day you just have to put up with.  At least it's only once a year.

Well, it's shaping up that the Pens will have the #1 draft pick, and ironically to likely pick the player being touted as "the next Lemieux".

Let all of us in Pittsburgh pray.    

My view?

It's War...  This happens in all wars.  This isn't an isolated incident to the Iraq War, or Iraqi people.  U.S. citizens and troops have done simiilar things, especially when our nation's been invaded and occupied.  

Brutality is war defined, no matter who is in the war's zone, and for whatever reasons they're there.