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Vehicles


AT-TE

(All Terrain Tactical Enforcer)

Craft: Rothana Heavy Engineering/Kuat Drive Yards' All Terrain Tactical Enforcer
Type: Assault Walker
Length: 12.4 Meters, 5.02 Meters Tall
Weapons:
1 Heavy Projectile Cannon
6 Anti-Personnel Laser Cannons
Crew: 1 Pilot, 1 Spotter, 5 Gunners
Top Speed: 60 Kilometers per hour over even terrain
Troop Capacity: 20
Cargo Capacity: N/A
Passengers: 20

The Battle of Geonosis marked the first major conflict between the newly formed Confederacy of Independent Systems and the Old Republic. Although Count Dooku and his allies had some understanding of the Republic's military capabilities, the Confederacy was still unprepared for the onslaught of clone troopers, starships, and military vehicles that accompanied the Republic's invasion. Among the many craft deployed at the Battle of Geonosis was Kuat Drive Yards' experimental All Terrain Tactical Enforcer, the first military vehicle to utilize a six-legged walker configuration.

The base AT-TE design was originally built to help mining companies maintain order on far-flung worlds, but the design was extensively revised for combat applications. The AT-TE is a multipurpose tactical assault vehicle. Its mission profiles range from standard transport to full-out attacks on enemy installations. The AT-TE is also ideal in support roles, providing covering fire for ground troops while protecting larger, slower-moving vehicles.

Few ground vehicles have ever achieved the firepower of the AT-TE. The assault craft's primary weapon is a large, turret-mounted heavy projectile cannon designed to accommodate a wide range of ordnance, including explosive bunker busters, heat-seeking projectiles, and sonic charges. The cannon's tremendous range enables it to destroy buildings, artillery, or troop formations before the enemy can react.

The central cannon is flanked by six antipersonnel laser cannons, all mounted on swiveling turrets. The four forward-mounted laser cannons clear deployment zones before troopers are unloaded, while two rear cannons protect the AT-TE from ambushes. When the AT-TE falls under attack by smaller units, the troopers are responsible for defending the vehicle's flanks.

Two troop compartments, located in the front and rear of the vehicle, each hold up to ten armed clone troopers, who can be moved into nearly any type of terrain. The AT-TE's six legs allow it to climb slopes and step over obstacles, while the vehicle's low center of gravity provides a great deal of stability. It is vulnerable to mines, and its short legs limit the gunners' field of view; Kuat Drive Yards would later erase these design flaws with the much taller AT-AT.

Due to its size and complexity, the AT-TE requires a large crew consisting of a pilot, a spotter, and four support members to operate the laser cannons and serve as technicians. A seventh crew member controls the projectile cannon from an external firing chair. Most AT-TEs also keep an IM-6 battlefield medical droid on board.

The walker's plodding pace allows it to penetrate energy shields, which are effective at deflecting the high-velocity repulsorlift systems of flying or hovering craft. The AT-TE's armor is supplemented by electromagnetic shielding that protects the walker from ion cannon or EMP attacks. The walker, like the rest of the clone army's heavy armor, was developed in secret at Rothana Heavy Engineering, a clandestine subsidiary of Kuat Drive Yards

The AT-TE can be transported through space aboard any number of large transports, but they require specialized barges or attack ships to actually land on a planet's surface. During the Clone Wars, AT-TE walkers were carried into an atmosphere and across battlefields in LAAT/c cargo gun-ships, modified versions of the standard Republic gunship.

After the Clone Wars, Palpatine decommissioned many of the AT-TEs in favor of newer and more destructive ground vehicles. Those AT-TEs that were not destroyed eventually saw action on remote Outer Rim worlds during the Galactic Civil War. Because each AT-TE relied on a cargo gunship for planetary transport, many of the vehicles were eventually abandoned.

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