Why the MTT was actually TERRIFYING 

I just love that the MTT looks like a robotic Brain Bug from Starship Troopers to me. The droid army is actually pretty terrifying when presented as such.

Finally! Someone who recognizes the might of the Droid Army.

The MTT has always been underrated, I think it would be very difficult for a small group of clones to destroy without proper equipment like TX-130 or AT-TE.

Star Wars designs, for a movie franchise that started in 1970s, are absolute timeless bangers

One vehicle I’ve always felt that is so prominent yet is super underrated at the same time is the C-9979 Landing Ship used by the CIS, we always see it yet we don’t get to know much abt it, I’d love to see it covered in a future vid

Weirdly enough, that Episode 1 tie-in game was the best introduction for how terrifying the droid army could actually be. There was one specific sequence where just a single AAT was sitting in a section of the Theed square holding off the entire Royal Guard detachment with the bodies of those unfortunate enough to attack it strewn about. Yeah, once they fought something with the strength of the clone army they were much more vulnerable, but when the droid army was used as a weapon of terror per their original intention, they would be a nightmare to behold.

It's amazing how the AAT and MTT look so Star Wars even though they're a complete departure from the OT design aesthetic. Almost everything in the OT was pointy and angular while these are round and smooth.

Its always a good day when Eck sings praises towards CIS vehicle or ship design.

I always loved the hailfire tanks used by the confederacy of independent systems in the first battle of geonosis. They have such a cool design but apart from that battle they doesn’t get a lot of attention. In my eyes they are perfect glass cannons to pair with mtts and atts seeing how well it counters the republic heavy armor tanks. I don’t know why isn’t it used more. Maybe I’m wrong and if so I’d love if you’d made a video about.. Love your channel and keep up with the amazing work.

The MTT especially in BF2 always seemed like an unstoppable force to me

The droid army if it was ran properly and Sidious wasn’t playing puppet master, could have been one of the most powerful forces the galaxy had ever known

The MTT-Chassis version of the HAG from Star Wars: Starfighter was really cool. Even compared to thr HAG in Pandemic Clone Wars.

The SPHA (Self Propelled Heavy Artillery) would be a nice subject. Yes, I know, MetaNerdz Lore just released their video on it. I think it could be converted into an /awesome/ recreational vehicle, especially if you add repulsorlift engines to turn it into an air speeder or land speeder for better terrain handling.

The biggest thing that never made sense to me is deploying the droids in front. It's designed to take a lot of direct fire in the front, so it can deploy its droids right into the battle field. If that's the case, why deploy your droids between the enemy and your armor? Deploying them from behind would give the droids much more protection as they boot up.

I’d love to see a video detailing all the uses of an SPHA-T

It’d be cool to see a breakdown of the Umbaran vehicles and also why the CIS didn’t use them more often. Seemed pretty devastating in the show.

All the vehicles in the prequels were pretty good. One of my favourites, which also debuted in the Phantom Menace was the STAP - This is honestly one of my favourite designs for a speeder-bike type vehicle. I wish we saw more of them.

The MTT was modelled after elephants so its large complement of droids make sense. It was originally 64 but changed to over a 100. Its massive design allows it to bulldoze as seen in Naboo, and the twin turrets are dangerous. An impressive piece of Tech from Baktoid. It could benefit from an ATTE style top turret and an LAAT rear turret to give it more defensive and offensive capabilities.

I was very scared of the MTT scene when I first saw it. The eerie way they pop up from behind the hill and the oddly realistic battle droids all coming to life.

Love that your doing more Sepratist content. Such an underrated fraction.

Repulsors still need energy, if you hit the power generator or power coupler, the power lines or energy storage, you can take the repulsors out without them itself failing. But given that those parts all all well hidden inside the MTT it´s probably easier to attack the repulsors directly, unless you have a proton torpedo-equipped fighter at hand.

What about the tax collector of the droid army which are the futuristic versions of the Katyusha rocket vehicle but it has two giant wheels and is impractical as heck lol

I had the exact same response! Saw the trailer at the movies at about 9 years old, saw the grass field and thought… “OMG this is Star Wars” I have a feeling it was the sound effects initially or something that made me think immediately of Star Wars…

Why the headless first order ATST is actually terrifying

I remember a line from the phantom mencae which said “theres a thousand terrible things coming this way” which really made me feel the terror of these things

One of the things I noticed when the Battle of Naboo first hit the screens, you don’t see a Gungan ever get shot or killed. Plenty of droids die, but the scene is so one sided and toned down that you don’t see hardly any dead Gungans. Even at the end when they win you barely see any gungan bodies. It always struck me as Lucas catering to kids too much, and I felt the movie suffered from it.

My LEGO set of this troop transport is a pride and joy of mine, sits at the front of a big shelf, I love the way the front opens up

You'd think that the Republic would've used anti-repulsorlift jamming all the time, they already relied on walker's so they could've blanket jammed every battlefield with it and not be affected at all

The ‘Spider Walker’ would be a nice video idea

You may have already looked at it but I think the Recusent Destroyer is very interesting

I have to say, the trade federation and early CIS themed droid army where things were still mostly brown and tan themed is still my favorite era of the droid army.

The tendency to make overly tall ground vehicles is a part of Star Wars' aesthetic that i really like. They feel more sci-fi and alien than just some efficiently designed earth-like vehicles. If i were to offer an upgrade, though, it would be more anti-personnel turrets/firing positions on the tops, for shooting saboteurs; that would also help add to the image of the forces looking down on you.

Shows it can do more then just deploying droids.

Haven't watched yet, but I wanna do the math real quick, so from what I've found, an mtt could hold 112 battle droids. From what I can see from diagrams, a C-9979 Landing craft could hold about 7 mtt along with many att. So if you multiply the amount of 1 mtt (112) by the number of mtt in 1 landing craft (7) you get 784 battle droids brought onto the battlefield.

It would be awesome if you could cover all weapon types again as a video remake

I just got a huge nostalgia burst when you showed that page from one of the Star Wars vehicle books. I absolutely adored those things when I was younger 😊

Very nice! Maybe a Rebel Tanks video? Some of them in the video games are pretty cool.

“I’d be so proud of where I am today.” Fuck yeah, bro. Like no joke, being someone your child self would look up to and be proud of is the ultimate test of manhood. Hell yeah man, keep at it 👏🏻 Even better since I’m not super involved with much social stuffs but I’ve watched and been a subscriber (whether this account or others) of yours since this was just a hobby channel back when you were a single lad, so it’s been hella cool to see you grow.

When I first saw the MTT in theaters i instantly fell in love with the Droid army.

🤔 . . . Maybe compare the different troop transport vehicles & see which one is #1 & such…

Oh the CIS, they were designed for victory, but fated for defeat.

Interesting to see more things from cross-section books.

I think the only things that'd make the MTT better are: 1) Have the troops deploy out the back instead of the front, minimizing the risk of being prematurely destroyed when deploying in a battle. 2) Mount the guns higher to give them better ground and cover clearance. Likewise, I could easily see them as a versatile heavy-armor platform in general. Could easily be converted into a heavy tank or artillery platform with some imagination.

I think the reason the MTT doesn't have lots of fire power is that it is mimicking the US/Western Naval concept of having an Aircraft carrier (MTT) which allows for forward deployment but limited deployment, surrounded by smaller, high fire power destroyers (the HAG-Ms) used to protect that asset. This allows a more versatile deployment as once the droid infantry have dismounted the MTT, the MTT can be left behind without losing much weapons capabilities (as it is quite slow and large it wouldn't be useful in an urban skirmish environment).

I'd enjoy seeing the evolution of battle droids throughout the timeline, from old Republic to post-imperial era, from the HK model to whatever terminator abomination the New Republic made against the Vong.

Just to think if they didn’t have a control ship for droids they would of won

That shot of the Trade Federation army marching on Theed is one of the best shots of the Prequel Trilogy imo, and the battle against the Gungans later is just so good. Shame the rest of the movie couldn't match it.

Do you think the Separatists GAT(Ground Armored Tank) was better than most people gave it credit for? I mean it didn’t have the array of weapons and armor that they AAT had, but it was fast, it’s weapons were perfect for urban environments, and it couldn’t be commandeered due to its droid brain.

The Droid army was some of the most brutal armies to face. It took a modified soldier clone army to defeat them. The Empire wouldn't stand a chance if it wasn't for that deathstar

it's a crime we never got a lego MTT ultimate collector's series set, but there were some real bangers in playsets. If they ever make an UCS one however- I'm gonna get you one

The MTT is cool. I would of liked to have seen it’s troop being unloaded to the rear, as it allows it’s bulk to protect them as they dismount. I agree it needed some type of dual purpose turret on top to deal with air threats and give it more general coverage

I am running a TTRPG using the Fantasy Flight System which is currently set during the Clone Wars. And we have laerned first hand just how utterly terrifying MTTs can be. The goal of the players whenever MTTs are involved to destroy it first (unless there is a Tactical Droid nearby, that's the exception it seems) lol

Would love a video on the CIS “snail tank” !

A upload in the morning what is this ? Glad to see a upload

Although i love you stated its ramming and breakthrough doctrine lets not forget the turrets. The two front blasters are by design meant for anti-tank roles. That is to help push the line forward in battle while taking on harder assets or fortified positions of the enemy. This means that in traditional tank divisions the infantry support the tank and the tank supports the infantry. Both are designed to compliment each other in their respective weaknesses and unfortunately both are still vulnerable to air attacks or even artillery.

This seems to also be influenced by old siege engines. Mainly battering rams. They also functioned to protect an attack force underneath it.

I recall the tanks rolling over the hill as the first trailer too

Having to unload the troops on the front is a big design flaw, being able to unload troops in the back or maybe sides would make this thing so much better. (exposing the droids during unloading might be OK to show their disposability but also you open up your main armor...) If it should work analog to a landing ship as kind of a breech vehicle troops need to be able to disembark combat ready... The same unloading mechanism in the back would be very powerful - fornt of the vehicle gives suppressing fire and protection and then the whole Droid squad emerges with all firepower from the back.

I like the large backside that I assume can deploy a few STAP units that would be able to cover a few of the flanks and being a droid army all you need is one droid to see someone on the flank and now the entire force knows something is up

The MTT really is perfect for the job. The ability to transport and quickly deploy mass amounts of relatively fragile droids is incredibly valuable. Lets be honest a B1 series is going to have major issues navigating a bombed out city or an uneven dense jungle before you even factoring in things like enemy resistance or bombardment. But with an MTT you can cross rough terrain safely while clearing a corridor for tanks and less sturdy transports.

A video on the turbo tank better known as the juggernaught of the GAR would be great to see.

The design would be improved immensely by simply having the droids deploy from the rear where they won't be getting shot at plus preventing enemy fire from entering through the hull and causing serious damage. More weapons and armor could then be added to the front to further protect the battle droids as they're deploying. As it is, the MTT seems more designed with the movie's vision of Napoleonic warfare and getting that shot on the Naboo plains rather than actual practicality as an armored troop transport. Edit: also, for urban combat it really should have a number of small rapid fire blaster cannons along the sides and top since as it is, it's completely defenseless from lateral attacks from infantry with anti-armor weaponry.

Now I wondering if thr MTT is really a vehicle or is actually a droid. Some of the drawings seems to show vulture-droid like photoreceptors at the top. And it wouldn't be the first time we see a vehicle that's actually a droid in the CIS army, their gunships too are both droids and transport crafts at the same time.

6:30 While it has a very small part in the movie, this craft actually has two lego sets! One in 2000, as literally just the MTT rack on a sled as was mentioned, and another, slightly modified one in 2007 of just a platform that droids stand on. Pretty neat what the set designers manage to find for reference material.

The one big shortcoming I see is the positioning of those canons. Low to the ground and near the front, they're limited in their field of view even when firing straight ahead, and virtually useless for defensive firing. They'd also be easy to sabotage down there, one of the few pieces of exposed equipment visible at ground level. And being at the front of the vehicle, an MTT couldn't really ram through a wall without destroying its own canons, which don't look robust enough for that impact. I would put one on the upper part of the side walls, giving them nearly as good forward coverage in the x-y plane but adding the ability to fire down on targets further off in the distance, as well as some degree of visibility to the side and allowing them to be shielded during ramming attacks. I'd also add a third anti-air canon on the top rear section to defend against fighters/bombers coming from behind while still being shielded from the front by the massive hull (infantry attacks from behind aren't as big a concern, if this thing has infantry coming from behind things are already not going well anyway)

I remember seeing that trailer in theaters too, my god how hpye little 8 year old me was

I want the original Droid gunship that's in the background of your last clip. There's like NO LORE about those at all

Of course! Not only does it shoot at you but the spawn in a bunch of battle droids from its face!

"You don't really see repulsorlifts fail." Jabiim would like to have a word with you. ;)

The Trade Federation/CIS have some awesome vehicle designs. Even if the B1s are often used for comic relief, the droid army overall is pretty intimidating.

Heck yeah! So happy to see some positive Star Wars content. Thanks Ecks!

They are the most terrifying army to ever exist to be honest. Droids that dont bleed, they can lose an arm or a leg, but they will still hold the line and shoot you. They dont fear, they fight to the last droid. You cant scare them into submission unless you are targeting whoever is controlling them. They dont freeze to death or need any kind of sleep other than charging. They dont need food, they dont complain and do not betray. Without the OP Jedi and some plot armor there is absolutely no way for CIS to lose against the republic. But of course it doesnt matter, when the whole clone wars was just a spectacle made by the Emprah

When I first saw the MTT as an 8 year old even back then I was impressed by it. It just looked so cool at how it could deploy B1 droids so efficiently.

The only thing I don't like about the MTT is that the troops disembark from the front. I know this is likely because of designs based off of WWII landing craft, but they disembarked from the from the front because the sides would likely still be in the water (though a number of troops probably did jump over the side rather that using the front ramp when under fire). If I were to change it, I'd give it side doors that swing open making a barrier extending sideways from the front of the craft and have the droid racks deploy from the side behind the doors. This would provide cover for the droids to fight from and protect them while they deploy and activate. Perhaps also provide an additional option for the side door to move upward so they can be opened in environments where there would not normally be enough space, or if the deployment zone is safe and the droids just need to move out as quickly as possible. They you could also move the guns on the front a bit higher up for better fields of fire, or I guess just put more guns on in.

I really would like a more in depth video on the at-te model variants.

Finally droids getting recognized

Agreed. The MTT is a great vehicle! It is a bit slow and bulky, but it carries a lot of troops and protects them well. It can even provide direct fire support. As we see in the Clone Wars, these things can transport a ton of cargo, too. Definitely a workhorse of the CIS.

Honestly love vehicles/equipment/moments like this where an army of machines acts/deploys like an army of machines. There isn't enough fiction that explores the simplistic and brutal nature of mass use robot armies. The only major improvements I could see for this big dumb battering ram is maybe to move its guns up higher, add a turret to its roof for support, and deploy the droids out to either side of it as opposed to opening its front and innards to the enemy. Moving the weapons up and adding a turret to the roof let it serve a better support role while preserving its armor and making it less vulnerable. Deploying out to the sides would let it disgorge troops without them getting shot to pieces or blocking its firing arcs. keep the racks though thats the best part bar none.

Definitely would love to see you cover more Droid and CIS hardware, havent gotten to watch much Clone Wars yet so had no idea that the Dropships operated by just hanging the droids underneath the back.

I love the MTT as a vehicle, pretty much because it's the only true apc type vehicle we've seen in Star Wars. But yeah, the lack of rear fire coverage has always been an issue with vehicles in this franchise. Scifi in general really. Just look at the AT-AT or hell, the MTT. All the guns are up front, which means they would need infantry or another smaller unit, like the AT-ST covering the camel walkers at Hoth to protect their rears.

The amount of time it takes to deploy the full B1 company is a weakness that precludes its use as an IFV

Glad to see you talk about CIS Hardware, my all time favorite faction. Would love to see this trend continue, I hope you cover some other vehicles like the GAT or AAT

As I look at the MTT design one of the glaring faults I can see is the unloading of combat unites in the front and the front opening up. That whole process would leave combatants exposed while getting situated while opening up the armor for a RPG or some other high explosive round to hit the droid rack or go further back and hit the critical functions. They really should have the rear open up for troops to leave so they could use the transport for cover while they get situated.

Every troop transport is terrifying in Star Wars AT-AT AT-TE Turbo Tank

Single Trooper Aerial Platform (STAP) you can see a few starting at 1:02

While it would have looked significantly worse, I think in terms of practicality it could have turned the rear bit above the engine into a deck for droids with some cover, allowing it to have that infantry support in urban environment that so plagues tank-like vehicles. I'd imagine this being vaguely similar to how LVTs and M113s were modified for jungle environments.

I like the inspection scene on Ryloth.

I always loved this design

Any video talking about the MTT gets an instant like

"Aesthetically, it's completely alien." It literally just looks like an armoured train. Pretty mundane, if anything. Having personnel have to exit from the front, instead of rear, directly into enemy fire, was an obvious flaw, too.

the 2007 LEGO MTT was my pride and joy

Wouldn't it make more sense to deploy the troops from the back? When the front opens up, that presents an opening in the armour to the opposing side.

Imagine if they had something like a MTT for Droidekas and Commando droids

They are extremely sturdy, and also carry metric tons of droids.

I like the part where Eck rattled on about how good the MTT was while the video showed helpless battledroids getting blaster fire poured into them mid-deployment. It really should deploy from the rear, giving the droids time to activate under cover of the MTT's bulk.

It’s rare but when watching episode 1 the phantom menace, you can literally see each item that was clearly made only to be a toy and only animated “after” the fact.

Please cover the Prodeka or Seperatist Super tank.

I like it overall, the only problems I had with it were the placement of the chin turrets and the main door. The barrels on the chin turrets are too flimsy for me to think they wont get damaged breaking through obstacles. the turrets should be higher to fire over your troops as they deploy allowing suppressing fire, and back a bit so the chin can be more bulldozer like indeed ramming trough anything. As they are, they can't fire while troops are unloading, wasting them. The other issue is having that the massive flip up door is bad design for a hostile environment. if hydraulics fail from combat or the environment, that is not opening ever, or it will be a long manual override task. that is why most landing craft have the door drop, so if it jams/loses power, gravity opens it and you can still get your troops out. I thought the door should move forward attached to the rack, shielding the droids from enemy fire while deploying. If heavy resistance, one rocket blows all your droids up while deploying, but keeping that massive shield door in front doesn't waste its primary function while unloading. I'm not sure the limits of repulsor fields are to help push through obstacles though and feel this should be legged or tracked if that is a requirement, to break through buildings. It should have some form of system to plant the unit for leverage.

I’d like to know more about the AT-AP or AV-7 Cannon, maybe the UT-AT too! The MTT was a favorite of mine, always looked cool and I loved the way the troops were deployed.

So I have one major issue with the MTT: That is the fact that it disembarks it's droid troops forwards without any type of shielding or armor. As it's supposedly designed to deploy in combat, seems a bit silly to me that the heavily armored hatch designed to take substantial blaster and kinetic energy damage, is lifted up and away exposing the droids AND the interior of the MTT to frontal fire. Now it can be argued that troops would be deployed before combat, but if that's the case, why would you even need to use the MTT as a troop transport in the first place when the Platoon Attack Craft does the same job for fewer resources and higher speeds?