The Essential Guide to Force Exile/AAT

Description
In the early years of the Yanibar Guard, there was insufficient manpower and technology available to deploy a full-fledged army. To bolster the ranks, the Yanibar Guard used old Separatist armaments available from an abandoned shipyard and supply base. Among the equipment they used was the Armored Assault Tank, or AAT, the lethal tanks that had become notorious across the galaxy during the Invasion of Naboo. The AAT provided the Yanibar Guard with some modicum of armored firepower and, being a droid, was considered more or less expendable.

Kraechar Arms made practically no modifications to the AAT. The only significant change that was performed was re-configuring the control circuitry to respond to Yanibar Guard control matrices. Otherwise, the AAT remained virtually unchanged. A fairly large repulsortank, it sported a varied armament package effective against a wide range of threats while its repulsorlifts afforded it a respectable top speed. Its main laser cannon could fire on targets at ranges of up to 3 kilometers away, and, given that hundreds of AATs were present at the abandoned supply base where Kraechar Arms salvaged older Separatist hardware, they could be deployed en masse.

History
The AAT was originally designed by Baktoid Armor Workshop for the Trade Federation. The droid-crewed tanks soon earned notoriety across the galaxy when they steamrolled the peaceable planet of Naboo and engaged Gungans in the Battle of the Grassy Plains. While the Trade Federation ultimately was defeated, it had not been the fault of the AAT.

As such, the Trade Federation continued to build AATs, and when it joined the Confederacy, those thousands of AATs came with them, seeing action on a hundred battlefields during the Clone Wars. However, after the droid armies were deactivated, most of the remaining AATs were scrapped by the newly victorious Galactic Empire.

The Confederacy had placed several sizable supply dumps in hidden locations in the Outer Rim, though, and some AATs survived there until the Empire, pirates, or warlords found them. In early 15 BBY, the location of one such shipyard was divulged to the fugitive Jedi Knight Selusda Kraen by a pirate named Sulan'bask. Selusda would use many weapon systems from this shipyard to help equip the Yanibar Guard, the newly formed defense force of his Jedi refuge, including AATs.

The first AATs were activated in Yanibar Guard service in 11 BBY, and while some members of the army&mdash;particularly those had that fought them in the Clone Wars&mdash;disapproved of their use, they were still among the best vehicles available to the Yanibar Guard at the time and were quite numerous. Later, in 2 BBY, the AAT fleet received an upgrade that added a basic shield generator and re-engined the AATs for more speed and stability.

Behind the scenes
AATs were one of several canonical droid types that Force Exile author Atarumaster88 decided to equip the Yanibar Guard with. His reason for employing such large numbers of droids was that having Yanibar Guard commander Selusda Kraen know about an abandoned Separatist storehouse had long been an important story element, and because the Yanibar Guard was numerically quite small. Utilizing droids such as the AAT provided an easy way to increase their numbers and firepower. The AAT in particular was chosen due to its blend of armor, survivability, and speed, as well as being one of the most common droid types employed by the Confederacy.

Appearances

 * Yanibar Guard Sourcebook