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While Battle of Hoth was considered a major victory for Galactic Empire, Empire did fail to fully crush Rebel Alliance because rebels (mainly, leaders) successfully escaped (probably, this is the reason Darth Vader executed Admiral Kendar Ozzel).

Rebel escape was always a possibility. Why weren't there Interdictor-class Star Destroyers (AKA, Hyperspace Interdiction Cruisers) in Battle of Hoth?

I have almost forgotten, but rebel fighters did provide some cover against Empire fire. But, I don't think it'd work on Hyperspace Interdiction Cruisers as they could pull a ship from hyperspace.

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    Because they weren't invented until KotOR in 2004. Adding them to Hoth would require a reton. Again.
    – Brian S
    Commented Dec 11, 2014 at 18:48
  • Actually, it was an Interdictor cruiser that caused Han Solo to have to dump his spice shipment. Since that happened before ANH, there could have been interdictors at Hoth, there just weren't.
    – Thorin Schmidt
    Commented Dec 11, 2014 at 19:22
  • @ThorinSchmidt in-universe chronologically speaking, yes - but as Brian S pointed out, they hadn't been created out-of-universe when ESB was released. In order for them to appear now, it would require another retcon and update to the movie, or at least the novelization and/or stories/games that deal with that battle.
    – phantom42
    Commented Dec 11, 2014 at 20:04

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Interdictors are most effective in the spacelanes away from natural gravity wells. While it can be argued that the presence of Interdictors would have made escape trickier, their influence would have been marginal. Hoth itself was a natural gravity well that extended in all directions.

Interdictors generate artificial gravity wells in the shape of a cone, so all a ship has to do is manuver out of the cone, and suddently, they can go into hyperspace. The projectors are massive, embedded in the ships superstructure, so "aiming" requires the ship to manuver. Which means that they are best used in ambushes, rather than assaults. Although Grand Admiral Thrawn showed that any sort of ship can be used offensively, given the right circumstances.

Finally, Interdictors are rare. There may simply have been no time to get one to Hoth in time.

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