In the original movie we see them devastate the rebels when capturing the ship. We see Obi-Wan mention that the shots on the jawa transport are too accurate for sand people so they must be Imperial. We see a lot of missed shots as they escape, but as you said and as Leia herself noted, they got away far too easily.
And then there's Rogue One/Andor that shows the true side. Andor kicked scary up a notch for even the base stormtrooper.
If you can see mold on part of bread that's wrapped up, that means there's probably microscopic growth that's already spread past the part you see to other sections. Cutting the big part won't help you. The whole thing needs to go, it's contaminated.
I got that same sense as an adult looking back at the original. It's canon.
"Secretary of WAR!" - screams Pete drunkenly, probably
Get out of here with your real answers. 😜
I think the actual answer even with this source is, we sort of have some clues, but we have more questions too.
Two things you don't want to hear from your doctor. "Oh wow..." and "Oh no..."
Outside of all the assumptions to make this work, the real issue is that the "dark side" doesn't cool you like you're thinking. Getting rid of heat in space is actually a hard problem to solve as a vacuum is a great insulator. Heat has to be radiated away, and that takes time and lots of surface area.
Great additions. And the biggest Imperial vulnerability remained the same as it had always been throughout. Cassian points this out in an early episode - they're so full of themselves being the Empire that you can just walk in if you blend in. They can't imagine someone having the balls to do that. Even in late RotJ we see that, the trick to open the door to the shield control. Of course someone with a walker is going to be them, telling them to open up. Who else could it be? Arrogant to the end. Hell, Palpatine at that point, even after him devising this plan for so long and right under the Jedi, is so proud and sure of himself at the end. He has foreseen it all, and how could these rebel insects win now?
And I mean he's almost right. He's just not paying attention to minor details.