And the understandably remorseful gunner was a character in the Legends novel Death Star, which was an ensemble piece about people who lived on, worked on, and helped build the thing
Other fun facts from that novel (now thoroughly decanonized) was that the engineers did catch the exhaust port vulnerability, but only just after that segment had finished getting built.
Rogue One as a film is a pretty entertaining watch, but I think the grand spectacle of the Death Star getting around and the Rebel fleet getting beaten down doesn't... really add much to A New Hope?
That said, I liked Rogue One and likened it to a Star Wars tabletop game where most of the characters are like Level 5 and are out of their depth for the campaign they're in but they make it work
I mean, other than "why would the Death Star respond to a covert operation" most of what I'm talking about having a problem with is on the meta level, as a story
Yes, a story within a greater overarching narrative, but I think dialing back the spectacle of it would make it more consistent with the beats of the movie it's a prequel to and no less effective as a human tale.
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