# Q about TIE fighters **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 26, 2016, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789 "2016-10-26T16:52:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789/61 "2016-10-31T10:48:01Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > OK, how about Why did Darth Vader have two wingmen with him? He was coming up on his targets from behind in a narrow trench with no room to maneuver. If their job was to cover Vader so he could concentrate on taking out the Rebel fighter in front of him, then why did they _ **utterly fail to see the Millenium Falcon approaching?** _ The TIE fighter pilot tactical school is next door to the Stormtrooper marksmanship academy. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789/62 "2016-10-31T10:56:42Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > Seems like solar panels would not be very useful unless all of your flying occurs relatively close to a star. They’d be pretty useless even in the range of most outer planets, let alone interstellar space. You’d think the Rebels would figure out, sooner or later, to attack the Empire’s fleet only at night… :smack: ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789/63 "2016-10-31T11:02:08Z")
> [@Pushkin](#): > > But then that expanded universe is all out the window with the demotion of Admiral Thrawn from existence itself. I understand that Thrawn has been jerked back into existence by the “Rebels” tv show, which is official Disney cannon. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789/64 "2016-10-31T15:06:22Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > I understand that Thrawn has been jerked back into existence by the “Rebels” tv show, which is official Disney cannon. This is absolutely true. He’s already appeared in at least one episode of the new season. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789/65 "2016-10-31T16:38:24Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > OK, how about Why did Darth Vader have two wingmen with him? He was coming up on his targets from behind in a narrow trench with no room to maneuver. If their job was to cover Vader so he could concentrate on taking out the Rebel fighter in front of him, then why did they _ **utterly fail to see the Millenium Falcon approaching?** _ Well, the Falcon _was_ diving in out of the sun. Somebody want to check the scene and see which way the shadows were falling during the trench run? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789/66 "2016-11-01T01:39:10Z")
OK, checking the tape… Calling the direction everybody was flying down the trench 12 o’clock, the shadows show the system sun in a middle to low 9 o’clock position (to everybody’s left). Therefore, if Han was diving in out of the sun, he would be approaching from 9 o’clock high. The tape shows just that. The flanker to Vader’s starboard gets hit from a high angle coming down from port. He disintegrates. The port flanker panics, veers into the port trench wall and then into Vader’s fighter. Obviously the Falcon was shielded from view by the trench wall and general Imperial incompetence. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789/67 "2016-11-01T03:56:46Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Obviously the Falcon was shielded from view by the trench wall and general Imperial incompetence. … And the Death Star had no integrated early warning system that would detect something as big as the Falcon penetrating its defense sphere? :dubious: 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789/68 "2016-11-01T05:52:07Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > … And the Death Star had no integrated early warning system that would detect something as big as the Falcon penetrating its defense sphere? :dubious: 😕 What’s a “defense sphere?” ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789/69 "2016-11-01T11:30:05Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > What’s a “defense sphere?” Uhmmm … the area covered by its early warning system and defensive armament (including the TIE fighters)? :dubious: 😕 :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789/70 "2016-11-01T12:52:43Z")
Well look, despite the fact that the detention level on the Deathstar clearly had security cameras, there hasn’t been another one seen on any ship or in any base in any of the movies or TV series. Rebels just stroll down corridors and do as they please until someone spots them and calls it in. Rebels steal Imperial ships and use old codes and somehow they stroll right past Star Destroyers at will. :smack: The Empire (as the Republic before it) is fucking stupid. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789/71 "2016-11-01T14:45:32Z")
Not to mention the question of why the “anti-aircraft” guns didn’t blast the Falcon. The ones in the trench stopped firing because Vader and stooges had dropped into the trench themselves. But the Falcon wasn’t down there. It was up where every single gun in that hemisphere could target it. But nobody saw it and nobody fired at it. Let us not consider that any civilization capable of programming droids like C3PO should be capable of decent fire control computers. Missing isn’t really an option. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789/72 "2016-11-01T16:23:54Z")
The Star Wars universe seems to have a dichotomy on electronic information devices. They have very primitive computers, and droids, and nothing in between: It seems like you can’t actually get anything more advanced than the equivalent of a WWII mechanical gunsight, without going all the way to free will and sapience. And if you’re going to have something with free will controlling your guns, it might as well be a human, since their techniques for conditioning loyalty in soldiers are probably more reliable for humans than for droids. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789/73 "2016-11-01T16:25:52Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > OK, how about Why did Darth Vader have two wingmen with him? He was coming up on his targets from behind in a narrow trench with no room to maneuver. If their job was to cover Vader so he could concentrate on taking out the Rebel fighter in front of him, then why did they _ **utterly fail to see the Millenium Falcon approaching?** _ Isn’t the better question what the heck the rebel X-wing pilots were doing? So for Plot Reasons, one guy has to fly down a trench for half a minute; all right, I’ll accept that. But why would anyone think that the best way to protect him from enemy fighters coming up from the rear is to fly behind him, doing nothing else but, I don’t know, physically blocking the enemy’s shots with your own ship? Really? I mean, you’d do better just throwing the X wing into reverse and physically hitting the TIE fighter behind you; you’re just as dead but at least then you have a hope of doing something to discourage the enemy fighters. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789/74 "2016-11-01T16:54:34Z")
Or maybe flying high cover where you could spot and attack someone coming up on Luke’s six. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789/75 "2016-11-01T19:19:45Z")
There’s a term for someone flying high cover over the top of the trench: [Skeet](https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2011-05-28). Han was able to get away with it because of his plot armor, but do you really think that a no-name like Porkins is going to risk it? I mean, he knows that he basically exists to be sympathetic when he dies-- Why push his luck? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789/76 "2016-11-01T19:40:18Z")
True, true. Of course, they never really came up with a good reason there were AA turbolasers down in the trench to begin with. Those things were designed to repel an enemy fleet, not fighters. Which means firing one down that trench would be like swatting mosquitoes with a shotgun. No amount of plot armor should have saved Luke. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789/77 "2016-11-01T19:40:51Z")
> [@Quercus](#): > > Isn’t the better question what the heck the rebel X-wing pilots were doing? What rebel pilots? After Luke fires his torpedoes, don’t we see like, maybe _four_ surviving fighters fly away? ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789/78 "2016-11-01T19:43:33Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > a no-name like Porkins I know what you mean, but just wanted to point out the irony of calling someone a no-name and then immediately naming him. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789/79 "2016-11-01T19:43:42Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > True, true. Of course, they never really came up with a good reason there were AA turbolasers down in the trench to begin with. Those things were designed to repel an enemy fleet, not fighters. Which means firing one down that trench would be like swatting mosquitoes with a shotgun. No amount of plot armor should have saved Luke. I thought that the towers that were targeted in the first attack run were the ones that could fire down the length of the trench; the turret lasers in the trenches were transverse, meaning each could only target a fighter for a few seconds. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789/80 "2016-11-01T20:20:38Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > What rebel pilots? After Luke fires his torpedoes, don’t we see like, maybe _four_ surviving fighters fly away? 2 X-Wings, the Falcon and a solitary Y-Wing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789.md?page=5)