Idiocy at the Battle of Yavin

[Darth Garden Gnome]

Are the other missed tries canon? Shouldn't we see other charred splotches along the exhaust port area if four more attempts were made?

[Mad]

Redleader had a lock, just as Luke did, so at that point they are in parity. Now whether or not someone jammed Redleader's guidence on the missile and for some reason not Luke's; is an interesting question. However, let's say that did happen, why didn't the Imps try to jam the missile on it's 80km journey down the shaft?

They would both have the same level of jamming. Of course, the thing with jamming is that it's random. If you look at Vader's screen, his targets are jumping around in ways that the actual targets are not. (Remember: the Imperials were affected by the jamming as well.)

Each torpedo will take a different path even if they are fired at the exact same position and velocity relative to the target.

And? If the missile was guided, and had a lock with a targeting computer giving it it's data, once they have a solution (and presumably updating the solution) what does that matter?

Because the quality of the targeting information, exit velocity, position, and vector relative to the target, and other factors can all vary depending on the timing the pilot.

Correct, he turned off his targeting computer. So, how did the torpedo make that nasty turn? Internal guidence, preprogramed or did Luke Force push it or was the Force working in mysterous ways?

Probably preprogrammed due to the jamming the Rebels knew they would encounter. Luke had to make a significant effort just to Force-pull his lightsaber from some snow in ESB, I highly doubt he caused two torpedoes to make 90 degree turns in midflight.

Regardless, the torpedoes needed to know exactly where they were in relation to their target in order to make the turn properly. That means firing when your sensor data is the most accurate as your targetting computer tries to burn through the jamming and the jamming shifts up to outwit your targetting computer.

Funny you should bring up statistics; three made the run, two didn't make it and one did- using the Force. Out of non-Force using pilots; 0% made the shot. If you take the data of the other four offscreen runs to heart, then it makes it worse.

If you're going to talk about statistics, then you should already know that a sample size this low is meaningless in this context.

Remember: Bast evacuated and survived.

[Bladed_Crescent]

I think I need a better quality of tinfoil, since Mad more or less stole my thoughts....

In any event, I'll try to muddle along and get out the concepts that haven't been pilfered....

Redleader had a lock, just as Luke did, so at that point they are in parity. Now whether or not someone jammed Redleader's guidence on the missile and for some reason not Luke's; is an interesting question. However, let's say that did happen, why didn't the Imps try to jam the missile on it's 80km journey down the shaft?

Mad covered much of this already, so I'll address the latter point. From ROTJ: "Lock onto the strongest power source; it should be the main generator." That is, they were using the Death Star's own reactor to guide them in through the heavy jamming. I don't think it requires too much effort to get the warheads' on-board computer to track the main generator through a straight shaft in a similar fashion. Admittedly, I'm no expert on SW technarcana, but covering up the power signature of a reactor more powerful than a sun seems a bit more difficult than fritzing with a fighters HUD, especially since they were unable to do it in ROTJ.

In addition, at the speeds and acceleration Wars ships and missiles are capable of, the torpedoes should have been at the core very quickly, giving any jamming far less time to affect their guidance. It's not like in ROTJ where they'd have to dodge exposed girders and weave through infrastructure, or on the surface where the fighters would have to slow down to avoid even a miniscule course correction pasting them along the trench's surface (of course, that might be an issue with the torpedoes inside as well).

Just on a point of curiousity, though - would the jamming even have affected them once they were inside the Death Star through its bulk?

He fired when he had a computer lock. While I'm sure he felt the presure from Vader behind him, he still waited until his targeting computer locked on target and then fired.

Then we're in agreement. What I was trying to get at was that he fired as soon as he had that initial lock, he didn't try and get closer - to get additional sensor data, a better fix, whatever.

And? If the missile was guided, and had a lock with a targeting computer giving it it's data, once they have a solution (and presumably updating the solution) what does that matter?

It matters in this case because Red Leader fired the moment he had the first shooting solution; another pilot who managed to hang in longer would naturally have a different result as his sensors adapated to the ECM and vice-versa.

[Patrick Degan]

A stroke of pure luck which wouldn't have mattered in the slightest if Tarkin had put up enough fighters to prevent the Rebels from making the attack run at all.

Which means exactly jack and shit considering that Tarkin's countermeasures even as they were had proven largely effective. This is seen in the movie. Argue against it as much as you like.

Bullshit. His countermeasures allowed two Rebels to take clean shots at his only fatal weakness, the second resulting in the destruction of his battlestation. All the excuses you care to make doesn't change the fact that the Death Star is now a debris field orbiting Yavin and the Rebels lived on to fight another day.

YOUR bullshit, actually --with no evidence to back the contention that any further measures taken beyond deploying fighters and putting up flack would have totally prevented any fighters from getting through. NO defence is 100% effective. Also nice of you to ignore the plain fact that any force of TIE fighters has to cover an orbit around the battlestation in order to make their own attack runs on the Rebels, which means that the coverage is inevitably going to be porous whether you have 30 or 300 craft in the space above.

Ah, I see that we're expecting perfect performance which actually never happens in real-world combat situations and this is your basis for the charge against Tarkin?

When the target is a six foot wide hole in the ground that can only be approached at low speed from one direction, you outnumber the enemy by at least two orders of magnitude, and if the enemy hits that target the entire battlestation is destroyed? Yes, I do expect perfection, when perfection is defined as "allow no Rebels to take a clean shot at the exhaust port", because it would have been trivial to achieve and the costs of scrambling a slightly larger force to achieve it are miniscule compared to the consequences of failure. Even having three TIEs coming up the trench from the opposite direction, or orbiting above the exhaust port to fire down on the lead fighter as it approached would have been enough to disrupt the shot.

Except the first Rebel pilot did not get "a clean shot" at the exhaust port but missed despite having instrument sighting on the target. Vympel has already pointed this out. The defence deployed had reduced the Rebels to about three or four pilots, only one of which was still capable of action. And your attempt to liken a combat over a space-borne battlefortress in an environment in which all motion is orbital by necessity to combat over the ground in a terrestrial airwar environment is ludicrous to say the least.

You tell me, genius, how often a large force is scrambled to combat a miniscule-scale threat in the real world, because that doesn't happen either. Tarkin had no reason to deploy more fighters to deal with at most two dozen X-Wings, and the defence he did put up had succeeded in whittling down the Rebel attack literally to their last pilot.

An extra dozen to one hundred fighters is a large force when you have thousands of TIEs in reserve, is it? Why don't you tell me where in real life commanders scramble just enough to repel an attack when it's possible to scramble a large enough force to overwhelm the enemy without expending more than a fraction of their own resources?

Oh I see. So if, say, two jets approach a present-day CVBG, the admiral scrambles his entire fucking airwing or even a whole squadron to meet a miniscule threat instead of just a patrol of two or three interceptors? Hate to tell you this, but real-world military commanders have scaled their response to a threat proportionally. The only time a large force is actually deployed is when it's expected that you're going to be combatting a large force. Such was certainly not the case at Yavin.

You're the one asserting a non-Force user couldn't have made that shot.

Based on our seeing that an ordinary pilot in fact did miss. I'm sorry if the movie evidence just doesn't suit you.

A single pilot misses by less than the diameter of the port and you conclude it's totally impossible for a normal human to make that shot, even by the same blind luck you assert is what cost Tarkin the battle. You're right, the movie evidence doesn't suit me, and at any rate, it was within Tarkin's power to ensure that the Rebels couldn't take that shot at all.

It matters not one jot whether you choose to accept the movie evidence or not. It's there, on screen, and you can whine like a little bitch about it all you wish. We saw that even with instrument sighting, an experienced combat pilot missed a target which several other pilots in the pre-attack briefing doubted could be hit as well. We have Obi Wan Kenobi's voice urging Luke to use the Force instead of a computer --which was part of the whole point of the movie (remember that whole "your eyes can deceive you, don't trust them" exchange?) and which is reinforced by Luke repeatedly failing when he doesn't use the Force.

And concession accepted on the Milennium Falcon point, which you decided not to address in favor of being cute with c&p rebuttals. A freighter somehow managed to slip through the "perfectly adequate" AA and fighter screen and get close enough to the trench to cover Luke. It's too bad Tarkin didn't have fighters doing the same thing, because then neither Red Leader nor Luke could have even taken a shot on the port.

No concession was offered, troll. The Millenium Falcon's appearance would still have not been enough to alter the outcome HAD LUKE DECIDED TO USE HIS COMPUTER INSTEAD OF THE FORCE. Nor does it take into account TIE fighters being out of position due to their own orbital motion around the battlestation. So take your grandiose "concession accepted" pronouncement and cram it up your ass.

Oh wait --you're still full of bullshit. Really, if we're going to be citing "what people thought" as evidence of anything, what about the pilots who thought the attack was impossible in the first place? The guys who, you know, have more cockpit time than Dodonna? An opinion backed up by the fact that one of their pilots actually missed the port despite having instrument-sighting on the target.

The fact that Bast was right and they were wrong is a good start. So is the fact that if Red Leader fired his torpedo a half second later, or the torpedo made its turn a meter forward of where it did, Luke's Force abilities would have been entirely irrevelant. And while we're on "if" (since your entire defense of Tarkin has hinged on "if" anyway), if Milennium Falcon had had proton torpedoes of its own, it could have attempted the shot at a much easier angle than the X-wings did, because Tarkin's "adequate" defenses did nothing from prevent it from entering the battle zone.

The only thing Bast cited was that the Rebels were focussing an attack where a vulnerability existed, not that the Death Star was in imminent danger of destruction. His suggestion to Tarkin to have his evac craft standing by was based more on political deference. You may notice that Bast does not recommend aborting the attack, nor does he recommend scrambling more fighters. And your speculations on what would have happened if Red Leader did A or B differently are wholly irrelevant: he had instrument sighting on his target and precision timing and despite those, his shot still missed. The movie makes clear that if Luke doesn't use the Force but trusts his computer instead, his shot will miss. Saying the MF could have made the shot is truly laughable --from a totally off-angle approach at a higher velocity with less time to line up on the port particulary as Han Solo has to quickly alter his own trajectory or crash into the Death Star's surface. Beyond this, you don't even have clue one why it is far more difficult for a fast-moving fighter to hit anything in the first place even with targeting and just about impossible for it to hit anything at all without massed fire, which was what made the task Dodonna was asking of his pilots so difficult that they bitched about it in the pre-attack briefing.

Actually, no he didn't. There were no set procedures in that day for ensuring that the ship's captain was kept updated on wireless messages received and the two wireless operators were not ship's crew but employees of the Marconi Wireless Co. It was not even required to maintain 24-hour wireless watch in that time, which was why Jack Phillips didn't pass along the last ice warnings to the bridge before getting through his stack of private transmissions.

Absolute bullshit.

Yours, actually.

**snipping Red's pretentions at Titanic expertise**

Both the British and the far more rigorous American inquiries into the disaster found that Capt. Smith's actions were well within the boundaries of correct behaviour for a ship master. He steered further south to avoid ice fields in anticipation of finding such and, while he was not on the bridge, had discussed the necessity for increased alertness on a flat-calm sea with both Second Officer Lightoller and First Officer Murdoch. Lookouts were posted. History does not support your charge of negligence against Capt. Smith.

And since we're both in the habit of repeating ourselves in this debate, I'll ask again: since when are military commanders not responsible for taking precautions to cover unforseen eventualities?

What "unforseen eventuality" would Tarkin have otherwise forseen? That the Rebels had a Force-user in their attack squadron? Not even Bast, one of the authorities you keep citing, saw that one coming. I wasn't aware that military commanders are also supposed to take the supernatural into account when going into battle and plan their countermeasures accordingly.

[LordShaithis]

This is the dumbest debate I've ever seen here. Guy has a million fighters, launches three, and dies. If he launched ten, he'd have won. Open and shut. Yes, that's incompetent.

[Vympel]

Remember: Bast evacuated and survived.

Nitpick, that part of the Holiday Special has been determined as N-canon.

[Mad]

Nitpick, that part of the Holiday Special has been determined as N-canon.

Where was this stated?

[Knife]

They would both have the same level of jamming. Of course, the thing with jamming is that it's random. If you look at Vader's screen, his targets are jumping around in ways that the actual targets are not. (Remember: the Imperials were affected by the jamming as well.)

Each torpedo will take a different path even if they are fired at the exact same position and velocity relative to the target.

Yes, yes. Performance envelope. I would imagine that the TARGETING COMPUTER should be able to take these spec's into account. It is, after all, a TARGETING COMPUTER.

It would be pretty silly to go into battle with a weapons system that your targeting system isn't compatible with nor can calculate the solution to your target with in what would be a normal combat enviroment.

Because the quality of the targeting information, exit velocity, position, and vector relative to the target, and other factors can all vary depending on the timing the pilot.

You see, I'm having a hard time with this. They fly fighters that pull thousands of gee's. Fire torpedos that turn on a dime, representing thousands more gee's. And yet, their targeting computer wouldn't be able to take into account these enviroments well enough to adjust the tragectory of said weapon on a narrow approach cone that was fairly level.

So, if what you're implying is true, then it comes down to the skill in which the pilot can manually release his weapons according to the audio cue built into the targeting system (which may or maynot be skewed by jamming that would effect the missile as well).

That's fucking stupid.

Probably preprogrammed due to the jamming the Rebels knew they would encounter. Luke had to make a significant effort just to Force-pull his lightsaber from some snow in ESB, I highly doubt he caused two torpedoes to make 90 degree turns in midflight.

So you're saying that it was timed released manually by the pilot?

And for the record, I wasn't actually putting forth the argument that Luke Forced pushed the missiles.

Regardless, the torpedoes needed to know exactly where they were in relation to their target in order to make the turn properly. That means firing when your sensor data is the most accurate as your targetting computer tries to burn through the jamming and the jamming shifts up to outwit your targetting computer.

Redleader had a lock, wasn't fuzzy on the screen and wasn't jumpy like Vaders. Plus, if it was preprogramed, then that would negate jamming after launch unless it's the funky jamming that degrades performance, like what effected the Xwings themselves.

If the jamming was of that sort, it should have still had an effect on Skywalkers too, even after it dived into the port (still had 80km's to go from there) and still had no effect.

If you're going to talk about statistics, then you should already know that a sample size this low is meaningless in this context.

Remember: Bast evacuated and survived.

*shrug* He brought up statistics, anyway, the sample size was 10% of the force.

[Mad]

Yes, yes. Performance envelope. I would imagine that the TARGETING COMPUTER should be able to take these spec's into account. It is, after all, a TARGETING COMPUTER.

You misunderstand. I'm not talking about the performance envelope of the torpedoes. I'm talking about the sensor data giving a different target position each time, because the jamming will randomize the sensor readings.

It would be pretty silly to go into battle with a weapons system that your targeting system isn't compatible with nor can calculate the solution to your target with in what would be a normal combat enviroment.

And exactly how is it going to accomplish this? Once a torpedo is launched, the sensor data and communications link between them are both going to be affected by jamming.

The sensors being jammed will mean the fighter and torpedo cannot precisely know where they are in relation to each other.

The communications link being jammed will make the data transmission much less reliable and/or slower. I'm sure you noted the audible static in Rebel communications during the battle.

Once the torpedoes have been launched, the data feed from the targetting computer becomes much, much less reliable. Maybe it'd work in some circumstances, but the heavy jamming in place during the Battle of Yavin would not be those circumstances.

You see, I'm having a hard time with this. They fly fighters that pull thousands of gee's. Fire torpedos that turn on a dime, representing thousands more gee's. And yet, their targeting computer wouldn't be able to take into account these enviroments well enough to adjust the tragectory of said weapon on a narrow approach cone that was fairly level.

I'd love to know how that's possible when the targetting computer doesn't know where the target is. That's what jamming does: it makes the position of the target uncertain. It makes its best guess, but if that guess is wrong, the torpedo is going to miss.

So, if what you're implying is true, then it comes down to the skill in which the pilot can manually release his weapons according to the audio cue built into the targeting system (which may or maynot be skewed by jamming that would effect the missile as well).

That's fucking stupid.

Perhaps you could propose a more reliable solution keeping in mind that you have a target that appears to be jumping wildly and randomly around with no apparent pattern, and where you cannot communicate reliably your position to the torpedo? (Remember: Vader had to constantly adjust his targeting computer to compensate for the jamming because the jamming kept changing.)

So you're saying that it was timed released manually by the pilot?

It's not exactly timed. The missile would be preprogrammed to make the turn when it gets above the target, and simply needs to reach the target. The problem in the scenario is discovering where the target actually is.

The target lock is the point where the computer thinks it knows where the target is. If you fire but the computer is wrong, the torpedo will miss. Even after it has lock, the jamming is constantly changing so the computer is still trying to adjust.

Redleader had a lock, wasn't fuzzy on the screen and wasn't jumpy like Vaders. Plus, if it was preprogramed, then that would negate jamming after launch unless it's the funky jamming that degrades performance, like what effected the Xwings themselves.

That's silly. Why would the torpedoes somehow be immune to those effects?

As for not being fuzzy: so? That just means the computer thinks it knows where the target is and is displaying the data accordingly. There's no guarantee that the data is accurate.

If the jamming was of that sort, it should have still had an effect on Skywalkers too, even after it dived into the port (still had 80km's to go from there) and still had no effect.

That's the preprogrammed part. Also, we don't know how far down the shaft the torpedo actually had to get, to my knowledge. The briefing display is ambiguous on this point: was the flashing heading down the shaft the torpedo or the chain reaction?

We also don't know what Force abilities Luke used. Based on the training Obi-Wan gave Luke on board the Falcon, it very well may have been as simple as "if you fire now, the targeting data will be accurate enough to score a hit" much like it was "if you move your lightsaber here, you can block the droid's blasts" while training.

*shrug* He brought up statistics, anyway, the sample size was 10% of the force.

He brought them up properly. And 10% of the force is not 10% of all pilots.

As for why this is insufficient: you could walk into a room where people are playing Monopoly and see someone roll doubles 3 times in a row and get sent to jail. The chances of rolling doubles is 1 in 6. But from your very limited data, you could "conclude" that the chances of rolling doubles is 100% even though the chances of not rolling doubles is actually higher (5/6).

To conclude that the shot is impossible for all non-Force sensitive pilots on such limited data is a textbook hasty generalization fallacy.

[Wyrm]

This is the dumbest debate I've ever seen here. Guy has a million fighters, launches three, and dies. If he launched ten, he'd have won. Open and shut. Yes, that's incompetent.

I think it's even worse than that. I don't think that the guy launched even one fighter. (See my previous post.) That is ultimate incompetence.

[Vympel]

Where was this stated?

Leland Chee on the main site: Link

The Holocron entries linked to the Holiday Special cover all levels of continuity. Some of the cantina aliens created but were not seen in Ep IV that made it into the Holiday Special are considered G. For things that are non-G, if they are referenced by another source, they are C (this includes Life Day, the Panna system, and Art Carney's character). All else is S. Also, certain elements of specific entries tied to the Holiday Special are considered N (Chief Bast surviving the Death Star explosion).

[Death from the Sea]

was it ever explained why the Empire never sent a huge fleet to Yavin following the destruction of the Deathstar? I know the rebels evacuated the base there, but that had to have taken time. Why didn't the empire show up and have a huge slugfest with them?

[Bladed_Crescent]

was it ever explained why the Empire never sent a huge fleet to Yavin following the destruction of the Deathstar? I know the rebels evacuated the base there, but that had to have taken time. Why didn't the empire show up and have a huge slugfest with them?

They did; that's where Dodonna was captured (X-wing: The Krytos Trap), so evidently the Rebels didn't manage a complete evaucation or else they wouldn't have left one of their leaders behind.

[Counciler]

Yeah... the intro to EST mentions "fleeing the dreaded imperial starfleet" or some such. I dont remember the exact words of the text crawl.. but it did say why they left.

[Mad]

Leland Chee on the main site: Link

They killed Bast! You anti-Bast 'tards!

I really liked that about him... oh well.

[The Original Nex]

The Bast matter is actually not settled as far as Chee is concenred:

We probably wouldn't make a decision about the issue until an author chooses to write about Bast.

+http://forums.starwars.com/thread.jspa? ... start=0510

[Tychu]

was it ever explained why the Empire never sent a huge fleet to Yavin following the destruction of the Deathstar? I know the rebels evacuated the base there, but that had to have taken time. Why didn't the empire show up and have a huge slugfest with them?

They did; that's where Dodonna was captured (X-wing: The Krytos Trap), so evidently the Rebels didn't manage a complete evaucation or else they wouldn't have left one of their leaders behind.

The Imperial Fleet Attack is chronicled in the Classic Star Wars comic strips by Archie Goodwin. Its in the Escape to Hoth TPB by Dark Horse

oh and General Dodanna decided to stay behind.

[Knife]

You misunderstand. I'm not talking about the performance envelope of the torpedoes. I'm talking about the sensor data giving a different target position each time, because the jamming will randomize the sensor readings.

And exactly how is it going to accomplish this? Once a torpedo is launched, the sensor data and communications link between them are both going to be affected by jamming.

The sensors being jammed will mean the fighter and torpedo cannot precisely know where they are in relation to each other.

The communications link being jammed will make the data transmission much less reliable and/or slower. I'm sure you noted the audible static in Rebel communications during the battle.

Once the torpedoes have been launched, the data feed from the targetting computer becomes much, much less reliable. Maybe it'd work in some circumstances, but the heavy jamming in place during the Battle of Yavin would not be those circumstances.

I'd love to know how that's possible when the targetting computer doesn't know where the target is. That's what jamming does: it makes the position of the target uncertain. It makes its best guess, but if that guess is wrong, the torpedo is going to miss.

Perhaps you could propose a more reliable solution keeping in mind that you have a target that appears to be jumping wildly and randomly around with no apparent pattern, and where you cannot communicate reliably your position to the torpedo? (Remember: Vader had to constantly adjust his targeting computer to compensate for the jamming because the jamming kept changing.)

We have no idea how many and of what type of sensors the Targeting computers are. They could be active/passive or one or the other. Anyway, point taken about ship to weapon comm. in that jamming would be a significant factor after launch, however it would be a more or less constant between Redleader and Luke's shot too.

Also, in RotJ, the jamming of the rebel's sensors made it so they couldn't detect the shield one way or another, not false information on where it was. So if the SW Jamming was the same at Yavin, they should not be able to detect the target at all, not have false data on it's location.

Besides all this, I don't know why I'm arguing it. If the jamming played into it like you say; then it still lends credance to my overall point that it was a nigh impossible shot for a normal pilot. Does it matter, overall, if the targeting computers worked right and still missed, or that the jamming was so bad that all targeting computers would not lock right and miss.

Over all, which ever method, they're going to miss.

[Mad]

We have no idea how many and of what type of sensors the Targeting computers are. They could be active/passive or one or the other.

Red herring. If the sensors are affected by jamming, then it doesn't matter what kind they are. All of their sensors were affected according to multiple sources. (And, according to SWSB and EGW&T, short-range targeting computers rely mainly on passive EM sensors. And, yes, these were also affected somehow.)

Anyway, point taken about ship to weapon comm. in that jamming would be a significant factor after launch, however it would be a more or less constant between Redleader and Luke's shot too.

What do you mean? The jamming conditions are constantly changing to stay a step ahead of the targeting computer. The original ICS says that Vader's targeting computer required "frequent re-adjustment during battle" in order to deal with jamming.

Also, in RotJ, the jamming of the rebel's sensors made it so they couldn't detect the shield one way or another, not false information on where it was. So if the SW Jamming was the same at Yavin, they should not be able to detect the target at all, not have false data on it's location.

And why, exactly, should it be the same? The jamming of the Death Star's shield readings at Endor was part of a trap. And the jamming at Yavin did make the TIEs invisible to sensors until they were "right on top" of their targets. ("My scope's negative, I don't see anything!") There were even times when the exhaust port wasn't visible on sensors. ("You should be able to see it by now.")

Besides all this, I don't know why I'm arguing it. If the jamming played into it like you say; then it still lends credance to my overall point that it was a nigh impossible shot for a normal pilot. Does it matter, overall, if the targeting computers worked right and still missed, or that the jamming was so bad that all targeting computers would not lock right and miss.

Over all, which ever method, they're going to miss.

Luke's targeting computer was able to feed accurate enough information for his shots to hit. A regular pilot won't know (or will have trouble knowing, at best) how accurate the data is, but I don't know if I'm going to roll doubles when I roll a pair of dice. That doesn't mean its impossible for me to roll doubles, just that I can't be sure I will.

Like I said, you're doing a textbook hasty generalization. We saw three attack runs. One was by Luke. One group was destroyed before it reached the target. And Red Leader fired but missed. You're basing the capability of every non-Force using pilot off of one incident. (Maybe a couple more if the novelization describes more runs that fired and missed. The same fallacy would still apply, however.)

[Naja]

You have to understand the real reason for why Tarkin fucked up, and it wasn't simply arrogance. It was the consequence of Tarkin's original goal: having a weapon of terror.

The intent behind the Death Star was to present an insurmountable tool of destruction that no imaginable force could deter. Hence, if Tarkin launched the necessary amount of TIE Fighters to adequately cope with the Rebels, he would be conceding that his weapon was not invincible and could be surmounted. If you consider Tarkin's imperial ambitions in the novelization, this makes even more sense.

[Big Orange]

Although Tarkin was highly competent in other areas, he really screwed up in the Battle of Yavin and lost due to his sheer hubris. It's as very simple as that. If Tarkin had common sense, he would've launched all fighters and brought along a few ISDs with their own fighter compliments to make the Death Star truly impregnible (and even destroy the Rebel base with fighters before the moon it was on was destroyed by the DS's superlaser).

[thejester]

I think nit-picking how impossible the shot was is generally missing the point. Let's go over it:

But what if you compared the trench run to the closest historical analogy, the Dambusters? They were all experienced pilots with experienced crews that had trained heavily for the raid. Yet for all this, in the attack on the Mohne dam the crews achieved only a 50% strike rate - even Gibson, quite possibly Bomber Command's best pilot at the time, failed to hit (or rather more correctly, his bomb exploded short).* There are things to consider - Rice, for example, had dodgy lights, misjudged the height and plowed into the sea - he manged to pull out, but the bomb was gone. The failure of Red Leader could have been down to equipment failure, Imperial jamming, a poor shot or simply bad luck...on the other hand, it could have been that only Luke could have sunk the shot. I don't think there's enough information to make a judgement, personally, though I lean towards Red's ideas.


* This is from Wiki, so treat with caution. There's a brief account in Neilland's The Bomber War which suggests that only one bomb missed. I'm at Uni and Brickhill's The Dambusters is at home, so I can't confirm. However, even if we run with Neillands and assume that ever bomb save one hit, the comparison is still valid - Red Leader missed by a matter of feet, a margin of error that is comparable to the chances of the bouncing bombs not rolling properly and 'tamping' to the wall. *shrug* It's all speculation, but it's something to keep in mind.

[Jade Falcon]

If you want a true comparison, look at the film 633 Squadron, as its obvious the Trench run was taken from there.

[VT-16]

was it ever explained why the Empire never sent a huge fleet to Yavin following the destruction of the Deathstar?

They did. Sent Interdictor frigates in their thousands to restrict movement out of the system, blocked off the entire Gordian Reach with Star Destroyers and Star Battlecruisers, even had to bring in help from the Tagge family's private fleet to cover enough area. Then they did some assaults on Yavin IV from time to time while they waited for their new Star Dreadnought to finish construction, so Vader could show it off.

[Big Orange]

was it ever explained why the Empire never sent a huge fleet to Yavin following the destruction of the Deathstar?

They did. Sent Interdictor frigates in their thousands to restrict movement out of the system, blocked off the entire Gordian Reach with Star Destroyers and Star Battlecruisers, even had to bring in help from the Tagge family's private fleet to cover enough area. Then they did some assaults on Yavin IV from time to time while they waited for their new Star Dreadnought to finish construction, so Vader could show it off.

Why did they not attack and crush the Rebels at once with a huge conventional force within a few days/hours instead of wasting time and resources into bringing yet another Imperial "superweapon" very slowly into the Yavin system? When the Death Star blew up, did every Imperial alarm from one side of the galaxy to other wail within hours of it's destruction?