StarDestroyer.Net BBS

The question of how a Rebel force that was apparently outgunned did as well as it did is interesting. There is one thing that is slightly odd in that battle. We see several instances of Imperial capital ships killing Rebel starfighters but we never see any scenes of the opposite. Lando even orders his fighters to draw fire away from the Rebel cruisers.

One possibility I was just randomly considering is that Rebel capital ships are designed to kill their Imperial counterparts at the expense of a balanced armrament, solely relying on heavy ponderous weapons that lack the turn rates or rate of fire to kill fighters and assuming that their own fighters can handle it(which they do). This would explain both Lando's order that seemed odd in light of the fact that the TIE attack does virtually no damage, as well as the fact that the Rebel fleet had an astonishingly high kill ratio when one considers the forces involved.

The Rebel starfighters were the leading element of their attack, so it makes sense they would be a little closer up and personal with the Imperial ships.

Also consider that in the former EU, Rebels used starfighters in an anti-capital ship role as much as anti-fighter, while the Imperials seemed to focus a little more on fighting within their own 'weight class'.

Finally, IIRC (vaguely) there were less Rebel ships than Imperial once the fleet came around the moon. In light of that, Lando may have considered harassing the fleet elements to be a more vital role than counter-fighter tactics, as if they could keep the Imperial gunners' heads down, that's less turbolaser bolts being fired at the Rebel ships, which may not have been fully manned or equipped.

What it comes down to is that there are a number of possible explanations for this situation...

Hmm, weren't the Imperials holding off on their full firepower so that the Death Star could do most of the dirty work? We know the Executor wasn't firing full salvos since Piett ordered increased forward firepower after the shields dropped. Also the Rebels may have closed the distance so much that the heavy turbo lasers were no longer in play.