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Why didnt the DS used its powerfull tractor beams to capture or hold the incoming fighters? Perhaps because the fighters were using ECM (while the MF did not)?

Maybe the tractor beam projectors are in the vicinity of the landing bays, and the fighters aren't attacking anything near them? The Rebel battle plan was based on having complete plans of the Death Star, so they could plan not to get near the tractor beams. Also, they could have a hard time locking onto a fighter in combat, unlike a cargo ship expecting to be near a planet. Even if they trouble grabbing fighters, the Rebels might go around them anyway because they don't want to risk pilots getting captured and telling the plan to the Empire.

Han was not trying to avoid getting caught because he was not expecting to be. The fighters are using ECM, and are manuevering. Its possible that the Death Star Tractors, which are designed to grab capitol ships, could not react fast enough to grab the fighters.

When the rebel fighters were crossing throught the magnetic shield, they were in close vicinity to the equatorial docking bays. They seemed to be a lot closer than the Millenium falcon was when it was tractored in.

Maybe due to their smaller size and maneuvering they were able to evade attempts by the imperials to lock tractor beams on them.

That's a good thought, I hadn't thought about this before. They didn't maneuver...oh yeah! Just remembered, the DS didn't notice the fighters before they crossed the shield, and they began maneuvering shortly after that. ECM may explain everything then, as the DS should have noticed them like it did the Falcan.

wautd wrote:Why didnt the DS used its powerfull tractor beams to capture or hold the incoming fighters? Perhaps because the fighters were using ECM (while the MF did not)?

I'd leave it down to the simple answer that explains why the Yavin mission was a success at all.

Tarkin didn't see it as any kind of a threat what-so-ever so he didn't bother.

Captain_Cyran wrote:

wautd wrote:Why didnt the DS used its powerfull tractor beams to capture or hold the incoming fighters? Perhaps because the fighters were using ECM (while the MF did not)?

I'd leave it down to the simple answer that explains why the Yavin mission was a success at all.

Tarkin didn't see it as any kind of a threat what-so-ever so he didn't bother.

Aye, that is true, Tarkin's unimpressment with fighters that is, but in the novel, and not contradicted in the movie, nobody notices the fighters before they cross the shields, even the gun crews had to scramble to get ready to fire!

It's more likely that the DS own jamming limited the use of tractor beams as well as everything else. Just think of how difficult everyone had to lock on to something.

Why, exactly, is tractoring the fighters towards / into the docking bays, where they can do at least a modicum of internal damage, preferable to letting them go for the surface, where they were supposed to be the next best thing to impotent?

It isn't necessarily, but as the DS didn't see them coming, it doesn't much matter anyway

Captain_Cyran wrote:[I'd leave it down to the simple answer that explains why the Yavin mission was a success at all.

Tarkin didn't see it as any kind of a threat what-so-ever so he didn't bother.

I agree..they didn't even launch ties(and even when they did they launched a minimun a fighters) until they figured out that the Turbolaser batteries were having trouble engageing such small targets...and if I remember correctly, after they analyzed the attack and discovered that there WAS a danger to the station.

Batman wrote:Why, exactly, is tractoring the fighters towards / into the docking bays, where they can do at least a modicum of internal damage, preferable to letting them go for the surface, where they were supposed to be the next best thing to impotent?

You could use the tractor to hold the fighters so the TLs can snipe them off.

Maybe 'catching' something in a tractor beam isn't as simple as it sounds, and fighters could be warned in some way and maneuvuer away? Frankly, I'd go for the 'Tarkin didn't care' solution, but its possible that a ship can simply move so as to avoid being tractored.

wautd wrote:

Batman wrote:Why, exactly, is tractoring the fighters towards / into the docking bays, where they can do at least a modicum of internal damage, preferable to letting them go for the surface, where they were supposed to be the next best thing to impotent?

You could use the tractor to hold the fighters so the TLs can snipe them off.

Never done (to my knowledge) throughout all of SW.
Tractor beams can
a) keep the target from moving AWAY from the projector,
b) limit its lateral movement so it can't leave the tractor beam, and
c) draw it towards the projector.
That's not quite the same as nailing it in place so you can snipe it at your leasure...

Batman wrote:

wautd wrote:

Batman wrote:Why, exactly, is tractoring the fighters towards / into the docking bays, where they can do at least a modicum of internal damage, preferable to letting them go for the surface, where they were supposed to be the next best thing to impotent?

You could use the tractor to hold the fighters so the TLs can snipe them off.

Never done (to my knowledge) throughout all of SW.
Tractor beams can
a) keep the target from moving AWAY from the projector,
b) limit its lateral movement so it can't leave the tractor beam, and
c) draw it towards the projector.
That's not quite the same as nailing it in place so you can snipe it at your leasure...

Still b) could make sniping them off more easy (if it was possible offcourse)

wautd wrote: Still b) could make sniping them off more easy (if it was possible offcourse)

Depends on the degree of lateral movement possible. If it's more than a few meters you might as well not bother with the tractor-remember we're talking fighter size targets here...

Batman wrote:

wautd wrote: Still b) could make sniping them off more easy (if it was possible offcourse)

Depends on the degree of lateral movement possible. If it's more than a few meters you might as well not bother with the tractor-remember we're talking fighter size targets here...

Doesnt matter anyway. A mere fighters is no treath for a moon sized battlestation

Batman wrote:That's not quite the same as nailing it in place so you can snipe it at your leasure...

In Vision of the Future, the tractor beam emplacements at the Yaga Minor Ubiqtorate base held the ISD2 Errant Venture in place. The ship could rotate, but that was about it.

Darth Yoshi wrote:

Batman wrote:That's not quite the same as nailing it in place so you can snipe it at your leasure...

In Vision of the Future, the tractor beam emplacements at the Yaga Minor Ubiqtorate base held the ISD2 Errant Venture in place. The ship could rotate, but that was about it.

IIRC, that took a slew of tractor beam projectors, presumably working from different angles, so that the range of motion available within one beam would be cancelled out by the others.
Still, that would mean it's possible to completely immobilize a ship, at least in principle.

The Mf in the tractor beam of the DS was unable to turn back. According to the hungarian translation of the novelisation, it couldn't turn even half a degree. (So, while pulling by the beam of the DS, no movement is possible.)

That novelisation also states that the rebell offensive cought Motti and his strategists by surprise, and gunners rushed to the guns just before the rebells (after passing the outer shield) started the attack.

In my opinion by the time the imperials reacted, the fighters were out from the LOS of the tractor beams in (or around) the docks in the equator trench.