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I was just watching my ANH DVD. I watched the scene where the Millenium Falcon was following the TIE Fighter leading them to the Death Star. Then there was a part where Han said, "we're almost in range." The shot was from the cockpit's POV, and you see the TIE Fighter right in front of the ship. Almost in range for what? A tractor beam? What the hell is Han talking about? Clearly the laser cannons or concussion missiles could have handled it from that range. So what else could he possibly be referring to?

to jam their coms, i believe that obi wan or luke claims that the pilot my signal to his friends, than Han replies with his "Were almost in range"

Aha, I watched it again and paid close attention to the dialogue and you're right. I think he is referring to jamming its transmissions. But that's a really short distance for jamming...

Well, there are all sorts of possibilities. The jammer could be only working for short range at the time due to overdue repairs(half falling apart, like most of the ship). The jammer could be configured for civilian comms and the military ones could only be jammed effectively up close. So many choices, so little time.

Whens another time do we see a jaming in the movies, is it only ANH- Falcon vs TIE and then ROTJ Speeder bikes?

i think the thing with the falcon is that it just came out of hyperspace, the hyperdrive is probally yelling off things like "Where the hell is Alderann, did you screw me up again Han?" in Binary so some systems may be out so Han has to really time and distance this jaming thing

There's also jamming when the fleet attacks Death Star II-- Lando figures it out; the fighters and other craft can't tell that the shield's up because it doesn't read on their sensors, and they also can't tell that the superlaser is active.

Also it has been said on SD.net a lot of times that jamming occurs in the DS I attack. Apparently the jamming affected all ships. But that's understandable; the DS and capships must have ridiculously higher jamming capabilities than a single cargo transport or speeder bikes. It's just that I never realized that the range would be that limited.

THe fact that the Falcon had to approach to within a few KM's of the Tie Fighter to jam it seems kinda silly. We have jammers right now that can operate over dozens of kilometers.

Cpl Kendall wrote:THe fact that the Falcon had to approach to within a few KM's of the Tie Fighter to jam it seems kinda silly. We have jammers right now that can operate over dozens of kilometers.

I don't even think it was a single kilometer when he said, "we're almost in range."

The Falcon was going to shoot the TIE. Why didn't it shoot?

Because we needed Eric to have his slow long shot as he stares in stunned disbeleif at the slowly growing dot of light and give his famous "Thats no moon....its a space station" line. Which WAS very cool.

Realisticly its a very poor showing of SW technology. But I'm sure people will flood the thread soon offering justifications and opinions on it.

Personaly I think its very clear that Han was talking about SHOOTING it, not Jamming it. I mean if he was still trying to get cloose enough to Jam it, it would have long since sent out a transmission. The 'I think I can get it, its almost within range' comment is clearly about blowing it out of the sky. But I think there are sources in the EU that state that although the quads can be fired from the cockpit, they suffer reductions in accuracy as a result. Even so it was an absurdly easy shot.

Realisticly its a very poor showing of SW technology

Actually, it shows how poor the targeting was on the Falcon´s cannons pre-Rebellion. In ROTJ, I believe it picks off several fighters at a longer distance and with less time to aim.

VT-16 wrote:

Realisticly its a very poor showing of SW technology

Actually, it shows how poor the targeting was on the Falcon´s cannons pre-Rebellion. In ROTJ, I believe it picks off several fighters at a longer distance and with less time to aim.

Uh no, the distance is comprable in just about every other onscreen engagement, give or take hundreds of meters at the most. Hardly fantastic to say the least.

But still quicker than in ANH.

Was there any support for the magnified view theory? I remember it was mentioned for ISD bridges that the plasteel glass I think it's called had zoom capability.

Chris OFarrell wrote:

VT-16 wrote:

Realisticly its a very poor showing of SW technology

Actually, it shows how poor the targeting was on the Falcon´s cannons pre-Rebellion. In ROTJ, I believe it picks off several fighters at a longer distance and with less time to aim.

Uh no, the distance is comprable in just about every other onscreen engagement, give or take hundreds of meters at the most. Hardly fantastic to say the least.

Except when Han arrives to save Luke at the end of ANH. He's clearly farther away than he is in the "TIE chase scene" - at least several kilometers (if not more) by what I recall. Wayne did a page on this when Darkstar tried using that as an upper limit for SW weapons range I believe.

The Falcon was well within shooting range of the TIE, as evidenced by it picking off one of Vader's wingmen later in the trench.

Why didn't Han shoot? Don't know. Maybe he wanted to make sure he could get close enough to leave no trace of the TIE whatsoever.

Connor MacLeod wrote:Except when Han arrives to save Luke at the end of ANH. He's clearly farther away than he is in the "TIE chase scene" - at least several kilometers (if not more) by what I recall. Wayne did a page on this when Darkstar tried using that as an upper limit for SW weapons range I believe.

Yeah, I need to fake an injury one of these days so I can stay home from work and update my website!

But knowing me, I'd probably catch up on a mountain of DVDs still wrapped in plastic!

I think Han was trying to shoot it down without locking sensor into the TIE, as the TIE could detect a lock and star firing back(ad kill the jamming (and for a lot more TIEs))

Han knew that he'd only have one shot at hitting that TIE. If he missed, the TIE-pilot would radio in that he was under attack. He had to make sure that the TIE would be destroyed before the pilot even knew that something was up, so he had to get a lot closer. During the trench run, he didn't have these concerns and was free to fire wildly in the general direction of Vader's TIE until he managed to hit it.

Drooling Iguana wrote:Han knew that he'd only have one shot at hitting that TIE. If he missed, the TIE-pilot would radio in that he was under attack. He had to make sure that the TIE would be destroyed before the pilot even knew that something was up, so he had to get a lot closer. During the trench run, he didn't have these concerns and was free to fire wildly in the general direction of Vader's TIE until he managed to hit it.

That's absurd.
1. The TIE already knew the MF was there. It turned around and started running away, remember?

2. The TIE was already being jammed.

And

3. The TIE had already fired on the Falcon. It clearly wasn't playing nice here. Of course I have no idea why it wouldn't be going and manouvering like a bat out of hell after pissing off a moderatly armed light freighter (even a stock 1300 isn't something to take on lightly)...

Bah, I need to watch the movie again...

The TIE zoomed right past the Falcon which had just came out of lightspeed. Needless to say they were all stunned that Alderaan wasn't there. The TIE was getting thier attention and was obviously baiting them in for the DSs' tractor beam, which they were caught in. Why didn't Han shoot sooner? Because, there's no point in showing your hand, especially if your a fucking gambler, early. Since he was CATCHING the TIE, he was just biding time. Why wasted energy and shots only to allow your prey to know you have teeth that can easily tear you to shreds?

Why wasted energy and shots only to allow your prey to know you have teeth that can easily tear you to shreds?

Because the fighter was clearly within a range considered point blank, and it was not maneuvering meaningfully. Really, it was an ideal line up, Han should have shot.

I like the baiting a trap idea for why the TIE wasn't maneuvering, but really this has little/nothing to do with Han's not firing from ~300 meters away.