We're almost in range.

[Connor MacLeod]

Wait a minute... If Han didn't take the MF through the shield wouldn't that mean the lasers penetrated the DS's shields?

Magnetic field. Not shield.

Actually there were shields up as well (the novelization makes mention of penetrating them as well.)

This isnt neccecsarily a problem though. Particle shielidng would not stop laser cannon shots (and they didnt neccesarily have their ray shielding up)

Besides which, the distance at which the Falcon fired on them probably was closer than the "shield" would have been (AFAIK the jamming hadn't stopped during the battle, so Han would be limited to visual targeting) so they probably would be under it in any case. And if not, there are probably gaps through which they could fire through (its not like Starfighters would normally represent a threat anyhow, after all.)

[The Silence and I]

As I pointed out in the webpage, he may have been using the concealed blaster cannon, which seems easier to control from the cockpit.

O_o
That little thing made sparks fly when striking bare metal in ESB. Suggesting he was going to use THAT tiny thing to vaporize a (lightly) shielded starfighter seems a bit, extravagent, to me.

[IRG CommandoJoe]

No...you can see debris from the TIEs that were shot down by the Falcon during the DS escape. The vape I'm talking about is Vader's wingman.

Aha. I was a bit confused there. I was thinking, "Hmm...Vader's wingman looked more like he was vaporized than the other TIEs. Oh well."

But then that makes no sense. How could the TIE Fighters at the longer range be vaporized while all of the other TIE Fighters at the shorter range simply exploded? Shouldn't it be the other way around?

As I pointed out in the webpage, he may have been using the concealed blaster cannon, which seems easier to control from the cockpit.

Admittedly, I did not really read the page. I just looked at the images to see what sort of damage was done and the range of the Falcon.

But now I read it and...wtf???

UPDATE--11-4-03:

The Taim & Bak Auto Blaster Cannon:

Originally, I proposed that given the fact Solo didn't charge up the quads, he was going to use the light auto-firing blaster cannon on the TIE fighter. After consulting more canon and EU information, we now know this was not the case.

Did you forget about this or something?

EDIT: Hmmm....a rather interesting idea occurred to me. When he said, "in range," perhaps he was charging up the quad guns and he was referring to the power range necessary to vape the TIE Fighter? Just a thought...

[Lord Poe]

Did you forget about this or something?

Yup, I forgot about that update.

[Cal Wright]

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?

So, the Empire routinely assumes all YT-1300 freighters, who are actively chasing them and acting in a semi-hostile manner are unarmed and unshielded?

What the fuck are you smoking?!?

[IRG CommandoJoe]

What the fuck are you smoking?!?

He's posing that question because the TIE Fighter doesn't maneuver at all or even accelerate away from the Falcon at top speed. He's flying right in front of the Falcon as if it were unarmed and couldn't do anything to it. However, AFAIK TIE Fighter pilots are crazy bastards and it wouldn't seem out of place for the pilot to obey an absurdly risky order like that.

Also, maybe this is more evidence that the Falcon was still powering up its guns and the TIE Fighter saw that from his instrument readings or assumed that was the case since the Falcon just came out of hyperspace.

[The Silence and I]

EDIT: Hmmm....a rather interesting idea occurred to me. When he said, "in range," perhaps he was charging up the quad guns and he was referring to the power range necessary to vape the TIE Fighter? Just a thought...

I liked this more when I saw it, but having mulled it over I thought something seemed off. I just looked at the movie again, and this now makes less sense.

Before anyone knew of the Death Star Kenobi says: "It would be as well to let it go, it's too far out of range" to which Solo responds: "Not for long." As he says this he adjusts the flight control sticks. It seems clear the fighter's distance is too great (for whatever special reason) and Ben felt the time spent closing the distance was not worth it. Additionally, powering the quads enough to take out a single TIE should take a more or less fixed time; if the TIE was already in weapons range then the wait would have not been long. Kenobi could say "...it's too far out of range" meaning 'don't waste the time waiting for the weapons to charge' easily enough, but Solo could not say "Not for long" and make sense with Ben's statement. The charging time is fixed, the only way to lessen the time to range is to speed up and close the distance faster, and he does in fact adjust the pilot controls.

In fact I think Solo was not going to use the quads at all, the charge time, although not long is not very short either and he had to leave his chair to charge them during the escape. I doubt they were charged at all during the chase. Perhaps the forward cannons in the mandible were his weapons of choice? This suggests those (whatever he would have used) are weaker weapons possibly having some kind of range issue.

While saving Luke Chewie *could* have made it from the main guns to the cockpit while we were not watching, so having him man those guns seems the best way to explain the significantly longer range seen then.

[Connor MacLeod]

What the fuck are you smoking?!?

He's posing that question because the TIE Fighter doesn't maneuver at all or even accelerate away from the Falcon at top speed. He's flying right in front of the Falcon as if it were unarmed and couldn't do anything to it. However, AFAIK TIE Fighter pilots are crazy bastards and it wouldn't seem out of place for the pilot to obey an absurdly risky order like that.

Its likely he already reported in to the Death Star and was used as bait to lure it in range of the tractor beams. TIE pilots can be ordered to their deaths (look at what happened in the escape)

Also, maybe this is more evidence that the Falcon was still powering up its guns and the TIE Fighter saw that from his instrument readings or assumed that was the case since the Falcon just came out of hyperspace.

As noted, the accuracy from the cockpit for the quad guns isn't that great (small wonder, given the apparent setup of the cockpit fire control for the turret as per Tyrant's Test), so he would naturally need to get closer. Furthermore, we knonw frm the X-wing novels (and the games) that TIEs have software that warns a vessel when a target lock is acquired (active sensing, that is), which might preclude the use of active sensing in this instance.

Given that, another detail affecting range is going to be the vastly narrow profile (and compartaively lower power output) of the ship - passive sensors will have a smaller thermal/visual/whatever signature (and thus reduce the effective range. It might be worth noting that hte destruction of Alderaan might also indirectly hamper sensors in this instance.)

This is another factor in addition to the difference between cockpit and "gun station" tageting systems.

[Lord Poe]

In the radio drama, Han orders Chewie to switch the weapons to "sensor gunlock". He didn't say this in the movie, but he could have set them to that setting himself.

[Isolder74]

I always figured Obi Wan's comment refeered to the range of the fighter itself. IE Why kill it? He will end up drifting in space dead anyway why bother kill it?

At least that's my take n what Obi Wan says.

[IRG CommandoJoe]

Hmm...by the looks of it, I think maybe Han was going to use these:

The Falcon began life as a standard Corellian Engineering Corporation YT-1300 stock light freighter an unknown number of years ago. It eventually was won by gambler Lando Calrissian in a sabacc game. During Lando's first year of ownership, he had adventures in the Rafa system, the Oseon belt, and the Starcave of ThonBoka. It was Lando's idea to install hidden cargo sections under the Falcon's deck-plates. At this time the Falcon had a pair of smaller blasters located on the bow mandibles.

Blaster cannons are significantly less powerful than laser cannons, correct? So maybe Han really did have to get that close in order to totally vaporize the TIE Fighter. Perhaps in normal circumstances, the blaster cannons would be enough to destroy or at least disable TIE Fighters, but not totally vaporize them. Otherwise, they'd be totally useless if the normal combat range was that short. Especially since starfighters used by pirates and the like are usually much more shielded and armored than TIE Fighters (only going by XWA).

[The Silence and I]

^^^^Sounds like the best explanation IMHO.

[Lord Poe]

Blaster cannons are significantly less powerful than laser cannons, correct? So maybe Han really did have to get that close in order to totally vaporize the TIE Fighter

Possible. You can see the bow mandible cannons fire in ROTJ.

[IRG CommandoJoe]

Hmm...later I'll take a look at the scenes where the mandible cannons fire at TIEs on my DVD and see if anything gets vaporized. But then again, by that time period he could have upgraded these cannons as well, especially since he is in the Alliance. I'm sure they can spare two blaster cannons (or maybe even laser cannons).

[Lord Poe]

Hmm...later I'll take a look at the scenes where the mandible cannons fire at TIEs on my DVD and see if anything gets vaporized. But then again, by that time period he could have upgraded these cannons as well, especially since he is in the Alliance. I'm sure they can spare two blaster cannons (or maybe even laser cannons).

Take it from me, I've known friends who soup up their cars WAY beyond their capabilities, and go through transmissions and banks of batteries at an amazing rate. Its no wonder the Falcon is prone to breakdowns.

[Isolder74]

Of course the Falcon's worse behavor happened on the Ice World of Hoth. Not the best enviroment to begin with, is it not. Ask any resident of Alaska