[ANH] Why can't Vader just use the Force?

[Crom]

I was watching the scene where the Imperial officer taunts Vader for his sorcerer's ways and for his inability to conjure up the location of the Rebel base. Why can't Vader just use the Force to locate the Rebel base?

Luke was able to know the location and general circumstances of his friends on a completely different planet. Obi-Wan sensed the destruction of Alderaan lightyears away. Vader sensed that Hoth was the correct planet on a cursory inspection. It doesn't seem like a giant feat for Vader to somehow precog his way to the Rebel base.

[Tribun]

Vader had no one special to concentrate on.

Luke had his friends in mind on Dagobah, and Vader thought of his son when seeing the transmission. Since the Rebels were all only faceless enemies to him, he couldn't locate them.
And the destruction of Alderaan was a violent event. Every trained Force user felt it. (I heared the Emperor even enjoyed it)

[SCVN 2812]

Alderaan was the annihilation of several billion people in one place, at one time in an extremely violent manner in a couple of seconds. That's a great disturbance in the force.

Luke had a personal attachment to Han, Leia and company making the likelihood of him catching a glimpse into their possible fate much more likely.

Vader was not particularly interested in the Rebels at Hoth as a group but in one particular Rebel whom the force was strong in and managed to evade his attacks in the Death Star trench and make a very tricky shot.

In ANH, Vader has no connection to the Rebels and as both Anakin and Vader his skills never seemed to be that strong in the area of precog except for direct applications like enhancing his piloting skills and for people whom he has a strong connection to. In AOTC he felt that his mother was in great pain from many thousands of light years away however this is arguably not precog since she may have been in the process of being captured and beaten by the Tuskens as Anakin sensed it.

According to some of the EU I've read, Jedi do tend to be stronger in some areas and weaker in others. Even when he was whole Vader's strengths were almost exclusively combat oriented whether it be melee or piloting, but as far as visions go, it takes someone very close to him to be on the verge of death or likely to die in the very near future for him to have any visions. This is not so different from Luke who sensed Vader's torture of his friends but other than occassional chats with Obi-Wan he wasn't very strong in the area of visions either in the films.

[Nick Lancaster]

There's no emotional bond, nothing for Vader to resonate to/with.

Ben is able to sense the destruction of Alderaan as a matter of scale, but possibly because he knows Bail Organa and was thinking about him.

Luke has a vested concern for his friends, and thus is able to sense their plight on Bespin.

Vader is able to confirm the Rebel Base's location on Hoth, but that could be as simple as discerning truth from falsehood, with the added bonus of '... young Skywalker is with them.'

But when it comes to finding the Rebels, none of these aspects play into it:

- The Rebels, though effective, are a small group against the background of the Empire.

- You could sit Vader down and show him a bunch of scans, but there's no guarantee that 'true' now will be 'true' when the fleet arrives in a day or two.

- There's no emotional committment to anyone in the group; Vader knows of Leia and other Rebel leaders, but he doesn't know them as friends or even people.

[Lord Revan]

well let see

Alderaan is sudden death of shit load of people, but Kenobi could feel just their deaths not where or who did die

Luke has emotional connection with Leia and Han (perhaps even a Force bond with Leia)

Anakin/Vader has a connection with Luke (how strong this connection is, I don't know)

Vader has Nobody he's a coonection with in the rebel base.

[SPOOFE]

Four responses, all saying essentially the same thing. How amusing.