CT ANH- Why bother fighting the TIEs?

I was watching the part of the film the other day where Han and Luke are in the Falcon and shooting at the TIE fighters after escaping the Death Star, when it occurred to me: why didn't they just go into hyperspace and avoid the confrontation altogether? The Death Star certainly couldn't have prevented it at that point. Don't get me wrong, I love the scene, but I'm wondering if there's a good in-universe reason for fighting them as opposed to "it makes for great action."

 

Hyperdrives will not operate within a strong gravity field. The Falcon may have had to travel a fair way from the Death Star before jumping into hyperspace.

 

Still, it was clearly shown in ESB that the Falcon can survive with 4 TIEs chasing them for a fair amount of time. They arguably took more damage by deciding to stay and shoot them down.

 

They aren't changing direction or anything - they are heading straight for the jump spot - but the TIEs are buzzing them - so, while the Falcon is kept on course, Han and Luke shoot the fighters off their backs.

 

Hm, it's hard to say how fast they're actually moving in that scene. But I can buy your explanation, Iron_lord

 

It's just not worth the chance that a lucky shot from the TIEs might manage to damage something important I guess. It won't slow them down at all as Iron_lord points out, they're on their way to the jump point anyway so they've got nothing to lose by trying to keep the fighters off their backs just in case. It could also be the principle of the thing - you shoot at Han's ship? You're going down.

 

Han's prompt pursuit of a TIE fighter that only took one shot at him and fled, earlier in the movie, springs to mind.

"Let it go - it's too far out of range."
'Not for long."

 

Yeah, Han really loves the old rustbucket. Occam's Razor strikes again!

 

You know, I watched ESB the other day and as a kid I always wondered why the Falcon didn't just shoot the TIEs down rather than have them crash into the asteroids. Then it hit me, and I realized the obvious answer fitting in with the ship's character in the movie: the Falcon's main guns weren't working.

More than 20 years since I first saw the OT, and I'm still discovering new things.

 

It's possible that because of the proximity of the TIE Fighters to the Millennium Falcon and their relatively light weight and small size, that given the sheer force and the pulling effect that making the jump to light speed would have on the immediate surrounding area of a ship, you know that whole bending fabric of the space time continuum thing, that perhaps any kind of small or light debris near the ship could be carried with it, or if not carried, could somehow impact that ship's take off into hyperspace. So Luke and Han needed to eliminate that possibility. I know there are sequences of ships traveling through hyperspace together, but that effect could be utilized in a multiple ship launch like that. And the scene where the Falcon is closer to the big ships would also lend itself to this theory, because the ships at that point are too big to be impacted by the force of the Millennium Falcon making the jump to light speed.

Or, perhaps TIE Fighters have their own hyperdrives and can travel light speed as well, and could have still given chase and revealed the Millennium Falcon's new location. If a shanty Rebel X-Wing could make the jump why couldn't an Empire engineered Tie Fighter?

Remember, traveling through hyperspace ain't like dusting crops.

 

Standard-issue TIE fighters do not have hyperdrives. It's part of the Imperial military's philosophy, reliance on the chain of command. Regular TIE craft require a carrier, such as a Star Destroyer, which makes the TIE pilots less likely to rebel against their superiors. Plus, not having a hyperdrive makes TIEs lighter and cheaper to manufacture.

Vader's TIE is a special exception.

 

As with other people, they just needed a few minutes for the hyperdrive computer to set the vector and coordinates and needed the TIES off their back until they were set.

In ESB, I figured that they were so busy trying to fix the Falcon that they didn't have time for the guns. I thought the Falcon took way more damage in ESB than ANH however, and was already needed repairs on top of that.

 

OBI-WAN: "How long before you can make the jump to light speed?"

HAN: "It'll take a few moments to get the coordinates from the navi-computer."

LUKE: "Are you kidding? At the rate they're gaining..."

HAN: "Traveling through hyperspace isn't like dusting crops, boy! Without precise calculations we could fly right through a star or bounce too close to a supernova and that'd end your trip real quick, wouldn't it?"

Over at Tatooine, there were only three Star Destroyers and the quad lasers are no good against that kind of armor and shielding. Against four TIE Fighters is a different matter. Han and Luke could spare themselves, while Chewie and Leia could pilot the Falcon. As to not using the quad lasers in the Hoth asteroid field, Han and Chewie both need to navigate through the asteroids. Just like Jango relied on Boba at Geonosis, while Obi-wan had the Force which gave him the reflexes necessary to avoid being hit. Threepio has no experience firing the quad lasers and his piloting skills are very limited.

 

In the film they state TIEs are small short range fighters. However in the Death Star battle, TIEs can crack though X wing and Y wing shields with a direct shot, not something to take lightly.