"Only the fighters are attacking, I wonder what those Star Destroyers are waiting for..."

So how come, when Bail's / Ahsoka's little fleet punched into realspace over Mustafar... it wasn't immediately lit up by the 5 or so fully operational ISDs in front of it?

I wonder if we'll ever get a satisfactory explanation for that, or even any explanation at all...

 

They seemed quite a ways off. Maybe they were out of range?

 

Certainly in TCW, Star Destroyers look like their turbolasers are quite short-ranged - we hear the phrase "they're still out of range" a few times with enemy ships being very visible.

 

They were in realspace for only about 30-40 seconds, I think. The ISD officers may have been caught by surprise, as they might have believed the TIEs would handle things. Also, the Empire may have a rigid protocol for combat engagement, where orders are passed down through multiple layers of command. The captain issues the order to the XO, who relays it to the necessary gunnery sections. Then there may be another weapons officer that directs each individual gun station. It doesn't take much time, but it does take some.

It was a bit convenient, but I'm not too concerned about it myself.

 

Yes. It was a quick surprise attack. I guess ,the rebels were gone, before the crews of the ISDs even realized what was going on.

 

I agree. I think it was a combination of surprise of them (rebels) showing up catching the rest of the fleet off guard, and the blockade runners flying amongst the TIE fighters. So even if the ships' canons were manned, they would have had to shoot through their own fighters. Though, given how Tarkin blew up the comm tower in "Call to Action," if he was in charge of the defending forces directly I imagine he would have not had an issue with shooting through the TIE fighters to shoot at the rebels.

 

I like the surprise angle better than the out-of-range angle, given that those things really ought to have 100s or 1000s of miles of range. But still, given that they were already in the middle of a hostile situation, with Tarkin's flagship under infiltration assault from within, they were kinda caught with their pants down. But hey, stormtrooper accuracy, so I guess catching them with their pants down isn't that hard.

 

Yea I know, but these are Rebels Imperials which are worse than the movies versions,lol.

I'm not really entirely sure what they were to accomplish as they were conveniently lucky that all of Lothal crew were in space flying and not on the planet in some fortress or inside an undamaged ship . That Rebel strike force duking it out with that much Imperial firepower but who knows its Star Wars so am sure the Rebels would've won anyway, heh.



Tano's reinforcements were supposedly hastily thrown together from from system to system or planet to planet, as she had no idea until Chopper called up. And she had to have went back to Lothal(or was living there?) to take over command of The Ghost, which she apparently has experience with(her ship and not Hera's beforehand?). The toon played out like a suicidal hit and run support operation as if it its now or never surprise attack on the Imperials but ended up just basically shielding the fleeing Lothal crew and they all jump into hyperspace.

The Empire can't really win as they're the bad guys(the CIS of the show), even when they do they're halfassed victories like Hoth - as most of the Rebels successfully fled the planet despite the massive blockade and the AT-AT take forever to reach their target from so far away and appeared to have lacked Tie aerial support or any flak turrets.

 

I'd watch that scene again. The ships all but come to a stop as the TIEs dock with the Gozanti. The argument that it all happened so fast doesn't really hold up, IMO. Yeah, the ships did come out of nowhere, but if the Star Destroyers were in range, there's like zero excuse for not giving the fire order as soon as the first TIE went down. If it was just the two Star Destroyers with one of them being Tarkin's, then I could understand the second would be preoccupied with gathering survivors. But there were several Star Destroyers that would have been launching their TIEs and coordinating the attack on the fleeing Rebels.

 

Time, range, and friendly fire are the reasons. It takes time from the detection of the ships to giving the orders to actually firing. The ships are not huge ships, at that range it would be difficult hitting moving targets at those speeds. There were dozens of tie's between the Star Destroyers and the rebels. While Tarkin or Vader may order to fire anyways, a lesser commander may not want to risk it. Not all imperials are as evil as Tarkin. Every commander is different, don't expect them all to act in the same way. If they were all like Tarkin Tarkin wouldn't be so special.

As far as what they were planning on doing. Based on the distance that they came out of hyperspace I do not believe they came to fight. If they were planning on fighting the destroyers they would have came out closer to the Star Destroyers to try and catch them off guard. Instead they were simply there to give support and help their escape if they were able to escape the Star Destroyers. It just so happened they timed it perfectly.

 

Fire in direction of enemy when own fighters are in direct line between turret and target. Great idea. Boosts morale like nothing else.

 

That happens all fast enough, within 2 seconds and after they wiped out all the Tie's and made enough distance from the immobile Imperial ships- then they jumped into hyperspace right after they docked. The Imperial ships werent really bothering, they used Tie Fighters as their main offensive assault even before the Tano's strikeforce arrived. I think had the Rebels used some sorta new anti-ship missile/torpedo against the Imperials ships wouldve made the scene more believable. As there was 3 pristine Star Destroyers right there directly facing the incoming Rebel fleet even it was not like they had they were facing the planet with their engines facing the incoming Rebel fleet. Tarkin's was the damaged fourth. If Mustafar was an Imperial stronghold, they could've called in reinforcements or rescue vehicles from there.

The Imperial Star Destroyers seem more like aircraft carriers than actually serving in a Destroyer capacity like they did during the Clone Wars where they'd engage enemy ships. Tarkin isnt the military genius, but just stands around making evil faces and talking the talk.

 

Well like I mentioned earlier, if Tarkin had been in control (and not on a disable ISD with no chance to communicate with the fleet) I really think he would have said to shoot through the TIE Fighters to get at the Rebels. He destroyed an Imperial Comm tower b/c it had been compromised. Tarkin strikes me as someone who would rather rule through fear and power, as opposed to inspiring good morale.

 

The Rebel ships cleared the TIEs out or the TIEs retreated. The Rebels were not under attack by the time that the heroes were docking with the Gozanti.

Plus it would just be the villainous thing to do regardless.

Look at the people that want Lothal to get "slagged." That would involve the decimation of a Sienar factory and an Imperial Academy.

"My Lord, won't we hit our own troops?"
"Yes, but we'll hit theirs as well. We have reserves. Attack!"
--Lieutenant and King Edward, Braveheart

EDIT: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WeHaveReserves

 

They cleared out the closest few Ties, there were still many further behind.