Everything Wrong with the Battle of Yavin

[@Grathom15]

"Our battle station is under attack from 30 rebel ships. Send around 8 pilots, if Vader wants to go out there he can I guess." Imperial Tactical communications.

[@GenerationTech]

+G haha yea that sounds about right

[@Apollo1989V]

Generation Tech Tarkin had control of the station, and he saw no threat from the single one man star fighters. There may have been more Tie fighters launched because not all rebel fighters were seen, but with Vader's command limited by Tarkin in command, the other ship would probably have been limited. A total of 30 ships where launched from Yavin 4, so probably almost as many Tie fighters were launched. If Tarkin took the threat seriously, probably 60 fighters would have been launched.

[@Dacl73]

Tarkin, for all his for all his skills, had a "Battleship" mindset. For him, Fighters, were no threat, so why even bother sending out TIEs? It is just a waste of resources. Fleet protection? Again, why bother. Those TIEs, were those under Vader's direct command, as he was well aware that Star Fighters could in fact be a threat. As for a Fleet, it hadn't been assembled yet. Tarkin, was jumping the gun as it were, as the threat of the plans were enough such that he was worried about infiltrators getting on board to sabotage it. That, and what Capital Ships he did have, he sent away to check out Dantooine, because he felt that the Death Star was powerful enough that it didn't need them. Over confidence, a problem for many Military Commanders.

[@aliastheabnormal]

Another explanation is that the toys weren't invented yet. No joking, the original toyline had so many problems during development that it took months after the movies stopped showing. For the first toys to come out and the toy stores had to pre order action figures months in advance.

[@a.morphous66]

You forgot that Vader counts for 50.

[@williamedward1666]

I seem to recall Lucas actually bringing up the 'only 8 TIE fighters' thing in an interview once. Apparently, that was all his special effects team could manage, because of the criminally small budget he had to work with.

[@MikhaelAhava]

William Edward I see.

[@maxbrandt6]

I think the total budget for the 1977 Star Wars movie was $2 million and it was a sleeper hit in the beginning. 20th Century Fox studios had very little faith Star Wars would be successful so they let Lucas keep all the profits from any SW merch sold and as we all know, when it comes to popular films it's "MERCHANDISING! MERCHANDISING! Where the real money from the movie is made!" (see Space Balls for reference)

[@ommexyt]

Max Brandt Nope. It was $13 million

[@maxbrandt6]

Okay, I stand corrected but I remember reading somewhere it was $2 million, guess they got their facts wrong as well. Thanks for clearing that up!

[@inkedseahear]

Canon explanation was that none of the other Imperial commanders decided to deploy TIE fighters because they believe Point-Defense weapon will finish it in a minute until Vader was like "screw this". So...... Even more incompetent Imperial officers

[@Gist432]

"So many good pilots... and Porkins, lost their lives" :D Got yourself a sub and a like right there.

[@MrGegere]

Yeah after that I had to stop video for 10 minutes as I laughed. Then I subbed . . . :D

[@jrny20]

And I thought Vader was a savage

[@matthewfitzpatrick4290]

that was a trigger for me too :)

[@vriskaserket8649]

Yeah, t8ke that Porkins... You suck at flying.

[@WashuHakubi4]

You have to admit, no one could "Hold it" half as good as Porkins. As long as it's a burrito we're talking about.

[@edwardsindustries-20yearsa54]

It's only a 100, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000 dollar Battle Station, "what's to lose?"

[@galaxyclassstarship859]

100, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000 dollars.

[@lonewolffe1818]

Lewis Edwards, 100, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000 credits, not dollars. Dollars are used by earth, credits are used by the Galactic Republic, the empire, and the first order/Resistance

[@devinthierault]

Palpatine lost his ass that's for sure

[@BenMan8881]

actually, considering how the empire built the death star, I think that number has way too many zeros. 1,000,000 is more like it. The Empire used material from conquered worlds, so they didn't have to pay for that. more than 99% of the labor force for the Death Star's construction was slave labor from said conquered worlds. That leaves the less than 1% of the labor force to pay for. Plus, I am pretty sure that one of the perks of being on the Death Star is that everything on board the station was free, probably because if you get stationed there, you are not leaving there because of the fact that the Death Star was basically a secret military installation. That number is about what our government says that it'd take to build the Death Star, but only because we'd build it without all of that. So, we'd have to pay for the material and all of the man power.

[@lorenzoo1217]

Btw it’s Credits and the Empire had more than that...And it was because of Tarkin it failed if Snoke Was in Charge and Had a defense fleet it would have been better.

[@giff74]

I'm glad, after almost 40 years, someone else is wondering about the Falcon being tracked!!!!!!!

[@fcrazyflood]

"it's like stealing candy from the small child but we got rid of the small child" (Allan) OMG That was Awesome!!! 😂😂😂

[@alexturlais8558]

I think the reason they didn't have a fleet with the death Star was because they wanted to keep the amount of people knowing about it to the minimum.

[@FastBrian1]

Yeah it was still Top Secret.

[@GenerationTech]

but it was crewed by over 1 million people, i think a star destroyer or two wouldn't have hurt

[@Apollo1989V]

Alex Turlais Lucas didn't explain it, but it seems like after the battle in Rogue one, the fleet scattered to make it harder to project where the rebel base was.

[@callumpears1523]

There were plenty of destroyers around it in Rogue One and a few can be seen in ANH.

[@BungieStudios]

They're docked inside the Battle Station. It'd make no sense to deploy them. It was supposed to be a one and done deal. No fighter should have been able to harm it. The Death Star was built to take on a huge fleet by itself with its extensive armor and large amounts of weapons. No one knew or expected a glaring weakness to exist on its axis. Not only is it a retelling of The Dambusters, but a retelling of David and Goliath, too. No really! Read 1 Samuel Chapter 17 NIV translation online. The parallels are uncanny.

[@TurboJUK]

The main thing I'll always remember about seeing Rogue One is watching the ground battle on Scarif and seeing my dad, a tactics advisor, shaking his head at it out the corner of my eye and instantly knowing that they were getting stuff wrong.

[@stanmarsh4019]

chris pearson "ARE WE THE GARRISON DEPLOY THE BLIND!!!" Shows the death troopers but all of their faces are replaced with the blind guy

[@A350Airways]

Star Wars movies often concerned themselves more on the operational and strategic outcomes than on the tactical execution that leads to those two items. Even if you kept the operational outcomes as is, better maneuvering would often, unfortunately, come with tradeoffs in a filmmaking context, for instance, resulting in a better story to viewer X but a worse story to viewer Y. Or character A being portrayed differently because A ordered maneuver B, which is better than what was shown on-screen at point C in the story, to be performed. Ask yourself this question: would it actually result in an improvement that would be worthwhile from a storytelling standpoint? Now, as far as Scarif is concerned, even though I know it's not that great from a ground combat standpoint, it's still better than Crait or Geonosis, or even Eps.1/3.

[@nicholaspowell7029]

I'd like to know what issues your dad had with R1, that had some of the best executed tactics, especially since they used OIF veterans as advisors

[@jamoecw]

@pyropulse he teaches people how to deal with similar situations as scarif. though yes it does have some of the best tactics, and that is the biggest problem with old school star wars. overall they are great though.

[@GenerationTech]

a lot of people are saying that a perpendicular dive will expose the snubfighters to too many aa guns. I agree but if you think about they have to make that initial approach angle angle in the first place in order reach the trench.

[@NovaHawk14]

Maybe pin this comment so folks can see it?

[@Ariana321]

Not to mention they still had plenty of AA guns firing at them when flying in on the surface, except with much less room to maneuver in order to evade fire. Plus once in that trench, they have to basically fly in a straight line, easy targets for AA gunners... if they'd actually known how to aim.

[@dawnknightx]

Isn't that why the X-wings were there? To draw fire away from the Y-wings so they could go into the trench? Perhaps the beginning of their attack run was chosen because it featured an opening between all the AA gun towers (of course that's just speculation.)

[@Warsie]

The fighters were swerving and moving around when doing the angles to reach the trench, you see the X-wings do that. The Y-wings do a curved drop into the trench, but that's still not a straight line. Which implies they have to not to straight lines to not get shot. Also the craft were actually slowly moving over the curve of the Death Star in the trench.

[@Warsie]

30 guns is much less than THOUSANDS of them

[@stevewoodford4844]

Hahaha! Allen, "The rebels lost a lot of good pilots, and Porkins" ! That's cold but also frigging hilarious the way you said that. I spit my drink out when you said that, I was laughing so hard!

[@GenerationTech]

haha yea i rip on porkins a lot but he was actually a really capable of pilot

[@stevewoodford4844]

Generation Tech You got me a second time with the "kyber crystals like taking candy from a baby, except we got rid of the babies" and "gonna run out and get my girlfriend a kyber crystal engagement ring "! Oh my God, I'm laughing so hard I'm crying! You topped yourself with today's video brother, LMFAO!!

[@GenerationTech]

haha awesome thanks!

[@legionarybooks13]

Porkins was one of their "top...men".

[@Grunkle3375]

Steve Woodford u

[@michelefornovotapia2600]

Poor Porkins, according to Legends, he was a good dogfihter and strafe runner.

[@GenerationTech]

yea he would've done well in an a10 nowadays

[@osamadid7113]

Generation Tech according to canon he's really really dead.

[@johns5638]

AnIntelectualClone The books don't matter.

[@Louthanjen]

Do Tatics on hoth please!

[@Louthanjen]

Darth Sidious wot about your tactics palps?

[@Louthanjen]

Darth Sidious plot armor! No the rebels one fair and square!

[@jacob2808]

Good Hoth tactics: fly your ships in literally any other direction where there isn't a blockade

[@GenerationTech]

we'll be doing endor and hoth in the next few episodes

[@Louthanjen]

Darth Sidious I m ment the space battle!

[@dmac7128]

Poor Porkins, the only X-wing pilot to be shot down by turbolasers

[@johns5638]

Dennis McIntyre He crashed into the Death Star.

[@happyears21694]

Garven Dreis was the only pilot to be shot down by crashing into the surface and not explode midair.

[@gumdeo]

He couldn't hold it.

[@StarStrider99]

Awesome video, as always! Totally agree. People do seem to sometimes forget that Star Wars is not real life. It is an imaginary story written, filmed, and portrayed by imperfect people. As human viewers, we enjoy it not because it is flawless, but because it is unique and special to us!

[@GenerationTech]

exactly

[@Quincy_Morris]

I think literally nothing in the video is actually supported by in cannon lore. From his hilarious explanation of hyperspace technology to his assumptions about tie numbers it's all just laughably false.

[@MrChickennugget360]

i tend to Enjoy the First Death Star battle because its so similar to famous WW2 Battles.

[@BungieStudios]

Logic wise, it makes sense that the Empire sent out large amounts of TIE Fighters. For cinematic reasons, it is safe to excuse the few numbers seen. X-Wing blows up TIE Fighter (x50). It'd get old. To keep the plot going, only when a TIE is needed is one shown. Same could be said of its VFX needs.

[@arthipex8512]

As a soldier myself, I feel like the otherwise great immersion of the movies is often ruined by the infantry tactics used. Somehow Lucas never understood the concept of "cover". Sure, it can sometimes be useful to charge an enemy position, but that's very rarely the case. Having entire armies with guns charge each other simply makes no sense in any way.

[@GenerationTech]

i'm guessing the prequel trilogies made you cringe a lot

[@havareriksen3395]

Remember that blaster fire has a lot of penetration, and most of the environment where the fights take place offer little real cover against such weapons. However, it does provide concealment, which is also very valuable in a firefight. The one that shines in this regard is Boba Fett. at Cloud City, he is using both cover and concealment, and he properly shoulders his weapon before taking aimed shots.

[@sirtaelellevalerie1056]

well, "entire armies with guns charge each other" was main infantry tactics in 17-19 centuries. And even later, like chinese in korean war.

[@jamoecw]

@@sirtaelellevalerie1056 that is actually a myth. trench warfare was the standard in the 18th and 19th century, and it was so effective that the key battles were ones that were not trench ones.

[@guibin]

TIE fighters also have a fatal design flaw. It's cockpit only allows its pilot to see what's in front and no where else...

[@MrChickennugget360]

ba. thats cowards talk. Only a coward worries about enemies behind you! As a pilot for the galactic empire your only goal is to destroy what is in front of you- Governor Tarkin has your Back! for the Emperor and Lord Vadar!

[@Warsie]

the sensors give 3-D positioning, including sensors in the TIE pilots helmet.

[@billymanners9629]

At least in Star Wars: Tie Fighter (which isn't canon but oh well) there are rear viewports in addition to a radar readout of contacts in all directions, meaning that you can see all nearby enemies to evade when necessary

[@Swiftbow]

@@billymanners9629 The base TIE fighter in that game WAS a death trap, though. The TIE Advanced and the TIE Defender, on the other hand? Oh man... remember that mission where you were defecting (I think... it's been a long time) and had to help some rebel ships escape a Star Destroyer? Instead I engaged the Star Destroyer with the TIE Defender one on one and destroyed it. That was fun.

[@bechetfelix8612]

I think I know a reasonable explanation for the fact that the Death Star wasn't protected by Star-destroyers, I think the Empire still didn't believed that it was vincible. So why protect it with destructible Star-destroyers and maybe lose men?

[@straven89]

That was how Tarkin saw it. Tarkin likes to use what is necessary instead of how the Empire would traditionally use things. He pictured the battle being the small fighter squadron and nothing else. He never expected a force user on the Rebellion's side or for Han Solo to come in and mess up Vader's shot. The Death Star was all they needed with a small number of fighters from it to complete the mission, if Luke and Han weren't the two contributing factors to its destruction.

[@Movie-comparisons]

From a throughly logical perspective the empire had no reason not to better protect the death star. But from a cinematic perspective there's no way a film is going to end with the good guys losing

[@RocketHarry865]

@@Movie-comparisons well Empire Strikes Back basically does that and the only real victory the rebel could secure is that they were barely able to escape by the skins of their teeth

[@michaelkenny7314]

Actually, the tactics may have been based on damn-busters. But the tactics used in new hope were more correct than Ol George could've asked for. Coming straight down dive-bombing the exhaust port means facing all the ground fire from that section of the Death Star, from The Horizon to Horizon. That means you have to pound all the ground defenses before making your run. If you do the trench run you have only had to deal with what little guns are in the trench. The fighters should've maneuvered like Starfuries or Vipers like from NBSG during that battle.

[@silhouettesatsunset]

love that sarcastic sales pitch

[@BennyLlama39]

Alan: "Wow! Did we just end an episode on a meaningful, non-sarcastic & positive note?" Me: "Uh... yeah-- we'll go with that." 😀

[@rebelalliance6245]

"So many good pilots...and porkins... Lost their lives." Lol

[@jedijc5411]

ALSO..... Their was no such thing as "Military Film Consultants" (Still in the Military [AKA Public Affairs] or Retired Contractors) when the first Star Wars Film was being shot.

[@GenerationTech]

yea true

[@Areanyusernamesleft]

Well not in any organized fashion, but previously military historians and veterans had advised specific films on a one-off basis.

[@ruprecht8520]

I've heard again and again that for Medieval movies and shows they hire Medieval Film Consultants and then just ignore them if they decide something might look cooler or whatever. I figure the main reason they hire these type of consultants these days is to put the actors through a boot camp and beat them down prior to filming to build unity and remove the complainers early on.

[@zachcrschuller2406]

"I built this Empire up from nothing. When we got here all there was were Gungans. All the other Emperors said it was daft to use Gungans to build a super-weapon, but I did it all the same, just to show them! That one blew up. So we built a second one. That one blew up. The third one burned down, fell onto Naboo, and THEN blew up; but the Fourth one's still in orbit! And that's what you're gonna get, Vader: the strongest superweapon in the galaxy!

[@Negetive2digit]

Monty Python for the win!

[@brentiusiacomus8963]

Is there anyway to fit 2d Earth based ocean battle tactics to 3d space battles?

[@GenerationTech]

+BrentyCraft well if you think about it ocean battle tactics are also 3 dimensional you have underwater and and the sky. You can definitely apply lessons from both situations to one another

[@uniquelydavid]

Exactly. Submarine fights are always in 3d. The original Star Trek TV series did copy from old submarine movies during one episode between a Romulan Commander and Kirk.

[@jasoncrowell8863]

If you have some particular technobabble, you can get pretty close. The Honor Harrington series of books does this by having their sublight impellers create a field above and below the ship that is completely impervious to any weapon (incoming or outgoing). Thus, if two forces are going to go to battle, they have to be level with each other, and they have to have most of their weapons mounted in broadsides like warships in the 1700s.

[@321gman3]

Have you seen Wrath of Khan, that doesn't work out well.

[@flankspeed]

Ah yes.... "He's intelligent... but inexperienced..."

[@eddieram435]

This channel has deepen my knowledge of Star Wars with every video. It's a cool way to see the Galaxy from a different point of view than that of the movies.

[@tomaszmagierowski2166]

I love this topic. For instance, when I saw the soldiers in Narnia charging off of a big huge hill then I decided that some idiot must be leading them for some reason.

[@GenerationTech]

lol yea right why would you ever charge off a hill in a old fashioned melee fight

[@SonsOfLorgar]

Generation Tech well, if the enemy is already on their way up, counter charging actually does make sense as your charge gets a higher momentum as long as it impacts before level ground.

[@tomaszmagierowski2166]

Unless you're Napoleon at Austerlitz then the last thing you want to do is give away your biggest advantage.

[@lukesomers2031]

Or at the battle in front of the black gate in the Return of the King movie.

[@bretburrell7543]

I really appreciate you, Alan... Thank You for your work. You're a real hero!

[@Sam-uk4mb]

Please for the love of God do battle tactics of Endor and how they lost to teddy bears.

[@GenerationTech]

first hoth then endor

[@Sam-uk4mb]

Papa Allen knows all.

[@NYG5]

If only the Ewoks were wookies throwing spears like javelins

[@stephenfender5895]

Your positive note got you a sub. Also, as a scifi author, your views on the questionable tactics are actually helpful to someone like me who strives for a good mix of what you love about Star Wars (the action, experience, spectacle, etc.) with a reality people can relate to (Damn Busters). It's very hard to pull off, but it CAN be done without being a boring perpendicular trench run.

[@vote4dahv411]

why didn't the Empire launch every TIE fighter in the Death Star at the rebels? They could have overwhelmed the X-wings and then could have destroyed the rebel base at Yavin?

[@Hellsong89]

Main problem of Tarkins doctrine. Said doctrine was build around capital ships, not single seater fighters. Idea was to have enough firepower and armor to take on those puny starfighters. Trow enough shit in the wall and some will stick.. if the one sticking is turbolaser bolt.. well no fighter can take it with out least being crippled severely. Cause so much shit was trown towards the wall, sending your own fighters would probably caused more friendly fire accidents than destroyed enemy ships. Also said capital ships could easily take on any big fleet+invade whole planets. If i recall right one imperial class star destroyer was enough to take whole planet, that didnt have its own capital ship fleet. Essentially republic used modern carrier based tactics during clone wars, using small carrier based crafts and landing troops, where empire used old USA capital ship tactics to take pacific islands. Both sides had their goals in mind+budget and were successful in them, but empire just grew too confident and was not aware of flaw in first death star, that was intentionally planned there, by the super weapon designer. In the second one... well i cant even guess why the fuck they didnt block that huge ass hole...

[@vote4dahv411]

I would say that was more Thrawn's style than Tarkin's. Tarkin was for the Death Star, if you read Timothy Zahn's book Thrawn, it shows that Thrawn was more in favor of having a larger more mobile fleet than just a single Death Star. This would allow greater flexibility during campaigns and wouldn't restrict the empire into taking the rebels on one system at a time. If the Imperial fleet was the same size at Endor and deployed at Yavin, they could effectively neutralize the Rebels in space, pull back, and by the time the Death Star rotated around Yavin 4, the rebels would have no means of retaliation and the Death Star could destroy the entire planet. How they did it in the movies though wasn't tactically sound even from the standards of basic Imperial military doctrine.

[@RomanHistoryFan476AD]

the death star was invincible though really to most things. I mean only a force user could have made that shot. I mean if Luke was not flying the death star wouldn't have been dying. I

[@skwills1629]

I view The Death Star as a vanity project for Palpatine that fed his own ego and played into his "Bigger, more power" Philosophy than as anything practical. As another Video noted, Star Destroyers could destroy planets if you had enough of them firing on it. It'd just take longer. Plus, loose one ship you still have many more. Palps was just a bad Military Tactician. It was his weakness. He was Brilliant in Politics, bad in Military planning. He ran a Military Dictatorship, though.

[@vote4dahv411]

I'd agree to that...kinda like Trump's wall :P

[@TheFleetAdmiral33]

at 4:24 you show the Y-wings attacking the equatorial trench, but the trench that had the target in it was actually a much smaller one running from North to South on the Death Star, with the exhaust port being near the North Pole of it.

[@therookie7060]

hi generation tech live your videos keep it up, I've been curious which side would win in a fight the Imperial fleet, or the fleet commander Shepard assembles in mass effect 3 to fight the reapers, do you think could do a video on that?

[@BaryonicChef]

The primary reactor of the Death Star was used to power both the superlaser AND the hyperdrive, and after a jump it needed to cool before it could be used by the super laser.

[@obi-wankenobi8406]

make one about ewok burgers

[@baronvannox3797]

Obi-Wan Kenobi Oh, you ARE a bold one.

[@Yeentenology]

And I Joyously thought that Kenobi was slain!

[@americanpoliticswithclay7785]

Keep up the good work dude. I can not wait for more episodes from this series. I love army tactics and especially starwars tactics

[@GenerationTech]

thanks appreciate it!

[@rockyperez6668]

seeing gold leader in rogue one put a smile on my face.

[@37Sith]

My 2 favorite star wars channels are Generation tech and Star Wars Theory! God I wish y'all would collaborate on some stuff! Keep up the great work G tech!

[@rikuurufu5534]

"So many good pilots --and Porkins-- lost their lives"

[@darrylgonzalez5251]

I absolutely loved SW:ANH. I liked it even more when I saw. The Special Edition, and learned that the explosion scenes on the exterior of the Death Star were some guy driving past a 6 foot by 6 foot collection of cannibalized model battleship parts and throwing Molotov cocktails at them!

[@bthanbeethan5590]

the battle of yavin tactics make sense, if the fighters attack from a vertical angle then nearly all the defence cannons in that hemisphere would be able to target the squadron. going through the trench means that only the guns in the trench which were most likely in a small number as explained in Rouge 1 the Death Star was built to be destroyable. Mostly only tie fighters would be able to attack the squadron and x-wings are superior to ties. most hangers were placed away from the trench as well making it a long journey round such a large battle station which would give the fighters a long time to destroy the death star. The most important reason that the rebels were able to succeed was that the imperial offers were unaware to any weakness in the death star and assumed the rebels were playing for time and deploying ties would mean that the ties would have to be recalled before the weapon fired so none got in the way which would give the rebels more time to escape, most imperial officers didn't like that idea so they only sent out Darth Vader who was the best pilot in the Empire and (as seen in rebels) had taken out rebel capital ships alone.

[@bronywigchiggety]

rogue, not rouge

[@captbrody5036]

Well you almost ended an episode on a deep and meaningful note. LOL Good job guys. Looks like this will be a cool series to watch.

[@GenerationTech]

thanks appreciate it!

[@SandyCheeks1896]

What? A perpendicular dive would expose you to ALL of the fire from every gun on the surface! Once you were on their range moving in a guaranteed straight line for the exhaust port they’d blow you out of the sky. I always assumed (perhaps because of the rogue squadron 2 level) that they entered the trench in the safest possible location, and stayed in it to avoid all of the gun placements outside the trench that would easily take them out. Where as the inside of the trench has only a few specific placements to worry about.

[@scotchy4321]

lol Great ending. Love every one of your vids, keep up the great work!

[@obi-wankenobi8406]

mind blown

[@gammaechofoundationproductions]

You made some excellent points! I completely agree with everything you said, especially about the part where you stated that a vertical attack on the Death Star would have basically reduced the casualty rate to practically zero.

[@preshlock]

It made absolutely no sense for the Empire to devote the type of resources to the Death Star and not provide any sort of covering force,...think of a space carrier battle group.

[@GenerationTech]

yea i mean i understand the budgeting problems but it kinda destroys the immersion

[@preshlock]

In general I never got a sense of proper proportion for Star Wars. The Empire had 25,000 Star Destroyers and hundreds of thousands of TIE fighters,...perhaps millions. Yet they only sent out 8 TIE. Sort of thinking. But Rouge One makes this more problematic because the security breach was serious. Both the primary engineer and supervisor even died as a result. Made no sense for Tarkin to just brush off the Rebel assault force.

[@Comradcommodore]

I think the small tie fighter force was because the rebels had essentially no chance. Red leaders targeting computer couldn't even hit the vent. It took one of the last force users in the galaxy to make the shot, if Luke isn't flying that X-Wing, the rebel base gets destroyed. why waste tie fighters on a couple rebel ships when they have 0 chance to destroy the death star

[@iainoftheizzetleague9850]

Maybe a couple of venators

[@Doinstuffman]

The hubris of the Empire. The "Ultimate Power in the Universe" don't need no fucking escort.

[@RyanAlexanderBloom]

You're right about this battle. I was very distressed by all the Clone Wars battles that closely resemble American Civil War tactics (which were outdated and ridiculous in 1860) so they certainly don't make sense with starships and lasers.

[@aselrahc]

One thing you have to consider about the 8 TIE fighters is when the movie was made. That was a lot of spaceship models on screen at once. There was no computer involved here, no copy/paste functionality. As a 4 year old watching this movie for the first time, and yearly after that (when it was rereleased or on TV), we just assume we're not seeing all the ships in any given shot. Assuming because you only see 8 means there are only 8 is such a millennial thing! LOL! Use your imagination, man! We had to back in the 80s! Funny that you're mad about how the Death Star flew to the other side of the planet, but what if Yavin 4 was directly in their line of travel? They can't really fly through a planet to get to the rebels now can they? I mean, maybe they could have flown beside the planet and wound up to the side of the rebels, but this is all hyperspace math and who can do that?! Seems simple enough to show up on the opposite side and give your troops time to survey and prepare for the opposition. I'll give you the thing about attacking the Death Star perpendicularly, but again, use your imagination! Clearly the photon torpedos somehow are designed to bend at a certain point or are guided. Luke didn't force turn them. It is future weapon design thought up in the 70s for crying out loud, lol, give Lucas a break. And while any ship in the trench might have been a sitting duck, outside the trench they had all the Tie fighters and laser turrets to contend with. Both are dangerous situations, and that's the entire point of the whole desperate plan. It was a long shot and would have failed if not for our heroes! I feel like you're really just not considering the time period these were made in and holding it up to today's standards and ability to research this stuff.

[@tskone8326]

AWESOME Allen and GT. Thank you/ this made me Smile

[@GenerationTech]

thanks for watching!

[@obi-wankenobi8406]

Hello there...

[@Antonluisre]

Obi-Wan Kenobi Hey there. Got a bucket of chicken, wanna do it?

[@angelastuppy8258]

You wanna buy some Deathsticks

[@edwardchaervey5545]

General Kenobi!

[@lonewolffe1818]

Qui-Gon: slow down, my young apprentice Obi-Wan: ANAKIN, SLOW DOWN! ANAKIN! ANAKIN! ANAKIN: no

[@obi-wankenobi8406]

Angela Stuppy yes

[@waceyseufer7083]

Lmao! Dude I'm not gonna lie, this one made me giggle! Lol it was great! Keep up the good work and may the force be with you.

[@gundermifflin4606]

R.I.P. Porkins

[@corywalker8679]

nice idea for a series. very creative, and original.

[@GenerationTech]

thanks i appreciate it

[@ozwolf01]

Ripping off an old movie aside, there are actual tactical reasons for the trench run. TIE's: there doesn't really seem to be much to distinguish what Luke blew up on his first strafing of the surface except more surface. It could be argued that this (and possibly others destroyed by the other fighters) was the entry to the nearest hangar bay to the trench. Other hangers close by were along the equator, delaying them. Biggs and Porkins then blow up a defense tower, and after Porkins became bacon other defenses were destroyed. This gives the Y and later X wings an easier entry point into the trench. After the Y-wings enter the trench, Gold Leader asks G5 how many guns - 'say about 20 guns, some on the surface, some on the towers.' This would imply that the target is surrounded by 20 emplacements that would render a direct approach suicide. But by taking an indirect approach through the trench, they can avoid most if not all of them. And yes, I am aware that this theory is as holy as the tactics I'm defending.. wouldn't be fun otherwise. Bring on Hoth!

[@GenerationTech]

you bring some good points, I always thought that defenses were placed evenly on the surface. I dont think the empire would've wasted resources on protecting an exhaust pipe. The reason why I think a perpendicular angle would've worked better is because they would need to make that approach angle anyway to get to the death star so why not just finish the attack run on the first attempt. I mean they lost almost all of their snub fighters anyway.

[@daddystalin4458]

And they lost Porkins don't forget the real mvp of the battle.

[@johnkirk2863]

its not that the exhaust port was protected their ships couldnt dodge and weave cause they had to lock the targeting computer so if they flew straight from the top they would be cut down cause they couldnt dodge ... the trench allowed them to fly low so they coulod lock the computer...i dont know if you noticed how long it took and how close you had to get to get a lock

[@forestwells5820]

In theory, the problem with the perpendicular dive is it exposes you to a much greater field of fire. Riding the trench provides cover from all but a few cannons. As for the 90 degree turn on the torpedoes, given the technology, I could totally see a targeting system that would allow for the weapon to turn at a prescribed point. Kind of like Bunker Busters that only detonate AFTER they've breached the outer walls. The problem is, you need the right angle/firing point, or when it dives, it'll miss the hole.

[@basdevisser3830]

do a episode about al the Times people stand straight up in the open tot fire there blasters. I can't stand it when somebody is just waiting to get shot.

[@GenerationTech]

well ge to that once we look at the prequels

[@williamdobbiniii2910]

it's modern day mythology Alan that's why Star Wars is so damned AWESOME!

[@sentinelmoonfang]

There were no B-Wings yet. Nor A-Wings. They had R-22's, the predecessors of A-Wings, which did participate according to the EU. Jake Farrell, the A-Wing pilot who enters the second Death Star with Lando actually participated in the first attack too in an R--22. The higher the fighters are from the surface, the more turret fire they're exposed to, so being closer to the surface means that fewer turrets can draw line of sight to your fighters, so a 'dive bombing' attack is not necessarily the answer. Bringing Star Destroyers wouldn't help much against starfighters flying around the surface of the Death Star. If you have a bunch of Star Destroyers firing off turbolasers in hopes of getting a lucky shot that hits a starfighter... how many of those shots miss? And all those shots that do miss are going to be slamming into your super expensive battlestation. There was a fighter screen prior to Vader taking his wingmen to attack the Y-Wings making the trench run. We also need to consider that the Empire had not necessarily seen that weakness in their own defenses. The Germans in WWII didn't realize the turret shape on their Panther tanks was a problem until later in the war, it's not inconceivable to think they might not have known the target of the attack. I think the line spoken by Vader does a lot to dispel the idea of 'not covering the Y-Wings.' He mentions several fighters have broken off from the main group, the main group at that point is already engaged, likely by a foe that is intensely numerically superior. It would be difficult for them to disengage at that point and cover the Y-Wings without become targets themselves. They did their job and had all the TIEs wrapped up. It was only after another group launched that Gold Squadron became threatened. Once the TIEs were dispatched, though, there was no reason not to have a craft or two flying high cover for the craft in the trench, so in reality, Garven (Red Leader)'s run should have been pretty clear, but he still missed, so in the end, the result was the same. I would also argue that there were a lot more than 8 TIEs in the air. There were '30 rebel ships' and the TIEs seemed to outnumber the rebels in the scene. More likely that was down to limitations on the models available for them to shoot, but it was implied in the narrative that there were more TIEs out there.

[@saber5694]

You got everything right except that a wings and b wings are actually older than the x wing. The reason they didn't use them is the a wing doesn't have the ability to fire torpedoes and the b wing was too large And slow to make the run. Now they could have used a wings to cover the others but they simply didn't have enough pilots

[@NelsonVlog66]

@@saber5694 Lucas and ILM hadn't created probe droids, A wings, B wings, etc. yet.

[@emperorryanii]

Kevin Nelson , probe droids were created long before the empire. Darth Maul in the Phantom Menace launched a probe droid to locate Qui Gon and in the Battle of Hoth Darth Vader sent them to locate those rebel base.

[@ChaoticEmperor01]

you know, all things considered, videos like this just show how much we love star wars if we are bothering to nit pick the battle tactics. and its also true. hell really the only time ive seen truly competent tactics and strategies is in rebels when thrawn is involved, because thrawn

[@GenerationTech]

very well said.. and yes because thrawn

[@GarlicPudding]

The Death Star was DESIGNED to fight capital ships. Using them would be suicide. The Imperial gunner said the Rebel fighters were TOO SMALL to hit with turbolaser. And the first ships to go down the trench were Y-Wings...BOMBERS. The X-wings were acting as scouts and top cover.

[@JJ-eg4zm]

GarlicPudding still we know from rebels and legends the empire had smaller ships that where designed to screen against fighters.

[@rikk319]

Yes. In WW2, battleships and cruisers had two armaments--ship-to-ship guns, and antiaircraft guns. Turbolasers were the ship-to-ship guns, like the 16-inch guns on typical U.S. battleships. They could fire at a target miles and miles away and cause huge damage, but their fire rate was very slow. The 40mm antiaircraft guns were much faster, but would never hit an enemy ship from miles away. Trying to shoot at an X-wing with a turbolaser was like trying to shoot down a Japanese Zero with a 16-inch turret.

[@KrillLiberator]

Worth also mentioning (as you discussed carriers) that some of the tactics were lifted from the Battle of Midway, which is where the idea of fighters bouncing low-and-slow, straight-running torpedo bombers comes from. So, to be entirely fair to Lucas, when you smash a bunch of different battles together, the resulting melange may seem a little wonky on dissection. Interestingly, the best fighter tactic in the whole film was also a Midway tactic - Wedge Antilles clearing that TIE off of Luke's tail using the Thach Weave... Good vid. Tx

[@bsmnt23]

I wholeheartedly, laughingly agree about the shit tactics presented throughout the entirety of Star Wars, but Leia might actually have been right to lead the Death Star to Yavin IV before the Rebels could possibly be ready for it. We see in both Rebels and Rogue 1 that the rebels are very gun shy about actually engaging the Empire directly. Not allowing rebel leadership to participate in their favorite strategy of talking any given situation to death and most likely ultimately packing up and running away instead forced them to actually have to fight for their survival.

[@GenerationTech]

yea you're right at the end of the day the rebels did pull it off

[@InternetDarkLord]

For whatever its worth, there is a logical explanation for Leia letting herself be tracked. Since she now had the Death Star plans, she could then lure the Death Star into a battle with the enemy battle plans.

[@stevewoodford4844]

I was reading some of the comments about how the Empire only sent out 8 TIE Fighters and how maybe he wanted the Death Star destroyed and it brought back memories of an article I read in Cracked called "How one TIE Fighter Pilot saved the day for the rebellion. It's a funny story, something I picture Allen telling while sitting around a conference table, plotting world domination, lol. Here's a link: www.cracked.com/article_18719_the-tie-fighter-pilot-who-saved-day-in-star-wars.html

[@MikeMiller-cq7tu]

Your military knowledge is quite impressive!

[@anixprophet1966]

It was because Tarkin abused his power by blowing up Alderaan. Palpatine reduced the Death Star's defenses to punish Tarkin, and to test the Death Star's limits to prepare for the Yuuzhan Vong.

[@Fingeroo]

Uh, no?

[@InvaderNaj]

when would there be time to do that?

[@johns5638]

Heldras The Crusader When does the movie state that?

[@ИльяПавлов-я1ж]

but Tarkin was already punished BY BEING DEAD

[@anixprophet1966]

@@ИльяПавлов-я1ж I completely forgot about this comment and I no longer care about Star Wars enough to subscribe to this theory

[@ianholdinghausen695]

The reason there weren't any star destroyers is because Tarkin wanted to prove that the only thing that mattered was the station, the Death Star was made to make the fleet insignificant. This is not the best answer you will find, you will find better ones other places :)

[@dionr1168]

I always thought Leia went straight to Yavin 4 to use the Empire's own tracking device as bait to lure the Death Star into a trap.

[@jameslove5457]

I LOVE THIS MOVIE but your analysis is so correct spot on

[@warhammernerd52Daxx-Lorenzo898]

3:15-3:19 Osleo Prennert (That One Rebel Guy You Briefly See On Yavin IV)

[@Nalleee]

These are so interesting, Keep them comming!

[@Gibbs6415]

3:56 THANK YOU! Somebody else who believes that the Red Squadron sucked at CAP, Escort and Fighter Sweep...

[@bjmccann1]

This was one of the BEST Star Wars videos that I've ever seen. Why didn't Tarkin just destroy the planet? Destroying the planet would've destroyed the moon as well. Well, not directly, but debris from the planet would've impacted on the moon. And yes, the main naval lesson that was learned from World War Two was that capital ships CANNOT operate without air defense. Look at what happened to Musashi. It was the most powerful warship ever built, and it was taken down by single engined bombers and torpedo bombers. Why didn't Tarkin launch fighters as a matter of course? I know that he didn't think that X-wings and Y-wings could destroy the Death Star, but they could still cause damage worth billions of Galactic credits.

[@GenerationTech]

I think the reason why tarkin didn't attack the planet was they didn't know what would happen, I'm guessing they've never tested the superlaser against a gas giant. The Death Star's main laser takes about 24 hours to recharge so most likely they only had one shot at the moon.

[@christophersandidge8257]

That last part made me laugh my ass off. Thanks. I needed that.

[@beerenmusli8220]

Awesome Video!!!

[@NelsonVlog66]

In the NPR drama, Han suggested that they layover somewhere to check the ship, but Leia said that there was no time.

[@rydout]

I can feel your anger. It give you focus... makes you stronger. ... No but I get angry when watching most of these decisions as well, then I have to let it go and just enjoy the universe for what it is and my favorite things about it, but there are many such instances....

[@repatomonor21]

Maybe the reason that the rebels couldn't attack the death star's vent port from above is that the station was moving at high speed to get past Yavin. The rebel ships simply couldn't match that vectoral movement from above, but sliding along with the trench, the ships could relate to the station's gravity pull, making it easier to navigate, manouver, and target.

[@AKlover]

If you do a vertical dive obviously you have to leave time to pull up. Also probably 20% of the Death Stars AA batters could target your flight at once, 20% is probably a conservative estimate. AA batteries placed above the trench likely cannot engage you. Everything else you said I agree with.

[@constructmaster6280]

The Kyber Crystal add seemed a bit too forced. But the small child joke basically redeemed it, because darn that was amazing.

[@OwenWanKenobi]

this was awesome! liked

[@sir.cheese7963]

Generation that crystal thing is too funny!

[@CC-tl3zs]

Please do more!

[@ricwilki6254]

Marvellous auto captions translating TIE Fighters into typewriters! 😂 Love Stars Wars. Saw it in the cinema on initial release in 1977. What always got me was why didn’t another set of X Fighters follow the Tie Fighters down the trench in the initial attack runs?

[@frenchpineapple3574]

The empire didn't know of their own weakness that much, so they though the death star was invulnerable.

[@SilviiSilvester]

I love Generation Tech

[@shaunalbert63]

Omg that kyber cyrstal bit at the end just made me shoot soda out my nose thats too funny

[@keefh6897]

Anybody know the name of the film, tv show which had the private jet flying upside down @ 4:49 ?

[@rwither1]

Excellent analysis. In Star Wars Revisited (a must download version of ANH) there is an entire fleet of TIEs. Also, don't make fun of Porkins. Yavin was a suicide mission. They all knew it. Porkins was fearless and brave.

[@Slavicplayer251]

Death Star engineer: there’s enough space for 200,000 ties ready to go and more than a million in preparation

[@Nderak]

Dambusters was a great movie, now I have to rewatch it.

[@orionantares]

I think the thing not considered here is the sheer size of the Death Star and the Empire's aversion to one man fighter use. The size alone makes capital ships pointless to send against it plus there may be gravitational issues with trying to exit hyperspace much closer than they did.

[@Jibriltz]

It wasn't just The Dambusters but also 633 Squadron that George Lucas took inspiration from which is also very well worth a watch if only to see a lot of real DH Mosquitos flying around in 1963!

[@alisterfolson]

nice I like this new Direction you're going...still following you

[@toddnolastname4485]

The Empire didn't know there was a defect in the station; they thought it could not be damaged. When they finally realized there was a problem, Tarkin understood how unlikely it was that anyone could actually hit it. And they had to run the trench because there was a shield in place over the port that kept them from shooting down at it. Everyone asks why there was an exhaust port. The real question is, why is there a trench for the rebels to fly down. And why didn't the rebels enter the trench closer to the exhaust port?

[@lukesomers2031]

My theory on the trench run is that there was a one-way shield preventing objects from coming into the trench over most of its length. This is supported by the fighters entering the trench at the same specific location repeatedly -- that was the only place they could. (Vader and his squadron were able to ask the shield to be lowered momentarily so they could get in elsewhere). Since this was not a ray shield, Han was able to shoot the fighters from outside. That doesn't change that there were some very poor tactics on the Rebel side, but it does make the overall approach basically comprehensible.

[@christopherbravo1813]

4:26- "New strategy, brothers: STRAIGHT DOWN!"

[@kevincheng1737]

2:24 "so many good pilots, and Porkins" LOL XD

[@Starbug360]

there are a couple of videos where someone took the audio to the Death Star battle and superimposed it over the appropriate scenes from Dambusters, and one where they took the audio from Dambusters and set it to the video of the Death Star battle. It's crazy just how well they match up.