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TWO METER EXHAUST PORT
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Converting all that hypermatter gets hot.

In fairness, do you really expect someone to get past all your defences in a fighter, and then make a shot that every computer says is impossible through your ray-shielded exhaust port?
Although why they didn't just put some meshing over that, or something....

Rochey wrote:In fairness, do you really expect someone to get past all your defences in a fighter, and then make a shot that every computer says is impossible through your ray-shielded exhaust port?
Although why they didn't just put some meshing over that, or something....

Or a bend in it, come to that.

Did the computers say it was impossible? I seem to remember they said it was difficult but not impossible.

Or a bend in it, come to that.

Yeah, that would have been handy.
Though we did see the torps doing a 90 degree turn in the space of a second or so, so maybe it wouldn't have helped that much.
Still....

Did the computers say it was impossible? I seem to remember they said it was difficult but not impossible.

I think the quote was "That's impossible, even for a computer."
And then later on we see the targetting computers failing to hit the target.

I think Lucas is on record as saying that the exhaust port was an impossible target for anyone but Luke (and, presumably, Anakin).

Rochey wrote:

Or a bend in it, come to that.

Yeah, that would have been handy.
Though we did see the torps doing a 90 degree turn in the space of a second or so, so maybe it wouldn't have helped that much.
Still....

Did the computers say it was impossible? I seem to remember they said it was difficult but not impossible.

I think the quote was "That's impossible, even for a computer."
And then later on we see the targetting computers failing to hit the target.

But then Luke said it wasn't impossible, he did it back home.

I took the pilot's complaint with a bit of a pinch of salt. If the attack were actually considered to be impossible then there'd be no point in trying it. For that matter there'd be no point in them describing the port as a weakness.

And there's no such thing as "impossible for anybody except..." If Luke did it, it's possible. That's what the words possible and impossible mean!

GrahamKennedy wrote:I took the pilot's complaint with a bit of a pinch of salt. If the attack were actually considered to be impossible then there'd be no point in trying it. For that matter there'd be no point in them describing the port as a weakness.

I think the general opinion was that the run was extremely difficult but just about possible based on the approach and the size of the target. Problem was, they underestimated the degree of additional difficulty imposed by the jamming, the flak towers, and Black Squadron.

And there's no such thing as "impossible for anybody except..." If Luke did it, it's possible. That's what the words possible and impossible mean!

Alright, call it impossible for any computer, or for any normal pilot, but possible for one of the strongest Force users in galactic history.

Captain Seafort wrote:Alright, call it impossible for any computer, or for any normal pilot, but possible for one of the strongest Force users in galactic history.

Purely out of curiosity, how exactly does being a great force user help you in this situation? Success is a matter of releasing the torpedoes at exactly the right moment, with the ship at the right height, distance and speed, right? Now I can see that you might use the force to guide you to hit that point exactly right. But if there actually is an exact right launch point, isn't it also possible to hit it through skill, luck, or a combination of the two? I can see that using the force might make you far more likely to succeed, but surely if you can do it with the force you can do it without, at least in theory?

In theory, sure, but it would be akin to throwing a 1" diametre dart through an infintesimally greater than 1" diametre hole. There's a chance that you might do it, but it's a pretty poor one.

This assumes, of course, that Luke didn't subconciously use the Force to give the torpedoes a nudge after he'd fired which would, obviously, be impossible for a none-Force-user.

Yeah the pilot was just complaining that it was a difficult shot not impossible.

Captain Seafort wrote: This assumes, of course, that Luke didn't subconciously use the Force to give the torpedoes a nudge after he'd fired which would, obviously, be impossible for a none-Force-user.

I figured thats what made the difference, because if I remember the scene correctly, the torpedoes were going to impact below the vent before swerving in. So I think it's logical to assume that, being a powerful force user, Luke's "come on, make it, make it, make it" that any pilot would be thinking probably had a little force-related shove behind it.

But again - if the attack was outside the operational characteristics of the torpedo, then why would they mount the attack in the first place? It's as if they decided to try stopping it with harsh language, knowing that that cannot work, but then the force let Luke's harsh language win the day.

It can't have been an impossible shot. It wouldn't make any sense.

How about, highly, highly improbable then?

But again - if the attack was outside the operational characteristics of the torpedo, then why would they mount the attack in the first place? It's as if they decided to try stopping it with harsh language, knowing that that cannot work, but then the force let Luke's harsh language win the day.

It can't have been an impossible shot. It wouldn't make any sense.

What other options did they have? It was either die trying to blow it up, or die sitting around waiting to be blown up. They knew the flaw was there and that was the only chance they had, hence the attack.