Spoilers FO fleet's tactics in TLJ [Spoilers! Spoilers! Spoilers!]

[Kor]

In case you haven't seen the movie yet, there be SPOILERS ahead.

So please don't proceed if you don't want the movie to be SPOILED before you watch it.

Since many discussions about The Last Jedi seem to get sidetracked onto the topic of the First Order fleet's pursuit of the Resistance ships, here is a place to discuss the matter.

The resistance ships did not try to go into hyperspace anymore once they determined that the First Order would just be able to track them and catch up with them. This resulted in a pursuit at sub-light speeds that took a considerable amount of time.

So why did the First Order not just have a couple of their ships jump to hyperspace and come out in front of the Resistance ships to cut off their path? Please try to address this from an objective in-universe perspective rather than as a basis to critique the narrative, as there is already another thread for reviewing the movie. Discuss away!

Kor

 

[The Nth Doctor]

The best explanation I've seen is that the First Order lacked the accuracy for such a short jump into hyperspace.

 

[DigificWriter]

As I outlined elsewhere, the First Order doesn't view the Resistance as anything more than pretenders, even with the destruction of Starkiller Base, so picking them off slowly is about demonstrating power. The problem is that it also exposes the First Order as pretenders because they let their hubris stop them from decisively ending the Resistance swiftly.

 

[Captain of the USS Averof]

The Empire and First order are all in favor of big, huge demonstrations of power by powerful weapons, ships and space stations...

The Empire’s destruction of Alderaan was a demonstration of power.
First Order’s destruction of the Hosnian System was a demonstration of power.

This slow chase was anything but.

 

[DigificWriter]

The First Order's pursuit of the Resistance from D'Qar was a demonstration of power because they believed that they could take out the Resistance at their leisure.

 

[EnderAKH]

Personally, I just saw it as Hux playing with his food. It was 3 relatively tiny ships running low on fuel. Why not have a little fun running them down?

 

[David cgc]

The best explanation I've seen is that the First Order lacked the accuracy for such a short jump into hyperspace.

Makes sense. If they overshoot, given the speeds of Star Wars Hyperdrive (which only seem to be increasing as time goes on), they could easily end up more than half a light-day ahead, so it'd take just as long to intercept them from the other side as it would to let them exhaust themselves. And the Resistance ships could just turn to a new course. And that's assuming the First Order maintains their sensor lock. If they let the Resistance ships go, they'll be in the wind and that'll be that.

 

[Scout101]

Eh, that's kinda dumb from their standpoint, though. Maybe you can't do a micro-jump, I'll concede that. In that case, make a bigger jump somewhere easy and close, and then another jump right back, but in front of them. How's that not work? Had a ton of ships, send one out and try it, not like it's all or nothing.

Only other random guess I'll throw out: maybe there are specific areas in each system that are the 'safe' entry/exit points from hyperspace? Gravity wells, clear hyperspace corridors, I dunno, but maybe once they were all in-system, there weren't any other available jump points that get them closer to the fleet? Doesn't really play with what we've seen either, especially when the Rebels consider jumping again themselves, but I'm grasping for a way to make the plan not stupid

 

[Ithekro]

The Resistance can't escape, and the First Order is in no hurry to kill them. Might as well left hope die the slow death of a futile attempt to escape at sublight speeds. It just makes the final end more satisfying knowing that the enemy will have lost all hope and be without defenses in the end. As it was, the Resistance fleet could defend against TIE fighters without the First Order capital ships support, and they could maintain distance from the fleet. But their would be no need to risk anymore ships if the Resistance continues to just run. It just becomes an inevitable death for the Resistance, and the First Order only has to spend like a day chasing them down at their leisure.

 

[EnsignRicky]

Because Johnson knew that if he wanted to make the longest most drawn out Star Wars film ever, he was going to have to riddle the thing with pointless plot devices and mind boggling character choices.

 

[David cgc]

Because Johnson knew that if he wanted to make the longest most drawn out Star Wars film ever, he was going to have to riddle the thing with pointless plot devices and mind boggling character choices.

"I'm concerned with how Anakin is reacting to the Senator. We should send them to frolic alone through the most picturesque spot in the galaxy, that'll set him straight."

 

[EnsignRicky]

I don't see your point. Your just randomly describing some scene from another trilogy that explains where Luke and Leia came from. And while that may be an important plot point to the saga, it has nothing to do with what I said.

 

[Morpheus 02]

Because Johnson knew that if he wanted to make the longest most drawn out Star Wars film ever, he was going to have to riddle the thing with pointless plot devices and mind boggling character choices.

Or maybe Hux was an ancestor of the cops who chased OJ in the white bronco

 

[Kor]

Meanwhile, back in the discussion of in-universe events...

Hyperspace travel in SW doesn't work like lightspeed travel in certain other sci-fi, such as Trek. In SW, hyperspace is definitely for long distances. For instance, something like the Picard Maneuver wouldn't happen. Perhaps attempts at short jumps have a way of going haywire.

Kor

 

[The Wormhole]

I'll stick with the ships obviously had limited fuel and couldn't outrun the First Order anyway, so why not wait until their fuel was spent and shoot the ships down when they can't defend themselves.

What is odd is as soon as the ships ran out of fuel, they stopped dead in space. Shouldn't they have continued moving in the direction they were heading at the same speed anyway?

 

[David cgc]

Since fuel consumption was the vital factor, all the ships in the chase must've been constantly accelerating. Therefore the ships that ran out of fuel may have appeared to stop, but were actually being overtaken.

That, and drag exists in space operas. "All stop," my foot!

 

[USS Firefly]

I'll stick with the ships obviously had limited fuel and couldn't outrun the First Order anyway, so why not wait until their fuel was spent and shoot the ships down when they can't defend themselves.

What is odd is as soon as the ships ran out of fuel, they stopped dead in space. Shouldn't they have continued moving in the direction they were heading at the same speed anyway?

No because there is gravitatie in the Star Wars galaxy.
In the opening battle you can see the rebels drop boms at the First Order battleship in space

 

[JRoss]

Those bombs were clearly drone bombs. And Lucasfilm is saying that the bays use magnetic acceleration to "drop".

 

[TedShatner10]

In the opening battle, why didn't the three Star Destroyer escorts for the Dreadnought fire upon the Resistance fighters/bombers and their flotilla, JUST SITTING THERE?!

I put it down to the First Order being very bad at combined fleet tactics and putting their faith into the biggest ships in both encounters.

Also their TIEs have hyperdrives - if splitting the fleet was problematic, why not deploy half their TIE wings to whittle away the Resistance ships? And Kylo's fighter raid was a blinding success!

 

[Venardhi]

Any excuses involving how hyperdrives work have to account for Finn and Rose managing to jump away and back like it was nothing. They had to know the Resistance had some kind of a plan. Following them blindly at their own pace is a good way to run right into a trap.