is this even funny anymore? I mean, do the makers of these movies even get the ridiculousness this has gotten to? I mean it was already dubious in ANH when we're told that the "preciseness" of the shots taken at the Jawas could only come from Stormtroopers when earlier in that same movie in a hail of laser-bolts they failed to hit two droids moving across the corridor. So why are we being told they're so accurate and precise?
Even in the entire original trilogy we could let them get away with it. Hell, I'll give them the PT as well.
But today? It's a full-on meme. It's a world-wide joke that these guys couldn't hit the broad-side of a barn on accident. So when we see them missing to such great extent in TFA and R1, it's kind of more annoying and eye-rolling than anything else. How are we supposed to take the bad guys seriously when we know in a hail for fire they can't hit things on accident even when they have superior numbers by several factors?
Give me, *something*: Someone explaining to someone how a blaster works and saying something like, "the blaster bolt itself only has an effectiveness of 5% so you need a lot of shots to get even one hit unless you have a very expensive, and rare, weapon." But, come on, it's getting ridiculous.
Hell, the "stun setting" blasters apparently have -used only once- seems to have a much greater effectiveness and a "wider" field of impact. Why not use that to put people out and then waste them with lethal shots when they're all out?
1) Stormtroopers are conscripts, taken from their homes at a young age and indoctrinated by the Empire to serve for years, possibly decades, without much hope of an end to their service except severe wounds or death. And with the prolific use of cybernetic organs/limbs and whatever is rumored to possibly be going on with the
"Death Troopers" (if their name is literal) not even that is a guarantee of freedom. When you're not fighting you're relegated to performing menial tasks like sanitation or guarding empty tractor beam shafts with no railings in the Death Star. You get no reward, you get no vacation, and PTSD and fatigue means you are considered uncommitted to the Imperial cause and a traitor, relegated to a prison work camp or killed. It's not a system that engenders voluntary loyalty, so troops may not be that enthusiastic about fighting the enemy if they've lived long enough to overcome the initial indoctrination, and may not try that hard to kill them.
2) The Empire is perpetually at war or suppressing revolt. That means there's a high turnover rate for Stormtroopers and new conscripts are constantly being rotated in to fill the gaps in the unit. New conscripts do not have extensive combat experience and are thus not as cool under fire, making them more liable to miss unintentionally.
3) Psychologically, killing your fellow human(oids) is contradictory to normal human behavior, so many of them may miss intentionally or not fire their weapons to avoid killing. The methodology of the original
SLA Marshall study in WWII has been called into question, but further studies (not just Dave Grossman's) have seemed to lend some credence to the theory and as a result training and tactics were changed to compensate and the accuracy and ability to fire of soldiers in combat was improved. The Empire being a totalitarian government based on using fear as a motivator however, they might not have considered such research worthy of their time.
4) As mentioned above, from a certain point of view, namely Obi-Wan's after living on Tatooine for twenty years, the last time he likely saw Stormtroopers in action were when they were still Clonetroopers, who were much more accurate and deadly in combat.
5) The amount of missing the target the Stormtroopers actually do is often misinterpreted or overestated. For example:
— In A New Hope, the Stormtroopers taking the Tantive IV were pretty deadly shots, but on the Death Star they were terrible. But it can be inferred that the Death Star troopers were specifically instructed to let Han, Leia, and Luke escape so that they could board the Millennium Falcon and be tracked back to the Rebel base, just like the TIE fighters were told to do.
— In The Empire Strikes Back, the Stormtroopers on Hoth seemed pretty deadly in taking over the Rebel base, but the Stormtroopers on Cloud City were terrible shots. But once again, at least in regards to Luke (the ones firing on Lando and Leia have less of an excuse), they were specifically instructed not to kill him but just to drive him towards a confrontation with Vader.
— As far as the Ewoks defeating the Stormtroopers, yes, it looks bad, but it should be noted that history is full of examples of indigenous peoples or guerrilla fighters using far less advanced weaponry to fiercely defend their home from outside invaders who lack the same dedication to cause that they have. Usually the more advanced force will win the day in a protracted war (unless you can wear them down and make the war too costly in lives and treasure back home), but this was just a single battle, and the Ewoks had help from Rebel commandos. Also, Chimps look cute and cuddly too, but they're pure muscle underneath the fur, much stronger than humans, and will rip your face off, literally. Let's not forget that the Ewoks also caught the Rebels, and were preparing to eat them (or that there were empty Stormtrooper helmets around the celebratory feast bonfires at the end). Ewoks are tiny balls of fury.
— On Scariff, the Stormtroopers were facing well trained and better motivated volunteer Rebel troops firing from behind cover or on-the-move and with air support much of the time, so it took a while to defeat them. The Stormtroopers fighting K-2SO weren't inaccurate, as they hit him several times, he's just exceptionally difficult to destroy.
6) The Force may assist you until your destiny —whatever that may be— is fulfilled. Chirrut was damned near untouchable until he flipped the master switch on, after which he was almost immediately shot down. The Force may have literally been one with him, protecting him and guiding him to play his part in the grand course of events. Likewise with Luke, Leia, Han, Lando and others who had a significant role to play on the galactic stage.
7) Directed energy weapons have all kinds of problems that don't always make them ideal, especially as an infantry weapon. Remember the scene in Stargate SG-1 where
O'Neill and Carter school the Jaffa by doing a demonstration of the accuracy, penetration, and rate of fire of the P-90 versus their staff weapons? Similar principles apply to blasters. On the small scale they're a weapon of intimidation and fear rather than a weapon of war. Now since both sides use them it's largely a moot point, but it also accounts for Stormtrooper inadequacies on occasion. Plasma particle beam weapons like blasters experience thermal or electrical (if they're charged) blooming in atmosphere (meaning they spread out and become less effective), they're line-of-sight only, they overheat easily, etc.
8) It's a movie, they have hero shields right up until the moment they need to make the heroic sacrifice.
