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Hyperspeed Escape: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
Our protagonists are flying through space in their [[Cool Ship]] when they suddenly get into a combat situation. For whatever reason, they quickly realize that hanging around is going to get them blasted into tiny pieces and decide to go to warp speed to escape. This usually involves stars suddenly zipping past like the old Windows screensaver. If the author wants there to be space battles where one side can decisively lose, rather than the losing side zipping off as soon as things start going wrong, they can use a [["No Warping" Zone]].
In [[Real Life]], this is known as “disengagement by acceleration”; in air combat, it is not uncommon for combat to take place between an agile aircraft of limited speed, and a more unwieldy aircraft that can suddenly accelerate away on afterburner. For example, F-4s vs. MiG-17s in Vietnam, or an SR-71 or MiG-25/31 with any other known jet aircraft. It happens at sea as well. For example, the USS Enterprise in [[World War II]] was noted for its slightly higher speed than other vessels its size, as was the Age Of Sail vessel USS Constitution.
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* ''[[Star Trek (Franchise)|Star Trek]]''. Of course, conveniently-timed [[Phlebotinum Breakdown]] keeps it from working out very often.
* ''[[Firefly (TV)|Firefly]]'' does this a couple times, notably near the beginning of the pilot. Subverted in the ''Big Damn Movie'' where they actually [[Batman Gambit|intend]] the pursuers to follow. This is also [[Fridge Logic|considerably less plausible]] than most of these examples as strictly speaking ''Firefly'' has no hyperspace: see [[Stealth in Space]] for details.
* The rebooted ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined
* Moya in ''[[Farscape (TV)|Farscape]]''.
* ''[[Stargate SG 1]]'' and ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' make fairly regular use of this, although in a sort-of-subversion way: they simply jump through the titular static stargates.
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* ''[[Babylon Five]]'', when entering a static jumpgate or phasing into hyperspace. In fact, this is the Shadows' favorite tactic: Appear, blow stuff up, and jump back into hyperspace before anyone knows what the hell just happened. (Their first appearance in the show lasts 37 seconds due to this trope.)
** In one episode, two Narn ships try to make a hyperspace escape and fail; the Shadows disrupt their hyperspace jump-points and cause the ships to get mangled as they try to leave.
* Frequently used in ''[[Blake's Seven
** Only after the Scorpio is upgraded. In its first appearance, it's a barely-functional piece of crap that can't outrun (or fight) anything. After they upgrade its engines, it still a barely-functional piece of crap, but at least it's fast.
* Cole in [[Tracker (TV)|Tracker]], quite often.
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== [[Video Games]] ==
* In the classic game ''[[Asteroids]]'' (and all the clones and remakes of it) you can teleport to a random place on the screen. This might take you from the path of a rock to safety…or simply into another rock.
** This is basically the entirety of gameplay in the classic computer game ''Robots'' (also known as ''[[Doctor Who
* In ''[[Star Control]] II'', it is possible to escape a battle by jumping into hyperspace (although warming up the hyperspace drives takes a couple of seconds, during which the ship is easy prey for its opponent). One battle in the game can only be “won” this way, as the opponent is a valuable potential ally who you're trying not to kill.
* Central to ''[[Escape Velocity]]'''s gameplay for a number of reasons, which can lead to some exciting nailbiters:
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* The ''[[X (Video Game)|X]]'' series both plays the trope straight and averts it. The majority of FTL travel in the game is done by means of a [[Portal Network]], but ships can also purchase aftermarket jumpdrives which take you to a given gate in the network. Naturally it can be used for a [[Hyperspeed Escape]], but a jump requires a ten-second charge. Which is ten seconds for your opponents to kill you. Players learn pretty quickly that the drive will not save you if you wait too long to use it.
** Averted because of one glaring piece of [[Artificial Stupidity]]: only ships ''owned by the player'' will buy and use jumpdrives (barring scripted plot events). One of several things the AI is not programmed to do that ships in the game are capable of...
* Early in '[[Star Ocean Till the End of Time]]', Cliff and Mirage escape a Vendeeni cruiser by engaging their gravitic warp engine on Cliff's "hunch" that they will be able to escape the Vendeeni's [["No Warping" Zone]] before getting melted by their cannons. His hunch is vindicated as they suddenly accelerate beyond the reach of the Vendeeni's [[Beam Spam]].
* In ''[[Starcraft (Video Game)|Starcraft]]'' the Protoss Arbiter's "Dimensional Recall" ability teleports a group of friendly units to itself. Raynor uses this to keep the UED from capturing Mengsk and himself.
** ''[[Starcraft II (Video Game)|Starcraft II]]'' has [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjC_cF8mw2M this]
* Unlike the [[Star Wars]] film, [[X Wing]] and [[TIE Fighter]] play this straight. Enemies move to a specific waypoint before warping out, while the player enters a dead stop before warp. Once hyperspace starts, the ship is out of combat. Starting with [[TIE Fighter]], Interdictors create a [["No Warping" Zone]], which need to be taken out before escape.
* In ''[[Battlestar Galactica Online (Video Game)|Battlestar Galactica Online]]'' this is possible, but there's a severe penalty for the chargeup time needed if you try to jump out in combat, making it hard to do so.
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[[Category:Faster Than Light Index]]
[[Category:Hyperspeed Escape]]
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