Point Defenseless: Difference between revisions

[[File:death_star_point_defence_1684.jpg|link=Star Wars|frame|[[Plot Armor]]: offering more protection than [[Deflector Shields]] since [[A New Hope|1977]].]]

"Point defense" is a military term referring to the active protection of a single asset, such as a ship or a building. In modern terms, this means computerized systems with sophisticated targeting sensors that [[wikipedia:Close-in weapon system|automatically engage]] incoming enemy aircraft or missiles. In fiction, this can apply to space combat as well. But when a target is [[Point Defenseless]], these systems never actually ''work''. They may be able to swat [[Mook]] swarms from the sky or slag a [[Red Shirt]] or two, but even in the best of cases they're mysteriously unable to touch any main character. Their primary purpose seems to be offering an impressive light show.

This is an application of the [[Rule of Drama]]; it's far more dramatic when ''people'' have to defend a target, rather than faceless machinery. It can also be a form of [[Plot Armor]], when point defense can shoot down [[Mook|Mooks]] and [[Red Shirt|Red Shirts]] but not main characters. After all, how ignoble would it be for [[The Hero]] to get shot down by something as abrupt and impersonal as an automated turret, without even a chance to demonstrate their [[Improbable Piloting Skills]] with some [[Old School Dogfighting]]? It can be part of [[Acceptable Breaks From Reality]] if the game system explicitly intends for a [[Tactical Rock-Paper-Scissors]] scheme. At its simplest, you could have something like fighter/torpedo boat wolfpacks (INSPACE!) nibbling big-gun battleships to death, which in turn get shredded by PD-heavy escorts or screening elements, which in turn get blown away by battleships...

** The climactic battle in ''[[A New Hope]]'' has the Death Star's ([[Schizo-Tech|manually aimed]]) point defense unable to hit more than one or two [[Red Shirt|Red Shirts]], forcing Darth Vader and his TIE fighters to go out for some [[Old School Dogfighting]] action. This is noted in the Rebel mission briefing as the reason they sent only fighters; the Empire considered one-man craft to be a negligible threat to the station and so they're basically taking potshots with anti-capital ship weapons. In ''[[Return of the Jedi]]'', the Empire learns its lesson and builds thick anti-fighter gunnery and surrounds the whole station in a massive energy shield during construction.

* [[Invoked]] in some of the ''[[Star Wars]]'' [[Expanded Universe]] books, particularly the ''[[X Wing Series]]''. Though lucky shots will probably take a few out, the only really effective way to keep [[Space Fighter|Space Fighters]] from battering capital ships to death is [[Old School Dogfighting|other space fighters]].

** One of the recurring elements of the books is loving, detailed descriptions of how many missiles are whittled away--or not--by each layer of protection. They almost invariably end with "[X] got through." followed by a cut to the targets' experience, often with an [[Oh Crap]] or several.

* Generally averted in [[Dale Brown]] books, where [[Macross Missile Massacre|Macross Missile Massacres]] and stealth have to be used to get munitions past layers on layers of enemy PD.

* Anti-missile systems in ''[[BattleTech]]'' have aspects of this. Depending on the ruleset, they either run out of ammo almost instantly or are actually forbidden from being 100% effective -- ie, if the attacker succeeded on his to-hit roll, at least one missile ''will'' hit the target, regardless of how good its point defense is.

** In the ''[[X Wing]]'' and ''[[TIE Fighter]]'' games, you can simply jiggle the stick while moving in any direction but directly at a turret to evade all fire -- the [[Frickin' Laser Beams]] move so slowly that the slightest deviation in direction will throw a shot off.

* Capital ships in ''[[Homeworld]]'' almost invariably need escorts against waves of fighters, as they have little or no point defense. This is a deliberate part of the [[Tactical Rock-Paper-Scissors]], and a few capital ships are effective against fighters at the cost of not countering what capital ships normally counter -- Missile Destroyers, for instance, will shred fighter fleets. On the other hand, the Mothership itself is armed with some serious point defenses that can repel anything short of a massed bomber attack.

* The original ''[[Free Space]]'' played this very straight, with even the heaviest Destroyers packing no more than a few easily-dodgeable "blob turrets" and puny missile launchers. In response, the sequel [[Averted Trope|loaded every capital ship down with exploding flak and hitscan Anti-Fighter Beams]]. For the most part this was an improvement, but it also gave birth to the Aeolus-Class Cruiser, a [[Demonic Spider]] so tough it ''never'' makes an un-[[Nerf|nerfed]] appearance at any point in the campaign. The turret AI was also made a bit more intelligent: it will now attempt to shoot down incoming bombs, and even prioritize them over nearby enemy fighters.

** In ''Ace Combat 5'', the heroes' aircraft carrier is damaged by a sea-skimming anti-ship missile [[Cutscene Incompetence|during a cutscene]], despite its CIWS's attempts to shoot it down. This is actually fairly realistic -- see [[Real Life]], below.

* There's actually a group of people dedicating to make this trope [[Truth in Television]] -- the [[Wild Weasel]] units' mission is the suppression of enemy anti-air fire. They do this primarily by ''[[We Need a Distraction|deliberately drawing fire]]'' and then letting other members of the team destroy the AA facilities that revealed themselves by attacking. Appropriately, their unofficial motto is "YGBSM", which stands for "you gotta be shittin' me", supposedly the response of one of the original Wild Weasel team members upon being told the details of his new assignment.

* Bombers in [[World War II]] such as the American B-17 [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Flying Fortress]] were armed to the teeth, with more and more defensive firepower added in later models. Compare the [http://www.aircraftarchaeology.com/B-17B%20Fortress_files/b17b.JPG B Model] to the [http://www.airplane-pictures.net/images/uploaded-images/2008-4/2/12743.jpg G Model]. While formations of these planes could make for very dangerous targets, the preferred Luftwaffe tactic of head-on strafing runs of the formations<ref> Reportedly as terrifying for the German pilots as it was for the American bomber crews</ref>, meant that hitting the fighters with the defensive guns was ''very'' difficult.