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{{trope}}
[[
▲[[caption-width-right:350:Yarr! Firin' a broadside of [[Frickin' Laser Beams]], captain!<ref>A scene from ''[[Star Trek II the Wrath of Khan (Film)|Star Trek II the Wrath of Khan]]'', as digitally rendered by [http://wolf359a.anet-stl.com/jim.html Jim Varner].</ref>
{{quote|''Space battles are always [[This Is Reality|a lot more exciting on TV]] than they are in real life...''
|'''Col. John Sheppard'''|''[[Stargate Atlantis]]''}}
This is the [[Super-Trope]] for many [[Tropes in Space|tropes]] and clichés concerning ship-to-ship combat...
[[Space Fighter
It may be [[The Climax]] of a tense [[Mexican Standoff|standoff]], the conclusion of a [[Stern Chase]], or the outcome of a [[With Catlike Tread|cunning surprise attack]]. Two [[Cool Starship
In a ''really'' [[Rule of Drama|dramatic]] battle, he or she may turn to [[Crazy Enough to Work|daring and original plans]]
Once damage has had some time to accumulate, and the [[Crazy Enough to Work|daring plan]] has had a chance to either work impressively or fail spectacularly, one of the ships will usually find it prudent to invoke the [[Know When to Fold'Em|Thirty-Sixth Stratagem]] and attempt a [[Hyperspeed Escape]]. An [[Lawful Good|honourable opponent]] will let them go; a lowly [[Space Pirates|Space Pirate]] may get out the [[Tractor Beam|boarding hooks]] instead, and prepare a [[Boarding Party]]. If the quarry manages to slip away, there may be a [[Stern Chase]].
If neither side is willing to retreat, sooner or later one of the [[Cool Ship
Note that such a confrontation need not be an epic [[Final Battle]]. Starship Scuffles are routine in [[Space Opera]], and may be used to [[Standard Establishing Spaceship Shot|establish the setting]], throw a minor obstacle in the protagonists' path, introduce a villain, or even just provide a lead-in to other, more important parts of the plot. Of course, [[Space Battle|epic battles in sci-fi settings]] often ''will'' make use of this trope.
When this trope is [[Averted Trope|averted]], it will generally be done in one of two ways: Either large ships will engage in [[Old School Dogfighting]], displaying manoeuvrability usually reserved for [[Space Fighter
To see the different kinds of ship likely to be involved, inspect the [[Standard Sci-Fi Fleet]]. If the ships are [[The Battlestar|Battlestars]], this trope may occur side-by-side with [[Old School Dogfighting]]. This trope is not to be confused with [[Space Battle
▲To see the different kinds of ship likely to be involved, inspect the [[Standard Sci-Fi Fleet]]. If the ships are [[The Battlestar|Battlestars]], this trope may occur side-by-side with [[Old School Dogfighting]]. This trope is not to be confused with [[Space Battle|Space Battles]], though there is certainly overlap.
{{examples}}
* ''[[Haruhi Suzumiya]]'': There is a space battle scene fitting this trope. [[Justified]] in that it's a virtual battle in a computer game programmed by Japanese high-school students, who would be expected to have learned everything they know about military combat from movies and TV shows.
▲== Anime & Manga ==
* ''[[Captain Harlock]]'': Bonus points for the hero's ship looking like a mash-up of a submarine, battlecruiser and galleon.
* ''[[Space Battleship Yamato]]'' featured this trope aplenty, especially in the big battle at the edge of the solar system in the very first episode, which was ''very'' obviously inspired by World War II naval engagements. Of course, it's hard to imagine making the [[Space Is an Ocean]] trope any more explicit than this show did...
== Film ==
* The various ''[[
** In the 2009 ''[[Star Trek (
* ''[[Star Wars]]'' gives ''far'' more focus to [[Old School Dogfighting]] between [[Space Fighter|small fighters]] than to this trope. Usually when capital ships engage each other it is a brief fight. One side will be attempting a [[Hyperspeed Escape]] from the very start, or the fight will be a [[Curb Stomp Battle]] with one side at a huge disadvantage, and in either case there will be little time for a
** ''[[Star Wars]]'' plays this trope straight in the opening battle of ''[[Revenge of the Sith]]''. Among other things it lets us take a look at the starships' broadside cannons. The only thing they lack is that they're not muzzle-loaded.
** The Battle of Endor from ''[[
== Literature ==
* The ''[[
** [[David Weber]] was also one of the people behind the space strategy board game ''Starfire'', and the space battles in ''Honor Harrington'', especially early on, are influenced by the game mechanics.
* [[
* [[Isaac Asimov]]'s ''[[Foundation]]'' trilogy had space battles between the Foundation and various opponents.
* ''[[Dread Empires Fall]]'' both plays this straight with the "Established Doctrine" espoused by the Government committee charged with running the war, and uses the Admiral Nelson angle of innovative tactics from the protagonists.
* [[Vernor Vinge]]'s ''[[Zones of Thought
* ''[[
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* ''[[Star Trek]]'' is the [[Trope Codifier]]; this sort of space combat shows up with frequency in all its incarnations. In the later series, the trope is sometimes averted by having giant capital ships engage in [[Old School Dogfighting]], but it's still played straight very, ''very'' often.
* In ''[[Andromeda]]'', another [[Gene Roddenberry]] series, capital ships occasionally got close enough to one another to fire Anti-Proton guns at each other. But most of the time they lobbed relativistic missiles at blips on the tac screen several light-minutes away. And due to gravity manipulation most ships could maneuver like fighters anyway.
* ''[[
* ''[[Babylon
** The first battle of the Earth-Minbari War (after the failed first contact) was near the Vega colony. The Minbari fleet closed to weapons range and waited for the slow Earth ships to take the first shot. The whole battle lasted about 12 seconds with most Earth ships destroyed in the first Minbari volley. Only one ship (a prototype ''Omega'') managed to get close enough to [[Ramming Always Works|ram]] a ''Sharlin'' war cruiser. Nearly all battles against the Minbari were usually [[Curb Stomp Battle|pretty short and one-sided]]. Oh, and to add more similarities with the Age of Sail, humans had to "eyeball" their weapons at the Minbari (i.e. visual targetting only), as the Minbari stealth systems prevented normal weapons lock.
== Tabletop Games ==
* [[
* The ''[[Warhammer
** Additionally, 3D combat is handwaved as "just another range modifier", and since most of these battles take place over such insane ranges, the planar weapon distribution could even be structural, only requiring maneuvering rockets to aim in the z-axis (from the frame of reference of our 2D game surface).
* ''Task Force'' Games: ''[[Star Fleet Battles]]'' and ''[[Starfire]]''.
** The latter influenced the portrayal of space battles in the ''[[
* ''[
* Ground Zero Games's ''[[Full Thrust]]'' pretty much plays this trope straight. Optional rules provide varying degrees of aversion.
== Video Games ==
* ''[[
* ''[[Gratuitous Space Battles]]'' was explicitly designed to provide a pure fix of
* ''[[Mass Effect]]'' averts
** The space battle at the end of the first game looks a little more like a dogfight. The space battles in [[Mass Effect 2]] are all between the same two ships, and manage to give the impression of an aircraft attacking an oceangoing ship.
** The battle in the first game is a ludicrously short-ranged one for the setting; the Citadel flagship is actually unable to bring it's main weapon to bear fast enough before being overwhelmed by smaller enemies much lighter human Cruisers take out in a single shot.
** The battles in ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'' tend to be one-sided on the part of the {{spoiler|Reapers}}. However, we do get to see geth and quarian fleets slug it out without much maneuvering involved. Interestingly, despite the Codex claiming that the quarian heavy capital ships were upgraded with the [[Wave Motion Gun|Thanix cannons]], we never actually see them in action. They keep using their standard [[Magnetic Weapons]].
* ''[[Infinite Space]]'' has this to a hilt, especially in cutscenes.
* The [[X (
* ''[[Star Trek Legacy]]'', ''[[Star Trek: Bridge Commander]]'' and the ''[[Star Trek Starfleet Command]]'' games all feature this heavily, as their respective settings lack [[Space Fighter
* ''[[Nexus the Jupiter Incident]]'' is a game designed around this concept. While there are fighters in the game, they're pretty much useless until the enemy's [[Point Defenseless|flak]] [[Beam Spam|lasers]] are disabled. All fights are big slugfests, especially the climactic fight in the penultimate mission, where the player's fleet must fight against the constantly incoming enemy ''fleets''. Lasers are specifically used to knock out enemy systems but don't do much physical damage. The other weapons are meant to damage the hull ([[Magnetic Weapons|mass drivers]]) and shields ([[Energy Weapon|energy shells]]).
** Also of note is that [[Fixed Forward-Facing Weapon|Fixed Forward Facing Weapons]] are the exception, not the rule. Most guns are turreted and located all over the hull, so you will often see ships rotating to bring additional weapons to bear while the ones currently facing the enemy are recharging.
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* ''[[Starslip]]'' has a few instances of this trope, usually with [[Better Than a Bare Bulb|humorous lampshading]] of the various associated clichés.
* One of the fillers for [[SSDD]] [http://www.poisonedminds.com/d/20080707.html explains] why real life space battles wouldn't look like the movies.
== Web Original ==
* ''[https://eldraeverse.com/2014/04/27/non-standard-starship-scuffles/ Non-Standard Starship Scuffles]'' on The Eldraeverse is a comment on the trope, as the name suggests.
{{quote|So, y’know, since I now have various fictive people critiquing it in my head with extra sarcasm, here’s some metafictional commentary on the way things actually work:) }}
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]
[[Category:Combat Tropes]]
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