History Main / HyperspeedEscape

* In the novelisation of the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "Warriors Gate", the pilot of an anti-slaver scoutship uses this to destroy the slaver ships--putting his sensors on full so a hidden slaver would detect it, think they've been discovered and run for it. Then he would fire an energy torpedo that would strike the belly of the spaceship and sound like a near-miss, but overload the engines so the slaver would be destroyed or trapped in hyperspace when they attempted to go to lightspeed. It had the added advantage of seeming like the slaver was destroyed by an unlucky shot or a SelfDestructMechanism (they're supposed to capture them).

* Cole in Series/{{Tracker}}, quite often. Except he didn't use a spacecraft; Cirronians have a natural ability to go into hyperspeed, or FTL movement, for a limited time.

** In ''Film/ANewHope'' the Stormtroopers had just barely tracked down the heroes and which ship they were taking before the Millenium Falcon was able to get out of the Mos Eisley spaceport. In orbit they found Star Destroyers chasing them, but Han was able to calculate a lightspeed jump and outrun them (the first time hyperspeed was shown). Han later confirmed he was able to outrun their pursuers.
** ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' had the Falcon with its hyperdrive not working throughout the movie, with at least two attempts resulting in a lot of sputtering sounds. R2-D2 then revealed the mechanics on Bespin had fixed the drive but had it turned off just in case. Once all switches were flipped the ship kicked into hyperspeed just as the Empire was descending on them.

* Used in ''LightNovel/StarshipOperators'' while too close to other ships, [[ForbiddenChekhovsGun resulting in a]] random BlindJump. Also, like the below ''Star Wars'' example, it's weaponized by one enemy ship to perform tactical microjumps, though it's said that this is an incredibly dangerous abuse of hyperdrive technology. In the finale, the ''Amaterasu''[='=]s crew [[spoiler: makes their humongous capital ship spin in place to aim its big guns in a split second]].

* ''Anime/TenchiMuyoGXP'' takes this subversion and makes it go to eleven; the escaping ships end up gathering entire fleets of pursuers this way thanks to the protagonist's bad luck. And this gets weaponized.

* ''Franchise/{{Andor}}'': Luthen escapes an Imperial patrol by jumping to hyperspeed before their backup can arrive after he wrecks their tractor beam.

* ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy''

** In [[Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy the film]], when the ''Heart of Gold'' jumps to hyperspeed, the overly-bureaucratic Vogons are appalled… because the ship's crew failed to file the proper paperwork for a hyperspeed escape.

* The Necron fleet in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' are noted to do either this or phase out after taking significant casualties. The Eldar (and their dark cousins) operate in the same fashion.

* Ships in ''{{TabletopGame/BattleTech}}'' can pull off the "disappear and reappear elsewhere" trick.

* Running for a wormhole in VideoGame/ConquestFrontierWars could get you safely away, for a few seconds untill your enemy followed you though, or blow up the gate blocking their way and then followed you though. What often happens is your ship arrived in pieces after a jump.

** Military doctrine in the Mass Effect universe includes this. Unless one of the sides have something they can't abandon (like a planet), most ships will simply jump when things get too hot.

* ''Videogame/{{Elite}} Dangerous'' allows players to flee combat using their Frame Shift Drive, either to enter supercruise or warp to another star. The device has many limitations - nearby mass ''significantly'' slows its charge or [[NoWarpingZone stops it outright]], [[RetractableWeapon weapons must be retracted]] to charge, FTL requires target alignment, and the ship must be moving near top speed - and gives other players a "POWER SURGE DETECTED" warning. If the enemy lacks a Frameshift Wake Scanner, they won't be able to follow the fleeing player.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* During the early years of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, American fighter pilots learned very quickly that the Japanese fighters were far more maneuverable than they were. As a result, the standard strategy used by American pilots who found themselves at a disadvantage was to go into a dive, as the American planes could accelerate and dive far faster than the Japanese planes could. Similarly, high-speed diving hit-and-run attacks were a popular tactic for the Americans, helped no doubt by their typical loadout of [[MoreDakka six .50 caliber Ma Deuce machine guns.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'': The ''Solvang'' tries this in "[[Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS1E10NoSmallParts No Small Parts]]", the season 1 finale. Unfortunately, their attacker has attached a grappling hook to one of their warp nacelles--when they jump, the warp core goes and the ship is torn into shreds. Thankfully, Captain Freeman realizes this when the ''Cerritos'' gets caught and orders the ship shut down.

* The ''Solvang'' tries this in the season 1 finale of ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks''. Unfortunately, their attacker has attached a grappling hook to one of their warp nacelles--when they jump, the warp core goes and the ship is torn into shreds. Thankfully, Captain Freeman realizes this when the ''Cerritos'' gets caught and orders the ship shut down.
* An interesting variation in the ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekProdigy'' episode "Terror Firma". After escaping the planet they were stuck on, the crew of the ''Protostar'' warp away to escape [[BigBad the Diviner]]. However, it's {{Subverted}} when Diviner's ship catches up to them. However, when the crew figures out the ''Protostar''[='s=] big secret -- [[spoiler:the ship's third warp core is actually a condensed protostar that powers a new kind of warp]] -- this is DoubleSubverted as the ''Protostar'' [[LudicrousSpeed warps even faster]] to escape.

* ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}'' demonstrates what happens when the enemy ship tries to go even faster to pursue the fleeing ship: first the heroes' Winnebago jumps into light speed, and the villains, trying to catch them, decide to forgo light speed and go straight to "LudicrousSpeed." They end up overshooting the Winnebago by a wide margin, at Ludicrous Speed [[ParodiedTrope the hyperspace streaks of light turned plaid]].

** In ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'', the ''Millennium Falcon'' escapes from First Order TIE Fighters by pulling a series of brief jumps, which Poe calls "Hyperspace skipping". It works, but the ''Falcon'' is on fire when she returns to the Resistance base.

* ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}'' demonstrates what happens when the enemy ship tries to go even faster to pursue the fleeing ship: first the heroes' Winnebago jumps into light speed, and the villains, trying to catch them, decide to forgo light speed and go straight to "LudicrousSpeed." They end up overshooting the Winnebago by a wide margin.

** [[Series/StarTrekVoyager Voyager]] does this a lot as it's the only Federation ship in the Delta Quadrant, and running is just as valid a tactic as fighting when you have no backup. In the pilot episode its maximum speed is stated to be Warp 9.975 (making her one of the fastest ships in Starfleet), so it has plenty of oomph to do so (plus those folding warp nacelles look cool).

* Used in ''LightNovel/StarshipOperators'' while too close to other ships, [[ForbiddenChekhovsGun resulting in a]] random BlindJump. Also, like the below ''Star Wars'' example, it's weaponized by one enemy ship to perform tactical microjumps, though it's said that this is an incredibly dangerous abuse of hyperdrive technology. In the finale, the ''Amaterasu''[='=]s crew takes this approach UpToEleven to [[spoiler: make their humongous capital ship spin in place to aim its big guns in a split second]].

See also BlindJump, because it's even harder for the enemy to track you if ''you'' don't know where you're going. Compare to HyperspeedAmbush, when you use your superior speed to get the jump on the enemy. Combine the two, and you have a form of HitAndRunTactics.