History Main / SeeTheWhitesOfTheirEyes

* Justified in SOME {{Gundam}} series, where the use of {{Minovsky particle}} makes using radar difficult to impossible.

* ''StarTrek'' uses and averts this a lot (particularly the latter in the Original Series). However, in many battles (especially big ones), a lot of fighting is done at extreme close range. Possibly lampshading this trope, in ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', {{the captain}} routinely positions the Enterprise-D nose-to-nose with an opposing ship when confronting most hostile vessels.
** In fairness to Picard, it's not like he's got anywhere better to put his ship during the standoff, while he tries to talk down the Alien of the Week. And it also helps emphasize how much bigger Ent-D (usually) is.
*** "Nowhere better to put his ship??" He's got [[TwoDSpace three dimensions to work with!]] He can go below! Above! On the side! ''Anywhere'' on the opposing ship that's got less weapons to track and fire on him!
**** Front presents the minimum target profile (the engines and 'neck' are quite broad when seen from the side, and the saucer is very large when seen from above) and the maximum weapons array (two torpedo launchers, and presumably a number of phasers), ergo, head-on is the most logical facing to deal with a threat, followed by tail-on (one torpedo launcher and a few phasers). Not to mention the psychological advantages (intimidation might help the Enterprise avoid the battle of the week).
***** I don't know about you, but if I expect shooting to happen, I'm not going to plunk my ship face-to-face with theirs. I'll shoot them in the ass, psychology be damned.
***** And you think the enemy is [[TooDumbToLive dumb enough]] to let you do that? Assuming that the fight doesn't happen right away, the enemy will maneuver to keep the most heavily armed part of ''their'' ship aimed at their opponent too. You might, at best, end up with the two ships gyrating through some [[NauseaFuel dizzying]] three dimensional dance trying to keep their noses pointed at each other, unless one [[{{Acrofatic}} giant spaceship is a better dancer than the other.]]

-->-- [[{{Warhammer 40000}} Commisar]] [[MemeticMutation Fuklaw]] (Now an AscendedMeme!)

* ''SwordOfTheStars'' can go from BVR combat where the enemies are only visible through the sensor display to close-in fighting where ships maneuver around each other.

-->-- [[{{Warhammer 40000}} Commisar]] [[MemeticMutation Fuklaw]].

* Averting this trope probably isn't much [[RuleOfCool fun]] to watch a battle between starships where the enemy ship isn't blown up right before your eyes. In the ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode 'The Wounded', two ships fire at each other at a range of over 100,000 kilometers. The characters watch the exchange on a screen with little symbols representing the ships and the shots. The fight is, needless to say, quite boring. ''Andromeda'' uses this and gets around it somewhat by showing the eventual collision of the missiles with the ship (sometimes. Other times, the dot representing the other ship just disappears), or just showing the battle if they're close enough for Anti-Proton blasts (less than 5 light seconds away, usually).

* Additionally, it probably isn't much [[RuleOfCool fun]] to watch a battle between starships where the enemy ship isn't blown up right before your eyes. In the ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode 'The Wounded', two ships fire at each other at a range of over 100,000 kilometers. The characters watch the exchange on a screen with little symbols representing the ships and the shots. The fight is, needless to say, quite boring. ''Andromeda'' uses this and gets around it somewhat by showing the eventual collision of the missiles with the ship (sometimes. Other times, the dot representing the other ship just disappears), or just showing the battle if they're close enough for Anti-Proton blasts (less than 5 light seconds away, usually).

Not to be confused with LightsOffTheirEyes or ByTheLightsOfTheirEyes, for literal eye lights.

[[TropeNamer Named after]] the [[BeamMeupScotty supposed]] famous quote of Col. William Prescott in the battle of [[TheAmericanRevolution Bunker Hill]]: "Don't fire 'til you see the whites of their eyes!" This was justified at the time because they were using notoriously inaccurate 18th-century muskets and they had almost no ammunition, so every bullet had to count.

This trope is named for the advice to soldiers armed with primitive muskets at the Battle of Bunker Hill in the American Revolutionary War: "Don't fire 'til you see the whites of their eyes." At Bunker Hill, the Americans were on top of ''Breed's'' Hill, in an almost impregnable position, except that they had almost no gunpowder; it was essential to make every shot count.

In reality, the command was routinely given to soldiers in many battles: no army had very accurate guns or unlimited ball and powder -- or arrows, for that matter. The saying is famed, and associated with Bunker Hill, by Americans because it was the first battle of the nascent American nation.

[[quoteright:270:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/270px-STContagion.jpg]]

** ''JohnCarterOfMars''. Despite the incredible range of Martian rifles everyone still carries and uses swords/spears. An honor code exist which means no Martian can take on someone with a superior weapon. Averted in ''TheLordsOfCreation'' series where it's pointed out that such as system wouldn't work, as "the cheaters would win too often."

[[AC:Literature]]
* In the second ''ArtemisFowl'' book, while watching goblins approached, Butler asks, "Do we wait until we see the whites of their eyes?" Commander Root responds, "Goblin eyes don't have whites."

When the phrase is used, it is often changed to reflect the enemy. For instance, in ''{{Transformers}}'', it's "the wires of their optics".

* Distinctly averted in TomClancy's ''TheBearAndTheDragon'' novel. American fighter-bombers launch specially designed bombs from almost a ''hundred'' kilometers away, using satellite imagery and AWACS to guide them in the rest of the way. Since AA and SAMs don't have the same range, the enemy doesn't even have a chance to know the attack is coming, much less defend against it.
* Averted in Joe Haldeman's ''TheForeverWar''. The battles take place across entire star-systems at good fractions of light-speed (and even then it can take days or weeks for a single battle to finish), and while ships do have lasers for last-ditch defense, most of the action uses drones (big missiles), with a backup of 'fighters' (though these are probably closer to motor-torpedo boats in that they require 3 crew, and can fit up to 12).
* Probably because "[=~Show, Don't Tell~=]" isn't a problem for books, the ''HonorHarrington'' series averts this consistently and without mercy. Starship engagements take place almost entirely at ranges that need to have the commanders looking at the little glowing maps with little explosion icons popping up for a hit. Probably a byproduct of the fact that this [[SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale sci-fi writer is trying to demonstrate he has a sense of scale just fine]], thanks.
** As the series progresses, new technologies that extend the range of ship weapons make the Kingdom of Manticore Navy one of the most dangerous navies in the region.
* Justified in the Miles Vorkosigan series. The ever-escalating race between space weapons and the defenses to stop them has resulted in extremely short ranged weaponry.
* ''JohnCarterOfMars''. Despite the incredible range of Martian rifles everyone still carries and uses swords/spears. An honor code exist which means no Martian can take on someone with a superior weapon. Averted in ''TheLordsOfCreation'' series where it's pointed out that such as system wouldn't work, as "the cheaters would win too often."

While current military organizations possess the technology to accurately target things over the horizon or out of visual range (most noticeably in the case of {{kill sat}}s and even in the case of [[ImprobableAimingSkills snipers]]), most advanced civilizations have lost the secret. Those that ''do'' manage to retain the secret tend to develop the technology to the point of {{roboteching}}.

[[TropeNamer Named after]] the [[BeamMeupScotty supposed]] famous quote of Col. William Prescott in the battle of [[TheAmericanRevolution Bunker Hill]]: "Don't fire 'til you see the whites of their eyes!" This was only justified at the time due to the inaccuracy of 18th-century muskets.

* ''JohnCarterOfMars''. Despite the incredible range of Martian rifles everyone still carries and uses swords/spears. An honor code exist which means no Martian can take on someone with a superior weapon. Averted in the ''LordsOfCreation'' series where it's pointed out that such as system wouldn't work, as "the cheaters would win too often."

* ''IndependenceDay'', where advanced alien shielding technology is not matched by a comparable technology providing the ability to target and destroy enemy fighters outside visual range. On the other hand, your advanced technology is probably CoolButInefficient anyway if it can be [[DarthWiki/WallBanger hacked by a TV repairman using Apple OS]].

There are [[JustifiedTrope four discernible reasons for this phenomenon]]:

***** And you think the enemy is [[TooDumbToLive dumb enough]] to let you do that? Assuming that the fight doesn't happen right away, the enemy will maneuver to keep the most heavily armed part of ''their'' ship aimed at their opponent too. You might, at best, end up with the two ships gyrating through some [[NasueaFuel dizzying]] three dimensional dance trying to keep their noses pointed at each other, unless one [[{{Acrofatic}} giant spaceship is a better dancer than the other.]]

**Averted partially in Tyrants Test, specifically the Battle of ILC-905, where missiles are used, and barrages do manage to allow a few to penetrate the flack. justified over normal tactics due to the enemy ships being very resistant to standard weapons.

This trope is named for the advice to soldiers armed with primitive muskets at the Battle of Bunker Hill in the American Revolutionary War: "Don't fire 'til you see the whites of their eyes." At Bunker Hill, the Americans were on top of [[strike:said hill]] [[BeamMeUpScotty the neighboring Breed's Hill]], in an almost impregnable position, except that they had almost no gunpowder; it was essential to make every shot count. (In reality, the command was routinely given to soldiers in many, many battles; no army had very accurate guns or unlimited gunpowder. However, it is ironically associated with the Battle of Bunker Hill.)

*''{{Spaceballs}}'', where the crew of the Eagle Five successfully jam Spaceball One's radar by visually locking onto, and firing a giant raspberry jam jar at, the capital ship's radar dish. Having said that, this somewhat backfired given Dark Helmet was able to ascertain the jammers' identity from their choice of weapon: ''"There's only one man in the universe who'd DARE give ME the RASPBERRY ... LOOONNNNEEE STARRRRRRR--*clunk*''
**This scene [[MST3KMantra gets a pass]] because it's [[RuleOfFunny hilarious, and in a comedy]].

*Distinctly averted in TomClancy's ''TheBearAndTheDragon'' novel. American fighter-bombers launch specially designed bombs from almost a ''hundred'' kilometers away, using satellite imagery and AWACS to guide them in the rest of the way. Since AA and SAMs don't have the same range, the enemy doesn't even have a chance to know the attack is coming, much less defend against it.
*Averted in Joe Haldeman's ''TheForeverWar''. The battles take place across entire star-systems at good fractions of light-speed (and even then it can take days or weeks for a single battle to finish), and while ships do have lasers for last-ditch defense, most of the action uses drones (big missiles), with a backup of 'fighters' (though these are probably closer to motor-torpedo boats in that they require 3 crew, and can fit up to 12).
*Probably because "[=~Show, Don't Tell~=]" isn't a problem for books, the ''HonorHarrington'' series averts this consistently and without mercy. Starship engagements take place almost entirely at ranges that need to have the commanders looking at the little glowing maps with little explosion icons popping up for a hit. Probably a byproduct of the fact that this [[SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale sci-fi writer is trying to demonstrate he has a sense of scale just fine]], thanks.
**As the series progresses, new technologies that extend the range of ship weapons make the Kingdom of Manticore Navy one of the most dangerous navies in the region.
*Justified in the Miles Vorkosigan series. The ever-escalating race between space weapons and the defenses to stop them has resulted in extremely short ranged weaponry.

*Averted once in ''{{Babylon 5}}''. When the Narn fleet was ambushed by a team of Shadow Vessels, the initial salvos of the battle took place very far from each other. The shots were cleverly edited together to maintain the necessary sense of danger. By the end, they had closed to spitting distance, but a lot of Narn vessels didn't make it that far.
**To be fair, JMS does explicitly state in the DVD commentaries that he and the production team knew that space combat between large ships would realistically occur at extreme range but that they had to make some concessions to having an exciting TV show rather than a physics documentary.
*''StarTrek'' uses and averts this a lot (particularly the latter in the Original Series). However, in many battles (especially big ones), a lot of fighting is done at extreme close range. Possibly lampshading this trope, in ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', {{the captain}} routinely positions the Enterprise-D nose-to-nose with an opposing ship when confronting most hostile vessels.
**In fairness to Picard, it's not like he's got anywhere better to put his ship during the standoff, while he tries to talk down the Alien of the Week. And it also helps emphasize how much bigger Ent-D (usually) is.
***"Nowhere better to put his ship??" He's got [[TwoDSpace three dimensions to work with!]] He can go below! Above! On the side! ''Anywhere'' on the opposing ship that's got less weapons to track and fire on him!
****Front presents the minimum target profile (the engines and 'neck' are quite broad when seen from the side, and the saucer is very large when seen from above) and the maximum weapons array (two torpedo launchers, and presumably a number of phasers), ergo, head-on is the most logical facing to deal with a threat, followed by tail-on (one torpedo launcher and a few phasers). Not to mention the psychological advantages (intimidation might help the Enterprise avoid the battle of the week).
*****I don't know about you, but if I expect shooting to happen, I'm not going to plunk my ship face-to-face with theirs. I'll shoot them in the ass, psychology be damned.
*Used and averted in ''{{Andromeda}}'', where on the bridge, they call out the distances and mention distances measured in light seconds, and have unexciting displays where symbols fire at each other. However, the CGI battles are usually done up close and personal.
*In ''BattlestarGalactica'', they heavily rely on OldSchoolDogFighting, and ships often fire at relatively close distances, even despite homing missiles. Even nuclear weapons are deployed at this sort of range.
**May be somewhat {{justified|Trope}} in that Cylon ECM is usually enough to make any kind of guided Colonial munition worthless, necessitating a close-in gun battle.

*In ''{{Warhammer 40000}}'', even the biggest artillery units have a maximum range which is, to scale, ''several hundred meters''.
**By contrast, in ''Battlefleet Gothic'', a space combat game set in the same universe, the main batteries of larger ships have ranges of several Earth diameters. Needless to say, model and "ground" scale differ!
***Yes and no. The game often featured multiple planets on the (2 dimensional) field of play, so presumably the distances were in light minutes. Depictions in text have them fighting at much smaller ranges. Occasionally, less than one kilometer.
***On the other hand, in ''Gaunt's Ghosts: Sabbat Martyr'' a space battle takes place using massive distances. It even has a crewman reflect upon how close a particular (huge) enemy ship must be since he can see it as a gleaming dot in space

*During {{the Vietnam War}}, American jets carries carried the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIM-7_Sparrow Sparrow missile]] which was designed to shoot down Russian bombers Beyond Visual Range. Unfortunately, due to a fear of friendly fire, commanders instructed fighter pilots to only fire on a hostile aircraft after ''visual'' identification , completely negating the technological advantage of the long range missile. The missiles were completely ill suited for tracking maneuvering targets in a dogfight and achieved a kill rate of under 10%.
**Of course because OldSchoolDogfighting was assumed to be a DiscreditedTrope, no gun was fitted to the first line of F-4 Phantoms, further handicapping it in a close in fight.