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At the end of the Battle of Scarif, the Death Star fires on the Scarif Citadel. To a normal fan, this is completely normal. But for a really avid fan, you would wonder how it is so accurate. For example, when the Death Star fires on Jedha City, it misses completely, by a few kilometers, but the inaccuracy is covered up by the huge amount of area destroyed by the blast. But, then at Scarif, when it fires again, it hits the Citadel perfectly, obliterating the top part of the citadel, along with Officer Krennic on top of it.

My question is, why was the Death Star able to hit the Citadel so accurately?

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    The luck of the one shot is balanced out by the average hit rate of the rest of the Empire.
    – Radhil
    Commented Aug 29, 2020 at 17:54
  • Don't forget that the firers were trying to impress their superiors. If you score a direct hit that was what you intended. If not you were instilling terror in the enemy by letting them see the shockwave that would inevitably crush them..
    – Sean Condon
    Commented Aug 29, 2020 at 22:55

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When the Death Star fires on Jedha City, it misses completely, by a few kilometers

You seem to be mistaken, the movie has proved the Death Star to be a deadly accurate weapon.

The Death Star firing upon Jedha The Holy City of Jedha before impact The Holy City of Jedha getting hit

The Holy City of Jedha was destroyed with frightening precision in one shot. It was the hidden base of Saw Gerrera that was destroyed a few kilometers away.

Why was the Death Star able to hit the Citadel so accurately?

Well, because it looks good on screen.

There is no more fitting end for Krennic who fought over the construction of the Death Star than to be killed by a direct shot from his beloved project with his rival Tarkin commanding it.

That's the only explanation, it's a good looking scene with a final jab at Krennic from Tarkin. In-universe there would be no tactical use at shooting directly at the top of the citadel when it could have just shot at the base.

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    While I agree with the Jedha hit being accurate, it was also a much larger target. I interpreted the Citadel shot as actually a slight miss because aiming for the base would seem like a lower risk target. But it was still "good enough" for their purposes.
    – StayOnTarget
    Commented Aug 30, 2020 at 12:12
  • Is it possible that Krennic has some type of tracking chip implanted into him being a high ranking official? If he does, maybe they locked onto that
    – SpacePhoenix
    Commented Aug 30, 2020 at 14:32
  • Okay, but in the scene right before that, it shows the Death Star targeting Jedha City and the crosshairs in directly on the city, not a few kilometers to the side.
    – Maimas2
    Commented Aug 31, 2020 at 14:02
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    @cs1349459 That's what this answer is saying--that it both targeted and hit directly on Jedha City.
    – Kitkat
    Commented Aug 31, 2020 at 14:30

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