posted
Actually, those would be the microtorpedoes, a concept introduced in the Voyager writers' tech guide and adopted by RS for the DS9TM. The pointy quantum torpedo casing was the one I meant. It seemed similar to Eaves' sketches in the FC sketchbook, but maybe it's just the angle. Don't have my tech books here.
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posted
Enterprise's torpedoes don't glow because they're so damn slow.
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posted
Enterprise's torpedoes are just torpedoes, not photon torpedoes.
No photons = no glow.
Glowing is caused by photons. Maybe one day theyll tell us why theyre called that.
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Member # 621
posted
quote: (how the heck do big balls of gas follow targets?!)
quote: Or travel at warp.
TNGTM says that the photorps depart with a warp field built around them that dissipates. I don't see any reason why plasmatorps couldnt have a similar (though prolly less efficient) system. And if my theory of using warp fields to maneuver at sublight is correct, then a fly-by-wire system is most likely employed where the warp field is manipulated from the Rom ship to track the target.
As for how the warp field is changed....subspace...um...something
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posted
Photon torpedoes do most of their damage with high-energy photons, or gamma-rays, which are the result of matter-antimatter annihilation.
The plasma in Romulan torpedoes might be travelling inside a warp-sustainer field of some kind; phasers, for example, are fired at warp by jacketing them inside the annular confinement beams, like those used in transporters (DS9TM).
I doubt the glow in regular torpedoes is the exhaust -- I believe we've never seen a torpedo accelerate to a target, only travel there at constant speed. So you'd need thrust only for course changes.
To me, it looks like some sort of gas accumulating inside a forcefield, possibly some exhaust gases. The real reason is, of course, that viewers really need to see more than just a black dot with two tiny exhaust ports.
posted
You're suggesting that the plasma torpedoes have some sort of actual "torpedo" involved, rather than just being a ball of plasma. That was the exact point of those original questions. The question was how could they aim themselves and travel at warp if there's no torpedo, i.e. if they're nothing but plasma. And, of course, the answer is that they can't.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
No, I'm thinking that they fired subspace/other forcefields onto the target which contained plasma inside. No physical casing involved. The pulse phasers work in about the same manner.
Registered: Sep 2001
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posted
I emailed Mike Okuda circa 1994 (!) about what makes photon torpedoes glow. He said it was the warp sustainer field that propels them (even at sublight).
quote:Originally posted by Phelps: No, I'm thinking that they fired subspace/other forcefields onto the target which contained plasma inside. No physical casing involved. The pulse phasers work in about the same manner.
That wasn't the issue, the issue was that how do they track and follow targets, even at warp? Technically when pulse weapon leaves its launcher, it's gonna go in a straight line until it runs out of energy/containment field collapses, unless something influences it. However, the plasma weapons used by the Romulans in TOS, SFB, SFC I and II follows you around, you can't dodge it.
Another note, the plasma weapon use in TOS was never referred to as a torpedoe. Then again, the Romulan weapon used in TNG and DS9 weren't called torpedoes either, at least not directly. However, visually, they were just the effects for a normal photon torpedoe, colored green. Also, the other sorts of weapon projections, disruptor beam and pulse, are shown in addition to this torpedoe effect.
The torpedoe in "Enterprise" uses old-style reaction drive (i.e. rocket motor), so no glowy-glowy.
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posted
Having a plasma torpedo follow a target is easy. Just make sure that the subspace signature of the plasma containment field matches that of the enemy's shields, and there you go.
posted
While I suppose it might be possible (ignoring for the moment that technically in these matters anything is possible) that the Romulans were placing their amazing plasma weapon inside of some independant self-sustaining warp field, it seems to me that if they had that sort of technology during TOS, there wouldn't be a Federation around for spinoffs. Or, in other words, that ability seems way out of line with what little we've seen of 23rd century Romulan capabilities.
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