posted
There's also an old naval wisdom, from the times of gun-based combat: the side with reserves loses.
Back when ships fought primarily with guns, at ranges where every ship participating in the battle could theoretically hit every other ship, the side that had the more ships would automatically win. The more ships you had, the more enemy ships your initial volley would cripple, thus increasing your lead volley by volley. You would win absolutely nothing by holding back a number of ships and then throwing them into the battle at some later moment.
Phaser-based battles typical of TNG could very well abide to the same rules. The best and most cunning strategy one could think of would be to throw *everything* at the enemy at once, firing every phaser simultaneously, from big bad type 10 arrays to puny type 5 self-defence guns. It would not matter whether your firing platform was capable of defending itself - if the first volley worked, there would be no need for defence; and if it didn't, then the more ships you had, the more targets you would present to the enemy, and the lower the odds that the enemy would cripple your *important* ships.
So sending in completely unarmed ships would also make some tactical sense, even if you weren't fighting a hopelessly desperate battle. Their presence would scatter enemy fire, unless the enemy could quickly sort out which ships were harmless and which weren't. And sending in minimally armed ships would be a smart move, since the enemy would then have to decide whether to ignore them during the early volleys (and let them enter their effective weapons range) or destroy them early on (and thus allow the far more dangerous capital ships to survive longer).
posted
Just for the little history lesson I will give you one too:
During the hunt for the Bismark, the HMS Hood and HMS Prince of Wales were hunting down the Bismark and the Prinze Eugen. The German ships look a like, so when the two british battleships first fire on the Germans they thought the Prinze Eugen a heavy cruiser was the Bismark (over 10 miles you can't see shit unless you got good eyes) This freed up the Bismark to fire at will. However what is general common knownledge that the Bismark herself sunk the Hood, it is also the possbility that a 8" shell from the Prinze Eugen was able to detonate a ammunition bunker/torpedoes/guns/ etc whatever you believe.
What this has to do with the Oberth? Well even though the Oberth was probably the weakest ship in the fleet, it was a target for the Borg to concentrate on while bigger more powerful ships fire on the cube, though this is suicide but hey they were going to die anyway soemwhere along the line, its part of the service. Also the ship could have been a flying bomb for a ramming course to at least severely damage the cube.
------------------ Signature for sale! For a mere price of $20 per letter you get this wonderful little space to say your own things. Get it now while there's still space!
posted
I keep coming back to the fact that in Star Trek IV, Oberths weren't considered "starships", they were considered "smaller vessels". And if the fleet Hanson pulled together consisted of 40 STARSHIPS, how many "smaller vessels" were there also...?
At any rate, I don't count the Bonestell when counting Wolf 359 starships.
--Jonah
------------------ "It's obvious I'm dealing with a moron..."
posted
True, after the Galaxy's came out they were redesignated as tiny....
------------------ "One's ethics are determined by what we do when no one is looking" Nugget Star Trek: Gamma Quadrant Star Trek: Legacy Read them, rate them, got money, film them
"...and I remain on the far side of crazy, I remain the mortal enemy of man, no hundred dollar cure will save me..." WoV
posted
...But then Voyager came along, and Oberths were GRAND again!
Ever notice how virtually all ships in Voyager are smaller than the star starship? And how most external shots of Voyager are from below the ship, making her look big? It's all perspective.
Mark
------------------ "Why build one, when you can have two at twice the price?"
posted
actualy alot of ships in voyager are bigger than the poor lost intrepid----but i could only count a few that would have actualy been bigger than the galaxy class.
in my oppionion the delta quadrant if without the borg and 4 or 5 other species would be ripe for conquest---they're such an entire quadrants of idiots.
posted
I think, in the TOS days (and maybe the movie era), "starship" was a specific term. Now, it basically means any ship that holds more than a couple people...
------------------ "Although, from what I understand, having travelled around the Mid-west quite a bit, apparently Jesus is coming, so I guess the choice now is we should decide whether we should spit or swallow." -Maynard James Keenan
posted
Yes, of couse it's on!! I can see the red light, for God's sake! Ooh, start again.
------------------ At that point, McDonald fired his gun three times in the air to emphasize his point. The crowd, estimated at 350,000, loudly cheered the new candidate.
"Let me make this clear: I am the law! I am your ruler! And you will have fries with that, motherf*cker!"
posted
Ah, yes, I see, the starships you have the longer it takes to wipe them out. Or something along those lines. I bet now that the Oberth was there to take some of the cube's attention from some of the other ships (it still didn't do that well of a job, lasting a couple seconds).
------------------ "Asteroids do not concern me, Admrial. I want that ship, not excuses."
-Lord Darth Vader (Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back)
Starbuck "Replicate some marmalade, Commander - helm control is toast!"
Member # 153
posted
Why was an Oberth at Wolf 359? Well, why not?
I mean, we had all kinds of ships there - the Phase II prototypes, and apparently a Constitution refit, plus those kitbashed ships with marker-pen nacelles...
I think Starfleet threw everything they could muster at the Borg out of desperation. Sometimes, even one phaser can make a difference...
------------------ "Replicate some marmalade, Commander - helm control is toast!"
posted
Soontir, we don't know that the Oberth lasted a few seconds... It could have been holding out its own for an hour before we saw it...
------------------ Homer: I'm gonna miss Springfield. This town's been awfully good to us. Bart: No, it hasn't, Dad. That's why we're leaving. Homer: Oh, yeah. [pokes his head out the window] So long, Stinktown!
posted
No it couldn't. "Emissary" pretty well chronicled the opening moments of the massacre from Locutus' speech through the first few minutes of fighting before the Saratoga was destroyed.
--Jonah
------------------ "It's obvious I'm dealing with a moron..."
posted
Still, it probably took some time for Sisko to get from the ruined bridge to the ruined quarters - so we *are* talking minutes instead of seconds here. Meaning that the Oberth fared better than the Melbourne-labeled Excelsior at least...
Printer-friendly view of this topic
