posted
Phelps: I personally prefer to ignore anything in the DS9TM regarding the Defiant that contradicts what's been established on screen. I mean why complicate things? The Manual clearly wasn't well researched when it comes to the starships - so stuff it!
I should clarify from my last post - when I said "the shuttlebay area" I really should have said "the central bottom area of the ship". With the Defiant we never ever see a clear origin point for a photorp firing. Like you suggest, the origin point from "PL" and "SM" could very well be the same.
All we know for sure is that the triangular units have exclusively been used as quantorp launchers. I'm also willing to except that the knob in the deflector dish is a torpedo launcher (based on the clear VFX of the probe launch in "Rejoined" and the MSD).
posted
I'm just trying to find an explanation that allows canon information to be used in future publications AND satisfies the Paramount licensing department. If we stick to just the canon, how likely is that the canon information will ever see print?
On the other hand, we could be so canonical as to disregard completely the placement of launchers on the MSD, like we do with that on the Ent-E and Equinox MSDs. That gives us two forward quantum and two forward photon launchers (the other one being in the ventral area), with two aft launchers (one in the ventral area and one in the Drexlerian-impulse-tail, as seen in "Shattered Mirror" where the entire tail surface glows yellow before the torpedo exits).
Registered: Sep 2001
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posted
I most certainly agree that we shouldn't take the location of the MSD torp launchers as gospel. But then, I think we should also be careful with how we judge the VFX. Because we can't clearly see what's going on with the torp firings in "PL" and "SM", I've chosen not to draw any conclusion as to the location(s) of the aft launcher(s). For all we know there is (or was) some sort of fancy launcher that can fling torpedos in both directions.
Registered: Jul 1999
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If the Defiant were an ideal ship, then we'd usually accept the locations specified in its blueprints as gospel, ignore the MSD placements, and accept one or two faulty VFX shots. Applying that to the Defiant, the only designed launchers were those in the shoulders as far as we know. However, the writers insist there is an aft torpedo launcher as well, which brings us to at least three. The probe launcher is also hard to forget because it's onscreen AND on the MSD (though the MSD puts it at either side of the deflector). That brings us to four.
However, where do we put the aft launchers? Given that the proven launchers all have visible holes, the aft launcher(s) should preferably have one as well. Most of the widgets are on the underside, as I've said, so it only makes sense to work with the suggested locations from "Paradise Lost", and accept a feature somewhere on the ventral side as an aft torpedo launcher.
We can ignore the VFX from "Shattered Mirror" because that Defiant need not be identical to the original, even though it really looks that way. Conclusion: canonically, we have a forward launcher in the deflector, an aft launcher somewhere on the underside, and two forward quantum launchers.
Registered: Sep 2001
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posted
Once again we are in agreement. One thing I'd dare to add to your conclusion is that the aft launcher would be in the rear half of the underside. I believe that best fits the VFX and satisfies the MSD to some degree. That only leaves a few widgets on the underside as possible launcher candidates.
Registered: Jul 1999
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posted
I think it's a pretty good idea that the aft launcher would be in the place where the big shuttlebay will later go. That *is* the most obvious location for a plug-and-play module, after all. In a cinch, that could also be where the forward launcher is - a rotating turret for a round hole sounds logical...
The putative forward standard torpedo launcher in the deflector area is a bit of a mystery when it has never been used for the launching of torpedoes. One can launch probes from many things besides torpedo tubes (DS9 the station used to launch probes from docking ring airlocks, for example), and the launch of the probe in "Rejoined" was a preplanned thing, allowing O'Brien to rig a special launch system for the single mission. So I'd be ready to forget about a forward launcher, and be happy with the ones firing from the "shoulders" of the ship.
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The widget on the shuttlebay door would've made a nice torpedo launcher but there's a couple of problems. First, that widget was established to be a tractor beam emitter in "By Inferno's Light". Second, I'm convinced that the aft torpedo in "PL" is fired from an area further back on the ship (my source material is an official CIC video release of the episode).
I too am at least a little skeptical about the torpedo launcher in the nose. That same spot has been established as the focal point of the deflector in "Rejoined" itself, and "Starship Down". And it also seems to be the most probable origin of the opening beam phaser in "PL" judging by the VFX.
TPTB and the VFX crew should have asked themselves "can the little Defiant really be so advanced as to pack in 3 shuttlebays, multiple torpedo launchers, and magic mulifunction widgets?"
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posted
some of the widgets have to be the self-sealing stembolts or the reverse-ratcheting routers, don't they? And is it true that the Sao Paulo was a variant where all the cogs had been replaced with sprockets?
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Registered: Sep 2001
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