posted
Having a defensive spere coving the whole of Mars' orbit around the sun is rather silly. No-one is going to attack empty space. They are going to attack Utopia Planitia on Mars, Starfleet Command on Earth, or Tim's porn collection on Mercury. To quote Douglas Adams, Space is big. Really big. If you are seriously going to try and defend a sperical shape as far out as Mars' orbit, then the number of defenses and the cost of maintaining them would seem to be fairly astronomical.
Of couse, I've always thought the same thing about the Neutral Zone, but they only have sensor nets there, which are always shown to have a greater range than weapons.
quote: Not only had they "halted their approach" to Earth when Data's link took hold, but the cube looked waaay too big to actually be in Earth orbit, assuming a ~3km cube and a ~12,000km Earth.
The Earth is 17,000km according to the encyclopedia.
Sorry.
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
| IP: Logged
posted
Gah, the point is not to defend empty space, but to deny the enemy easy access of the inner solar system. It's not like all star systems and empires are lined up into a neatly 2D plane, you're going to get someone coming at you from above or below the ecliptic no matter what. That's why you have a defensive shell, instead of a flat line.
-------------------- "God's in his heaven. All's right with the world."
Registered: Apr 2001
| IP: Logged
Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
posted
The point is that it doesn't matter where the enemies are coming from, as their targets will be the same: planetary installations, shipyards, orbital defenses, the works. If you want to deny 'm easy access, you send in your own fleet of starships.
-------------------- ".mirrorS arE morE fuN thaN televisioN" - TEH PNIK FLAMIGNO
Registered: Nov 1999
| IP: Logged
posted
Which in this case had already been wiped out at Wolf 359.
As someone has already said, the MDP is most likely meant to slow an invading force and discourage piracy so close the Earth.
You would actually need quite a few sensor platforms floating around the place, in order to cover the areas that can't be seen directly from Earth or Mars. Behind one of the gas giants or the sun for example, indeed with a little bit of fancy flying a fleet could probably slip in behind Mercury without anyone knowing until it was too late. That is unless you have a large network of overlapping sensor and weapons platforms around the Martian perimeter.
Oh and that little jibb about expense; it was a poor attempt at humour.
posted
Would it really matter if the enemy slipped in, though, as long as the insystem targets themselves were protected? Like, by a Martian defense perimeter around Mars.
We've seen in DS9 how assaults on a starbase or a planetary base require getting close and personal. There seems to be little danger of the enemy sitting between Mars and Earth and lobbing long-range torps in their way. Whatever comes within firing range of insystem targets also enters the firing range of planetary defenses. Like the Martian defense perimeter around Mars.
As for the enemy mounting a siege or sniping at traffic between the planets and their compact defense perimeters... You need actively moving defenses to deal with those in any case, and there's little sense in forcing those mobile defenses to hang around in empty space between planets when not engaged in combat. Sure, a few sensor platforms sprinkled here and there are a good idea, but weapons platforms should be highly centralized. Like, into a Martian defense perimeter around Mars.
posted
A better question is: What the HELL happened to the Spacedock in Earth's orbit!?! I mean, come on! That thing's HUGE !!!!!! If anything could have detered the Borg, that would have been it. If Starfleet can arm DS9 to the teeth, I shudder to think what they should have been able to do to Spacedock. ......the only explanation that makes sense to me is that the entire spacedock was slowly towed tothe Utopia Shipyards to protect them.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
| IP: Logged
Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
posted
Well, see, there's this thing about Spacedock that prevents it from being in the same place all the time.
Registered: Nov 1999
| IP: Logged
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
| IP: Logged
posted
Actually I rather suspect it's the laws of gravity...
-------------------- "I am an almost extinct breed, an old-fashioned gentleman, which means I can be a cast-iron son-of-a-bitch when it suits me." --Jubal Harshaw
Registered: Feb 2002
| IP: Logged
posted
Well, since Spacedock is a space STATION (station as in STATIONARY ), then maybe it was in orbit on the far side of the planet when the Borg approached.
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
Registered: Nov 2000
| IP: Logged
posted
Yeah, good thing they exploded just before Tarkin fired that superphaser.
Registered: Aug 1999
| IP: Logged
Siwiak
Ex-Member
posted
Geoff Mandel's latest book "Star Trek: Star Charts" shows a view of the entire Sol Star System, and there's a series of lines forming a spherical shape and labeled the MDP.
In defense of automated facilities, is anyone forgetting how relatively easy it was for the Dominion to deploy countless Orbital Weapons Platforms in Chin'toka, and that they covered a very big area and took out quite a few ships?
In terms of plot, you have to remember that no matter what, the Borg will make it all the way to Earth. It's all about the drama of seeing it linger on our doorstep, then have one of the Enterprises nearby and blow the thing out of the heavens. They're supposed to be the biggest threat the galaxy has known, and I doubt the writers were going to throw in more lines saying "Oh no, the Borg are cutting across the system... they've chewed up the MDP, now they're swinging over to to disable any chance of it launching fighters... oh no, they're now in Earth orbit, and have somehow destroyed/disabled all planetary defenses, and Spacedock's orbit has put it on the other side of the planet!"
I think it's safe to assume that the defenses in the Terran solar system are enough to stop all but the Borg or a mighty invasion force.
IP: Logged
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
), then maybe it was in orbit on the far side of the planet when the Borg approached.
Printer-friendly view of this topic
