posted
There would be no yield diffrence between a hit on a stationary and a moving target though- Kirk's bucket needed two direct hits just to blow off one of Reliant's nacelles.
Not a big punch.
Registered: Aug 2002
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Except I really like Timo's idea that they were using lower yield torpedoes for close-range combat during the Mutara face-off. Without shields and with damaged ships, super-nova power booms could be just as dangerous to the ship firing them as the intended target.
I was also thinking that the power of the weapons and defensive systems might not be a linear thing. So that a modern weapon might have a higher peak output at contact, where a sustained beam might not be that much more impressive than an older model. So Voyager might not be too worried about that old D7 bringing down her shields in one go, but an all-out slug-fest is still going to hurt.
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If Kirk's Enterprise was useing low-yield torps back in STII, what is the excuse for the pitiful damage to the (unshielded) KBOP in STVI? It. took. six. torpedos.
No...the theory of intentionally useing low-yield does not hold water (at least not during Kirk's time).
I can however see variable yields and contained area of effect tech being employed during the DS9/KLingon face-off: the station cant exactly move away from a blast radius- it also explains why the torps used with great effect on the KBOP's (one hit each) did not also destroy large chunks of the station itself.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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In STIII: I mean they were in orbit above a highly sensitive diplomatic mission (for peace as I recall). The prototype BOP also could have been employing better armor and the latest SIF tech. (Obviously, I mean the real reason is for the dramatic payoff)
As for DS9's effective torpedoing, I still say there's something to the idea of shield-breaking power being different than ship-go-boom power.
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quote:If Kirk's Enterprise was useing low-yield torps back in STII, what is the excuse for the pitiful damage to the (unshielded) KBOP in STVI?
The same. Since the target is cloaked (or was cloaked when the torpedoes were armed - the loaders probably aren't that fast!), it's better to fire low-yield torps until the target becomes easier to hit.
And of course the BoP didn't withstand even a single torpedo in that movie. It's just that the five remaining torps necessarily hit the BoP even thought the target had already blown up. (And the explosion was in slow motion, like most elements of Trek space battles. )
As for the joules = frequency thing, this would be standard physicist shorthand. Units of energy (eV) denote frequency or wavelength when dealing with particle beams, too - yet the actual power delivered is not measured in eV per time, but is a function of beam intensity.
I for one consider it a commendable goal to remove all significance from the instances where Trek writers use Joules to describe power!
On the 20 ships in "The Die is Cast"... Oops. Perhaps I should rewatch my VHS tapes more often. Then again, Toddman said that Tain had "20 ships manned with combat veterans". How many more were manned by complete greenhorns?
Just for the sake of discussion, we'll say that Enterprise was indeed useing smaller yields on their torpedos- I really dont think Excelsior would have been doing that. Four of the six hits were from that behemoth.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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