Why Not Beam Photon Bombs/Torpedos onto Enemy Ships

Thargor · 21-02-2011 1:45pm #1

When their shields go down obviously, has anyone ever done this in any of the series?

Cookie_Monster · 21-02-2011 2:13pm

Voyager did it to the Borg once or twice.

Not sure outside of that but I suppose the point is if their shield are down one fired at them should blow them up anyway...

Goldstein · 21-02-2011 2:22pm

In VOY: Dark Frontier they beam a photon torpedo onto a Borg probe to destroy it.

And in TNG: Legacy they suggest beaming "photon grenades" down to a planet.

I suspect Voyager may have fouled up the official line which I'm guessing would be along the lines of: "they're too volatile to transport" or something.

norrie rugger · 21-02-2011 2:39pm

Goldstein wrote: »

In VOY: Dark Frontier they beam a photon torpedo onto a Borg probe to destroy it.

And in TNG: Legacy they suggest beaming "photon grenades" down to a planet.

I suspect Voyager may have fouled up the official line which I'm guessing would be along the lines of: "they're too volatile to transport" or something.

Very cool, even with the incorrect spelling of LASER

Magic Eight Ball · 21-02-2011 3:13pm

Norrie rugger, everytime I read your sig I hear Picard shouting that line in my head. :pac:

norrie rugger · 21-02-2011 3:36pm

Magic Eight Ball wrote: »

Norrie rugger, everytime I read your sig I hear Picard shouting that line in my head. :pac:

It was an outstandingly well delivered line

mulciber · 22-02-2011 12:12am

*SPOILER ALERT*

In a voyager episode they beamed a photon torpedo onto a shuttlecraft while it was being tractor beamed into their sphere. It only disabled the sphere for long enough for voyager to get away though.

Myrddin · 22-02-2011 2:04pm

Goldstein wrote: »

In VOY: Dark Frontier they beam a photon torpedo onto a Borg probe to destroy it.

And in TNG: Legacy they suggest beaming "photon grenades" down to a planet.

I suspect Voyager may have fouled up the official line which I'm guessing would be along the lines of: "they're too volatile to transport" or something.

Then again, they'd have to lower shields to use the transporter

Feral Mutant · 22-02-2011 3:35pm

Transporter scramblers have been mentioned a few times in DS9 to stop stuff people beaming in/out. They could have those on ships just in case.

Magic Eight Ball · 23-02-2011 12:54pm

mulciber wrote: »

*SPOILER ALERT*

In a voyager episode they beamed a photon torpedo onto a shuttlecraft while it was being tractor beamed into their sphere. It only disabled the sphere for long enough for voyager to get away though.

How many shuttlecrafts did voyager actually have. :rolleyes:

I wonder if there's a count of how many were lost/destroyed over the course of the seven seasons.

norrie rugger · 23-02-2011 12:56pm

Magic Eight Ball wrote: »

How many shuttlecrafts did voyager actually have. :rolleyes:

I wonder if there's a count of how many were lost/destroyed over the course of the seven seasons.

That discussion is all over the net, along with the number of crew mentioned, lost,killed

Cookie_Monster · 23-02-2011 2:36pm

Magic Eight Ball wrote: »

How many shuttlecrafts did voyager actually have. :rolleyes:

I wonder if there's a count of how many were lost/destroyed over the course of the seven seasons.

dozens, I watched a vid on youtube recently showing them all.
Not to mention that despite their being only around 140 crew members you rarely see the same person in more than one episode.
Never used the yacht built into the underside of the saucer either, just like TNG

There is a female Vulcan at one point in an episode, but she wasn't around any other time when that pon-farr stuff was causing riots...

EDIT: they fired about 700 of their 40 photons too

gbee · 23-02-2011 2:53pm

I've just realised that I had never seen the ending of Voyager.

Went looking for that vid showing all the shuttles lost and found the end. Well whadaknow

cyrusdvirus · 23-02-2011 2:55pm

gbee wrote: »

I've just realised that I had never seen the ending of Voyager.

Went looking for that vid showing all the shuttles lost and found the end. Well whadaknow

USE SPOILERS FFS!!!!!

stevethewraith · 02-03-2011 5:08pm

Ya once i saw it done on Stargate atlantis i was wondering why it wasn't used more in Star Trek. .

Stuartp · 02-03-2011 6:19pm

Xd Why Not use Get bigger Aresnal Like The Buddledow on Supreme commander XD!

norrie rugger · 04-03-2011 12:56pm

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

dozens, I watched a vid on youtube recently showing them all.
Not to mention that despite their being only around 140 crew members you rarely see the same person in more than one episode.
Never used the yacht built into the underside of the saucer either, just like TNG

There is a female Vulcan at one point in an episode, but she wasn't around any other time when that pon-farr stuff was causing riots...

EDIT: they fired about 700 of their 40 photons too

AND TriCobalt Devices vanished also, excepting a completely stupid episode around 7o9

norrie rugger · 04-03-2011 12:56pm

Stuartp wrote: »

Xd Why Not use Get bigger Aresnal Like The Buddledow on Supreme commander XD!

What????

komodosp · 22-10-2011 6:17pm

They can't beam through the shields for some reason... But what I don't get is why the transporter isn't a "ground troop" weapon - like why not beam a person to death - do the deconstruction part but don't bother saving their pattern or regenerating them on the other side. Or beam out their heart or brain, or their weapon if you don't want to be so cruel.

Kiith · 22-10-2011 6:47pm

Hell, why not just use the transporter to get their security forces around their own ships. Intruder on deck 4? How about instead of getting a turbolift we just beam to the adjacent room. Or beam the intruders into the bloody brig.

norrie rugger · 23-10-2011 4:14am

Want an easy yet honest answer?
Bad ratings material

Myrddin · 23-10-2011 7:06pm

norrie rugger wrote: »

Want an easy yet honest answer?
Bad ratings material

That combined with having to lower your own shields in the middle of a battle is probably why.

Goldstein · 24-10-2011 1:21am

komodosp wrote: »

They can't beam through the shields for some reason... But what I don't get is why the transporter isn't a "ground troop" weapon - like why not beam a person to death - do the deconstruction part but don't bother saving their pattern or regenerating them on the other side. Or beam out their heart or brain, or their weapon if you don't want to be so cruel.

This is already what happens. If you think about it the transporter basically kills people. Their "pattern" is transported (read: information) and it's an identical copy (clone) that emerges on the other side with all the same memories etc but critically not the same consciousness. They would be unaware of this and think they've just transported somewhere but the former person is definitely dead. Given the usage, at this stage they've probably massacred the human race several thousand times over.

Even leaving Heisenberg aside, there's logical holes all over the place with transporter technology but they're (rightly) ignored for the sake of convenience and immersion.

Nearly every time it's used there's no "receiver" or "materialiser" on the other end. That makes no sense but is a supposed ability of the tech so you can forgive it. Pad to pad is ok but anything else is there as a plot device that's best not dwelled on too much.

Shields are one excuse for not being able to use the transporter in battles but shields go down a lot so why not transport key structural or strategic components of the opposing ship somewhere other than where they currently are? Same thing with personnel but we're probably straying away from the optimistic utopian soul of the shows going down that road. Still though, maybe Ron Moore could have cranked out a couple of more good ST yearns of a darker nature.

There's also the idea of making duplicates. Millions of Worfs could come in handy in a tight spot.

cyrusdvirus · 24-10-2011 8:10am

Goldstein wrote: »

This is already what happens. If you think about it the transporter basically kills people. Their "pattern" is transported (read: information) and it's an identical copy (clone) that emerges on the other side with all the same memories etc but critically not the same consciousness. They would be unaware of this and think they've just transported somewhere but the former person is definitely dead. Given the usage, at this stage they've probably massacred the human race several thousand times over.

Even leaving Heisenberg aside, there's logical holes all over the place with transporter technology but they're (rightly) ignored for the sake of convenience and immersion.

Nearly every time it's used there's no "receiver" or "materialiser" on the other end. That makes no sense but is a supposed ability of the tech so you can forgive it. Pad to pad is ok but anything else is there as a plot device that's best not dwelled on too much.

Shields are one excuse for not being able to use the transporter in battles but shields go down a lot so why not transport key structural or strategic components of the opposing ship somewhere other than where they currently are? Same thing with personnel but we're probably straying away from the optimistic utopian soul of the shows going down that road. Still though, maybe Ron Moore could have cranked out a couple of more good ST yearns of a darker nature.

There's also the idea of making duplicates. Millions of Worfs could come in handy in a tight spot.

Data's would possibly be better

Kiith · 24-10-2011 8:48am

Goldstein wrote: »

Even leaving Heisenberg aside

Oh come on, we all know the Heisenberg Compensators stop any problems happening with the transporters. It's 1st year Academy engineering :pac:

nyarlothothep · 24-10-2011 1:10pm

gatecrash wrote: »

Data's would possibly be better

Worf goes down quickly in a fight.

In relation to the transporters they just increase the probability of the transportee existing in another point in space time, they don't need receivers.

In addition transporting photon torpedos is risky as messing around with the quantum probability states of the photons can cause the torpedos to explode before the transportation is complete thereby literally backfiring.

Why Not Beam Photon Bombs/Torpedos onto Enemy Ships

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