Access restrictions are comprehensively debunked in Rascals when Child!Keiko - who is a civilian under normal circumstances, never mind during the episode itself - was able to retrieve phasers to use against the Ferengi (although IIRC only Child!Picard and possibly Child!Ro were actually shown using the phasers).
Weaponized Replicators
- Thread starter PicardSpeedo
- Start date
Access restrictions are comprehensively debunked in Rascals when Child!Keiko - who is a civilian under normal circumstances, never mind during the episode itself - was able to retrieve phasers to use against the Ferengi (although IIRC only Child!Picard and possibly Child!Ro were actually shown using the phasers).
Yeah, but the E-D was more like a cruise ship rather than a warship. By the time of DS9, Jake and Nog couldn't even use a runabout due to safety protocols then.
That was more about antitheft protocols.
This is pure speculation, but maybe a replicator cannot be weaponized to deconstruct people.
Characters throughout Trek always mention how replicated food tastes different/a little off from the original thing. Based on this observation, you could just say that the replicators cannot breakdown regular matter, only replicated matter. Everything else is incompatible because of redundant blah blah technoabble compensators.
Although replicators and transporters do somehow work on the same principles of matter/energy conversion.
That makes me wonder why the transporter isn't weaponized more. Knock the enemy shields down, and then get a lock onto the crew and start beaming them into space/various predicaments.
So many untapped story possibilities.......
Characters throughout Trek always mention how replicated food tastes different/a little off from the original thing. Based on this observation, you could just say that the replicators cannot breakdown regular matter, only replicated matter. Everything else is incompatible because of redundant blah blah technoabble compensators.
Although replicators and transporters do somehow work on the same principles of matter/energy conversion.
That makes me wonder why the transporter isn't weaponized more. Knock the enemy shields down, and then get a lock onto the crew and start beaming them into space/various predicaments.
So many untapped story possibilities.......
knock the enemy shields down and beam over a Tsar Bomba.
Seems like that would be a war crime as it would give no chance of survival. Honestly, I think the true answer to the issue of weapons in replicators is its something that only some writers thought about early on, and then some later writers forgot about.
I kinda think that the issue of phaser legality and allowed tech would have been something that would have been eventually explored more on DS9, had the Dominion war arc not ever happened (along with more societal issues). Makes me wish future trek series would ignore war and focus on such issues, like (weapons/prostitution/slavery/guns/rights in regards to them) are such a hot button debate these days (guns anyway) and it used to be that that trek would go into such debates with a twist.
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Any sentence involving the words "replicator" and "cannot" is one wrought with risk.
Characters bicker about replication quality? That doesn't tell us much about replicators - it tells us the characters are people, because people always complain. We never see a scene where these naysayers would pass a blind test.
Then again, even if dereplicating "natural" matter were a problem, our heroes would be hard pressed to find a villain made of "natural" matter. Everybody eats replicated food, after all; characters would tend to be born 100% replicated, or at least be converted to 99% replicated fairly early on in their lives.
The hard part is knocking the shields down. What comes after that is petty details...
What an odd definition of war crime. The enemy is not supposed to survive. You are not supposed to give anybody a "chance" in war. Indeed, you probably get shot by your own people if you try to.
Timo Saloniemi
Well, I've often wondered what exactly happens in DS9, distant voices, when Bashir orders the computer to 'begin sterilisation', and Altovar pretty much seems to dematerialise.
Granted, that's in his mind, but since Bashir calls Sickbay his home I'd think the real sickbay has such a device. Could that device have been a somewhat larger (reverse) replicator/transporter?
Granted, that's in his mind, but since Bashir calls Sickbay his home I'd think the real sickbay has such a device. Could that device have been a somewhat larger (reverse) replicator/transporter?
How much does the replicator generally de-replicate when processing a meal?
We have seen glasses full of beverages replicated in a single cloud of sparks. Air would need to be pushed aside for that, but nothing more, and not particularly carefully at that. Replicating the drink after the vessel would call for finesse so that air bubbles don't cause problems, though. And if somebody adjusts her order after the delivery process has already begun, does the replicator start anew, or does it add the parsley as needed, and swap the carrots for the fries?
The ability to remove stuff would seem to come in awfully handy in the most routine of cases already. And the replicator does do the dishes. If you add a toothpick on your table, or there's a bit of extra saliva there, it wouldn't do for the replicator to refuse to erase those.
Then again, the AI controlling the everyday doodads of Trek is pretty clever. It handles the sliding doors very well, it connects the calls without a hitch. It probably could be trusted to make sure the replicator removes all the extra dirt your five-year-old left on the plate, but not his greasy little fingers.
Timo Saloniemi
We have seen glasses full of beverages replicated in a single cloud of sparks. Air would need to be pushed aside for that, but nothing more, and not particularly carefully at that. Replicating the drink after the vessel would call for finesse so that air bubbles don't cause problems, though. And if somebody adjusts her order after the delivery process has already begun, does the replicator start anew, or does it add the parsley as needed, and swap the carrots for the fries?
The ability to remove stuff would seem to come in awfully handy in the most routine of cases already. And the replicator does do the dishes. If you add a toothpick on your table, or there's a bit of extra saliva there, it wouldn't do for the replicator to refuse to erase those.
Then again, the AI controlling the everyday doodads of Trek is pretty clever. It handles the sliding doors very well, it connects the calls without a hitch. It probably could be trusted to make sure the replicator removes all the extra dirt your five-year-old left on the plate, but not his greasy little fingers.
Timo Saloniemi
