Ok, so as absurd as it is Enterprise phasers are now established as having half the power of the sun. That should be more than enough to destroy an entire planet.
Why is this power never used anywhere else? For example in Star Trek Into Darkness why don't they just phaser onto Khan's location in Qo'noS instead of using torpedoes? Do most planets even have planetary shields (if so the plan to take out Khan on Qo'noS even with torpedoes might not be viable)? Because those shields would need equal if not greater power to withstand phaser blasts half the power of the sun. And if they don't have planetary shields, why are superweapons like Shinzon's thalaron radiation treated as any more dangerous than regular phaser attacks on a planet?
Or in Generations, Worf claimed they couldn't target Soran's sun-killing missile in time. And Soran's location had some forcefield shielding. Even in the unlikely instance that Soran's shielded missile launch site could withstand phaser beams half the power of the sun, why not just phaser the rest of the uninhabited Veridian 3 and be done with it? Soran on his forcefielded launch site isn't going to last long once the rest of the planet's atmosphere, ozone, oxygen etc. has been bombarded to hell with the Enterprise's super phasers and the rest of the planet is ignited to the point that Soran would probably be fried, force field or no, and the Fed would accept the assassination of Soran as an acceptable target given he was about to wipe out Veridian IV.
