Assault Phaser (Star Trek V & VI)
http://www.phasers.net/2280/2288.htm
http://www.phasers.net/2280/2288.htm
favorite Starfleet PHASERS?
- Thread starter Galileo7
- Start date
Type II (TOS) are the best, I think. I really liked the ST09 ones too and they remind me of the assault phaser mentioned above.
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The 29th-century phaser from VOY's "Future's End". We see one of Henry Starling's people use it to vaporize a truck.
Why is this phaser so awesome? Because it works exactly like all light based weapons (which is what a phaser is, of course) SHOULD work: The beam does not take any visible amount of time to reach its target. It was instantaneous.
Ideally, all phasers would work like that. Whenever a normal phaser is used - TOS, TNG/DS9/VOY, etc. - we always see the beam move, though, and that is logically impossible, because the speed of light is so much greater than we can perceive. (ENT gets a free pass, because the MACOS' rifles appear to fire a projectile of some kind.)
It was only this one time, that we saw a light-based beam work like we know it should. When you turn on a light, you don't see the light move from the bulb to the wall, do you? Same story here.
Why is this phaser so awesome? Because it works exactly like all light based weapons (which is what a phaser is, of course) SHOULD work: The beam does not take any visible amount of time to reach its target. It was instantaneous.
Ideally, all phasers would work like that. Whenever a normal phaser is used - TOS, TNG/DS9/VOY, etc. - we always see the beam move, though, and that is logically impossible, because the speed of light is so much greater than we can perceive. (ENT gets a free pass, because the MACOS' rifles appear to fire a projectile of some kind.)
It was only this one time, that we saw a light-based beam work like we know it should. When you turn on a light, you don't see the light move from the bulb to the wall, do you? Same story here.
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Here is a good links about all Star Trek Phasers:
http://www.phasers.net/
http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Type_1_phaser
http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Type_2_phaser
http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Type_3_phaser
http://www.phasers.net/
http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Type_1_phaser
http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Type_2_phaser
http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Type_3_phaser
Compression Rifles all the way. Badass.
I liked the phasers from The Cage. They looked mean and they had a cool twisting barrel to adjust power output.
I'm assuming that's what the twisting did - surely it wasn't there only to setup an overload.
I'm assuming that's what the twisting did - surely it wasn't there only to setup an overload.
I liked the ones from TMP/TWOK.
Sleek & simple.
Sleek & simple.
^ Same here. I have always loved how the smaller phaser fit into the pistol. It just looks really awesome too.
Second on the list would be the phaser rifle from First Contact. That was a really nice looking weapon for the 24th Century. The rest from that era I was never really impressed with (especially the Nemesis "dolphin").
Second on the list would be the phaser rifle from First Contact. That was a really nice looking weapon for the 24th Century. The rest from that era I was never really impressed with (especially the Nemesis "dolphin").
I'd have to say either the Assault phasers from STVI, or the type II phasers from DS9. http://www.phasers.net/2370/type2bp.htm
This. Followed by the phaser rifle in Where No Man Has Gone Before.
I like the phasers from Voyager, but that's because I spent so much time playing Elite Force.
Nardpuncher
Rear Admiral
I never understood the need for long rifles as phaser weapons. Doesn't make a lot of sense.
It does, and and for the same reasons the standard issue weapon in the armies around the world is a rifle, and not a pistol or a carbine:
Bigger means more powercells, ie more power and/or autonomy.
You can put on it better targeting aids, so you get more acuracy and longer effective range.
It can be used during hand to hand combat, even if drained, to block an enemy attack or help you strike more effective blows than those you can with your bare hands.
But why should bigger mean longer? Phasers apparently don't need barrels as such. Shouldn't it be much more practical to cluster the extra oomph around the user's wrist or something, instead of needlessly placing all the goodies in a long line that makes the weapon extra clumsy?
Unless the intention is to use the long weapon as a club or a spear, that is. But Kirk's phaser rifle from "Where No Man" doesn't seem like it could serve as a club or a spear: there's little or no mass in the long barrel, and there are no sharp bits at the end. The TNG/DS9 two-handed "rifle" makes for a good club, but the ST:FC rifle with the pistol-grip stock is just awkward.
Timo Saloniemi
During TOS I think the longest shot we ever saw with a hand phaser was during Errand of Mercy with the stunning of the two Klingon guards, maybe 200 feet (or so). There is no on screen/canon evidence that the hand phaser is capable of a longer shot or that isn't it maximum effective range.
That about the range of the tiny pistol I carry in my purse.
A larger heavier weapon could be capable of a longer traveling coherent stream of energy. Also more energy output.
.
That about the range of the tiny pistol I carry in my purse.
A larger heavier weapon could be capable of a longer traveling coherent stream of energy. Also more energy output.
.
200 meters might simply be the maximum distance at which a human can accurately aim an ideal, recoil-free, ballistics-free pistol. A two-hand-hold might increase the range slightly; a bipod or other support, combined with a sighting device, would increase it basically all the way to the horizon.
Of course, with a beam weapon, one should be able to walk the beam to the target. So even a phaser pistol would hit the enemy guard eventually even if he stood two kilometers away. But apparently hand phasers can't sustain a beam for very long - and for some reason, walking the beam is basically never done.
My favorite phaser is the ST5/6 "assault phaser", as long as it really is of a special type separate from the usual sidearms. I could see it as Starfleet's Thompson SMG: a firepower multiplier specifically designed for starship use, just like the Tommy gun was a Navy security and boarding party weapon first and foremost. If it's just a standard phaser in jazzier covers, it becomes sort of silly.
A range of guns would make sense... The two-piece sidearms of TOS and ST3 would be somewhat sub-optimal in terms of firepower and optional extras, but compact and versatile and thus specifically suited for use by starship crews. Real weapons of war would be larger, because state of 23rd century (or 24th century) art wouldn't allow for miniaturization of the crucial functions (autotargeting, stabilizing) below the "rifle" size. A happy medium might be struck with the ST5 phaser, which would be primarily used when knowingly going to infantry-style combat.
Since we have some evidence of such a range in TOS and TNG alike, it would be fun to postulate the "missing" pieces for the other eras. An early TNG rifle, or a TOS movie era one, or a "The Cage" era "submachine gun"...
Timo Saloniemi
Of course, with a beam weapon, one should be able to walk the beam to the target. So even a phaser pistol would hit the enemy guard eventually even if he stood two kilometers away. But apparently hand phasers can't sustain a beam for very long - and for some reason, walking the beam is basically never done.
My favorite phaser is the ST5/6 "assault phaser", as long as it really is of a special type separate from the usual sidearms. I could see it as Starfleet's Thompson SMG: a firepower multiplier specifically designed for starship use, just like the Tommy gun was a Navy security and boarding party weapon first and foremost. If it's just a standard phaser in jazzier covers, it becomes sort of silly.
A range of guns would make sense... The two-piece sidearms of TOS and ST3 would be somewhat sub-optimal in terms of firepower and optional extras, but compact and versatile and thus specifically suited for use by starship crews. Real weapons of war would be larger, because state of 23rd century (or 24th century) art wouldn't allow for miniaturization of the crucial functions (autotargeting, stabilizing) below the "rifle" size. A happy medium might be struck with the ST5 phaser, which would be primarily used when knowingly going to infantry-style combat.
Since we have some evidence of such a range in TOS and TNG alike, it would be fun to postulate the "missing" pieces for the other eras. An early TNG rifle, or a TOS movie era one, or a "The Cage" era "submachine gun"...
Timo Saloniemi
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