Re: Could Janeway've gotten a Nova Class Science Ship back from Careta
Why should Star Fleet put in more than defensive armament?
OK, the class is obviously armed, but this design was not intended for front-line combat. More/bigger weaponry = less space for the equipment needed for it to perform its primary function. This is a science ship, not a battlewagon.
I think that SF had ample reasons to arm it's science vessels better.
Given their rather unfortunate history of being attacked and practically stomped over by potential hostiles... they would be wise to arm them properly. They don't have to be able to last in combat situations like other classes, just long enough to deter a hostile if possible, or give themselves a chance to make a run for it if they can't beat them (much like Ransom did in his battle with Voyager).
General agreement. But note that this design was intended for "safe" areas anyhow, so arming it to the teeth would probably be overdoing things.
We've seen a few science ships buy the farm in Trek, but how many does Star Fleet actually have overall? Dozens? Hundreds? Being taken out in a surprise attack by hostiles might be quite rare or, at least, not the greatest danger that such ships usually face - the equivalent of walking down the street and getting hit by lightning.
The Nova class has 9 visible phaser strips on it's hull.
That is sufficient to cover most of the ship (albeit the aft section could do with 2 more strips - one on each nacelle pylon).
'Bigger weapons' don't necessarily mean that Type X phasers require more internal room than other types.
It simply could mean that the core needs to be up to the task of supplying necessary power under combat situations - and I see no reason as to why it couldn't.
Ptovided it has the space and support structure. More power means a bigger powerplant and (more than likely) more personnel needed to keep it running, and possibly bigger thingummies (plasma conduits? I dunno) to move the power from where it is made to where it is needed.
Whilst possibly not the case here, many present-day navies have ships "Fitted For, But Not With" certain systems - they have the space allocated, but may only fitted with those systems in times of genuine need.
Keep in mind that most smaller ships predating the Galaxy, Defiant, Voyager and Nova classes would have less powerful phasers in say Type 8 or Type 9 forms.
As new phaser types were developed, newer classes built of that time were probably able in receiving them if they can meet the power requirements (and with SF's decision in making smaller but powerful ships as a result of Borg threat, and later on the Dominion, I don't see the issue - they obviously found a way to do it with the Defiant, so why not other classes as well?).
I also don't see how could ample phaser coverage derail a science vessel from it's primary duties.
The two functions aren't mutually exclusive. Maybe it was because of this that the Nova class has weaker shields but say Type X phasers.
They can deliver equal damage like the Intrepid and Galaxy class, but last significantly less time under combat conditions due to other factors (science oriented tasks, only capable of Warp 6 and weaker shields).
Trade-offs.
Every design has them. Beef up one system or capability, and others
will pay for it in terms of less personnel, having to take up less space, less available power and/or computer resources, and so on.
Noting that she kind of had the advantage of surprise, and Voyager was rather handicapped in subsequent engagements.
Please note that "it's" is only used for "it is". For everything else, it's "its".
Agreed that Voyager was rather handicapped at the time, but the Equinox was under equal stress from it's previous damage (patched up for the most part).
Plus I don't think that my use of 'it's' has significant relevance in this discussion. I see it mostly as personal preference (and please, let's not derail the thread by talking about it anymore because it would serve no purpose).
How about because, for me, it is distracting and annoying? Think it has all been said already, so we'll move on.
