How durable were the shuttles supposed to be in TNG? In TOS the shuttle didn't seem to have any defenses and had limited range. They sent Scotty out in a shuttle during TNG with the implication that he'd be totally safe flying around the galaxy in it. Where the designs of a what a shuttle could do that different?
Shuttles
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I've kinda wondered about that, too. They do in a way have kind of a flimsy appearance to us, but clearly they are at least space-worthy. It's obvious to say that, but its actual definition is vague.
The range question is hard to address. In the original series we saw Kirk and Commodore Mendez attempting to catch the Enterprise in one, but there were references to the fuel supply running down, though we have no idea how far they'd flown at that point, though it couldn't have been too long.
On the other hand, Lokai of Cheron had stolen a shuttle from Starbase Two (or was it Four?), and it was stated that the shuttle was stolen two weeks ago when the Enterprise had run across it.
Presumably they could do more by the time The Next Generation had come, but I've no idea how much more. They were sometimes seen to be used for rather long journeys, so they must have been reasonably durable. One can assume they had replicators, so people would have access to food and water. As far as sleep...I would have to conclude that they'd have to snooze in the pilot seats.
Defense-wise, I'm not so sure. I seem to remember the Romulans had no trouble immobilizing Geordi's shuttle in The Mind's Eye.
The range question is hard to address. In the original series we saw Kirk and Commodore Mendez attempting to catch the Enterprise in one, but there were references to the fuel supply running down, though we have no idea how far they'd flown at that point, though it couldn't have been too long.
On the other hand, Lokai of Cheron had stolen a shuttle from Starbase Two (or was it Four?), and it was stated that the shuttle was stolen two weeks ago when the Enterprise had run across it.
Presumably they could do more by the time The Next Generation had come, but I've no idea how much more. They were sometimes seen to be used for rather long journeys, so they must have been reasonably durable. One can assume they had replicators, so people would have access to food and water. As far as sleep...I would have to conclude that they'd have to snooze in the pilot seats.
Defense-wise, I'm not so sure. I seem to remember the Romulans had no trouble immobilizing Geordi's shuttle in The Mind's Eye.
They were still better than Voyager's shuttles.
When they gave Scotty the shuttle, wasn't there a line that it would get him to the retirement colony he was originally headed for a hundred years prior?
So, the E-D was within range of known Federation territory, and Scotty wasn't just gonna be adrift in space on the far reaches or anything. The shuttle could get him anywhere he would need to go, eventually.
And if ya go by the novels, Scotty gets back to Earth, becomes a host of a bar, and winds up in charge of Starfleet's Corps of Engineers before gettin' command of a Galaxy class starship.
So, the E-D was within range of known Federation territory, and Scotty wasn't just gonna be adrift in space on the far reaches or anything. The shuttle could get him anywhere he would need to go, eventually.
And if ya go by the novels, Scotty gets back to Earth, becomes a host of a bar, and winds up in charge of Starfleet's Corps of Engineers before gettin' command of a Galaxy class starship.
I doubt they can just "replicate" entire starships. That's stretching the technology a bit too far. We could probably argue there's quantum-level details in starship building that's critical and since replicators only work on an atomic level they can't be replicated. Certain parts and materials, sure, but not the entire thing.
It could also be a "cost" thing, the amount of energy it'd take to replicate an entire starship exceeds the energy it takes to simply mine certain materials, smelt them into alloys and to have workers build it from scratch. Again, it's one thing to replicate certain parts and materials, it's another to replicate tons of a common metal you can just harvest from an asteroid or something at half the energy cost.
Along the same lines I doubt they can just "replicate' shuttles again coming back to a quantum-level complexity that would be lost in the replication process or a cost-benefit situation. It's not worth replicating an entire shuttle when you can just go to a starbase and pick one up at no energy cost. (Energy better spent for other things like food, propulsion, etc.)
Energy is very, very plentiful in the Federation but it's not infinite and still "costs" something to make. Either in dilithium or in antimatter (which must either be harvested/collected or produced in some manner.)
It's fanficcy crap like this that makes me dislike the novels.
They can probably replicate some components and manufacture others. Then it's just a big IKEA flatpack, (or an Airfix kit).
Voyager managed it just fine. They built their super shuttle in the space of a single episode, and unless they had like 50 plus shuttles crammed in every nook and cranny of the ship, they were rebuilding those things non-stop.
Of course, taken out of context like that most of Trek reads like TNG season 8. Those novels were great reads, especially Indistinguishable From Magic.
Yeah, let's not mention Voyager. They abandoned the "limited energy and resources" idea pretty damn fast.
That was a shuttle POD, the type-6 and 7s seen later had better capabilities. On a few occasions there is reference to shuttles being outfitted with phaser banks and reinforced shielding.
Hey, the TNG Season 8 where there's a duplicate Enterprise with a duplicate crew that's a nanite/Borg evolutionary breakthrough was a pretty solid A plot. The B plot was kind of dopey, though.
As I recall the episode where they first build the Delta Flyer, while some components were replicated, most of it was from off the shelf stores.
Voyager lost ten shuttles (and one Delta Flyer) in seven years, with another seven not destroyed but likely unrecoverable.
We did see them engage in trade, so it's possible that they contracted out component manufacture, and did the final assemble themselves. This would minimize information transfer and violation of the prime directive.
They never rescinded the rationing of the replicator through to the end of the series.
Well, the novels have used Scotty pretty randomly, and some of it was pretty dumb, but him bein' the fleet liaison between the Corps of Engineers and Starfleet Command admirals makes sense, all things considered.
The best way Scotty was put to use in the 24th century was in the S.C.E. series.
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