A Cloaking Device for Voyager?

[M-Red]

Would you have liked it if Voyager had a cloaking device? Would it have been a good idea for their travels through the DQ?


Considering the circumstances of the show, I think it could have been a good addition if they did it right. Of course, they could really mess it up too....


Would Voyager have been better with a cloaking device?

 

[Withers]

Given the amount of treknobable on the show, their seemingly endless well of technological ingenuity, and ability to build things out of nothing like no ship in the Alpha Quadrant ever did I'm surprised Voyager didn't have a cloaking device. The ship created slip stream technology, borrowed a Borg transwarp coil (I think more than once), invented temporal shielding, and built the most advanced shuttle we've ever seen on screen... so why the hell not have a cloaking device.

I mean by the final episode they'd given them transphasic torpedoes and the Batmobiles armor so it wouldn't have surprised me if somewhere along the way they decided, "Hey, why not?"

Would it have been a good addition though? It would have been just another gimmick to keep people watching.


-Withers-​

 

[tvih]

Well. I think the cloak might've made them too immune to any threats they wanted to avoid. If not, it was all the same to NOT have it. Also, keep in mind that the Federation IS capable of implementing cloaks into their ships, but they have made agreements not to. Even while the Voyager is far from the Federation, for the most part they try to act like a Federation ship. This would rule out using a cloaking device. Of course, some of the other things they implemented might not be according to regulations either, and they could've at least considered the option at some point during the show, but in all honesty I never really even thought about them trying to get a cloak. It's just not the Starfleet's way

 

[Admiral Shran]

It would have been a good idea. The whole point of Federation ships not having cloaking devices was because the UFP agreed with the Romulans not to use them. However, in the Delta Quadrant, there are no Romulans, so that reason doesn't work anymore.

However, I do believe the writers probably would have messed it up. But I still think it's a good idea on paper.

 

[M-Red]

Withers and tvih -- very good points, both. If they decided to do it, they'd better have a good justification because it goes against long-established Fed philosophy....and then there's a million ways to screw it up....

It would have been a good idea. The whole point of Federation ships not having cloaking devices was because the UFP agreed with the Romulans not to use them. However, in the Delta Quadrant, there are no Romulans, so that reason doesn't work anymore.

However, I do believe the writers probably would have messed it up. But I still think it's a good idea on paper.

that's pretty much my view as well. If the writers didn't butcher the whole concept, it could sensibly be worked into the plot from the outset in "Caretaker."


Something like -- Voyager is quietly given a cloaking device for reasons related to the Bajoran wormhole, the GQ, and the Dominion. Not so much for warfare like the Defiant, but for undetected/safer exploration of a new area of space. But then....DQ bound. Or, somehow develop/trade/acquire once in the DQ out of necessity...


Mainly it would have been a way to give Voyager a tactical advantage in a place where they often have to encounter large hostile fleets with no Fed help. Maybe, they could have avoided the kind of ship damage that has to get magically repaired between episodes. It could have made the successful trek back to the AQ more believable...especially given they have to go through Borg space.


that said, I agree it would have been easy for the writers to abuse it -- even more techno-babble, ignore the amount of energy it would take to run the cloak, have it constantly malfunction for plot convenience, etc.


still, it would have been something different and interesting to see unfold...

 

[Jetfire]

Yes.

It would have helped the alot.

 

[od0_ital]

Bad idea. First time they use it, it would have to be justified. Where did the energy come from? If they can run the cloak, why can't the crew eat from the replicators?

 

[Guy Gardener]

going from what I've seen in wwii movies about submarines... Most of the big ticket power consumption items would have to be turned off to enhance the overall invisibility of the ship including the shields. If the gas tank was running on fumes, if it came down to a choice between running the cloak, or running the shields, they'd be able to cover more distance in stealth mode than in heavy armour.

But it's wrong to brake their treaty with the Romulans.

Especially if starts a war or forces LOFTY diplomatic concessions down the road which could see every one on the ship completely court martialed, or do you think that John Locke is still an Admiral?

However.

There weren't any rules against using refractive shielding like they did in Counterpoint.

Question?

If Cloaking tech was so illegal...

Why was Kim an expert on it in Nightingale?

 

[od0_ital]

... Question?

If Cloaking tech was so illegal...

Why was Kim an expert on it in Nightingale?

Nothin' illegal about havin' knowledge, its in the application that ya are breakin' the law.

For example, I know how a gun works. I know how to load it, how to pull the trigger, and where to aim to make sure my target gets hit. Nothin' wrong with that, its perfectly legal to know this.

If I go out and apply that knowledge for no good reason, other than shits & giggles, I'm hosed.

Kim's knowledge of cloaks isn't illegal, and since it was applied to a non-Federation ship, he wasn't breakin' the law.

 

[RegFan]

I don't think it would have affected the show's quality.

 

[Guy Gardener]

... Question?

If Cloaking tech was so illegal...

Why was Kim an expert on it in Nightingale?

Nothin' illegal about havin' knowledge, its in the application that ya are breakin' the law.

For example, I know how a gun works. I know how to load it, how to pull the trigger, and where to aim to make sure my target gets hit. Nothin' wrong with that, its perfectly legal to know this.

If I go out and apply that knowledge for no good reason, other than shits & giggles, I'm hosed.

Kim's knowledge of cloaks isn't illegal, and since it was applied to a non-Federation ship, he wasn't breakin' the law.

that makes sense.

I'm just curious if he was taught all this at the academy?

Cloaking Theory?

I suppose that they have to know how a cloak works if they want to bust cloaks. Read a novel once where they described an adventurous arms race between the federation and the klingons with how the Klingons had to keep redesigning making their cloaking shields better and better because federations sensor sweeps were not always just one step behind them, that sometimes they left the barn and their cloak just didn't work against the most newest advance in Federation sensor technology.

Federation History?

They probably wheel out the Cloak Kirk stole from the Romulans in the Enterprise Incident for the Freshmen to marvel over claiming "THIS is how awesome we are." And then they spend the rest of the day making shit turn invisible.

 

[Deks]

Well, for one thing the Feds have had access to the technology ever since the alliance with the Klingons for one thing.
Also, who is to say that they never were capable of creating cloaking technology to begin with?
My personal opinion is that they are in fact capable, but because Roddenberry wanted the Feds not sneaking around the Galaxy, their mindset is tuned into that particular viewpoint.

And the cloaking device Kirk acquired from the Romulans probably came in handy for future research.

The Federation was able to create a functioning Phase Cloak about 12 years before the Romulans tried it.

Too many factors, although Voyager could have certainly used the tech in some situations like crossing a sensor grid or an enemy territory.
The downside is that all defenses have to be down for the cloak to work properly.
Voyager likely had it's shields most of the time on.

 

[USS Excelsior]

Then Refractive Shielding is the way to go.

 

[Guy Gardener]

They fiddled with their warp signature a few times to seem like other ships.

but it's purely a question of ideology.

It's just not who the Federation wants to be,

What was up in Insurrection? Cloaking suits, and holocamouflaged starships.

 

[Deks]

Cloaking suits in Insurrection?
I was under the impression the suits and the ship utilized a form of holographic tech for invisibility and not the actual cloaking tech.
Otherwise the holo-masking tech for observational posts across many planets with pre-warp civilizations would be a violation of the treaty with the Romulans.