Batmobile Armor in Destiny

[Karnbeln]

In Destiny's Borg conflict, why didn't the Federation deploy the Borg-tested armor generators from Endgame as well as the transphasic torpedo? The rationale for the low deployment of the torpedo made sense in that they did not want to Borg to adapt to it, but that doesn't seem like an issue with armor.

Was there some technical reason that Starfleet would choose to avoid it, or did the writers just decide to ignore it because the concept seems kind of silly?

 

[DonIago]

Haven't read the books yet, but is it possible SF couldn't find a way to adapt the design to other ships?

 

[captcalhoun]

it's impractical. starships radiate a SHIT load of heat. covering the entire ship in armour would cover the heat vents, and thus possibly cause overheating. there's also the impulse exhaust ports...

 

[Thrawn]

It's closer to "the writers decided to ignore it because it seems kind of silly", I think, but with a bit more in-universe justification than that; Christopher had a long post in here somewhere about why he decided not to use it. I wish I could remember where.

 

[Karnbeln]

it's impractical. starships radiate a SHIT load of heat. covering the entire ship in armour would cover the heat vents, and thus possibly cause overheating. there's also the impulse exhaust ports...

Hm. I suppose Star Wars has taught us what happens when you leave those things uncovered...

 

[nx1701g]

Actually I recall from one of the Destiny novels that the Borg had already adapted to the batmobile armor and that it wouldn't be effective against the Borg - so it was ignored.

This is confirmed in Voyager because the Queen admitted to Janeway that they'd assimilated the armor.

 

[Christopher]

The "Batmobile armor" was adapted to by the Borg during "Endgame" itself, rendering it useless as a defense against the Borg in any future encounters. My discussion that Thrawn is referring to was about why it isn't used against other adversaries besides the Borg. As captcalhoun said, it would dangerously diminish a ship's heat-radiation capabilities, as well as blocking its maneuvering thrusters and impulse exhaust; also it would take a lot of power to replicate and replenish the material making it up.

Not to mention that heavy, dense armor is actually a very unsafe thing to use in space combat, since any impact of high enough energy would induce all sorts of secondary radiation cascades within it, significantly amplifying the radiation the crew received.

All in all, the "Batmobile armor" is a very bad idea as a defense system. The only possible reason it was of any use against the Borg is that they'd never encountered it before -- and that was probably because it's such a bad design that nobody with any sense would use it.

 

[Karnbeln]

I guess the Queen's assimilation line must have escaped me, since I haven't seen the episode since it first ran. I do remember Voyager doing nothing as all the cubes scanned every inch of it, though, so I guess that must have been when it happened.

My original assumption when reading was that regular shields were unable to be deployed while the armor was for some reason or another, which for some reason was a worse outcome than not using the armor.

 

[Praetor]

duh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh armor! armor!

Seriously, the Queen assimilated Admiral Janeway's shuttle, so they'd know how to defeat all of that tech, regardless of how you feel about it as a plot device.

 

[Christopher]

I guess the Queen's assimilation line must have escaped me, since I haven't seen the episode since it first ran. I do remember Voyager doing nothing as all the cubes scanned every inch of it, though, so I guess that must have been when it happened.

No, it was when the Queen tracked down Admiral Janeway's shuttle and assimilated it and her. The shuttle had the armor tech, so that was presumably how they got it.

 

[Praetor]

That's what I just said.

 

[nx1701g]

What I don't understand is how the Transphasic Torpedoes remained effective. You would assume assimiliating the shuttle would give the information that they needed. Unless the Admiral erased the databanks.

I think I may have answered my own question.

 

[Christopher]

^^Yes... the shuttle was actually physically equipped with the armor, but presumably not with the torps.

 

[Paris]

If Starfleet was able to use the torpedoes as much as they wanted and if they could use the armor as well, then there wouldn't have been a story. SF would have just destroyed all the cubes. No massive destruction and no change to the status quo. That would have been that. Both the torpedoes and the armor being used without worry would make for a boring book series where nothing was for keeps

 

[EmperorKalan]

^^Yes... the shuttle was actually physically equipped with the armor, but presumably not with the torps.

And since Admiral Janeway knew she was making a one-way trip, presumably the shuttle's data banks were purged of anything they didn't want the Borg to assimilate (other than what was needed to maintain the deception).

 

[LutherSloan]

I find it hard to believe that whoever designed the armor in the future would not have accounted for a heating problem.

Now that the Borg are gone, the tech might be useful against other hostile races, such as the Typhon Pact.

 

[Praetor]

Do we know exactly how the armor is supposed to work anyway?

I always thought it might be replicated, regenerative ablative armor, so that as long as they had enough raw replicator material and power they could be replenished indefinitely. Also, that way all Admiral Janeway had to provide were the plans for the little on-hull replicators - the system itself was already present in the ship's replicator systems.

So quite literally, it might be made of reclaimed excrement.

 

[LutherSloan]

Do we know exactly how the armor is supposed to work anyway?

I always thought it might be replicated, regenerative ablative armor, so that as long as they had enough raw replicator material and power they could be replenished indefinitely. Also, that way all Admiral Janeway had to provide were the plans for the little on-hull replicators - the system itself was already present in the ship's replicator systems.

So quite literally, it might be made of reclaimed excrement.

Yeah, the writers never thought that far into it, I'm sure.

I'm sure it was like: 'Hey, how about we turn Voyager into the Batmobile, since we're out of here anyway! That'd be SWEET!'

 

[Praetor]

True enough, I just wondered if it had been explained elsewhere.

 

[Christopher]

I find it hard to believe that whoever designed the armor in the future would not have accounted for a heating problem.

That's like saying "I find it hard to believe that whoever invented the blindfold would not have accounted for the visibility problem." We're talking about fundamental laws of physics here. A ship generates heat and needs to radiate that heat into space. If the armor completely encases the ship, it covers the heat radiator surfaces and therefore traps that heat.

Not to mention the multiple other problems that make the armor unfeasible, like the energy drain, the loss of maneuverability, and the secondary radiation cascades that would actually amplify the danger to the crew rather than protecting them. Also, a thick, rigid shell would absorb all the kinetic and thermal energy of an impact and transmit it to the ship inside, maximizing rather than minimizing the damage. It's the worst possible kind of armor to use against weapons at the energy levels you're dealing with in a sci-fi space battle.

Bottom line, the Batmobile armor was a stupid idea that made no physical or practical sense and was only done for the sake of a (supposedly) cool special effect. It has no practical value.