Can the Navigational Deflector be used as a weapon?

[Vanyel]

Aside from what we saw in Best of Both Worlds and one other episode, I mean.

For example could a ship moving at full impulse or warp 1 with its deflector on full power could it plow through a bunch of smaller ships? Like Federation fighter sized ships? Without causing much damage to the deflector, so they can still go to warp if need be?

 

[MacLeod]

It can do what ever the plot needs it to do.

 

[Mage]

It can do what ever the plot needs it to do.

End of debate.


I know that sounds harsh, but when you think about it, the writers came up with some pretty odd ways of using the deflector (something designed to push interstellar dust and such out of the way) to help the story along or end some sort of disaster.

 

[Jonas Grumby]

Judging by TOS (specifically, the episode "The Paradise Syndrome") the deflector can apparently focus a significant amount of repulsive power into a fairly narrow beam, although Scotty doesn't seem too happy about doing it and it does result in damage to the dilithium crystals (IIRC). They might have better luck using it against something smaller (like an enemy ship) but I suspect the actual weapons on the ship would be much more effective.

Judging by TNG and later, the deflector can apparently do just about anything you need it to.

 

[Deks]

It can do what ever the plot needs it to do.

End of debate.


I know that sounds harsh, but when you think about it, the writers came up with some pretty odd ways of using the deflector (something designed to push interstellar dust and such out of the way) to help the story along or end some sort of disaster.

Well, to its credit, the deflector IS a rather large focusing antenna array.
Given the technological abilities of Federation ships, one would surmise that channeling directed energy through the thing would be a piece of cake.
They've used other equipment in a rather 'unconventional' capacity.
My guess would be that SF designs their ships with ultimate versatility in mind - and while other systems could be used on separate occasions in a different capacity, its not exactly recommended to do it ALL the time (unless modified to support the function long term).

 

[Robert Comsol]

"Judging by TNG and later, the deflector can apparently do just about anything you need it to. "

...and works just as well as these infamous Heisenberg compensators.

 

[Mr Silver]

Judging by TNG and later, the deflector can apparently do just about anything you need it to.

Some of it could be down to the idea that the deflector, next to the warp drive, is possibly the biggest power source on a starship.

If we take that idea and combine the idea that the deflector can be more finely controlled than the warp systems, then it's versatility, in many instances, makes a lot more sense.

 

[SicOne]

There was some dialogue in TNG's "The Best Of Both Worlds" about the main deflector dish being the best designed place on the ship to channel that much power at controlled frequencies. Since phasers are generally recognized to be able to deliver damage ranging from stunning a population on a planet's surface (in TOS) to wholesale disintegration, that dialogue would suggest that the main deflector systems are more powerful than phasers. In the episode above, they had to evacuate the lower few decks of the saucer and the forward half of the stardrive section in order to "fire" the deflector dish against the Borg cube. And IIRC, they burned it out (at least for the purpose of using it as a weapon) when they fired it.

Could you use the nav deflector as a weapon? Yes. But it seems to be more of a one-off.

 

[Vanyel]

I wonder if that super cannon the future Enterprise had in All Good Things... was an extension of channeling that deflector power into a more tightly focused beam?

 

[SicOne]

I think the AGT megaphaser was just that, a megaphaser, and had nothing to do with the deflector power. Way cool for that particular scene, but nothing to do with deflectors.

 

[Timo]

...Or then deflectors, phasers and tractor beams are one and the same thing - just tuned a bit differently for different effects.

Say, a phaser is poor at pushing and pulling, but can punch rather sharply. A deflector operates much the same way, but is a wrestler rather than a boxer. And a tractor beam does Judo rather than Greco-Roman wrestling.

As for the use of deflectors as a dedicated weapon, perhaps the appearance of multiple deflectors on one-piece ships indicates the very thing? I refer to the Intrepid class and its various kitbash variants - one of which actually has two big main deflectors side by side. Remember how our heroes failed to hurt the Borg with a single deflector because they couldn't surprise the Borg with rapid enough "spectral sweeping" of its destructive effect? Why, just install two deflectors and tune one while the other is punching! It would be a like a series of sucker punches instead of one slow swing the opponent sees coming...

With fighting power like that, I think the ship in question can be allowed to be a tad ugly.

http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/articles/ds9tm/uss_elkins_side.jpg

Timo Saloniemi

 

[SicOne]

In the opening sequence of DS9's "Emissary", an Ambassador-class and a Nebula-class pivot sharply and open fire upon the Borg Cube at the Battle of Wolf 359. The screen cuts to a view of Picard as Locutus, then to the viewscreen aboard the cube as the Amb and Neb open fire. It's been ages since I've seen that episode, but I could have sworn that the one-two punch they delivered came from their main deflector dishes.

 

[Unicron]

Nope, they both fire standard phasers. Most of the shots seem to come from the saucer arrays, though they seem a little out of place from the Borg perspective of Locutus watching the battle. That could simply be because of how the Borg viewscreen works.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ah7IDalT-YY[/yt]

 

[SicOne]

Thanks for the video, Unicron, it was good to see that part of the episode again.

 

[Timo]

Most of the shots seem to come from the saucer arrays, though they seem a little out of place from the Borg perspective of Locutus watching the battle.

One phaser beam from the Ambassador class ship would seem to be coming from the secondary hull - which is consistent with how most Starfleet ships are designed, and how the Ambassador was originally drawn, even though nobody ever got around to actually installing the ventral phaser strip in that model.

A purist might argue that the source must be the deflector, as there are no other "features of note" in that part of the actual model. But I doubt that was the artistic intention here.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[SicOne]

Also, the shots fired from the Amb and Neb are short, brief phaser-like bursts, rather than the lengthy energy emission from the Enterprise in the BOBW episode...dug it out and watched it for kicks and grins.