Containment field silliness

[Deckerd]

I was watching the episode with species 8472. When they realise it's on board Janeway orders a level 5 containment field. I just laughed. Why have 'levels' of containment? Whatever requires to be contained, requires to be contained, so one 'level' should be sufficient. Otherwise you would get things breaking through and then there would be panic and running around, which would be a good plot device.

No wait...

 

[kes7]

My assumption is power usage. Level 5 perhaps taking orders of magnitude less power than level 10? Just a thought. I'm no engineer.

 

[Deckerd]

I don't think the scriptwriters are engineers either.

 

[KimMH]

a level five containment field is Tuvok and a phaser and a few redshirts. a level ten is that plus all the furniture from the closest living quarters they can pile into the corridor and Nellix on the other side with a platter of his Leola Root compote.

 

[THE_FETT]

I was watching the episode with species 8472. When they realise it's on board Janeway orders a level 5 containment field. I just laughed. Why have 'levels' of containment? Whatever requires to be contained, requires to be contained, so one 'level' should be sufficient. Otherwise you would get things breaking through and then there would be panic and running around, which would be a good plot device.

No wait...

I was reading posts on a Star Trek message board. One of the posters was talking about how fictional devices should be operated. I just laughed.

 

[The Borg Queen]

Maybe a level 5 is five containment fields all in a row, therefore the actual forcefield would be 5x as thick as a level 1 containment field and half as thick as a level 10 containment field?

 

[Deks]

Maybe a level 5 is five containment fields all in a row, therefore the actual forcefield would be 5x as thick as a level 1 containment field and half as thick as a level 10 containment field?

I don't think this is the case.
Containment field levels are indicators to just how powerful each field is.
Plus there's a power ratio to be taken into consideration.

 

[kimc]

I recall levels of containment fields mentioned in other Trek shows as well. I see the point though - either something is contained or it isn't.

 

[M.Robison]

a level five containment field is Tuvok and a phaser and a few redshirts. a level ten is that plus all the furniture from the closest living quarters they can pile into the corridor and Nellix on the other side with a platter of his Leola Root compote.

^^^^

 

[Tiberius]

There are different kinds of containment fields. In the brig there is one that stops people going through. In the shuttlebays, there are fields that stop air going through, but let solid objects like shuttles go through. They can put a containment field around the warp core that stops it from heating up Engineering (like in The Adversary, DS9).

Given the general nature of what could happen in the corridors, I think the projectors could create different strengths of field. Maybe just one that will stop air but let people through (in case you have to send in crew members in space suits to repair a hull breach, a field to contain a person, or a field to contain a radiation leak.

So I don't see anything silly about the idea of different levels in containment fields.

 

[Deckerd]

I recall levels of containment fields mentioned in other Trek shows as well. I see the point though - either something is contained or it isn't.

You're right. I was watching the Emissary two-parter, which I've never seen before. Someone mentions a level 1 containment field so I laughed again. It's so random, you have to wonder how much of the gobbledegook was just thought up on the spot.

 

[Timo]

...either something is contained or it isn't.

But this makes no sense. Could you say "either something is armored or it isn't"? Or "either it's camouflaged or it isn't"?

Something is armored if it stops the current threat from penetrating. I'm armored against snowballs when stark naked, but not armored against anti-tank sabot rounds even when inside a steel-plated APC.

Something is camouflaged if it stops the current threat from seeing it. A green jacket with some twigs on it will stop an enemy soldier from seeing me in the forest, but not if he's donning an IR imager, or has a dog.

Similarly, something is contained if it fails to break through the containing walls. A sedated gerbil or a sparrow is easier to contain than an angry bear or a rampaging main battle tank.

It would sound idiotic to erect a yard-thick steel wall to stop the sedated gerbil, or to raise a cardboard wall to stop the tank, now wouldn't it? These containment field things are temporary, to be raised against the threat du jour. Obviously one is going to optimize them against that threat.

No, the original objection is IMHO completely bogus.

What isn't all that satisfactory here is that Janeway orders a "level 5" field. In other applications where levels are mentioned, smaller numbers indicate higher priority, greater severity or greater strength. A level 1 diagnosis is more extensive than level 5, a level 1 search is more thorough than level 5, and so forth. Why would Janeway order level 5 against the Hirogen? What sort of threats could there exist inside a starship that would warrant levels 4 through 1?

To be sure, even the most dangerous animal loose within the ship should be much less a threat to the containment than, say, a high pressure atmosphere relentlessly pressing against the forcefields. It does make sense, then, to have higher levels in reserve than the one used for containing the supposedly unarmed Hirogen individual.

But then, Seven of Nine erects a level 10 forcefield to secure Engineering against the Species 8472 fugitive...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Deckerd]

Sorry Timo this is one silliness too far. You're usually pretty good at presenting a logical reason for trek silliness but the idea that there's a big sliding scale of containment depending on the risk is just daft. You have one which stops everything and one which contains atmosphere and that's all you need. The idea that it would be a big drain on power doesn't wash, since nobody ever says "we don't have enough power for that level of containment".

 

[maneth]

Oh, I don't know Deckerd. Timo's reasoning is certainly the best I've run across so far. In any case, they often enough run out of power for shields, or else the emitters are damaged, and what are shields except containment fields containing the entire ship?

On a related note, why is it that they always seem to run level 3 diagnostics? I can't remember ever hearing about any other levels...

 

[Deckerd]

On a related note, why is it that they always seem to run level 3 diagnostics? I can't remember ever hearing about any other levels...

Good point. Another case of putting meaningless 'levels' in for the sake of it.

 

[Marten]

I'm fairly certain they mention level two sometime in TNG,

 

[The Borg Queen]

Maybe a level 1 diagnostic determines how long it's been since the console tops have had a good dusting.

Level 2 diagnostics check if the screens have been cracked, or if any of the isolinear chips have been broken.

Level 3 diagnostics check if the software is running properly, no bugs or glitches.

Maybe.

 

[Delta1]

As per TM (non-canon caveat, yada yada yada) level 4 diagnostics are completely automated, and the amount of human intervention increases up to level 1, in which some poor soul has to haul the thing out of the bulkhead, take it apart, and clean and test it by hand. And yes, in the real world we do have different "levels" of preventive maintenance and built-in tests, although I've never seen them numbered in this fashion.