Deep Space 9 Defenses

[PhaserLightShow]

Why did Deep Space 9 do so terribly in combat during "The Emissary".
It had to have some defenses.
It had "6 Photon Torpedoes" and "Partial Shields" and Phaser banks.
Why didn't they fire the Phasers? Why did the have to use some sort of Pulse that isn't even a Phaser beam? Why did they have to run a pulse trough the banks?
What happened to Terek Nor's (Deep Space 9) shields?
Why doesn't it get full shielding. Not shields that only cover part of the ship and fall to "27" and "18 percent" in minutes or seconds.

 

[PhaserLightShow]

Sorry, it should have a question mark in my second-to-last sentence and should say "station", not "ship" in my last,

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Because the Cardassians left it a wreck, depleted it of many important items, and made it so that many system worked imperfectly.

O'Brien: We've got all available personnel assigned to repairing primary systems, sir. The Cardassians took every component of value. We're virtually defenceless.

 

[PhaserLightShow]

Yes, the Cardassians left it a wreck. But then how were they able to fire those Photons? The Phaser blasts? Even establish partial shielding? The Cardassians didn't take everything. How were those on the station able to do what they did for the defenses? The Cardassians, again didn't take shield generators, six Photons, or Phaser banks?

 

[HMS Ark Royal]

With the Enterprise there for some time, maybe they were able to rig something up quickly with better defences to come later

 

[MacLeod]

As others have said the Cardassian trashed it before they left, so they left a few torpedeos behind. The Shield generators might have been considered a primary system and they had done some repair work on them. But lets examine the situation, the Cardassian had stripped Bajor of most of it's resources before deciding dealing with the Bajoran insurgence was more trouble than it was worth.

So basically we have a "back-water" planet, that has little to nothing of value. So why would Starfleet see the need to rush repairs on the torpedeo banks etc.. It's not like they expect it to see combat aytime soon.

 

[STEPhon IT]

Why would a mining station require defenses?

 

[PhaserLightShow]

Because it could be attacked.
But that is beside the point, Captain (@STEPhon IT). We are not arguing why it has/needs defenses, we are arguing why it doesn't.

 

[STEPhon IT]

It doesn't require one because it was a mining station. Bringing defenses took time, Star fleet just arrived on the Station, it's not as if they could change the dynamics of the station and just make them appear right?

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Oh... Oh... Oh...

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Because it could be attacked.
But that is beside the point, Captain (@STEPhon IT). We are not arguing why it has/needs defenses, we are arguing why it doesn't.

Because that's what the plot called for. Any number of explanations should suffice: they couldn't shoot without drawing power from life support, they had enough sabots to put six Federation torpedoes through the Cardassian launchers, the Okudu compensators were on the fritz, etc.

 

[PhaserLightShow]

It doesn't require one because it was a mining station. Bringing defenses took time, Star fleet just arrived on the Station, it's not as if they could change the dynamics of the station and just make them appear right?

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Oh... Oh... Oh...

Sorry it took me so long. I was watching it (even though I have "The Way of the Warrior"). It took time to bring in Starfleet defenses but it had some defenses by "Emissary". Just watch it. And in "Shattered Mirror" when Deep Space 9 was attacked by the Alliance (Klingons) it had shields and Phasers. Yes, they were at war, but even then Deep Space 9 (or Terek Nor, in that timeline) had weapons and defenses.

 

[PhaserLightShow]

Because that's what the plot called for. Any number of explanations should suffice: they couldn't shoot without drawing power from life support, they had enough sabots to put six Federation torpedoes through the Cardassian launchers, the Okudu compensators were on the fritz, etc.

I am looking for an in-universe answer, not a production "plot needed it" reason.

 

[STEPhon IT]

Sorry it took me so long. I was watching it (even though I have "The Way of the Warrior"). It took time to bring in Starfleet defenses but it had some defenses by "Emissary". Just watch it. And in "Shattered Mirror" when Deep Space 9 was attacked by the Alliance (Klingons) it had shields and Phasers. Yes, they were at war, but even then Deep Space 9 (or Terek Nor, in that timeline) had weapons and defenses.

I'm not sure station defenses were mentioned during the flashback episodes.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

I am looking for an in-universe answer, not a production "plot needed it" reason.

Why? Withdrawing powers will compromise defenses and scuttle ships so they can't be used by the enemy. This seems like a perfect reflection of what happened: the Cardassians did what they could so that the station could not be used effectively by the Bajorans. Any technical explanation would have come at the cost of the drama of the episode.

 

[PhaserLightShow]

Why? Withdrawing powers will compromise defenses and scuttle ships so they can't be used by the enemy. This seems like a perfect reflection of what happened: the Cardassians did what they could so that the station could not be used effectively by the Bajorans. Any technical explanation would have come at the cost of the drama of the episode.

Yes, but Major Kira (and other characters in DS9) don't care about the drama. They care about the technical reasons. To them Star Trek isn't fiction. It's their life (or death). We shouldn't care either. Well, maybe we should. But I think it would do us better to understand more of what goes on in Star Trek than out.

 

[RAMA]

A large stationary target will never be a match for a heavily armed, mobile force..especially in 3D space.

 

[PhaserLightShow]

I'm not sure station defenses were mentioned during the flashback episodes.

Watch the episode. Or the battle.
Here is the battle in "Emissary":

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[PhaserLightShow]

And that in "Shattered Mirror"
Here:

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[JirinPanthosa]

In the pilot they barely had the station's basic functions working properly. Before the wormhole building up defenses was low priority because the one group capable of attacking had just left voluntarily.

 

[STEPhon IT]

The station as a design is vulnerable to any sort of battle by it's skeletal structure. Several Jem Hedar ships performing kamikaze drills at the station's fusion reactor and that should destroy it or at least cripple it to surrender.