Do you prefer Phaser beams or bolts?

[Qonundrum]

I've got nothing against Starfleet weapons firing bolts on occasion, especially if they're the weapons on the Defiant, but I prefer the default being beams. I also prefer the guns to not make squeaky high-pitched noises when they're fired.

That's because they had to turn the faucet on then off. (Sound technically can't travel in space, but for an audible cue they're inescapable... I recall 2001 having a scene with no music (?) and it worked but that's not going to fly in anything requiring more action than tension... and even with tension/suspense movies, the days of no audible cue for building suspense and payoff are largely gone...)

 

[Farscape One]

I voted beams for one simple reason.

Leave the bolts for STAR WARS. We were around long before the Force.

(And I'm speaking as one who enjoys STAR WARS greatly.)

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Yeah the Kelvin phasers did recoil, it makes no sense for an energy weapon to recoil really - no physical projectile.

As an aside, not having a "physical projectile" isn't the issue. The issue is whether momentum is carried. Photons carry momentum as a function of wavelength (momentum and wavelength are inversely proportional). Planck's constant is small, though.

Here's a thread on another board about it:

https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/does-a-laser-have-a-recoil.379922/.

 

[fireproof78]

Bolts.

Beams on starships are OK, but hand weapons just look dumb.

 

[FredH]

I think they made them like that as thats how lasers look which is the nearest thing.

Except that lasers don’t look like anything unless you sprinkle dust in the way to scatter the beam so some light hits your eye—and even that’s only if it’s a visible light laser instead of infrared, x-ray, etc.

 

[ED-209]

Except that lasers don’t look like anything unless you sprinkle dust in the way to scatter the beam so some light hits your eye—and even that’s only if it’s a visible light laser instead of infrared, x-ray, etc.

Well, yes I meant lasers you can see. The kind you see on demos.

 

[Oddish]

DEFIANT, OTHER WARSHIPS: Bolts.
EVERYONE ELSE: Beams.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

For StarShips:
- Use Beams primarily for Anti-Ship combat
- Use Streaks for Anti-Fighter combat
- Use Bolts for CIWS to intercept projectiles like Photon Torpedoes / Missiles

For vessels that are Shuttles & Fighter size/class:
- Use Streaks primarily or Short Beam pulses.

For People wielding Small Arms:
- Use Bolts primarily. Standing still to make sure your Beams hit is asking to get shot by somebody on the other end of the 2-way firing range. The old adage of Shoot & Scoot is critical for Person to Person combat.

Each Beam Pattern has it's uses, there is no one size fits all.

 

[The Wormhole]

Beams. Because Tradition. Bolts are the by-product of hedonistic Abrams filth.

 

[GNDN18]

Hands down, this is the best:

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At 40 seconds.

 

[fireproof78]

Hands down, this is the best:

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At 40 seconds.

The stunned drop by Crater still makes me chuckle.

 

[Qonundrum]

Hands down, this is the best:

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At 40 seconds.

Early season 1 for sure. The beam quickly became a lot more simplified... unless that was from TOS-R? (Though I recall even the original TOS having a pretty good effect for the time...)

The stunned drop by Crater still makes me chuckle.

A bit fast on cranking the camera to simulate a hard knock-out, that's for sure. The next worst case of "crankiness" would be 1969's "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" where hand-to-hand fights were sped up royally to help ensure actors didn't get hurt while fight-acting... (Lazenby was practiced in the arts and the fight scenes are still impressive, even when they do the speed-up trick.)

 

[Nerys Myk]

 

[Qonundrum]

It'll make viewers dizzy.

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[Sci]

For personal phasers, I prefer bolts. They're more dramatic looking, and they solve the problem of why anyone could possibly miss a target if they can just fire a continuous steady beam until they hit the target. They're also cheaper for the production, since the VFX crew don't have to animate a continuous beam.

For space battles, I'm happy either way but broadly prefer the mix of continuous beams and bolts that we got in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Dominion War battles.

Though really this is a very minor detail that doesn't affect my overall assessment of the quality of a production.

 

[NCC-73515]

Mighty beams on SF ships, bolts on Klingon ships, a combination on Romulan ones and the Defiant.
Beams on type 1 and 2 hand phasers, bolts on type 3.

TMP/GEN has the best torpedoes, followed by TWOK/TSFS (and really the whole pre-Kelvin movie era otherwise). The torpedoes from BEY are pretty awesome as well. I hate the red balls of nothing from TUC.

The worst torpedoes are the NEM pho-torps! Boring yellow blobs that go splosh splish splurch

 

[1001001]

Whips.

Obviously.

 

[NCC-73515]

We need ships with whips - shwips!

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Whips.

Obviously.

Those are Ferengi Exclusive weapons, but it does prove that you can create traditional melee weapons that throw energy projectiles which opens up ALOT of avenues for Tokusatsu like effects with traditional melee weapons.

 

[Farscape One]

As much as I hate that "ACQUISITION" was ever made, it did at least bring back the Ferengi energy whip.

It's actually one of the most unique weapons I've seen in scifi. I like the concept.