Galaxy class armament
- Thread starter cwl
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^I think the only time the Enterprise-D used it's ventral phaser array (on the very bottom of the stardrive section) was in "Conundrum".
Probably. 
I'm pretty sure only Voyager and Defiant were shown to use most of their phaser banks and torpedo launchers in series. The both did barrel rolls and continued firing main phasers and ventral (Voyager) and dorsal (Defiant). Something not seen by any Enterprise until Nemesis, when Enterprise used her underbelly array. I don't think I remember seeing a Galaxy using her underbelly phaser array even during fleet battles in DS9. TOS did mention aft phasers and/or torpedoes at some point during the series, but starboard phasers were not seen until TWoK and aft phasers and torpedoes until ENT. Kirk tried to keep main phasers on the enemy and executed warp turns to do it (Elaan of Toyius or Journey to Babel, I can't remember which).
Now a question, as I understand it, as far as energy output is rated, you have full, maximum and emergency. Full is not 100%, maximum is 100% and emergency is 100+%. Is that correct? So multiple beams could be fired at full since none are at 100% capacity. Maximum you cut down how many beams or arrays can be used but they hit with a harder punch. Emergency would most likely be a single beam from a single array. I know the terms I used are associated with speed, but I believe in a battle with the Borg, LaForge was asked to increase phaser power and he mentioned a bit later they were as hot as they could get meaning, in my opinion, above 100%.
Now a question, as I understand it, as far as energy output is rated, you have full, maximum and emergency. Full is not 100%, maximum is 100% and emergency is 100+%. Is that correct? So multiple beams could be fired at full since none are at 100% capacity. Maximum you cut down how many beams or arrays can be used but they hit with a harder punch. Emergency would most likely be a single beam from a single array. I know the terms I used are associated with speed, but I believe in a battle with the Borg, LaForge was asked to increase phaser power and he mentioned a bit later they were as hot as they could get meaning, in my opinion, above 100%.
Saquist
Commodore
That doctor Crusher episode with the Borg too, Descent I think.
I don't think the Galaxy class is underpowered.
I would only add 2 more phaser strips (one to each top of the Warp nacelle) though to increase the coverage.
I do think though that full use of SF's technological capabilities in terms of combat was not fully utilized.
As for the Intrepid... it was constructed post Wolf359 battle (7 years after the Enterprise-D launched).
The smaller ship has equivalent weapons and defenses but in a smaller design.
Why?
There is no canon explanation for it, however, it is speculated that SF decided to build equally powerful smaller ships post Galaxy class (which was mentioned to be the testbed for a lot of new technologies anyway) in direct response to the Borg threat (and possible future wars) and because smaller ships might be constructed faster.
I would only argue that Voyager was under-armed in the torpedo count area... however, this was more or less evident because of the nature of the ship's initial mission (2 weeks in duration to retrieve a lone Maqui raider) so it was under-supplied.
I would only add 2 more phaser strips (one to each top of the Warp nacelle) though to increase the coverage.
I do think though that full use of SF's technological capabilities in terms of combat was not fully utilized.
As for the Intrepid... it was constructed post Wolf359 battle (7 years after the Enterprise-D launched).
The smaller ship has equivalent weapons and defenses but in a smaller design.
Why?
There is no canon explanation for it, however, it is speculated that SF decided to build equally powerful smaller ships post Galaxy class (which was mentioned to be the testbed for a lot of new technologies anyway) in direct response to the Borg threat (and possible future wars) and because smaller ships might be constructed faster.
I would only argue that Voyager was under-armed in the torpedo count area... however, this was more or less evident because of the nature of the ship's initial mission (2 weeks in duration to retrieve a lone Maqui raider) so it was under-supplied.
Or then Starfleet decided to build a fleet of fundamentally combat-incapable ships (the tiny Intrepids) so that its main battlewagons would not have to bog themselves down in noncombat duties... Thus, the Intrepid increased Starfleet frontline fighting strength despite being unsuited for forward combat operations (where we never ever saw the ship participate).
Were they? All we know is that we saw them after we saw the Borg attack. OTOH, we never saw Starfleet engage in major battles before the Borg attack; it's quite possible that its dedicated warships were somewhere else at that time, perhaps fighting the Cardassian war which we never saw.
All Akira class vessels have registries that are quite a bit lower than the lowest known Galaxy registries. For all we know, the Akira was the original design from which the Galaxy was refined during the 2350s.
Curiously, the Akira seems extremely lightly armed - only three phaser strips, and none capable of firing aft. But we already have reason to think that the number of phaser strips, or their length or width, is unrelated to the phaser firepower of a starship. All Akira really suffers from seems to be the lack of rear coverage, and perhaps we're just missing the aft phaser strips because we never get good aft views of the ship?
(I mean, the CGI model doesn't have more than three strips. But the CGI model is only canonical insofar as it's seen on screen, just like only those parts of the physical models that are seen are canonical, and those hidden parts where the motion control rig arms and lighting wires lay are not part of the Star Trek universe. Our stern shots of the Akira tend to be much more distant and fuzzier than our bow shots, leaving open the possibility of pylon phaser strips.)
Timo Saloniemi
Were they? All we know is that we saw them after we saw the Borg attack. OTOH, we never saw Starfleet engage in major battles before the Borg attack; it's quite possible that its dedicated warships were somewhere else at that time, perhaps fighting the Cardassian war which we never saw.
All Akira class vessels have registries that are quite a bit lower than the lowest known Galaxy registries. For all we know, the Akira was the original design from which the Galaxy was refined during the 2350s.
Curiously, the Akira seems extremely lightly armed - only three phaser strips, and none capable of firing aft. But we already have reason to think that the number of phaser strips, or their length or width, is unrelated to the phaser firepower of a starship. All Akira really suffers from seems to be the lack of rear coverage, and perhaps we're just missing the aft phaser strips because we never get good aft views of the ship?
(I mean, the CGI model doesn't have more than three strips. But the CGI model is only canonical insofar as it's seen on screen, just like only those parts of the physical models that are seen are canonical, and those hidden parts where the motion control rig arms and lighting wires lay are not part of the Star Trek universe. Our stern shots of the Akira tend to be much more distant and fuzzier than our bow shots, leaving open the possibility of pylon phaser strips.)
Timo Saloniemi
I thought it was established in DS9's, The Search, that the Defiant class was designed to fight the Borg?
Here's another place "canon" is troublesome. There's no way in hell the Federation designs the Akira without aft phaser coverage. Or the Norway with such a low polygon count. And what about the windows on the Promenade - first they were opaque white ovals and they cg'd views inside. Do the Cardassians use shitty glass the Bajorans eventually replaced?
And it really goes to the nth degree. What about different takes being used in the same scene where actors' makeup is different? Is Q forever playing tricks on us the viewers that he's aware are watching but no one else is?
And it really goes to the nth degree. What about different takes being used in the same scene where actors' makeup is different? Is Q forever playing tricks on us the viewers that he's aware are watching but no one else is?
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From the Akira class article at Memory Alpha.
And as for the registry numbers.
The Akira class are also supposeed to have 15 torpedo launchers, which kind of makes up for a possible lack of phasers.
Well, she was built to be ideal in that role. And then she failed.
We don't know if she was abandoned because she wasn't an ideal anti-Borg ship after all; or (like Sisko sort of suggest) because she was, and Starfleet had zero use for ships that could only fight the Borg when fighting the Borg was not on the agenda; or because she just plain couldn't be put together right (like her continuing engine shortcomings attest).
Might not be all that crucial...
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15257236/images/1308022178987.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ZF2Tvtdrn...AO8/_DY2oMqKrbQ/s1600/Richelieu+-+1940-67.jpg
Those were by far the heaviest and meanest combatants of those two WWII navies, respectively, with main guns that couldn't be aimed aft, or even aft'ish (lest their blast damage the superstructure). The Rodney didn't even have a cluster of secondary guns aft, like the Richelieu did.
Those ships justified the clustering of armament (which was done in order to cluster the expensive armoring, too) by the poor maneuverability of seagoing warships: it would always be possible to place the enemy dead ahead, or off to the bows for optimal broadsides. The Akira could well use the opposite justification, of being able to outfly the opposition and always keep it off her lower six. Which, curiously enough, is not particularly well covered by torpedoes, either.
Timo Saloniemi
She withdraws?
That's what destroyers did, back in the days when torpedoes were capital ship killers and reloading was impossible (except for the Japanese).
The alternative is that she angles her nose up a few degrees. The dorsal main phaser can then cover most of the aft angles easily enough.
Timo Saloniemi
That's what destroyers did, back in the days when torpedoes were capital ship killers and reloading was impossible (except for the Japanese).
The alternative is that she angles her nose up a few degrees. The dorsal main phaser can then cover most of the aft angles easily enough.
Timo Saloniemi
Since there is no up or down in space, would a pursuing ship simply need to stay on the same plane to stay safe?
Intrepids are hardly tiny Timo.
Smaller when compared to the Galaxy yes, but pack the same firepower and defenses.
The Intrepid class (namely from Voyager) proved itself on multiple occasions.
And just like any hero ship, it was often dumbed down for the sake of the drama.
Remember how the Galaxy class was overpowered by a couple of modified Birds of Prey and a crew of over 1000 taken prisoner by a handful of Ferengi?
It took 4 Kazon carriers and a load of troops to capture Voyager... and even then they probably would have never set foot on board had the crew's holographic ship tricks weren't destroyed by Tierna when he self-destructed (plus if Voyager had a full stock of torpedoes instead of only 36, firing 3 or 4 photons per carrier would have done the job nicely after first roasting them with phasers as usual).
Granted, Kazon were technologically inferior compared to SF, but even 4 Kazon carriers armed to the teeth would give 1 most advanced ship in SF a run for it's money (well, except maybe the Prometheus since that thing was quite the power house).
Also... in terms of not seeing the Intrepid in fleet action doesn't mean they were never used or that they were bad at it.
We have only seen the Belerophon on DS9 going to Romulus on a diplomatic mission as far as on-screen footage goes, which says next to nothing, though SF apparently thought it fine to carry a Romulan ambassador (which might imply formidable offensive and defensive systems).
Apart from 1 movie where it delivered the final blow, we have also never seen the Sovereign class in large fleet operations when it comes to the shows.
Chalk it all up to everyone in Trek wanting to keep certain things 'separate' in order to 'not confuse the fans'.
That would be quite a feat. If the Akira noses up just a few degrees, the pursuing ship needs to suddenly dive down several hundred kilometers in order to compensate! "Turning" is much easier than "translating", in terms of the forces and accelerations involved.
Well, the tiniest. Save for the Miranda, which might be considered "puny" rather than "tiny".
That claim would require the sort of proof we cannot have because the two ship types never meet the same sort of opponents. With perhaps three exceptions: we never see an Intrepid do quite the same sort of damage to a Borg cube as the E-D did, or drill quite the same sort of holes in bedrock, or perform the famed alone-against-fifteen-Galors trick (as you say, less than a dozen Kazon ships of similar or worse primitiveness are usually her match).
The Intrepid has about a dozen phaser strips like the Galaxy, yes. But of different, smaller size. And at least four torpedo tubes against the two of the Galaxy - but again markedly smaller, and firing fewer torps with less destructive witnessed effects. There's no onscreen reason to believe the weapons alone or in concert would be equal to those of the Galaxy.
What else could it mean, though? That all the Intrepid skippers were cowards?
Or simply superior speed to escape from battle - an ability the ship type is explicitly credited with. Couriers in the sailing ship era might have been warships, because a courier had to be fast, and a sailing ship could only be fast if it was large, in which case it could just as well be a warship to boot. But courier tasks in the steam and oil era were given to weakly armed and unarmored sprinters rather than to primary combatants, and the aircraft and vehicular worlds made an even clearer distinction between combatants and couriers.
Which might be because there aren't many of those ships around. If the same reason keeps the Intrepids out of the Dominion War, what does that tell us? Sovereigns are big and probably slow to build, but Intrepids are barely the size of a Sovereign nacelle. Why aren't they being churned out at a faster pace, so that they could appear at least as often as the Defiant class of similar size and apparent great complexity?
Sure. But that still leaves us wanting for an in-universe explanation.
Timo Saloniemi
