Holodecks

[Rom's Sehlat]

When a holodeck program ends, does it always make the pretend people disappear first? Why?

And if holodecks have "safety protocols" which can be disabled, why not make a battlefield a holodeck area? Then just hologenerate holoweapons and holofrag your enemies to pieces!

 

[sojourner]

1. who knows?
2. the holoemitters would become target #1 to your enemies. Plus, they would have to be huge to cover an entire battlefield.

 

[BlobVanDam]

When a holodeck program ends, does it always make the pretend people disappear first? Why?

And if holodecks have "safety protocols" which can be disabled, why not make a battlefield a holodeck area? Then just hologenerate holoweapons and holofrag your enemies to pieces!

1. Because it looks cooler. In universe explanation - maybe it's just the order it needs to clear the holomatrices or some crap.

2. Good luck getting your enemies into a small holodeck for an ambush fight, instead of them just dogging your ship to pieces

 

[T'Girl]

does it always make the pretend people disappear first

I would think that the animated characters on a holodeck would require more processing power than say a tree or stretch of rug. The computer in shutting down a given holo adventure eliminates the more complex and power hungry aspects first.

It like when you properly shut down your own computer, it turns off programs in a sequence, not all at once.

 

[Timo]

It might also be that the most interactive features of a program are partially created out of solid replicated matter for better tactile illusion, and it takes some time and effort to unreplicate them, so the computer takes a head start with them, and sometimes overdoes the lead time.

Remember how the gangsters in "Big Goodbye" remained solid'ish surprisingly long after loitering beyond the optimum reach of the holo-emitters? Might be they were partially made of matter (for that more solid left hook and more authentic smell of cheap perfume), and their "death" was what the dispersion of unsupervised partially replicated structures looks like.

Another famous "blooper" is when Data's 221B Baker Street simulation is frozen by user command, yet the flame in the fireplace continues to burn. Perhaps not a holoimage after all, but real replicated combustible matter at work?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Paradon]

Maybe it's the most sophisticated program with interaction software? That's why it always disappear first.

 

[Owain Taggart]

And if holodecks have "safety protocols" which can be disabled, why not make a battlefield a holodeck area? Then just hologenerate holoweapons and holofrag your enemies to pieces!

That's actually a good premise. One of my favourite books by Ben Bova called The Dueling Machine uses it, as a means of letting off steam against people they have grudges with, only it's not supposed to hurt anyone, and it ends up killing someone. It's actually available for free on Project Gutenberg for anyone who has an ebook reader. Interesting fact is that it was published before Star Trek. Great read.


http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/30796

 

[KDoug]

1. I say it's no more than dramatic license. Just about the same reason why they upgraded the fading holo-effects by the time that Voyager debuted. (TNG's simply fading vs morphing & fading)

2. Too difficult to pull off properly. You would need to anticipate the boundaries of the battlefield in advance, get all of the equipment manufactured (and there would be a lot of it), move this tons of stuff into place while hopefully not being fired upon, set it up, avoid being fired upon, and finally turn it on. The most you could realistically hope for is to set up some holo-stuff in a relatively small area and try to lure your enemies into it.


Thanks for the heads-up on the book, Owain Taggart!

 

[The Wormhole]

And if holodecks have "safety protocols" which can be disabled, why not make a battlefield a holodeck area? Then just hologenerate holoweapons and holofrag your enemies to pieces!

Exactly this was done in First Contact.