Holographic Response System

[All Seeing Eye]

Why didnt starships in later trek utilise a 'Holographic Response System'?

Whats a 'Holographic Response System' you ask, i'll explain it. Imagine the Jem'Hadar or Borg have just beamed onto your ship, the alarm sounds for intruder alert, now instead of sending a security detail to fight them thus risking lives why not have a 'Holographic Response System' in place where the computer locates where the intruders are and projects holographic soldiers at that location. All you require is holo emitters along all the corridors, the Borg/Jem'hadar cant possibly win against a warrior trained with every possible martial arts move and who's only made of photons and forcefields. Incase of a power drain the hologrid could be powered by an independent and seperate system.
I'd like to see something like this in later Trek.

 

[Starlock]

Interesting idea. On a now defunct website for the USS Explorer II club out of Ohio, their Tech Manual introduced the idea of "Security Holograms". These were holographic shapes like pillars and rectangles sent out to intercept intruders in the same way.

Although, in First Contact, the two Borg who were tracking Picard and Lily to the holodeck were able to "scramble" the hologram. The Jem'hadar might be fooled for a few minutes until they started to target the emitters instead of the soldiers.

 

[All Seeing Eye]

Although, in First Contact, the two Borg who were tracking Picard and Lily to the holodeck were able to "scramble" the hologram.

Just looked like a laser type beam capable of seeing if its a hologram by interfereing with the photons, might not actually effect it in any other way, the drone was still able to hold the hologram physically.

The Jem'hadar might be fooled for a few minutes until they started to target the emitters instead of the soldiers.

All well and good but if there are thousands of emitters and the Holo-Soldiers are chopping them up they wont have much time to do it.

 

[Starlock]

The Jem'hadar might be fooled for a few minutes until they started to target the emitters instead of the soldiers.

All well and good but if there are thousands of emitters and the Holo-Soldiers are chopping them up they wont have much time to do it.

Not if the Jem'Hadar are equipped with Silly-String...

 

[Plecostomus]

Well that takes some of the fun out of RPG boarding actions. I suppose it could work.

Against the Jem'Hadar. Not the Borg. The Borg will adapt. You will be assimilated. You can slow them down but never stop them utterly.

(IMHO The Borg work better as an unstoppable force of nature and not something you can kick around and gimmick like you can with the other threat-races.)

 

[Deks]

Well that takes some of the fun out of RPG boarding actions. I suppose it could work.

Against the Jem'Hadar. Not the Borg. The Borg will adapt. You will be assimilated. You can slow them down but never stop them utterly.

(IMHO The Borg work better as an unstoppable force of nature and not something you can kick around and gimmick like you can with the other threat-races.)

The Borg might be able to adapt, but it's a bit questionable since the attacks would be without fail-safes and as such effective as the real thing.
Program the computer to alternate tactics/weapons in use for the holograms and that's about it ... the Borg would first have to ascertain they are fighting holograms and we know SF can modify their holograms to emit real signatures.
It would be a delay, but a possible crucial one that might mean a difference between life and death for the crew.

The Jem'Hadaar on the other hand would first have to know WHERE the holo-emitters are to begin with, and if I'm not mistaken, they can be easily placed behind a bulkhead without being exposed to enemy weapons.

 

[Delta1]

I think it would be easier just to put force fields and guns in the corridors. The Borg, JH, etc. are just as dead if they're shot by an autonomous turret as when they're shot by an autonomous replicated phaser being manipulated by a complex system of forcefields colocated with the visual simulacrum of a man in pajamas. No need to ascribe a humanoid representation to a function that doesn't require sapient interaction.

 

[nil_jones]

IIRC, Gul Dukat's Counter-Insurgency program on Terek Nor included a disruptor turret replicated on an Ops replicator (which, come to think of it, may well have happened on other parts of the station). Kind of a Cardassian interpretation of the same idea.

One would imagine Starfleet would have considered something similar for their own Intruder Security protocols.

 

[Tigger]

Why didnt starships in later trek utilise a 'Holographic Response System'?

The real reason is, of course, it would neutralize the threat and make for a dull episode or movie. "First Contact" would have been a very different movie if the ship was perfectly fine with no Borg aboard because the HRS had dispatched them all. Not to mention Roga Danar's great escape in "The Hunted" would have been cut short.

"In universe", boarding ops between starships was not all that common. They mostly just went for the straight kill rather then capture. So the need to develop fancy intruder detection and defense systems was likely seen as unnecessary and perhaps even counter-productive (something that if it "went wrong" could cause great damage).

 

[drasche]

How about hacking the HRS? When you watch the existing series, you know how easy it is to break into the transporters. What about shutting the HRS down, or worse, turning it against the crew?

And you also know how fragile a holodeck can be.

 

[kv1at3485]

I like to think if they get a bit more creative and smarter, then presumably they'll stop letting all users, local and remote, have admin privileges by default, and/or start using an OS which makes a distinction between user- and kernel-modes.

 

[Philo]

One would imagine Starfleet would have considered something similar for their own Intruder Security protocols.

They probably considered it but decided it was far more fun to send Guy Vardaman clones flying over railings.