Most overhyped Weapon...

[miraclefan]

I mean COME ON! how dangerous is a weapon that takes 15 minutes to load? it was ALL talk and no SHOW! And who the hell puts the weapon core RIGHT ABOVE the BRIDGE?! were they not worried about RADIATION? and why wasent it better shildded to protect it from sabotage or Picard with a RAMBO complex?

 

[Mr. B]

...another vote for the Photonic Cannon

 

[RealTime]

+1 for Varon-T Disruptor. A lot of hype with little payoff.

RT.

 

[Cyke101]

Transporter Chief Janice Rand. It was a malfunction, people!

 

[greenmystik]

+1 for the thelaron weapon in NEM

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

The Anti-Borg majigger in Best of Both Worlds. *Pew pew pew* *Fizzle*

Though at least THAT had a solid plot reason behind it.

 

[Leroy]

The Iso-Kinetic canon from Voyagers "Retrospect" such a powerful anti-ship gun that solves all their tactical problems and they forget about it.

 

[kent]

The explosions of 24th century torps are pretty small. But what if the alloys and things that make the hull have the ability to absoarb the impact and localize it? It would be logicall to assume that if there is a powerful weapon like a photorp, there would be adequate defenses behind it. Antimatter technology is a common technology.

 

[Nardpuncher]

I never liked the phaser rifle from TNG.

It seemed like a normal phaser was very powerful so I don't know what a long unwieldy rifle would be good for.

 

[FordSVT]

I never liked the phaser rifle from TNG.

It seemed like a normal phaser was very powerful so I don't know what a long unwieldy rifle would be good for.

Higher power settings, longer range, much higher battery life I'd say. Not much different reasons from why the armed forces aren't all walking around in Iraq with nothing but hand guns.

 

[Strider]

I never liked the phaser rifle from TNG.

It seemed like a normal phaser was very powerful so I don't know what a long unwieldy rifle would be good for.

Higher power settings, longer range, much higher battery life I'd say. Not much different reasons from why the armed forces aren't all walking around in Iraq with nothing but hand guns.

Well, yeah the reasons are entirely different (the longer the barrel the more stable the round in flight for instance) but you're right about the advantages of a phaser rifle. Another advantage: much easier to aim. Idk how you could hit something with the hand phasers unless it was two feet away or you were just sweeping the beam back and forth.

 

[Nardpuncher]

I never liked the phaser rifle from TNG.

It seemed like a normal phaser was very powerful so I don't know what a long unwieldy rifle would be good for.

Higher power settings, longer range, much higher battery life I'd say. Not much different reasons from why the armed forces aren't all walking around in Iraq with nothing but hand guns.

Naw, because these are beam weapons without the need for rifling in the barrel, so it's not quite the same.

 

[Myasishchev]

But of course, real life explanation as to why these torpedoes never made a 'big-bang' effect when fired on a much weaker target or a planetary surface is: bad writing which reduced the level of technology on a whim because the writers are incapable of merging a highly advanced tech with drama ...
and most notably ... the SFX department messed up (which they did on a regular basis with phasers coming out of torpedo tubes and airlocks instead of actual phaser arrays).

Since a photorp releases the majority of its energy as gamma ray photons, it's highly explicable why we don't see them go boom in space.

As for photon torpedo detonations in at atmosphere (or against an unshielded target), that's a different matter altogether. I was pissed during ENT's Kir'Shara off when a Vulcan orbital bombardment (with "photonic" weapons, maybe or maybe not antimatter) didn't do much more than disarray some Syrranites' buildings. But at least The Die Is Cast got it right.

 

[trilbymonkey]

or you were just sweeping the beam back and forth.

I always wondered why they shot in a straight line...

 

[Strider]

^^^Didn't wanna burn down half the ship trying to hit one Klingon I guess. They would've been better off with even some iron sights to aim down but ho boy that would be too military by god.

 

[FordSVT]

I never liked the phaser rifle from TNG.

It seemed like a normal phaser was very powerful so I don't know what a long unwieldy rifle would be good for.

Higher power settings, longer range, much higher battery life I'd say. Not much different reasons from why the armed forces aren't all walking around in Iraq with nothing but hand guns.

Naw, because these are beam weapons without the need for rifling in the barrel, so it's not quite the same.

Are you sure that, for instance, the focal length between the lenses of crystals or whatever they use to channel the beam might take advantage of a longer barrel in order to increase accuracy and/or range? Otherwise, you could just have what amounts to a larger stock and still have the same nubby end on your rifle.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

Any Klingon blade weaponry.

 

[Nardpuncher]

Higher power settings, longer range, much higher battery life I'd say. Not much different reasons from why the armed forces aren't all walking around in Iraq with nothing but hand guns.

Naw, because these are beam weapons without the need for rifling in the barrel, so it's not quite the same.

Are you sure that, for instance, the focal length between the lenses of crystals or whatever they use to channel the beam might take advantage of a longer barrel in order to increase accuracy and/or range? Otherwise, you could just have what amounts to a larger stock and still have the same nubby end on your rifle.

I don't know anything about the in-world explanation of how phaser rifles are better, but if I was a soldier of the future (or Starfleet officer whatever the case may be) I'd want a smaller weapon, not one as long as the phaser rifle. About the only thing it could possibly be good for is helping aim at more distant targets, but then maybe there would be some new improved way of aiming at targets with beam weapons in the 24th century.

 

[Aretaku]

I'll cast a vote for the Breen energy disrputing weapon.

Sure, it won the Dominion a battle or two, and delayed the Feds and Romulans for a while, but presumably the Dominion asked the Breen for assistance on the assumption that their technology would turn the tide, or at least delay the Alpha Quadrant powers long enough to allow them to retool, rearm, and launch a new counter-offensive. Instead, they once again underestimated the resourcefulness of their opponents, while simultaneously helping to alienate their Cardassian allies.

Not the best of strategic moves, if you ask me...and considering the losses incurred at Chintoka, the weapons performance afterwards was subpar at best.

 

[Cyke101]

I'll cast a vote for the Breen energy disrputing weapon.

Sure, it won the Dominion a battle or two, and delayed the Feds and Romulans for a while, but presumably the Dominion asked the Breen for assistance on the assumption that their technology would turn the tide, or at least delay the Alpha Quadrant powers long enough to allow them to retool, rearm, and launch a new counter-offensive. Instead, they once again underestimated the resourcefulness of their opponents, while simultaneously helping to alienate their Cardassian allies.

Not the best of strategic moves, if you ask me...and considering the losses incurred at Chintoka, the weapons performance afterwards was subpar at best.

To be fair, though, the Breen energy weapon ensured that Starfleet and the Romulans would be out of commission for a good chunk of the war effort. A few episodes noted how the Klingon fleet was all that was left to defend the Alpha Quadrant, and they were hugely outnumbered. The AQ powers ultimately won, but it left the Klingons severely depleted of military might. If anything, the prolonged fighting the Klingons had to do thanks to the Breen weapon knocked them behind the Federation and the Romulans as a viable post-war military power.