So those evasive maneuvers/patterns/actions...

[jewelweed]

Can someone answer me this? Why is it they NEVER work? It seems like every time the ship is attacked, and the captain barks this order to the navigators, the ship is immediately hit anyway.

Did the writers just need to put in something for the captains to yell under fire?

 

[Robert DeSoto]

Did the writers just need to put in something for the captains to yell under fire?

yep pretty much.

Although in the writer's defense, at least if the ship is moving, it would make it harder for the enemy to hit critical systems like the weapons array. Also the evasive patterns usually come with a return fire procedure

 

[sojourner]

Yea, who is to say it didn't work? Maybe if the ship hadn't done evasive maneuvers it would have been destroyed.

 

[CaptainStoner]

^ what they said. Most of the ST ships are huge targets so they are likely to catch some fire whichever way they move.
I seem to remember evasive maneuvers working to some extent in the films though.

 

[Boxyno1]

In TWOK when they're in the nebula, the Reliant turns around when that flashing light is blinding the Enterprise, and as soon as they spot the Reliant Kirk orders a sharp turn as an evasive maneuver. It is my opinion that this was to turn delicate areas of the shieldless ship (such as the bridge, deflector dish etc) away from the Reliant, and consequently the Enterprise was hit on the side of the torpedo tube, a less delicate area, although major damage was still done.

 

[SilentP]

Again, chipping in for the crowd saying that the evasive maneuvres probably help to reduce the damage a ship suffers.

Things to consider:
-Like previously mentioned, certain patterns probably help to shield more vulnerable/important areas of the ship (i.e. the bridge).
-A moving target means that damage is spread across the shields/hull, rather than a small area being repeatedly hit and thus going down quicker.
-Also a moving target could result in the weapons being less effective, for example a torpedo may just 'clip' a target when it detonates as opposed to a fully concentrated detonation.
-Some patterns may also affect a ship's location, placing it in such a way for a better counter attack or reducing the ease of which an enemy ship can bring it's weapons to bear (weapon firing arcs and the like).

 

[Timo]

It is my opinion that this was to turn delicate areas of the shieldless ship (such as the bridge, deflector dish etc) away from the Reliant, and consequently the Enterprise was hit on the side of the torpedo tube, a less delicate area, although major damage was still done.

Interestingly, the aircraft-like swerve meant that the Enterprise significantly increased her visible cross-section and made herself easier to hit...

Not that there'd be any aspect of the ship that would have been designed with minimal cross-section in mind. But it would be nice to see an evasive maneuver where the evader keeps her bow pointed at the enemy. That would be the smallest-profile aspect of a Constitution or a Defiant alike, plus it would keep the torpedo tubes of those ships pointing directly at the enemy.

OTOH, the Constitution is intriguingly built so that her phasers point anywhere but forward. It almost seems as if the ship is intended to deliver broadsides not forward, port or starboard, but instead up or down. The captain would thus probably desire to maneuver his or her ship above or below the enemy in close combat. It's a bit strange that we never really see this happen...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[RoJoHen]

I think I'd like it if we had some idea what some of these maneuvers actually looked like.

 

[Nardpuncher]

I think I'd like it if we had some idea what some of these maneuvers actually looked like.

yeah, half the time "Pattern Picard Tango 5 Alpha" just ends up being turn left.

 

[Boxyno1]

Didn't Riker order a pattern under the name of "Kirk *something something*" in Insurrection? Anyone know what this might be, if the fact that it is named after Kirk has any significance from perhaps a TOS episode or a movie?

 

[Praxius]

Can someone answer me this? Why is it they NEVER work? It seems like every time the ship is attacked, and the captain barks this order to the navigators, the ship is immediately hit anyway.

Did the writers just need to put in something for the captains to yell under fire?

Well the Defiant did pretty well with their evasive maneuvers almost all the time. You'd often see during a full out dominion battle the ship zipping and rolling through all sorts of phaser fire and torpedoes...... usually only getting a fraction of the weapons sent their way actually hitting them.

Though in some episodes through the various seriesez, tactical will sometimes mention that aft shields (or other) are either failing or completely gone, so they'll order an Evasive Maneuver or tell helm to move the ship so the enemy doesn't have a direct shot at the vulnerable area and allow other shield generators on the ship to take some of the beating to give them more of a chance at either repairing/restoring those shields, or at least surviving.

Usually when they showed external shots of the battle when an Evasive Maneuver is being performed, usually one or two shots out of five or six hit the ship...... they still get hit most times, but as others have said, it's usually not as bad as it could have been.

Sometimes they missed altogether.

 

[scotpens]

Didn't Riker order a pattern under the name of “Kirk *something something*” in Insurrection? Anyone know what this might be, if the fact that it is named after Kirk has any significance from perhaps a TOS episode or a movie?

Never mentioned in a TOS episode, although a “classic battle maneuver” called the Cochrane Deceleration was mentioned in “Whom Gods Destroy.” I have no idea what a Cochrane Deceleration is -- maybe it means “slam on the brakes.”

 

[paudemge]

Didn't Riker order a pattern under the name of “Kirk *something something*” in Insurrection? Anyone know what this might be, if the fact that it is named after Kirk has any significance from perhaps a TOS episode or a movie?

Never mentioned in a TOS episode, although a “classic battle maneuver” called the Cochrane Deceleration was mentioned in “Whom Gods Destroy.” I have no idea what a Cochrane Deceleration is -- maybe it means “slam on the brakes.”

I don't remember the Cochrane Deceleration from that episode,but it has been a while since I"ve seen it. But I think i remember the Cochrane Deceleration from the old StarFleet battles game, and if my member is correct, it would stop you and translate some of the energy into the shields.

 

[sojourner]

^Then there is the classic Federation move from SFB, the Kaufman Retrograde. In this maneuver the ship performing it starts moving in reverse preventing the attacking ship from over taking it. At the same time the ship performing the maneuver is launching Photons down the attacker's throat. Killed many a Klingon with that.

 

[Robert DeSoto]

I think I'd like it if we had some idea what some of these maneuvers actually looked like.

There was one time Sisko was in the mirror universe and ordered evasive pattern "delta". Then the mirror O'Brien was like pattern Delta? Wtf is that?

So Sisko explained a complicated set of maneuvers where the Defiant would rock back and forth then swing up and around DS9, come up behind a Klingon Bird of Prey and blast the shit out it with phasers.

In the regular universe, Sisko ordered it again during the invasion of Cardassia and blew away a Jem'hadar warship.

Picard used it the delta pattern once but it wasn't as impressive since the Enterprise is big and heavy. Instead of pulling up and swinging around, The Enterprise just kind of slowed down and let this Galor Class warship pass it on the side. Then the Enterprise blasted away the Galor class ship's aft shields with phasers.

Personally I like it better when the captain explains what he's doing. Like Kirk in "Elaan of Troyius", Picard in "Yesterday's Enterprise" and Sisko telling Mirror universe O'Brien what to do in "Shattered Mirror"

 

[ALF]

In the some 700 odd hours of Trek there must have been at least one occasion in which evasive maneuvers actually avoided fire...

 

[Timo]

I sort of doubt it. If our heroes have a reason to shout "Evasive!", it means the enemy has already ambushed them and is likely to succeed in firing at them.

It should be possible to evade enemy fire if one is holding the initiative. That is, Sisko might order an attack pattern that brings the Defiant to optimal fighting range while the enemy scores less hits on her than otherwise would be the case. Sisko could also order his ship to avoid the enemy altogether, then. But if the enemy is homing in on the Defiant instead, or suddenly hoisting a battle flag after creeping up close under false pretenses, then the enemy holds the initiative and will leave little or no room for evasive maneuvers to succeed.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[RoJoHen]

I think I'd like it if we had some idea what some of these maneuvers actually looked like.

There was one time Sisko was in the mirror universe and ordered evasive pattern "delta". Then the mirror O'Brien was like pattern Delta? Wtf is that?

So Sisko explained a complicated set of maneuvers where the Defiant would rock back and forth then swing up and around DS9, come up behind a Klingon Bird of Prey and blast the shit out it with phasers.

In the regular universe, Sisko ordered it again during the invasion of Cardassia and blew away a Jem'hadar warship.

Picard used it the delta pattern once but it wasn't as impressive since the Enterprise is big and heavy. Instead of pulling up and swinging around, The Enterprise just kind of slowed down and let this Galor Class warship pass it on the side. Then the Enterprise blasted away the Galor class ship's aft shields with phasers.

Personally I like it better when the captain explains what he's doing. Like Kirk in "Elaan of Troyius", Picard in "Yesterday's Enterprise" and Sisko telling Mirror universe O'Brien what to do in "Shattered Mirror"

I don't even require verbal explanations. Just some decent FX showing what the ship is doing would be good. Half the time all we'd see is the bridge rocking back and forth without knowing what actually happened outside.

 

[Praxius]

I don't even require verbal explanations. Just some decent FX showing what the ship is doing would be good. Half the time all we'd see is the bridge rocking back and forth without knowing what actually happened outside.

As mentioned before, check out the DS9 episodes during the large dominion battles and you'll see at least the Defiant pulling some barrel rolls and loopdy'loops to dodge shots.

 

[Rett Mikhal]

In Starfleet Command III you could order the ship to use 'erratic maneuvers', which randomly increased and decreased propulsion speed and turned the ship... rather erratically.

The problem with erratic maneuvers is they work both ways. Sure, it's harder for them to hit you because the angular velocity between the two moving ships increases significantly, but it increases the same amount for you and that means you won't hit the enemy, either.

So, they are effective, but only in a defensive way. Because of the aggressive nature of the game (win or go home in an escape pod), I rarely used them. It was more important to put fire on the target. If I was in a situation like Kirk in TWOK or Picard in Yesterday's Enterprise I would defiantly use them as much as the situation could allow.