The apparent fragility of the Enterprise-D

[Shark]

In the temporal loop with USS Bozeman, Enterprise has basically lost power when she is rammed.

That is a good point. Perhaps all the safety systems that exist were knocked out by the rift. At least I think it was the rift that knocked out power...

 

[Shark]

Hmm. The shots we saw (one of them!) did not fall on the nacelles, but on the secondary hull. Yet dialogue specifies that there was also a direct and thus supposedly deliberate hit on the starboard nacelle (possibly the third and final shot), and that one seemed to be associated with the fact that warp was knocked out.

When our heroes "target their engines", do we see nacelle shots? Or does "engines" actually mean "warp powerplant", either because nacelle hits would be too likely to be fatal, or because nacelle hits would be too unlikely to have much effect?

Timo Saloniemi

It would seem the Tamarians did manage to hit the nacelle at least once:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CEgqKh8t8k

I think the direction of the shots would likely be based on what is known to be most effective against whomever it is they're shooting at. I seem to recall seeing them hit engines in some situations and amidships in others. Though most ships I recall from TNG don't have separate warp nacelles.

 

[Forbin]

There goes the starboard power coupling!

 

[JES]

The anti-surge protection stance is due to the Federation's true dystopian Satano-Darwinist agenda.

Section 31 will now come for me, but I had to speak while I still have the righ-

Admiral Arpy! ADMIRAL ARPY!!!

Damn you Section 31 scum! Damn you all to hell!!!

On a more serious note, I can't help but think that the fragility showed on screen for the Ent-D was determined by whatever the plot demanded.

I don't see why the Ent-D couldn't just eject the core or the antimatter after they turned Elsa and/or whatever the name of those Klingon twins were, and their BOP into space debris. I mean, would the explosion have made radiation that would've harmed the crew, so they had to separate, or did one of the shots hit and seal the ejection hatch? But I don't see why they couldn't eject the core and separate at the same time.

That way, they might've been able to salvage the engineering section, which is really the heart of the ship (well, okay, the core is, but that can be replaced).

I love the Ent-E, but the Ent-D getting destroyed the way she did is a slap in the face, and a flip of the middle finger.

 

[Phantom]

I'm more concerned about Starfleet's flippant stance on surge protection.

Well, they have to do something with the expendable officers. They can't permanently harm most of the plot essential ones (usually).

I bunny-trailed into this thread awhile back, by an electrical engineer explaining exactly what ECODs are, and why they're actually very realistic:

http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=131768

As for the E-D herself, I think Generations has been badly misinterpreted. Considering she was taking multiple hits to an essentially unshielded hull, the first of which was almost on top of Engineering, I say that the evidence shows the Galaxy class to be a VERY sturdy ship.

After all, no known enemy has targeted the nacelles specifically! Except for the wily Cardassians in "The Chase", and they specifically wanted to disable rather than destroy.

Timo Saloniemi

The pirate ship in "Gambit", and Ro's fighter/runabout in "Preemptive Strike" I believe both took shots at the nacelle.

*Edit* Screenies from "Gambit":

http://tng.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/s7/7x05/gambitparttwo025.jpg

http://tng.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/s7/7x05/gambitparttwo026.jpg

Looks like I might've been wrong about "Preemptive Strike".

Oh well...