Was warp ramming a realistic anti-borg tactic?
- Thread starter Xerxes1979
- Start date
Perhaps the fleet was caught so off-guard that they just didn't have the time (or a Captain willing to give the order) to decide they were out of ideas and that a collision was their best option. I think up until Wolf 359 actually happened the Feds expected they'd at least slow the cube down. Given how it was picking off ships in Emissary they appear to have been significantly overconfident.
Speed can't be the 'power factor' in warp ramming. When you ram something, you're transferring the kinetic energy in your matter into the target. Due to relativity, matter can't exceed the speed of light (in the real world), so they 'cheat' using warp drive. This doesn't translate into a way to dump mass into a target. The most effective way would be to accelerate matter to a significant fraction of light speed in normal space. At high-relativistic speeds, almost all the matter is converted directly into energy on impact, and it doesn't matter if you're using antimatter or not - the results would be the same.
The only way ramming at warp would be effective is if the warp field, bubble, whatever does the actual damage. Otherwise they're better off with normal acceleration.
The only way ramming at warp would be effective is if the warp field, bubble, whatever does the actual damage. Otherwise they're better off with normal acceleration.
Why should we think there was no ramming at Wolf 359?
Heck, we basically see a ramming attempt in "Emissary", where that Excelsior class ship dives towards the Cube without firing a single shot. That may have happened a dozen times in the fight, and a dozen other dirty tricks may have been tried out. Nothing worked, because the Borg were invincible; Picard had made sure of that, as he would know all the dirty tricks and prepare the Borg for them.
It's easy to see how ramming would be utterly futile against the Borg. After all, their deadliest weapon in almost every fight has been a super-powerful tractor beam. If a starship cannot break free of such a beam once caught, it is only logical that the beam would stop all ramming attempts as well.
Riker's warp ramming may have been a technique without any other merit besides sheer exotique. Ramming at warp might not be any more devastating than ramming at impulse (and quite possibly would be far less devastating) - but because it made no tactical sense, it would have at least a slim chance of success against an enemy that was prepared against all tactically sensible maneuvers.
Timo Saloniemi
Heck, we basically see a ramming attempt in "Emissary", where that Excelsior class ship dives towards the Cube without firing a single shot. That may have happened a dozen times in the fight, and a dozen other dirty tricks may have been tried out. Nothing worked, because the Borg were invincible; Picard had made sure of that, as he would know all the dirty tricks and prepare the Borg for them.
It's easy to see how ramming would be utterly futile against the Borg. After all, their deadliest weapon in almost every fight has been a super-powerful tractor beam. If a starship cannot break free of such a beam once caught, it is only logical that the beam would stop all ramming attempts as well.
Riker's warp ramming may have been a technique without any other merit besides sheer exotique. Ramming at warp might not be any more devastating than ramming at impulse (and quite possibly would be far less devastating) - but because it made no tactical sense, it would have at least a slim chance of success against an enemy that was prepared against all tactically sensible maneuvers.
Timo Saloniemi
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