• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Why did Starfleet put Ransom in command of such a crappy ship?

I'm not convinced that hiding for so long that your opponent gets bored and goes home is the strategic brilliance you think it is.

In Year of Hell, Janeway hid in a Nebula until her own impatience "forced" her to hoon out into space without shields, and the ship got frakked by a dust cloud.

Janeway couldn't out wait herself.
 
It's the top science ship class and not crappy at all. I would choose the Nova myself, even had an RPG forum about it ;)

He's a biologist, so a science ship makes perfect sense.

Also was there ever a technical reason given for why VOY era ships have exposed sections?
It's the same sensor stuff that the Galaxy class has on the saucer's rim
 
When Ransom took the Kobayashi Maru test, he tried to harvest the Kobayashi Maru crew for energy to enhance the shields to survive, so Starfleet said "let's give this guy a survey ship. Nothing too dangerous.";)
Those Ankari nucleogenic spirits were actually the last in a long line of Delta Quadrant species Ransom melted down to try and make the ship go faster.

The Equinox crew tried it with Talaxians, Vidiians, Kazon. This was just the first time it worked.
 
Regarding hiding in a nebula, I didn't say there was anything 'wrong with it' or that 'every situation required killing' or whatever the interpretation of my post was.

I was merely voicing the opinion that hiding somewhere until the enemy gets so fed up of searching that they give up isn't in isolation evidence that someone is some sort of tactical genius.

If a four year old child is running from a bully they will generally try to hide somewhere until the bully gives up looking. A cat running from a dog will hide up a tree and stay there until the dog gives up waiting.

Neither of these point to genius tactics being employed. It's very, very basic.

Picard hid in a nebula as well. Fine. But I doubt he would put that on par with the Picard Manoeuvre at Maxia Zeta.
 
A true strategic genius is not necessarily one who always knows the winning strategy to defeat the enemy, it's just someone who knows when to fight, when to run, and when to hide. Grand Admiral Thrawn in Star Wars is considered the one of the top strategists in the Empire and the SW universe in general, and there were battles he'd refuse to fight simply because they could not be won.
 
He was an exobiologist that got lucky and made contact with a species believed to be extinct, there's nothing to say that that mission was a success, only that it happened and he made it out in one piece. The tactics he employs seem to be more out of desperation than anything else. Whilst he's obviously trained to handle these sorts of situations he is first and foremost a scientist so if he was given the choice I can understand why he'd opt for a research vessel--which was never meant to operate for long period in complete isolation, but rather go from one research/survey mission to another with support from starbases.
 
We first see a Yridian in 2369, so Ransom must've rediscovered them sometime that year, or perhaps a year or two earlier (he is known to have played hide and seek with a Klingon Bird-of-Prey in 2367 and had an encounter with a Romulan Warbird in 2369 in a way that implies he was in command of a ship at the time, which suggests he made Captain in 2367 at the earliest), whilst the Nova-Class was launched in 2370, with the Equinox seemingly being among the first batch. So he'd have at least a year (likely two to three) before assuming command of the Equinox during which time he may have commanded another ship, possibly a larger, more powerful vessel, but may have requested returning to his roots as a scientist and asked for a research vessel.
 
What I mean is the ship being small doesn't automatically make it crappy. Voyager was much smaller than the Enterprise-D yet seemed to handle just fine without the support of Starfleet.
 
Given how beat up the Equinox was when we first saw her, it's very possible they HAD a holodeck but was either damaged badly, destroyed, or resources for it were needed elsewhere.
 
Given how beat up the Equinox was when we first saw her, it's very possible they HAD a holodeck but was either damaged badly, destroyed, or resources for it were needed elsewhere.
Hmmm. Could be.

I know rewatching some of these early Voyager episodes, I'm a little astonished that they don't have the resources to make a cup of coffee, but are still able to create elaborate holodeck simulations.
 
Yeah, they explained that in "PARALLAX", I believe, that the holodeck's power matrix wasn't compatible with the rest of the ship.

Which still never made sense... why have a major power hog be incompatible with the ENTIRE rest of the ship? It's like building a ship made entirely of Lego blocks... except for one Duplo piece.
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top