They have ladders. This question is silly.
Why no stairs?
- Thread starter Crewman47
- Start date
Stairs or slopes would be better at times when people have to be running from deck to deck. If your ships goes to Red Alert, it most likely would be faster to run up a slope or stairs if your not far from one than to use Turbolifts whick would most likely be stopping at every deck.
Stairs and slopes would also be able to handle the movement of large item through the ship. Things you couldn't fit in a Jeffries Tube. You could transport them, but then a site-to-site transport is usually considered too expensive in terms of power than it would be to put it (them) on one of those floating carts Barclay was working on in Hollow Pursuits.
BTW doesn't the Pentagon use slopes instead of stairs?
Stairs and slopes would also be able to handle the movement of large item through the ship. Things you couldn't fit in a Jeffries Tube. You could transport them, but then a site-to-site transport is usually considered too expensive in terms of power than it would be to put it (them) on one of those floating carts Barclay was working on in Hollow Pursuits.
BTW doesn't the Pentagon use slopes instead of stairs?
Ensign Ricky dies needlessly, having forgotten about safety equipment, which by the time of the 23rd century, is even more convenient and effective than its 21st-century equivalent.
Not to mention the "Artificial Gravity OFF" button on the wall of the ladder well.
Not to mention the "Artificial Gravity OFF" button on the wall of the ladder well.
Stairs or slopes we are taking about ships where space is at a premium thus ladders are there for emergency access.
Stairs are by their very nature dangerous. Every step is literally a potential tripping point. Watch professional walkers like mailmen on there route's while they may walk up steps they will accept small detours to take ramps down to avoid stairs because beyond the possibility of tripping the continuing daily trama of going down stairs is bad for the knees
It probably isn't trivially easy to manipulate gravity aboard a starship, judging by the fact that all turbolift shafts so far shown have featured down-pulling gravity. Possibly only relatively large areas can be adjusted for the strength of gravity within, without creating undesirable "edge effects" - say, shuttlebays or (as in "Melora") specifically configured crew quarters.
There's no particular reason why vertical ladders would have to be very tall, though. Just cut them to shorter sections, only a couple of decks high. That also makes it easier to take the necessary rest breaks, and prevents falling objects from doing harm.
As for stairs taking up space, that's not a very valid argument - because most starships have too much internal space as it is. The Galaxy class could accommodate a funicular system, a Formula 1 track and a ponycart path and still have room for a canal system in which the cetacean crew members could swim around. And turbolift systems are the worst hogs for space, completely blocking crosswise traffic. Stairs would actually seem the preferred solution aboard medium ships, with ramps aboard ships the size of small towns such as the Galaxy class.
TOS and the TOS movies gave us vertical ladders; the TNG era continues with vertical Jeffries Tubes. They can easily be implemented in whatever nooks and crannies are otherwise left unused. But they are good mainly for hopping from one deck to the next, and can get crowded pretty quickly (even the fancy three-sided one used in TOS). A more workable solution for traversing three to five decks would be what they call a ship's ladder: an extremely steep staircase that still lets you climb without using your hands if need be. Beyond that, powered lifts would be a good idea.
Ultimately, one has to ask why move from one deck to another in the first place. A good engineer would design the ship so that this is not actually necessary for any single crew member during their normal duties. And in emergencies, it will do no good whatsoever to replace a ten-deck-high vertical turboshaft with a ten-deck high staircase or ladder. A properly constructed ship should have its emergency response configured so that nobody, and that's nobody, needs go ten decks up or down in an emergency!
Timo Saloniemi
There's no particular reason why vertical ladders would have to be very tall, though. Just cut them to shorter sections, only a couple of decks high. That also makes it easier to take the necessary rest breaks, and prevents falling objects from doing harm.
As for stairs taking up space, that's not a very valid argument - because most starships have too much internal space as it is. The Galaxy class could accommodate a funicular system, a Formula 1 track and a ponycart path and still have room for a canal system in which the cetacean crew members could swim around. And turbolift systems are the worst hogs for space, completely blocking crosswise traffic. Stairs would actually seem the preferred solution aboard medium ships, with ramps aboard ships the size of small towns such as the Galaxy class.
TOS and the TOS movies gave us vertical ladders; the TNG era continues with vertical Jeffries Tubes. They can easily be implemented in whatever nooks and crannies are otherwise left unused. But they are good mainly for hopping from one deck to the next, and can get crowded pretty quickly (even the fancy three-sided one used in TOS). A more workable solution for traversing three to five decks would be what they call a ship's ladder: an extremely steep staircase that still lets you climb without using your hands if need be. Beyond that, powered lifts would be a good idea.
Ultimately, one has to ask why move from one deck to another in the first place. A good engineer would design the ship so that this is not actually necessary for any single crew member during their normal duties. And in emergencies, it will do no good whatsoever to replace a ten-deck-high vertical turboshaft with a ten-deck high staircase or ladder. A properly constructed ship should have its emergency response configured so that nobody, and that's nobody, needs go ten decks up or down in an emergency!
Timo Saloniemi
Elbows!
