Because, as unrealistic and scientifically inaccurate as Star Trek may be, it isn't as unrealistic and scientifically inaccurate as Star Wars is.
Why no starfighters?
- Thread starter Thespeckledkiwi
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Because, as unrealistic and scientifically inaccurate as Star Trek may be, it isn't as unrealistic and scientifically inaccurate as Star Wars is.
Thespeckledkiwi
Vice Admiral
BTW, what the hell is the shuttle bays on the Akira good for? Or is that disregarded?
No, they're not "far slower." Star Destroyers never had problems keeping up with the Millennium Falcon in realspace. Every time the Falcon was pursued by Star Destroyers in the movies, it only escaped because it evaded the SD's weapons long enough to jump to lightspeed or it hid in some garbage. The Star Destroyers chasing the Falcon from Tatooine didn't even bother launching TIE Fighters; they considered an ISD sufficient to run down and capture a fleeing tramp freighter. (They were wrong in this case, but the Imperial commander's actions demonstrate the ISD's general suitability for pursuing smaller ships.)
Most secondary sources suggest the MF and ISD have similar realspace performance. The Behind the Magic CD-ROM gave them speeds of 80 and 60 MGLT, respectively. The same ratio was used by West End Games, somewhat notorious for underpowering their starships. It probably originated with them, rounding up ILM's own figure of 75 MGLT for the Falcon and knocking a couple points off the ISD for gameplay reasons.
Full impulse for one Trek ship is not necessarily full impulse for another. It seems to be a doctrinal speed established as the standard "go fast" velocity (or acceleration) for a given ship without engaging the warp engines. Any faster than full impulse, and you start counting fractional warp factors. But there's rarely any reason to tool around at 0.8c, so they stick to full impulse or warp 1+.
doubleohfive said:
You beat me to it.
You also beat me to it. You are delivering a serious beating.
I think the fighters might be useful for torpedoes since torpedoes are so powerful, just like modern fighters can shoot an anti-ship missile and hit a large warship. In the Falklands an Argentinian fighter launched a french exocet missile and clobbered one of the British warships. So it was an older plane carrying a new advanced missile at the time.
Star Trek always varies whatever the effect of torpedoes are based on the plot. So in one episode they are being pursued(TNG) and they can't fire the torpedo because they would destroy themselves. Then in others they can be hit with torpedoes and the ship doesn't explode.
Star Trek always varies whatever the effect of torpedoes are based on the plot. So in one episode they are being pursued(TNG) and they can't fire the torpedo because they would destroy themselves. Then in others they can be hit with torpedoes and the ship doesn't explode.
Starfighters in ST would work for DS9....but not on ships like the Enterprise or Voyager....
Starfighters would do well in assisting DS9 in a patrol/interdiction role for the Bajoran system when teamed with runabouts (think Coast Guard helicopters & cutters). Also, missle-armed fighters would be a good force multiplier in a battle, even if only for a short time (like F/A 18's with Harpoon/Exocet missles).
Good for a station or starbase, but not for capital ships...
Starfighters would do well in assisting DS9 in a patrol/interdiction role for the Bajoran system when teamed with runabouts (think Coast Guard helicopters & cutters). Also, missle-armed fighters would be a good force multiplier in a battle, even if only for a short time (like F/A 18's with Harpoon/Exocet missles).
Good for a station or starbase, but not for capital ships...
^ We have seen them against the Cardassian's in the Dominion War and it supports your theory. Seven waves of fighters were needed just to penetrate the shields of Cardassian Galors according to dialogue - and that was because Dukat ordered the ships to let the Federation through.
hellsgate
Commodore
I'd use starfighters but only as a perimeter (in-system) first line of defense, to paralyze or delay any antagonists (The Borg, Maquis/Syndicate Raiders, etc.) from getting to their specific target or getting away until a larger vessel arrives. Or as drop-vessels from a large freighter that's been cobbled together to look insignificant until it swoops in, mechanically deploys its' fire-support drones / manned fighters & warps out of the enemy's conjectural weapons' range.
Its Star Trek, you can't hide in hyperspace, the only way you warp out of range is if the fighter was able to knock out the warships warp field in a suprise attack. Otherwise the Bird of Prey or whatever goes warp 9 against the frieghters warp 7 then proceeds to knock the frieghter out of warp and pound it to space dust.
Given that Gene was thinking "Hornblower in space" when he created Trek, and it appears he wanted the set-up to be like the British exploration fleet in the 18th century - well, there were no fighters then! The only small craft in Hornblower would be the ship's boats used to go ashore - like shuttlecraft. 
hellsgate
Commodore
Agreed, to a point, the fighters would be busy swarming the enemy vessel & performing a formation attack designed to inflict "death by a thousand paper cuts / bee stings" in the meantime.
The enemy vessel's nacelles, Reaction Control Thrusters, deuterium tanks, food storage, personnel quarters, core-dump hatch & other targets would be getting a thorough crap-kicking in the meantime requiring the enemy to divert its attention to the fighters, or risk getting its hull swiss-cheesed, its targeting sensors trashed, its atmosphere bled-off enough to incapacitate the crew, or enough clawing by the fighters to accumulate enough damage to reach its anti-matter pods or munitions locker (or wherever an enemy's warheads/torpedoes are stored.)
Enough delay/swarming tactics to enable the freighter to get far enough away or to get into a defensible position. To pin the enemy between themselves & something even more undesirable such as a black hole. Allowing enough just enough distance or time to contribute its own phaser-fire / meteor-smashers to the effort, until a Nova-Class science vessel, Oberth-Class varient or bigger vessel shows-up to finish what the fighters & freighter started together.
I disagree, the fighters limited size and combat power will not allow it to penetrate the enemy's shields. Without knocking out the shields none of those systems take a hit. At worse the ship rocks and a control panel sparks and burns. Meanwhile the enemy phaser or disruptors powered by a full sized warship will tear away whatever shields the fighter could generate and turn them into orbital trash long before the capitol ship suffered a single cut.
Why is it supposed that the enemy admiral would place himself in a space box canyon where he can't meanuver just so fanatic can see Luke Skywalker bank and roll as if that can throw off a fire control system which hits targets while moving at warp 9.
There were two episodes of TNG that I remember with glee: Conundrum and Preemptive Strike. Conundrum had the E-D effortlessly destroying a squadron of (unmanned) fighters with a volley of phaser blasts, and the second had the E-D simply splitting apart a squadron of Maquis fighters with some well-placed torpedo bursts, resulting in zero fighter casualties but throwing them in all directions.
And those two episodes pretty much explained to me why there were barely any fighters around
Still, though, it was cool to see a squadron of Starfleet fighters briefly swarm a huge Dominion capital ship in What You Leave Behind. I dunno how effective they are, but it did give me the impression that a proper squadron of fighters could match a large starship.
And those two episodes pretty much explained to me why there were barely any fighters around
Still, though, it was cool to see a squadron of Starfleet fighters briefly swarm a huge Dominion capital ship in What You Leave Behind. I dunno how effective they are, but it did give me the impression that a proper squadron of fighters could match a large starship.
Shuttles have taken damage from capital ships weapons before and survived.
Granted that they can withstand only several hits, but still, send 15 to attack a capital ship, and one volley out of 15 shuttle sized fighters would probably be enough to inflict enough damage before any fighters are lost.
Granted that they can withstand only several hits, but still, send 15 to attack a capital ship, and one volley out of 15 shuttle sized fighters would probably be enough to inflict enough damage before any fighters are lost.
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