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Shield Strength of ST ships

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    Shield Strength of ST ships

    How do the strengths of the shields of the ships differ in comparison with TOS/TNG/Voyager, etc... do they get any better than what we saw in TOS per se? Ie. two hits or so can bring down the shield levels significantly to the point of hull breach; I always thought they were made to fragile and was always curious to know what, if any difference there are among.
    Don't make me zat you

    It took us 15 years and 3 super computers to MacGyver a system for the gate on Earth.

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    #2
    They always seemed rather fragile. But I think it's mainly cause unless they're planning to show an a full battle scene (and the 3D effect were expensive, especially in TNG days), it would be boring to just have the ship shake, then sheilds go down to 95%, then 90%, then 85% blah blah. Dramatic effect probably.
    The truth is out there. Getting there, well thats a whole different can of worms.

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      #3
      That's a good point. I never thought of that....of all the shows, movies, there really was never a full battle that last a long time. It would be redundant and boring after awhile as mentioned.

      A photon torpedo does more damage than phasers no? So maybe that's why the shields drop so much.

      Originally posted by helio9
      They always seemed rather fragile. But I think it's mainly cause unless they're planning to show an a full battle scene (and the 3D effect were expensive, especially in TNG days), it would be boring to just have the ship shake, then sheilds go down to 95%, then 90%, then 85% blah blah. Dramatic effect probably.
      Don't make me zat you

      It took us 15 years and 3 super computers to MacGyver a system for the gate on Earth.

      Dial=> http://www.pathcom.com/~kcheung for days remaining until the Vancouver con!

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        #4
        I think it's pretty realistic if you think about it. It's much easier to direct a great deal of energy (weapons) than it is to use energy to create a protective bubble. Shields can only be so strong.
        Secretary-General of GATO ¤ Defender of F.O.R.D.

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          #5
          the sheilds is series post TOs have improved much

          out of say the three main ships of latter ST series enterprise, defient, voyager the sheilds seem to have improved even through these series.

          Enterprise TNG: had sheilds tha pretty much encompassed the entire ship with a sheild, a sheild that held up to most emeies the borg and some 70 year old klingon BOP with the ability to punch right through them were the few that managed to get around that problem.

          DS9: the defient was probably the best, the ship had sheilds but also had strong amour that was the defients best atribute i would say above the sheilds, later ships had some form of this incorporated into their design the "prometheus" to name just one.

          VOY: the ship had improved sheilding but thin hull, this is show best in a few episodes but one being "year of hell part 1+2" is the best example the sheilds may as well have not been activated during the year voyager came across the Krenim, bu borg sheilding later on made voyager a more robust ship and durable to the end, the only ablative amour being the final episode "endgame" with the cool futuristic hull plating that was more than effective against the borg of the day.

          ENT: the enterprise NX-01 had no sheild but more hull i would imagine not much to work on but the weapons improved in later seasons to make it a match for even the klingons and put up a fight against the borg on the one off ocassion they ran into them on earth.
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            #6
            The shields from TOS to DS9 were far stronger. However the weapons also were far stronger so it was the same shield strength drop routine.
            ST space battles don't really make much sense but to be fair no Hollywood space battle makes sense.

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              #7
              Well of course, they're meant for entertainment mainly, not to stand up to the scrutiny of people (note: refrained from use of the word 'nerd') like us.
              The truth is out there. Getting there, well thats a whole different can of worms.

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                #8
                There has been an increase in shield strength through the years (just as there has with phasers and torpedoes). I think a number of factors affect shield strength:

                1. Ship size - If a ship is too small, it cannot accomadate advanced sheild emitters. If a ship is too big then the 'bubble' is weakened slightly by the sheer area that it has to encompass.

                2. Power - Shield strength depends on the ship power reserve. If a ship is at warp the power is all chanelled through the warp core, which is why shields do not work at warp speed [as well as the fact that the shield bubble would obstruct the warp field]. When a ship is not at warp, the warp core's power is used to power all the other parts of the ship, including shields - but this availability becomes strained when under attack, which is why power must generally be drawn from other areas to compensate.

                3. The weapons - obviously the weapons being used by the opposing ship has a large impact on how the shields can defend the ship. You mentioned the difference between phasers and photon torpedoes - that wouldn't be relevant in this case because Starfleet ships do not attack other starfleet ships [generally]. Romulans are more of a threat than klingons because they use weapons quite similar to Starfleet weapons, where as Klingon disruptors are much less effective on Starfleet shielding.

                4. Frequency - You've probably heard this on a good few episodes of Star Trek, "rotate the shield frequency" or something. If a weapon is operated at the exact same frequency as the shields, it is much more effective, because the shields will not recognise the weapon as a foriegn object. The closer a weapon's frequency is to that of the shields, the more effective it will be.

                I'd say they're the main ones - although there are other considerations such as the timeline, how advanced the enemy ship is and the deflector dish, which plays an important part in the integrity of the shields.
                //

                O'Neill: Phasers?
                Carter: Sorry sir.

                HAPPY 40TH STAR TREK!! LIVE LONG AND PROSPER!

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