Roga Danar

[Tsukiyumi]

"Computer, what's the ship's self-destruct code?"

"Access to that information is classified."

"Um, please tell me?"

"The authorization code is Alpha-three-zero-three."

[Aaron]

Why? Because to be believable, we would need to believe that SOP on the state-of-the-art UFP flagship is to have internal sensors to detect an organisms relatively tiny bio-electric field, but not crazy stuff like heat, mass, etc.

Why would it have them at all? Yes, we know the ship has internal sensors but it seems most of the crew tracking is done via comm badge and the ship may simply have not been designed to track others, you're not supposed to have folks running around unattended you know. Now that aside, Roga Danar was an engineered soldier, he may have been able to briefly limit his IR signature and we already know that screwy electrical signals disrupt sensors. He certainly did a bunch of other interesting stuff and he did sabotage the ship.

[Deepcrush]

Its just another time in which the UFP has failed.

[Aaron]

I'd love it if all this was true, it would make Roga Danar more of a badass and he's already the most badass "guy of the week" in Trek.

[Mikey]

Why? Because to be believable, we would need to believe that SOP on the state-of-the-art UFP flagship is to have internal sensors to detect an organisms relatively tiny bio-electric field, but not crazy stuff like heat, mass, etc.

Why would it have them at all? Yes, we know the ship has internal sensors but it seems most of the crew tracking is done via comm badge and the ship may simply have not been designed to track others, you're not supposed to have folks running around unattended you know. Now that aside, Roga Danar was an engineered soldier, he may have been able to briefly limit his IR signature and we already know that screwy electrical signals disrupt sensors. He certainly did a bunch of other interesting stuff and he did sabotage the ship.

All true. But the fact remains that internal sensors were available to detect a single humanoid's bioelectric field - unlinked to comm badge tracking - but not to the most basic and easily detectable signs of life. I never said that there couldn't be a reason for Danar to avoid detection; my comment was directed toward the idiocy of having internal personnel detection base ONLY on bio-electric detection.

[Aaron]

All true. But the fact remains that internal sensors were available to detect a single humanoid's bioelectric field - unlinked to comm badge tracking - but not to the most basic and easily detectable signs of life. I never said that there couldn't be a reason for Danar to avoid detection; my comment was directed toward the idiocy of having internal personnel detection base ONLY on bio-electric detection.

Perhaps the design team was fond of over-complicated solutions or IR is easily spoofed in Trek.

[Mikey]

Sorry to look at these backwards, but -

or IR is easily spoofed in Trek.

That could have made sense, if it was explained with even a one-liner. Danar was engineered to be a commando - it would be easy to say that he could biologically control his heat signature, or found a mechanical way to mask it.

Perhaps the design team was fond of over-complicated solutions

This, unfortunately, is the explanation that seems to fit with the rest of 'Trek-dom.

[Sionnach Glic]

Perhaps the design team was fond of over-complicated solutions

I think it's safe to say that someone in R&D had a hard-on for using ridiculously complex stuff.
Seriously, have you ever seen someone fixing things with a hammer? Or cleaning a coridor with a mop and bucket?

[Schrodinger's Hat]

I'd love to see that. Just once, I'd love to see the ship faced with some kind of engineering problem and very little time to solve it... and the solution turns out to be Geordi or someone just picking up a ten-pound sledge and going to town. Hell, if I were a Starfleet engineer, I'd keep a sledgehammer and a fire axe in my office just on general principles... y'know, in case we ran into one of those "out of control ship's system" problems that seem to keep cropping up.

[Tsukiyumi]

Better watch out, though; you hit a console with that sledge, and you'll set off all the plastic explosives built into it.

[Deepcrush]

He didn't say HE would hit it. Thats what the redshirts are for.

[Schrodinger's Hat]

Exactly. A good chief engineer should know how to delegate.

[Sionnach Glic]

Hell, the UFP could employ whole penal legions. It would be like how the Russians used to clear minefields by sending deserters to walk through to either find or clear a path through, but in space!

[kostmayer]

I'd love to see that. Just once, I'd love to see the ship faced with some kind of engineering problem and very little time to solve it... and the solution turns out to be Geordi or someone just picking up a ten-pound sledge and going to town. Hell, if I were a Starfleet engineer, I'd keep a sledgehammer and a fire axe in my office just on general principles... y'know, in case we ran into one of those "out of control ship's system" problems that seem to keep cropping up.

Didn't O'Brien fix the transporter and beam Odo to safety during the DS9 pilot by kicking the console to get it working?

[Captain Picard's Hair]

Didn't O'Brien fix the transporter and beam Odo to safety during the DS9 pilot by kicking the console to get it working?

Yes. Maybe the more rugged Cardassian panels could better withstand the ultimate low-tech fix than the more sophisticated but delicate and C4-rigged SF panels.