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I think I read somewhere, not sure though, that Probert left the impulse drive intentionally internally because he assumed it would be hidden because of the cloaking device.

Not sure though, however as good an explanation as any imho and certainly in the realm of possibility since we know how fidgety the cloak sometimes works.

To return to the original post (:gasp!: I know), is it possible that the canned maneuvers do change? We know that commanders can create sets of maneuvers and give them names (BoBW: Patter Riker Alpha -- I highly doubt "Riker Alpha" is in the standard lexicon of starfleet maneuvers) so is it possible (and/or sensible) that either A) "Evasive Pattern X" varies from starship to starship -- i.e. Sisko's pattern Delta is different from Picards or B) The standard fleet maneuver handbook changes every so often, i.e. Evasive Pattern Alpha is just a name but the actual contents (what the ship does) changes.

It seems to me that "Evasive Pattern Whatever" is primarily meant to serve as predetermined directions for the helmsman rather than shouting "rotate our Z axiss 15 degrees and our Y axis 3 degrees and proceed at 1/3 impulse" -- they save time and provide quicker response and less chances for miscommunication during combat. That being said, it could be that like modern military codes or recognition signals they change every so often. The name would stay the same but the action would change.

It is also possible that the canned Evasive Patterns are based on Starfleets knowledge of the capabilities -- firing arcs; internal ship layout; etc -- known opponents (i.e. Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians, etc) and merely provide a base maneuver along which the helmsman can improvise.

Thoughts?

I'm guessing the playbook gets updated, but uniformly too. So 'Pattern Alpha-Sierra-Tango-One' is the same on any ship.

Sonic Glitch wrote:
It seems to me that "Evasive Pattern Whatever" is primarily meant to serve as predetermined directions for the helmsman rather than shouting "rotate our Z axiss 15 degrees and our Y axis 3 degrees and proceed at 1/3 impulse" -- they save time and provide quicker response and less chances for miscommunication during combat.
?

Unless you have too many, then you end up in a Red Dwarf joke.

RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:I'm guessing the playbook gets updated, but uniformly too. So 'Pattern Alpha-Sierra-Tango-One' is the same on any ship.

That's mostly what I was trying to get at.

Either that or, again, it's unique to each ship which I suppose could be done depending on the transfer rate

Do we even know that the Romulans of the TNG era use impulse drive? For all we know they may use some antigravity drive or whatever.

GrahamKennedy wrote:Do we even know that the Romulans of the TNG era use impulse drive? For all we know they may use some antigravity drive or whatever.

I think that in this discussion we're using impulse drive as a synonym for STL propulsion. In any event, according to Scotty in TOS: "Balance of Terror," the Romulans' method of power generation (at least) was analogous to what a Starfleet engineer would recognize as "impulse."

I certainly buy that for TOS - and indeed the Enterprise BoP's had impulse engines visible (green glowing ones, oddly enough). The TOS one didn't, but it did have holes at the back of the nacelles so perhaps they mounted the impulse engines in tandem with the warp ones.

But the lack of visible exhausts on the D'Deridex class warbirds doesn't necessarily mean they have puny RCS-style thrusters instead of impulse drives. They could have something as good as - or even better than - Starfleet impulse drive, just using a different tech that doesn't have an exhaust.

Exactly my earlier point to Seafort. Just because it doesn't mimic the functionality of UFP tech doesn't mean that it lacks the effectiveness.

Sonic Glitch wrote:

RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:I'm guessing the playbook gets updated, but uniformly too. So 'Pattern Alpha-Sierra-Tango-One' is the same on any ship.

That's mostly what I was trying to get at.

Either that or, again, it's unique to each ship which I suppose could be done depending on the transfer rate

Yeah, but that'd get kinda confusing.

"Execute Patten Alpha-Tango-One." *Few seconds pass* "I said Alpha-Tango-" *BOOM!*

RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:Yeah, but that'd get kinda confusing.

"Execute Patten Alpha-Tango-One." *Few seconds pass* "I said Alpha-Tango-" *BOOM!*

Unless the evasive sequences are automated, so rather than having to execute the entire sequence manually the helmsman can simply select the manoeuvre and hit Enter.

But then we won't have epic button mashing!