Shuttlecraft Construction

[Captain Seafort]

By the way, why would they ONLY equip a deep space exploration vessel with a magazine capacity of 38 photon torpedos? Seems rather low to me, considering she has four tubes.

Even the Feds' battleship of the 2360s only had 250 torps, or thereabout. Given that, I don't think 38 is too bad for a light cruiser.

[Captain Seafort]

By the way, why would they ONLY equip a deep space exploration vessel with a magazine capacity of 38 photon torpedos? Seems rather low to me, considering she has four tubes.

Even the Feds' main battleship of the 2360s only had 250 torps. Given that, I don't think 38 is too bad for a light cruiser.

[Blackstar the Chakat]

By the way, why would they ONLY equip a deep space exploration vessel with a magazine capacity of 38 photon torpedos? Seems rather low to me, considering she has four tubes

We only know that they had 38 torpedoes at that point. The magazine is actually at least 40 since they did use two tri-cobalt torpedoes on the Caretaker away. However since Voyager was in a hurry to catch the Val Jean she may not have had time to wait and get a full load of Photons.

[Mark]

By the way, why would they ONLY equip a deep space exploration vessel with a magazine capacity of 38 photon torpedos? Seems rather low to me, considering she has four tubes.

Even the Feds' main battleship of the 2360s only had 250 torps. Given that, I don't think 38 is too bad for a light cruiser.

It just doesn't make sense to me. Starfleet seems to go little light on ammo. And look what happened to the E-E. She ran out in the middle of an extended firefight. It's just that Voyager could only carry what, 10 in the front tubes, and nine in the aft? On a deep space mission where you may meet with a hostile species, like the Borg (which were first encountered prior to the construction of the Intrepid class). I would just have assumed that they'd be trying to pack in more firepower. But that could be just me, I guess. For me, tactical and defensive systems are the first priority, with propulsion second.

[Blackstar the Chakat]

By the way, why would they ONLY equip a deep space exploration vessel with a magazine capacity of 38 photon torpedos? Seems rather low to me, considering she has four tubes.

Even the Feds' main battleship of the 2360s only had 250 torps. Given that, I don't think 38 is too bad for a light cruiser.

It just doesn't make sense to me. Starfleet seems to go little light on ammo. And look what happened to the E-E. She ran out in the middle of an extended firefight. It's just that Voyager could only carry what, 10 in the front tubes, and nine in the aft? On a deep space mission where you may meet with a hostile species, like the Borg (which were first encountered prior to the construction of the Intrepid class). I would just have assumed that they'd be trying to pack in more firepower. But that could be just me, I guess. For me, tactical and defensive systems are the first priority, with propulsion second.

I think the Intrepids were more reliant on speed and manuverability to get them out of overly hostile situations. Voyager was at a disadvantage since it had to plow right into hostile situations to get home.

[Captain Seafort]

It just doesn't make sense to me. Starfleet seems to go little light on ammo. And look what happened to the E-E. She ran out in the middle of an extended firefight.

The E-E also has far more tubes than any other ship apart from the Akira, and we don't know how many torpedoes were fired off-screen. Given the way she was spamming them out I wouldn't be surprised if hundreds were fired.

It's just that Voyager could only carry what, 10 in the front tubes, and nine in the aft?

Or 38 in a central magazine. It not bad - about the same as a mdern submarine.

On a deep space mission where you may meet with a hostile species, like the Borg (which were first encountered prior to the construction of the Intrepid class). I would just have assumed that they'd be trying to pack in more firepower.

The Intrepid isn't a deep-space explorer, but a very fast, relatively short-ranged scout/courier. The only missions we saw the ships sent on were Voyager's police/coastguard mission to the Badlands, and the Bellerophon's diplomatic trip to Romulus.

But that could be just me, I guess. For me, tactical and defensive systems are the first priority, with propulsion second.

For a battleship or heavy cruiser that's true, but for a scout the ability to locate the enemy, report that location to the fleet commander, and track them while staying out of weapons range is more important.

[Sionnach Glic]

The Intrepid class didn't seem to be designed for prolonged combat. It was a glorified coast guard boat. It's armament reflects that.

[Mark]

You know, that raises a point for me. Unless I'm mistaken, why would they give Janeway (who came up through the science branch) command of an Intrepid class starship? Wouldn't somebody like that more logically be given command of a science ship, like an Oberth or Nova class (ie like Ransom)? You'd think they'd play to each captains strengths but they give a scientist a scout with like you just said "coast guard" duties.

[Sionnach Glic]

You would think that, but then this is Starfleet we're talking about. They aren't exactly brimming with competence.

[Mark]

You would think that, but then this is Starfleet we're talking about. They aren't exactly brimming with competence.

True. They gave Picard command of the E-D, (the new Federation flagship) after he commanded a small and obsolete starship for 20 years, which he finally managed to abandon after it was damaged. Not the most stellar performance for a Captain, (could never understand that either. If the ship was unsalvageable shouldn't he have destroyed it? After all, the Ferengi managed to get their hands on all the Federation tech, but that's an entirely different thread)

[KuvahMagh]

If the ship was unsalvageable shouldn't he have destroyed it? After all, the Ferengi managed to get their hands on all the Federation tech, but that's an entirely different thread)

If I remember correctly it was believed destroyed...

[Mark]

If the ship was unsalvageable shouldn't he have destroyed it? After all, the Ferengi managed to get their hands on all the Federation tech, but that's an entirely different thread)

If I remember correctly it was believed destroyed...

Naaa.....he left it adrift in space. Then after those "helpful" ferengi returned it to Picard in an attempt to punish him for destroying the ferengi ship that damaged Stargazer enough to discard, Enterprise towed it back to be decommissioned and most likely stuck in a museum.

[Captain Picard's Hair]

It is a bit odd to contrast the limits seen in the Nemesis battle, the low torp loads of the E-D and Voyager, with the fierce battles in the Dominion War which lasted hours without ships running out of ammo. If the Torps are packed efficiently, you could pack a few thousand into a room the size of a cargo bay easily, so even Voyager could easily have a far greater torp load (40 could fit in a large walk-in closet)

[Mark]

So, why send a ship out underarmed, if they could reasonably increase her payload?

[Captain Picard's Hair]

OOU, they probably wanted to add an element of drama (though they ended up going well past 38 torps fired anyway). IU, you might suppose there are parts of torps which are hard to replicate/manufacture - but the fact that Voyager seemingly did replicate torps does away with this...