Saucer Seperation

[celeritas]

wasn't there also an idea floated that the battle bridge in the drive section could be used as a secondary command and control should the main bridge ever be destroyed?

presumably, if the ship's main bridge was destroyed, but the drive section was still functional, it could have a secondary command staff take control through the battle bridge, ditch the crippled saucer section, and either run like hell or keep on fighting.

a secondary c&c would seem to be a useful thing to have to me. however, of course, in the trek universe, this scenario is pretty unlikely as anytime the main bridge gets shot up, the whole ship usually just goes kaboom...

[Bryan Moore]

wasn't there also an idea floated that the battle bridge in the drive section could be used as a secondary command and control should the main bridge every be destroyed?

presumably, if the ship's main bridge was destroyed, but the drive section was still functional, it could have a secondary command staff take control through the battle bridge, ditch the crippled saucer section, and either run like hell or keep on fighting.

a secondary c&c would seem to be a useful thing to have to me. however, of course, in the trek universe, this scenario is pretty unlikely as anytime the main bridge gets shot up, the whole ship usually just goes kaboom...

Yeah, this makes a lot of sense. And why ditch the saucer? Just because the bridge is crippled, doesn't mean the whole thing is. Honestly, the position of the bridge, it seems more likely that it'd be a target far more often then just about anything else!

[Teaos]

I think the families are only in enginering normally. Under battle seperation they so to saucer.

[Captain Seafort]

The Galaxy class is an Explorer first and battleship second. On long exploration missions that may take several years it makes sense to bring families along. It has those huge phaser arrays to protect said families if the need arises too.

That's the biggest problem with the Galaxy - it wants to be the Bismarck and the QEII at the same time. For a true explorer - ie a civilian ship - I don't have a problem with families. For a ship that is the most powerful battleship Stafleet has to offer, putting civilians aboard is retarded - you can't guarantee that you'll be able to offload them if you hit trouble.

Back to the saucer separation. I think it's an early MVAM, as the ship is far more combat effective when separated. There's an extra Phaser array and third torpedo launcher freed up on the separation plane of the drive section, and there's always the lovely distracting antimatter bursts the saucer can fire.

But as has already been stated, the ship is less combat effective without the saucer, as the saucer impulse engines can provide a significant fraction of the power of the engineering hull. (ref:BoBW Pt 1).

[Crushproof]

The Galaxy class is an Explorer first and battleship second. On long exploration missions that may take several years it makes sense to bring families along. It has those huge phaser arrays to protect said families if the need arises too.

That's the biggest problem with the Galaxy - it wants to be the Bismarck and the QEII at the same time. For a true explorer - ie a civilian ship - I don't have a problem with families. For a ship that is the most powerful battleship Stafleet has to offer, putting civilians aboard is retarded - you can't guarantee that you'll be able to offload them if you hit trouble.

Back to the saucer separation. I think it's an early MVAM, as the ship is far more combat effective when separated. There's an extra Phaser array and third torpedo launcher freed up on the separation plane of the drive section, and there's always the lovely distracting antimatter bursts the saucer can fire.

But as has already been stated, the ship is less combat effective without the saucer, as the saucer impulse engines can provide a significant fraction of the power of the engineering hull. (ref:BoBW Pt 1).

Less power to the Drive section doesn't make it less combat effective. Frankly there are too many throwaway lines like that in Trek that make little sense and cause problems but have to be accepted

[Captain Seafort]

Riker specifically vetoed Shelby's plan to separate the saucer to provide a distraction because "we may need power from the saucer module impulse engines". Canon quote - separating the saucer reduces the ship's combat effectiveness.

[Crushproof]

Riker specifically vetoed Shelby's plan to separate the saucer to provide a distraction because "we may need power from the saucer module impulse engines". Canon quote - separating the saucer reduces the ship's combat effectiveness.

Weren't they using that power for the deflector beam or something which ended up being useless?
Nothing to do with combat effectiveness, they needed all the power they could get for the beam

[Captain Seafort]

Riker specifically vetoed Shelby's plan to separate the saucer to provide a distraction because "we may need power from the saucer module impulse engines". Canon quote - separating the saucer reduces the ship's combat effectiveness.

Weren't they using that power for the deflector beam or something which ended up being useless?
Nothing to do with combat effectiveness, they needed all the power they could get for the beam

If the saucer impulse engines generate enough to to make a difference to a weapon that's already using the entire output of the warp core then they're enough to make a difference to shields, phasers, structual integrety, etc. The only thing unusual about the deflector beam weapon was that all the power was going through one emitter - it remains canon that the engineering hull is measureably weaker without the saucer.

[Sionnach Glic]

Aren't there phaser arrays on the saucer? If so, it seems to make sense to keep it on during battle.

[Teaos]

Tactical sense yes. But what about the civilians injuries.

[Sionnach Glic]

Civilians shouldn't be on the thing in the first place. One of its roles is as a ship of war, its going to be shot at sometimes. Not to mention the mass of 'spatial anomalies' around the place that can destroy ships.

[Crushproof]

More phaser arrays are freed up during separation, as well as another Photorp launcher. I think it makes sense to keep the saucer around even after separation

[Teaos]

I agree with the idea of having civilians on board and having a way to get them away from danger.

How many times did we really see this happen. The ship seperate?

[Bryan Moore]

I agree with the idea of having civilians on board and having a way to get them away from danger.

How many times did we really see this happen. The ship seperate?

Encounter at Farpoint, The Arsenal of Freedom, The Best of Both Worlds, Genereations. That's it, to my recollection.

[Teaos]

Not really a lot. Almost not worth the effort of making it.