The type 2 phaser - what were they thinking?

[Sionnach Glic]

That sounds [rather unlikely.

[Graham Kennedy]

Doesn't it just?

Why such advanced things as smart cloth probably won't be invented for decades and decades. Maybe even centuries.

[Sionnach Glic]

Fair point.

[Mikey]

There might be minimum ranges for acquisition; such a targetting device may be bypassed manually because it affects ROF or output, or somesuch.

[Captain Seafort]

Or there simply isn't any such automation. If there were you'd expect to see phaser beams chasing people round the battlefield, and to go after friendlies when they're closer to the firer than the enemy is. I think the off-angle firing is better explained as a fixed down angle (perhaps adjustable in the same way that modern weapons are zeroed) to make aiming easier.

[Graham Kennedy]

Or there simply isn't any such automation.

Certainly a possibility.

If there were you'd expect to see phaser beams chasing people round the battlefield,

Only if people fired long bursts, which they tend not to. And only when the targeting system was working.

and to go after friendlies when they're closer to the firer than the enemy is.

Modern targeting systems are starting to include systems that don't target friendly forces, aren't they?

I think the off-angle firing is better explained as a fixed down angle (perhaps adjustable in the same way that modern weapons are zeroed) to make aiming easier.

There are occasions when a phaser beam slews around, changing angles during firing, you know.

[Captain Seafort]

There are occasions when a phaser beam slews around, changing angles during firing, you know.

There are? Do you have any examples?

[Graham Kennedy]

I seem to recall we see it in Too Short a Season, when they cut through the wall in the underground caverns.

[stitch626]

I think we also saw it occur in... can't remember name, the one with the weapons dealer planet where Data (I think) was frozen and Yar and Riker used a wide beam to melt the ice.
With the adapting weapon drones... does anyone know which one I'm refering to?

[Captain Seafort]

Hmm. Looking at the screencaps on Trekcore it seems to me more that the angle of the beams are remaining constant but Worf and Tasha are moving their arms to cut the hole. Nonetheless it's difficult to tell from stills, so I'll concede that incident until such time as I can find a proper shot of the scene.

Overall though, I can't really see solid evidence one way or the other regarding "tracking phasers" in the sense of the beam angling after opponents. I reiterate that a simple up/down angle (possibly field-adjustable by the user, given the TSAS shots above) is more likely (and certainly more sensible) than such an active system that would risk locking on to friendlies (as you say - even if such a system exists it's far from perfect) and would be vulnerable to jamming. Then again, this is Starfleet.

[kostmayer]

I think we also saw it occur in... can't remember name, the one with the weapons dealer planet where Data (I think) was frozen and Yar and Riker used a wide beam to melt the ice.
With the adapting weapon drones... does anyone know which one I'm refering to?

Arsenal of Freedom? - Riker gets encased in an energy field and Data releases him with a Phaser (using a wide beam). There's a scene before where he's phaser sweeping the encasement with his Phaser - he's moving his phaser up and down but the beam does seem to move more then it should.

[stitch626]

Oh. Well, that was the one I was thinking of. To bad my memory was a little off.

[kostmayer]

Mine too, I just had the episode to hand and went to check

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

]

World War III, FTL travel and alien contact occur within the same decade. Pretty mind-altering, there. And sex... *Looks at Kirk* That hasn't gone away!

What i'm saying is you cannot change what makes us human in the space of 3 centuries. We've come through two world wars, and they have not either of the three mentioned have done nothing. If anything, the Alien contact probably strengthened our ways because we would feel slightly threatened by the alien concepts.

I like to think it brought out the best in humanity, actually.

[Mark]

Exactly. Which is why phasers have stun settings.