STVI Questions

[Captain Picard's Hair]

You know, it feels like it's been ages since I've started a Trek related thread. There was a time when about 537% of my posting was starting threads but lately I've gotten more mileage out of replying. On the other hand, I've been engaged in a broader range of more varied personal and political and other threads in that time also, and feel like I'm more "in the community" and a more colorful personality here than I may have been at first, so it all balances out.

Also, it's 3 am and I should be asleep.

But I digress...

Spock describes the neutron surge from Chang's BoP as "enormous." Granted that the BoP at the time was close enough to smell Kirk's underpants, but its clear that that cloak is at least partially transparent to the things neutron emissions, and the sensors on Starships are meant to be able to detect a fly from a thousand light years away. Couldn't Ent have triangulated the BoPs position from her neutron emissions? I know Kirk said that by the time they detect the neutrons "we're ashes," but I'm asking why.

And secondly if the torpedo actually worked by sniffing the BoPs tailpipe, why did it strike at the fore of the BoP rather than her aft?

[kostmayer]

And secondly if the torpedo actually worked by sniffing the BoPs tailpipe, why did it strike at the fore of the BoP rather than her aft?

Well, I don't think we actually saw the torpedo hit from the front, you just saw it approaching on the view screen - the viewscreen could have been showing a reverse angle.

Can't think of any reason why the radiation surge can't be detected from further away though.

[Captain Seafort]

The issue of the radiation surge can be explained by the inverse squared law. As you say, the BoP was right underneath the E-A - close enough that Kronos One's sensors couldn't differentiate the origin point of the torpedoes from the E-A's location. It was probably within a few metres of the hull, and given that most Trek battles occur at ranges of kilometres, the intensity of the surge at combat ranges would only be a fraction of that at the time of the Ktonos One attack.

As for the torpedo, it would have homed in on the exhaust from the direction it was launched from, including looking straight through the cloaked BoP.

[Captain Picard's Hair]

The issue of the radiation surge can be explained by the inverse squared law. As you say, the BoP was right underneath the E-A - close enough that Kronos One's sensors couldn't differentiate the origin point of the torpedoes from the E-A's location. It was probably within a few metres of the hull, and given that most Trek battles occur at ranges of kilometres, the intensity of the surge at combat ranges would only be a fraction of that at the time of the Ktonos One attack.

As for the torpedo, it would have homed in on the exhaust from the direction it was launched from, including looking straight through the cloaked BoP.

I am well aware of the inverse square law, but sensor tech in Trek has detected fine details about ships from distances much greater than in the Khitomer battle. Even in Balance of Terror, the Enterprise tracked the destruction of Earth stations from across the sector.

[Captain Seafort]

I am well aware of the inverse square law, but sensor tech in Trek has detected fine details about ships from distances much greater than in the Khitomer battle. Even in Balance of Terror, the Enterprise tracked the destruction of Earth stations from across the sector.

How did they do it though? The BoT case, for example, could have been a case of assuming (reasonably, and correctly) that the stations had been destroyed when their transmissions (emergency beacons maybe) stopped. As for the others, a starship would reflect active sensors, unlike the BoP which would be detectable only by passive emissions, and doing all it could to minimise those emissions.

[Aaron]

How did they do it though? The BoT case, for example, could have been a case of assuming (reasonably, and correctly) that the stations had been destroyed when their transmissions (emergency beacons maybe) stopped. As for the others, a starship would reflect active sensors, unlike the BoP which would be detectable only by passive emissions, and doing all it could to minimise those emissions.

That is exactly what happens. Spock tells Kirk over the chapel intercom that one of the outposts has gone silent.

[Mikey]

As to the angle of the torp's attack, Seafort's right - IR-guided air-to-air missiles don't always hit the target aircraft right in the afterburner.

[Captain Picard's Hair]

Very well, the distinction is noted and I suppose we can then take it as canon that the passive scanning capabilities of starships is limited.

If the torp detected the impulse emissions through cloaked ship, that'd be a cruel irony (to the Klingons)!

[Lazar]

Now why is it that the torpedoes in STVI were able to penetrate shields?

[Mikey]

If you're referring to Chang's BoP, IIRC Klingon and Romulan ships at that time couldn't have shields up while cloaked. When the de-cloaked, there was probably enough damage done to interfere with the shields.

[Lazar]

No, I mean the way that the Klingon torpedoes struck the Enterprise and the Excelsior directly on the hull, even though they made references to having shields up.

[Mikey]

Oh. Dunno, then.

[Lazar]

It was probably because it looked much cooler than just having them bounce off the shields.

[Sonic Glitch]

No, I mean the way that the Klingon torpedoes struck the Enterprise and the Excelsior directly on the hull, even though they made references to having shields up.

"She's packing quite a wallop!" <-- The only explanation we ever got.

[Captain Seafort]

No, I mean the way that the Klingon torpedoes struck the Enterprise and the Excelsior directly on the hull, even though they made references to having shields up.

Simple - they were hitting hull-hugging shields, not the hull. Note that through most of the battle only superficial external damage was visible, and it was only after Scotty's warning that the shields were collapsing that serious structural damage occured - the torp that punched a hole through the saucer.