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You're forgetting the fact that you're spreading the energy out over a massive area even if you're just firing at something a dozen metres away from the ship. You'd barely have the power left to scratch the paint on a fighter, let alone do any damage.

The wide beam phaser just doesn't seem like a good idea. Maybe something a little wider then normal but not a "halo" of one.

True i hadn't thought of output. perhaps you could use it almost in a searchlight fashion, a cone of fire outward?

That would still require massive amounts of energy for anything aproaching useful ranges.

i suppose.

I thought TOS used wide-angle phaser fire, although IIRC it was anti-personnel (stun) in nature.

They did? I don't recall it.

A Piece of the Action - Kirk used it to end a firefight, and impress the local bigwigs, by stunning all those involved. The affected area looked to have a diametre of about a dozen metres per beam, tops.

I was postulating that it may've been possible for the Federation/Klingon fleet to first defend the station and possibly cripple that particular Dominion fleet and then head to the shipyard and destroy it.

Upon further consideration I don't think I can say for certain whether that's a valid strategy.

I've always assumed that the Defiant joined up with the fleet just a few hours after leaving the station, but there's no evidence for this. It could've been 10 days for all I know--maybe it wouldn't have been logistically possible to defend the station and destroy the shipyard.

As to the importance of the shipyard it really depends on how many there are. If they destroyed 1 out of 400 shipyards then it doesn't make a big difference--but if it was 1 out of 2, that's another story altogether.

SteveK wrote:I was postulating that it may've been possible for the Federation/Klingon fleet to first defend the station and possibly cripple that particular Dominion fleet and then head to the shipyard and destroy it.

Upon further consideration I don't think I can say for certain whether that's a valid strategy.

The problem is that the operations would have had to be conducted simultaneously, to keep the Dominion from reinforcing the shipyards. While the presence of the Fed fleet would probably have been sufficient to hold DS9, and inflict heavier losses than in the original timeline, it would only have been enough to drive off the Dominion fleet, not destroy it. The Federation would also have suffered losses of its own, and so would have had to attack the shipyards in reduced strength, and with the remnants of the fleet from DS9 able to shadow them, provide early warning, and assist in the defence of the shipyards.

As to the importance of the shipyard it really depends on how many there are. If they destroyed 1 out of 400 shipyards then it doesn't make a big difference--but if it was 1 out of 2, that's another story altogether.

Weyoun's reaction implies that the loss of the shipyards was a significant blow to the Dominion.

While we can never know for sure we can assume there are only 3 or 4 ship yards.

I agree, the Cardassian resource problems and such point to a relatively low number, at least initially. They didn't seem to have a huge Fleet and they weren't that big so its possible they only had a couple though I would expect more to be built by the Dominion.

kostmayer wrote:They did do a good job or arming it to the teeth though.

I've always wanted to see one of those giant Federation Starbases in action.

Me too. Starbase 74, the most powerful in Starfleet, would REALLY kick a$$

The problem, however, stands - we have never seen a photon torpedo shot down. We have never even seen an attempt to shoot down a PT. This suggests that phasers simply aren't accurate enough to hit that small a target.

Yes we have seen a phaser destroy a torpedo. Hopefully I have the ep on DVD, so I can find the name.
It was either the "Paris Manourver" or "an old Maquis trick". At least I think it was then. May have been a different time.
Anyway, the ep had Voyager being followed, then voyager fired a torpedo and in between the ships and then destroyed the torpedo with a phaser. It disabled the ships. And this wasn't the Vidian episode.
I'll let you know when I find the name of the ep, or even beter, a clip.

I seem to remember a line in Star Trek II: WOK, during the first battle. Reliant fires a photon at the Enterprise, and Kirk orders all power to phasers, presumably to shoot down the torpedo. They didn't have enough time to do it, but it does suggest its at least possible.