# Canon/Fanon reason why weapons miss in Star Trek **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 16, 2014, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canon-fanon-reason-why-weapons-miss-in-star-trek/683809 "2014-03-16T01:40:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2014, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canon-fanon-reason-why-weapons-miss-in-star-trek/683809/61 "2014-03-17T18:32:31Z")
There is a “cocking” done on rifles in Insurrection. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2014, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canon-fanon-reason-why-weapons-miss-in-star-trek/683809/62 "2014-03-17T18:55:09Z")
Are those long guns rifled so the beam spins for better accuracy? ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2014, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canon-fanon-reason-why-weapons-miss-in-star-trek/683809/63 "2014-03-17T19:47:23Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force. [Bugs Bunny] Of course, you know, this means war![BB] ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2014, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canon-fanon-reason-why-weapons-miss-in-star-trek/683809/64 "2014-03-18T19:51:56Z")
> [@nevadaexile](#): > > I’m a fan of Star Trek. > > That being said, I realize that it it is a childishly naive view of a future that will never be. Roddenberry demonstrated a profound ability to completely ignore human nature in favor of overarching themes which conflict with one another inside his own universe… > Perhaps you see things differently and that would be your opinion of it. > We’ll just have to disagree about your views and leave it at that. No one’s disagreeing with your opinion. Just with your definition of the term “fanon.” ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2014, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canon-fanon-reason-why-weapons-miss-in-star-trek/683809/65 "2014-03-18T20:39:13Z")
> [@Kenm](#): > > Are those long guns rifled so the beam spins for better accuracy? This is actually my fanwank for why phasers can’t be swept, and why they are so easy to dodge. Think about having all of this concentrated energy, enough to vaporize a building, packed in such a small handheld unit. To restructure the energy into a beam, one has to of course take advantage of circular polarization to cancel out any non-axis emissions. This induces a massive gyroscopic moment to the phaser, rendering it fixed in space and motionless while the beam is emitting. Worf at his strongest couldn’t adjust the aim while it is being fired. It also ends up being highly inaccurate since a handheld pistol can’t be adequately collimated, like a .38 snubnose revolver, so hitting a target more than 10’ away is more luck than skill. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2014, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canon-fanon-reason-why-weapons-miss-in-star-trek/683809/66 "2014-03-19T01:50:57Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Vernor Vinge, in The Peace War, posited the ability to create force field bubbles (called “bobbles”) that were essentially impenetrable, and time stopped inside them. A “cute” way to get rid of someone was to encase him in one, and let a few centuries go by. > > I asked him once why not simply use one to cut someone in half. He said, “That isn’t the kind of story I want to tell.” I’m not sure that’s a fair criticism. The megalomaniacs who took over the world with bobbles thought they \*were \*killing their victims. They didn’t know about time stopping, or even that the bobbles would eventually degrade (after ~50 years actually). They assumed that whoever was inside would eventually suffocate and in any case would never be seen again, so why bother trying to aim well enough to chop someone in half? For Star Trek, if I were the fan-wanker, I’d wank that Deflector Shields made phasars miss the ships. Sure, it didn’t look like a ricochet like I’d expect, but that’s because I just don’t understand how the shields work. Maybe they deflect all the way back to the source … probably using phase-planar-transition physics or suchlike! ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2016, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canon-fanon-reason-why-weapons-miss-in-star-trek/683809/67 "2016-07-14T15:11:22Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Vernor Vinge, in The Peace War, posited the ability to create force field bubbles (called “bobbles”) that were essentially impenetrable, and time stopped inside them. A “cute” way to get rid of someone was to encase him in one, and let a few centuries go by. > > I asked him once why not simply use one to cut someone in half. He said, “That isn’t the kind of story I want to tell.” If you just wanted to cut someone in half, you could just use a saw. > [@Kenm](#): > > Are those long guns rifled so the beam spins for better accuracy? I presume a rifle is more stable for aiming than a pistol. Also, they are bigger which means they hold more laser juice or whatever. > [@Greg Charles](#): > > For Star Trek, if I were the fan-wanker, I’d wank that Deflector Shields made phasars miss the ships. I’d wank that over millions of miles distance between the ships, various things like fluxuations in space, gravity lensing effects, dust, distortions caused by the deflector shields or warp engines, even imperfections in the weapons systems and their optics could cause ships to miss. That is, of course, if ships in Star Trek didn’t just pull up and engage with each other at ranges of a few hundred meters. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2016, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canon-fanon-reason-why-weapons-miss-in-star-trek/683809/68 "2016-07-14T15:20:18Z")
> [@Kenm](#): > > Why couldn’t they lob nukes at each other? Didn’t an original series episode have Enterprise trying to flee an approaching alien nuke? Aren’t photon torpedos anti-matter bombs of some sort? ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2016, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canon-fanon-reason-why-weapons-miss-in-star-trek/683809/69 "2016-07-14T15:59:24Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Final thought: How come Archer’s _Enterprise_-NX had phaser cannons, but Pike’s NCC-1701 was still using lasers? :dubious: I remembered watching _Enterprise_ when it first came out and they specified that they were “phase” weapons and not phasers though I am not sure what the difference is in this case. Other than it’s “before phasers” of course. > **[Enterprise (NX-01)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_(NX-01))** > > Enterprise (NX-01) is the fictional spaceship that serves as the primary setting of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: Enterprise. The ship predates the other Starfleet ships named Enterprise and was first seen in the pilot episode "Broken Bow". Its missions included an initial period of deep space exploration and a mission into the Delphic Expanse following the Xindi attack on Earth; it was also instrumental in the formation of the United Federation of Planets with the Vul... ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2016, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canon-fanon-reason-why-weapons-miss-in-star-trek/683809/70 "2016-07-14T16:25:51Z")
In TNG they’re occasionally shown using flashlights (“torches” to you Brits) which is dumbfounding considering we already have night vision goggles, and in fifty years or so we’ll probably be able to fit all the capabilities of LaForge’s visor into a pair of sunglasses. And although it’s a beloved feature of classic science fiction, “disintegrators” are flatly impossible. The mass of your target would either have to simply cease to exist, or be blown into a huge cloud of smoke and steam. A realistic disintegrator would pulverize a person into something resembling a large lump of bloody hamburger. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2016, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canon-fanon-reason-why-weapons-miss-in-star-trek/683809/71 "2016-07-14T16:39:53Z")
But what would a disintegrator do to a Zombie? Maybe it puts so much of some as-yet undiscovered energy into the target that it just bumps it directly into another phase of matter, like gas or plasma? Still, yeah, you’d think that unless the energy was being sumped somewhere, it would still have to result in some kind of spectacular light and sound show, if not a Gallagher show. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2016, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canon-fanon-reason-why-weapons-miss-in-star-trek/683809/72 "2016-07-14T17:45:09Z")
Historically, people in a battle try to not kill one another. Only something like one in three or four actually fires their weapon and only 2% fire their weapon to kill, rather than just to scare off their opponent. Of the 2%, most are either psychopaths or people who had to be the head of the household at an early age and have a “protective spirit” towards their fellow soldiers. (Source: [Lindybeige on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zViyZGmBhvs)) If the people in the future are all the descendants of genetically modified creatures, and live in a world of plenty, then there would be no one who is psychopathic nor anyone who had a hard life growing up. It could be that in the Star Trek universe, the “militaristic” Klingons are effectively as war-mongering as Canada, but seem ferocious compared to the average Human. Basically, Star Trek is the universe as populated by varying levels of ninny. They miss on purpose. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2016, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canon-fanon-reason-why-weapons-miss-in-star-trek/683809/73 "2016-07-14T20:16:40Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > They don’t. Actual engagements all seem to happen at sublight speeds. Warp maneuvers during combat are unusual–recall Picard’s Maneuver. Reference “Elaan of Troius”: _“Aye, we’ll have as much a chance as a garbage scow against a warp-driven starship!”_ _“We’ll pivot at warp two and bring all tubes to bear!”_ ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2016, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canon-fanon-reason-why-weapons-miss-in-star-trek/683809/74 "2016-07-14T21:03:13Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > And although it’s a beloved feature of classic science fiction, “disintegrators” are flatly impossible. The mass of your target would either have to simply cease to exist, or be blown into a huge cloud of smoke and steam. A realistic disintegrator would pulverize a person into something resembling a large lump of bloody hamburger. Treknology uses transtators to produce macro-scale quantum effects. The disintegration effect of Federation weapons is caused by the particles of the target painted by the visible beam tunneling away to distant locations. Effectively, there _is_ a cloud of dust and steam, it’s just so spread out that it’s not visible. This is based on my purely head-canon explanation of what the hell a transtator is. I’d link to the thread where we talked about it, but that’s what led to this zombie rising. (At least, I assume **msmith537** followed my reference link from the evasive maneuvers thread and posted without realizing this thread was old.) > [@terentii](#): > > Reference “Elaan of Troius”: > > _“Aye, we’ll have as much a chance as a garbage scow against a warp-driven starship!”_ > > _“We’ll pivot at warp two and bring all tubes to bear!”_ We talked about this a couple of [years](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17199692&postcount=47) [ago](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17199444&postcount=32) in this thread. I don’t know if you were satisfied with my answer, but we moved on to discussing photon torpedo construction without further comment. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2016, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canon-fanon-reason-why-weapons-miss-in-star-trek/683809/75 "2016-07-14T21:42:17Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > We talked about this a couple of [years](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17199692&postcount=47) [ago](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17199444&postcount=32) in this thread. I don’t know if you were satisfied with my answer, but we moved on to discussing photon torpedo construction without further comment. Wow! Two years ago! Holy crap! :eek: My bad for not reading farther this evening. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2016, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canon-fanon-reason-why-weapons-miss-in-star-trek/683809/76 "2016-07-14T21:43:57Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Historically, people in a battle try to not kill one another. Only something like one in three or four actually fires their weapon and only 2% fire their weapon to kill, rather than just to scare off their opponent. Of the 2%, most are either psychopaths or people who had to be the head of the household at an early age and have a “protective spirit” towards their fellow soldiers. (Source: [Lindybeige on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zViyZGmBhvs)) This sounds a bit close to the ideas of Marshall and Grossman—[not without their critics,](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=536561) it should be noted, as a caveat. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canon-fanon-reason-why-weapons-miss-in-star-trek/683809/77 "2016-07-15T01:51:42Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Recall also “The Changeling,” where NOMAD’s energy bolts travel at warp 15. **WTF?!?** :eek: In “That Which Survives”, the Enterprise briefly hit warp 13 when the engines’ safeties were sabotaged. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canon-fanon-reason-why-weapons-miss-in-star-trek/683809/78 "2016-07-15T15:22:00Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > It took the Cylons some 50 years, and a \*\*\*\* load of infiltration to pull that off. > > Same with ID4…with less infiltration, we didn’t sleep with the aliens in that one. > > Though your post did make me think of a nit I hadn’t seen before. The command code shown in Wrath of Khan? It might as well be 1-2-3-4-5. That’s the kind of thing an idiot would have on his luggage! ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canon-fanon-reason-why-weapons-miss-in-star-trek/683809/79 "2016-07-15T15:37:11Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > This sounds a bit close to the ideas of Marshall and Grossman—[not without their critics,](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=536561) it should be noted, as a caveat. :dubious: I feel like even if that phenomenon were true, it doesn’t apply to advanced space warships firing computer-targeted energy weapons. Humans may have an aversion to shooting other humans. They don’t have an aversion to telling a computer to target a metal object thousands of miles away. > [@by Lumpy](#): > > This is based on my purely head-canon explanation of what the hell a transtator is. I’d link to the thread where we talked about it, but that’s what led to this zombie rising. (At least, I assume msmith537 followed my reference link from the evasive maneuvers thread and posted without realizing this thread was old.) I may have opened this thread after sling-shotting around the sun at warp speed and didn’t realize I traveled back in time. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canon-fanon-reason-why-weapons-miss-in-star-trek/683809/80 "2016-07-15T18:27:08Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > I feel like even if that phenomenon were true, it doesn’t apply to advanced space warships firing computer-targeted energy weapons. Humans may have an aversion to shooting other humans. They don’t have an aversion to telling a computer to target a metal object thousands of miles away. Genetically modified humans? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canon-fanon-reason-why-weapons-miss-in-star-trek/683809.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canon-fanon-reason-why-weapons-miss-in-star-trek/683809.md?page=5)