How powerful are Defiant pulse phasers?

[Gunner]

How do the pulses from these guns stack up against, say, photon torpedoes?

Just wondering.

In combat the Defiant seems to use the phasers as the primary combat weapon, while most other ships use torps.

[Grand Admiral Thrawn]

They are most likely weaker then the quantum torpedoes, other wise there'd be no point in having them. But they must be stronger then the E-Ds phasers.

[Grand Admiral Thrawn]

And off this thread goes!

[Howedar]

Just to jump-start this thread...


The hell they are! They are a. weaker than the E-D's phasers or b. stronger than quantum torpedos. You're so full of shit, GAT.

[Stravo]

They HAVE to be more powerful than a GCS phaser array. In "The Jem'Hadar" the Oddyssey fires and strikes the Dominion bugs several times with little or no damage. The Defiant in "The Search" several days later IIRC ONE pulse phaser salvo completely destroys a Jem'Hadar bug head on.

[Howedar]

Since we know that the Federation adapts their shielding to enemy weaponry to increase effectiveness, it seems reasonable to assume that they also tune their weapons to enemy defenses.


(in case somebody missed it, I am just trying to get a debate going here, I don't necessarily believe what I'm saying)

[Stravo]

Since we know that the Federation adapts their shielding to enemy weaponry to increase effectiveness, it seems reasonable to assume that they also tune their weapons to enemy defenses.


(in case somebody missed it, I am just trying to get a debate going here, I don't necessarily believe what I'm saying)

That's why I stressed that the Defiant went out a few days later, I don't think they had time to adjust their weapons to compensate for Dominion shields, besides its fairly clear that the Federation's technology had not adapted to the Dominion until the start of the Dominion war when they tried to take DS9.

[Robert Walper]

My estimates so far is severl gigatons per salvo...as an extreme lower limit.

[Cpt_Frank]

My estimates so far is severl gigatons per salvo...as an extreme lower limit.

derived from which incident exactly?

[Robert Walper]

My estimates so far is severl gigatons per salvo...as an extreme lower limit.

derived from which incident exactly?

I had hoped that it would be obvious I was joking...

[Cpt_Frank]

My estimates so far is severl gigatons per salvo...as an extreme lower limit.

derived from which incident exactly?

I had hoped that it would be obvious I was joking...

Whoops my bad. I guess with a it would've been more obvious.

[Robert Walper]

derived from which incident exactly?

I had hoped that it would be obvious I was joking...

Whoops my bad. I guess with a it would've been more obvious.

No problem. Besides, I was down playing...I meant teratons per salvo...

[BenRG]

It is difficult to make any clear judgements about the power of the Defiant's pulse phaser cannon. Simply put, there have been no incidents where the Defiant's guns have been used against a target whose physical properties are clearly known (like an asteroid or comet).

They are pretty powerful, that is clear. In several episodes, you see the Defiant pulverise Jem'Hadar fighters with two- or three-salvo attacks. As a rule of thumb, I assume that each of the Defiant's pulse cannon has the same output as a single GCS beam phaser blast. This gives the Defiant a normal forward attack power the same as four GCS strip phasers firing at a rate of 6 - 10 shots per second. That makes that li'l bulldog of a ship probably the most powerful warship in the currently active Starfleet, including the more recent designs like the Sovereign-, Prometheus-, Yeager- and Akria-class ships.

[Howedar]

Yet it couldn't beat up on an Excelsior. It can't be that powerful.

[BenRG]

Yet it couldn't beat up on an Excelsior. It can't be that powerful.

Well, to be fair, the crew of the Defiant were trying to avoid destroying what was a friendly starship. It shows a surprising level of sqeamishness for a bunch of service personnel (the Excelsior in question was supporting a millitary coup). Nonetheless, the engagement is only understandable in those terms: The Defiant was trying to get past the Excelsior, which was trying to stop them by any means neccessary.

However, the fact that the Defiant avoided crippling damage to the point where the captain of the Excelsior was ordered to use the far more powerful option of quantum torpedoes says a lot about the Defiant's basic toughness. However, TV drama being what it is, they couldn't afford to make it too one sided. I admit that I was hoping to see the Excelsior's bridge in flames in the last few scenes of the battle, and mabe a warp nacelle or two blown off their pylons...

[Kamakazie Sith]

However, the fact that the Defiant avoided crippling damage to the point where the captain of the Excelsior was ordered to use the far more powerful option of quantum torpedoes says a lot about the Defiant's basic toughness. However, TV drama being what it is, they couldn't afford to make it too one sided. I admit that I was hoping to see the Excelsior's bridge in flames in the last few scenes of the battle, and mabe a warp nacelle or two blown off their pylons...

That would require them to spend money......