Lets think about those examples, shall we?Robert Walper wrote:Except we have canon examples said hull can take an extremely impressive pounding and remain intact. But I leave the ball in Alyeska's court on that note, as he is far more versed on that specific issue than I am. I merely happen to agree with him.Gil Hamilton wrote:No, that would indicate extreme weakness in the Federation hull. It's extremely doubt that a spindly bug monster in zero gravity could do much of anything to much more claw at the surface of a metal plate. IIRC, it's arms don't have a much greater crosssection than a human arms, and since it's organic it can't be all that vastly stronger.Robert Walper wrote:Species 8472's ability to tear through hull plating and SIF fields is an indication of their enormous strength and durability, not weakness of Federation hulls.
Really, the ball is in your court to demonstrate that it's superstrengh on the part of the Bug Eyed Monster, not weakness in the hull. Really, a critter with millions of times the strength of a man despite similar arm size, a spindlier body, organic composition, the fact that the BEM was wounded at the time AND working without gravity as an anchor is a far more outrageous claim than really shitty materials on the part of the hull.
Cause and Effect - yeah, don't want to go there, do ya?
Jem'Hadar ramming examples covered on Mike's page - as said, covered. Not impressive.
Voyager crashing into ice. No one's covered this AFAIK
Generations - As was pointed out, visably we see little damage, but there were gaps in the hull when Data recovered Spot.
And the killer factor here - the difference in pressure. Claws = smaller cross section = increased pressure for force.
So no, does not show 8472 being all that great.