Vor'Cha question...

[Frank Hipper]

Has there ever been any explanation as to why the Vor'cha class has that ridiculously over-sized disruptor emitter in the bow? It never seemed proportionately powerful.

[Vympel]

Is it a bolt, or a beam? When I saw it fired, it was a bolt.

The stupid thing couldn't even damage a shielded BoP.

[Kamakazie Sith]

Is it a bolt, or a beam? When I saw it fired, it was a bolt.

The stupid thing couldn't even damage a shielded BoP.

However, it destroyed an unshielded BoP with one hit.

It's at least as powerful as a GCS main phasers.

It's also been seen used with both beams and bolts.

[seanrobertson]

Has there ever been any explanation as to why the Vor'cha class has that ridiculously over-sized disruptor emitter in the bow? It never seemed proportionately powerful.

Compared to what, Mr. Hipper?

It's actually a very nasty weapon. It was able to do minor damage through a 300m long Bird-of-Prey style battlecruiser's shields. Single bolts were seen to have blown away Galors in "SoA."

Compare the former to the E-D's 5 torpedo spread against another K'Vort in "Yesterday's Enterprise." No actual damage was done to the Bird itself; Data reported "only moderate damage to their forward shields." This was after a phaser strike or two.

Compare the latter to the two GCSs in "SoA," which easily disabled a Galor but didn't blow her away outright.

I grant that these examples don't deal with inert objects; i.e., that you can destroy a ship by hitting it in the G-spot, in effect ignoring shields, armor, etc. altogether. It is also possible that a V'C disruptor causes more damage to a shielded target than photorps because disruptors themselves "slip" past the shields to some extent.

Ultimately, however, the effects are what we're concerned with...and so far as I know, when someone attempts to demonstrate that the V'C disruptor is mostly bark, little bite, that person will also have to deal with some highly subjective examples.

The V'C firing on Defiant in "WoTW" is definitely not a good indication of the former's firepower, for example. The Klingons wanted the Detapa Council handed over to them, probably for interrogation before execution.
They continued to demand this even after the D returned to DS9; thus, the Klingons were probably not doing their best to destroy Defiant outright. They definitely thought twice about fighting a mere five or six Federation starships later in the episode, despite the fact that the Klingons outnumbered them probably a dozen to one, so it wasn't a matter of the Klingons fearing defeat; rather, they were worried about making diplomatic matters worse with the Federation, as in provoking war.

Another note: The Klings seemed to hold back in destroying Dukat's/the Council's ship, the Prakesh, before Defiant arrived. Only one of three Birds bothered with it at once, and that Bird fired at the ship's backbone, perhaps the most heavily armored area on the ship. (It'd be farthest away from the engines and most of the exhaust grilles from the power core.) They instead elected to slowly cripple Prakesh, taking out its shields and weapons, and were probably going to let the crew of the nearby Vor'cha send boarding parties when it arrived on the scene. This would indicate they wanted the Council alive and, hence, would likely have not have destroyed Defiant for the same reason.