Galaxy Class "Warp Core" problems?

[Teaos]

The Klingons at the time didnt have a ship that could take it on one on one.

And I agree with Graham that they had a bit of bad luck due to circumstances that it is not resonable to plan for.

It like when they built a bridge nowadays and say it can survive a level 8 earthquake. What about a level 9? The reason they stop at 8 is because that is were it is resonable to stop at. it could be hit with a 9 but the likely hood of that happening make it useless to build to that level.

Same reason why buildings arent built to with stand a 747 flying into them. Although it is possible it is unlikely.

[Captain Seafort]

The Klingons at the time didnt have a ship that could take it on one on one.

But they do have rough technological parity - to think that they could never build such a ship is stupidity far worse than anything the Feds have shown,

And I agree with Graham that they had a bit of bad luck due to circumstances that it is not resonable to plan for.

I don't really have a problem with the GCS warp core's tendency to blow up. It's the complete lack of a reliable ejection system that's the really stupid bit.

Same reason why buildings arent built to with stand a 747 flying into them. Although it is possible it is unlikely.

I don't know about modern buildings, but 70s buildings were designed to withstand 707 impacts (that being the largest aircraft existing or predicted at the time).

[Teaos]

To my knowledge the only modern buildings that even had a chance of withstanding a 747 was the twin towers and that was due to their steel beam construction which degraded due to the heat.

I suppose you could class the sauser seperation as a form of ejection since it gets the core away from the people.

[Captain Seafort]

Saucer separatio is a glorified lifeboat, which is even less suitable than the core ejection, since it not only requires several minutes to evacuate the engineering hull crew to the saucer, but is also an active system. This reliance on active systemsto safeguard the crew is the core of the problem - the default setting should be that the core is ejected unless active measures are taken to prevent it. Instead the reverse is true.

[Mikey]

I have to go with Seafort again. Without getting into the "warship or not" argument again, we can agree that the GCS was designed at least as a vehicle intended to be used in high-threat or high-danger scenarios. An integral part of designing the warp core and associated systems for such a ship is not only the raw power, but the survivability of it. If that was not thought of, then it's a poor design.

[Deepcrush]

I'm sorry all but the GCS was the worst design Starfleet ever came out with. The whole ship is slave rigged an requires that everything be working in order for anything to work. Its like the republic dreadnought from star wars. Requires to much crew, has to many failings and it isn't powerful enough to justify the cost. The uprated ones seem to hold their worth a little better but still have trouble matching the uprated nebula class. If you have a crew that large then their is no reason to have so many slave systems. That's the reason the excelsior class has such a large crew, no slave systems. The bridge doesn't have to physically control everything, it acts more like a command and control center. It can control everything normally does for greater response time but its needed to control everything. Each section can operate on its own. Yes I know that the GCS would wipe the floor with a normal excelsior but its the common sense of the design that makes me love it so much. That and my uprated excelsior took out Rochey's GCS.

[Captain Seafort]

The whole ship is slave rigged an requires that everything be working in order for anything to work.

So do all Starfleet ships - that's not a Galaxy-specific failing.

Its like the republic dreadnought from star wars. Requires to much crew, has to many failings and it isn't powerful enough to justify the cost.

You can't compare a Galaxy to a Dreadnaught. Dreadnaughts' crews are far larger than a Galaxy's, and more importantly the ship itself is a much more solid design. Weak compared to newer warships, but still nothing to sneeze at.

The uprated ones seem to hold their worth a little better but still have trouble matching the uprated nebula class.

We've never seen circumstances in which we can compare an uprated Galaxy with a Nebula. In "THe Wounded" they'd seemed pretty evenly matched, both taking out Galors without much trouble.

If you have a crew that large then their is no reason to have so many slave systems.

The problem with the Galaxy is that the crew's obviously too small, otherwise they wouldn't need the centralisation they obviously have. If the crew was large enough to operate the ship without the centralisation they would do.

That's the reason the excelsior class has such a large crew, no slave systems.

We've never really heard much about the Excelsior, so we can't say what it's complement is, or whether it shares the Galaxy's overcentralisation or not.

[Deepcrush]

Excelsior has a crew of around 700! On a ship that small? How would you figure it, also slave systems were mixed back then, watch ST3. The ships 'weren't built for slave control'.

[Mikey]

Your point is perfectly correct, Deep, but I don't think the slaved systems THEMSELVES are to blame - rather, the failing is the fact that those slaved systems are so damn inter-dependent. If they were isolated, and isolated redundant systems were incorporated, there would be far less problems.

[Sionnach Glic]

That and my uprated excelsior took out Rochey's GCS.

You're never going to let me forget that, are you?

[Thorin]

I think it's the various aspects of the warp core that are either safe or problematic. The actual power generation itself is fine - matter and anti-matter annhiliation, and no accidents happen where they simply escape the confines of the warp core. Problems include; one shot of a phaser against the warp core can blow up the ship and create a blast probably in the teraton or even petaton range. I mean they had a forcefield later on - but couldn't they have just had at least some armour? The coolant - loose that and the ship also blows up. Somehow this problem was fixed on the Sovereign [as the ship didn't blow up], but the fact that Data could smash the coolant pipe shows it's not armoured enough.

[Deepcrush]

That and my uprated excelsior took out Rochey's GCS.

You're never going to let me forget that, are you?

Never! Its a perfect point of form and function plus the use of skill added to luck!

[Sionnach Glic]

I clearly only lost becuase I was in the worst ship of all sci-fi.

[Deepcrush]

Sure, maybe my old girl is just that good! Or maybe you just under estimated the power of a Starfleet vessel that was built with common sense!

[Mikey]

I think it's the various aspects of the warp core that are either safe or problematic. The actual power generation itself is fine - matter and anti-matter annhiliation, and no accidents happen where they simply escape the confines of the warp core. Problems include; one shot of a phaser against the warp core can blow up the ship and create a blast probably in the teraton or even petaton range. I mean they had a forcefield later on - but couldn't they have just had at least some armour? The coolant - loose that and the ship also blows up. Somehow this problem was fixed on the Sovereign [as the ship didn't blow up], but the fact that Data could smash the coolant pipe shows it's not armoured enough.

I agree; the point that I, and I believe Seafort, was trying to make is that you can't ignore the associated systems when you discuss the fragility and lack of common sense of the warp core design.