Only that lasers have evolved to Phasers doesn't necessary mean, that a laser has to be weaker than a phaser. There could have been other reasons for such an development.Praeothmin wrote:OK, W.I.L.G.A., I think it is clear that we will never agree on this.
But I will just state this for the last time:
In ST, lasers evolved to Phasers.
Why?
Who knows for sure...
For example could it have been necessary because a laser can only reach a speed of c and is therfore not convenient for battle with ships that can reach speeds faster than c.
It could be that such a development was necessary because a laser, that would only follow the geodesics of space-time, couldn't reach a ship that has distorted space-time to such an extent that it envelops the whole starship and by that creates a subspace bubble.
Let us assume that you are right and a only powerful enough laser could penetrate these space-time distortions. It could have been easier to develop a phaser, which is able to penetrate these space-time distortions - even if it is weak - than to develop a laser that is powerful enough for such an task. Maybe the phaser is simply more efficient than a laser. But a really powerfull laser could still do more damage than a weak phaser.
The fact that Starfleet has first used lasers and has then developed phasers has only a very limited relevance because we don't know the background.
Hear your own word: "you are pretty sure." That still leaves room for doubts - as I understand it.But if you face a ship that is using older technology, technology that you don't use anymore because you've evolved past it, and you are pretty sure that no ship the size of that old hunk of junk you're facing could even have Phasers as pôwerful as those of the E-D, would you consider its lasers capable of producing the necessary power to pose a threat?
I wouldn't!
As I have said, it would be a very likely that the civilication that uses lasers as armament is not so advanced in its weapon technology as a civilication that use phasers.
But it could also mean, that the civilications hasn't done the step to using phasers but has developed stronger lasers. Lasers that are able to penetrate space-time distortions, if that would be possible at all. It's maybe unlikely but possible.
Maybe it has developed a technology that allows it to store a lot of energy in a kind of accumulator and is storing that energy over years on their homeplanet in such accumulators. And they equip their ship with these accumulators like we today equip our ship with rockets. In a battle, they are using the energy of that accumulator to power up a laser, like a rocket could be fired even from a non-war-ship.
Alone the fact that the ship is small, has no relevance for a possible ability to store energy, that was "created" before with maybe extraordinary costs, in accumulators.
Such a system doesn't have to be advanced. It could be a very inefficient system compared to a phaser. But it could be enough to create a very powerful laser shoot.
It may be unlikely but it is possible. And a civilication that is still pining their hopes on lasers could have advanced them to a level that they are effective against possible threats.
All that is possible and Picard couldn't know with certainty, how strong or how weak the lasers of that ship could get.
Maybe it was very unlikely that they could produce a really powerful laser shoot. But he could have asked to be sure, before he has given the order to drop the main shields. It wouldn't have been a problem or a relevant delay.
- Picard:
But in your interpretation, he has based his faith only on the look of that ship and the fact that it is equipped with lasers (without having any further specifications of that ship and without really knowing how strong these lasers could get).
I know, sometimes one has to take a risk. But not if it is unproblematic possible to reduce the risk. One single question would have been enough.
If a only powerful enough lasers could penetrate the navigation shield - and he couldn't with reasonable certainty exclude the possibiliy that they are able to create such a powerful laser, he would have asked to be as sure as possible.
The fact that he has not asked, allows the interpretation, that he has known, that the power of a laser is irrelevant.
But it is also possible, that he has seen the ship and has heard that it is equipped with lasers and has thought that such a small ship could unlikely create a laser that could be powerful enough to penetrate the navigation shield. By ordering to drop the main shields, he has decided to ignore the small possibility that it could be possible that it could create a powerful laser by for example using accumulators.
It's possible. But I'm not convinced. He could have excluded even that small risk by asking Worf or Data or looking at the specification of that ship himself.
Lasers using visible spectrum of light are still invisible. Your can see only, if light is getting in your eye. But all photons of a laser are flying together only straight in one direction. No photon of a laser beam will make a 90 degree turn and will fly in your eye.Heck, it didn't deflect the Borg's lasers (they were stated as lasers, and lasers using a visible spectrum of light are still lasers)...
When you are seeing a laser in air, you aren't really seeing the laser. What you see is a molecule that was hit by photons of the laser and by that excited what results in a molecule that is emitting omnidirectional light. The part of that light, that is flying in your eye, is allowing you to see that molecule. But you don't see the laser, even if it is using a visible spectrum of light - unless the laser is directed in your eye.
And in vacuum, there are no by a laser beam excited molecules that are emitting omnidirectional light that could partly get in your eye so that you could see them. If you see somthing like a beam in vacuum, it is never ever a laser beam.
The Borg weapons can not be a laser. It may have similar properties of a laser at contact with its target and that's maybe why they have called it a laser for lack of a better term. But it is no laser.