Darth Spock wrote: So, Star Wars armor being any good at all, only proves that blasters suck? I think thats stretching it a bit. Yes phaser vs blaster, the phaser wins, but a blaster is still a deadly weapon, and I haven't seen any good evidence that Starfleet sports armor capable of tanking it.
Suck is a relative thing, the armors worn by Storm and Clone Troopers suck against arrows and spears in universe for example, they go right through it. The armors are designed to ablate and thereby cause the bolt to explode before reaching the wearer, but this isn't going to work well against a phaser which fires a beam that casually holes a humanoid.
It would be rather easy for the UFP to issue armor with plates in it as this is seen in the orbital skydiving suits.
Orbital Skydiving Suit(Voyager Extreme Risk)
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Orbital Skydiving Suit (Sulu Star Trek 2009)
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Darth Spock wrote: I'll take that line literally the day I accept that the Enterprise D's entire power system is incapable of producing more than a terawatt of power, per TNG S2:E10 The Dauphin.
Why Riker's statement about the output of the Enterprise-D's communication system in "The Dauphin" is perfectly in line with other statements concerning communications systems. The quote only stops making sense when you take it out of context.
What the armor is described doing in "Prey" is more a matter of miniaturizing various systems we commonly see in Star Trek then material strength, but that said, the plate would be made from something like centimeter thick tritanium or duranium which would laugh off blaster riffles.
Darth Spock wrote: Errr, no we don't agree. The special padded uniforms worn by Starfleet troopers may offer comparable protection to storm trooper armor, but absolutely nothing suggests that the standard crewman's duty uniform offers anything near combat level protection.
The title of the thread states 10 UFP Foot Soldiers, and that means armor, personal shields, type-3 phasers, photon grenades and tricorders, and that isn't scratching the special gear that they have like stealth suits.
So you want to withhold standard gear from Starfleet soldiers, and even throw the guys who aren't war fighters into the fray despite it not being their job? Even the sailors in Starfleet get light armor as standard. It doesn't make sense to force one side to be naked while the other gets armor.
Let's be fair since you refuse to use Starfleet ground/combat units against their Star Wars counter parts, we should use Imperial starship crews and vehicle pilots:
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Why are you arguing for Storm Troopers getting specially armored uniforms? The Imperial Naval uniforms and the uniforms issued to pilots aren't armored so why give the Storm Troopers special armor, because the SPECIAL gear is standard for them just like personal shield, type-3 phasers, armored uniforms, photon grenades, etc are standard for UFP soldiers.
This is basically what the OP states rthe Storm Troopers are facing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-_lrf44Gw0
Darth Spock wrote: True, she is not badly hurt, but the scorching is there. Also, albeit much harder to see, is evidence that a hole was burned through her sleeve. The first picture shows some redness on her arm, which appears to be skin, and too red for healthy unburned skin at that. The second picture shows wrinkling and puckering not belonging on an intact sleeve, indicating a hole in the fabric. Just out of curiosity, what kind of monitor do you use? I remember the difference in how everything looked when I finally upgraded my ten year old 1284x1024 monitor to a brighter 1600x900.
The fire was roughly on Dr.Crusher's elbow, and the discoloration that people seem to think is a burn is nearly on Dr.Crusher's shoulder.
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Darth Spock wrote: Impressive stuff that, but I understand it doesn't perform so well under compression, making it limited in usefulness in clothing, it also won't stop a laser, and I have never heard or seen any indication that Starfleet personnel are fireproof.
1) I said "like" for this reason, but real world aerogel isn't that far off.
https://technology.grc.nasa.gov/feature ... ogels.shtm
http://www.gizmag.com/polymer-aerogel-s ... asa/23955/
2) Blasters aren't L.A.S.E.R.s. They are more akin to bubbles that contain something like plasma, and when the bubble bursts the energy is released. Storm and Clone Trooper armor works by causing the bubble to burst before it gets too close to the person.
3) When was the last time you saw a Starfleet uniform lit on fire? What we normal see is Starfleet personnel suffering from something more akin to electrical shocks or burns to uncovered areas such as head or hands..
Darth Spock wrote: True, I might throw this side note in though while he has come up again, that unarmored Bajoran was still alive even after that blast, as you can hear his pained exclaiming for the duration of his fall....
I'd have to disagree with you there, or are you going to also claim Storm troopers lack armor? Just because it is soft does not make it a Bajoran uniform any less armored.
The over shirt is rather thick
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The undershirt is rather thin
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The uniforms worn by Starfleet naval personnel are similarly designed with the foot-soldiers having even more armor and even plate at times.
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Darth Spock wrote: Unless Burke tossed his battered helmet, gloves and extra pair of armored pants, I'm gonna guess a big bomb didn't go off in his face, but rather that he was shot or hacked at with a bat'leth. As for UFP grenades, I believe I already mentioned the remote possibility of storm troopers using their explosives. Neither side seems to use them, but the storm troopers versions are far more plentiful, guaranteed one per trooper.
1) He was laying down cover fire while the Klingons were trying to take down the hopper.
2) The damage doesn't look right for a blade to me.
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3) Since when do Storm Troopers have grenades? If they had grenades as standard we would have seen them at Endor, and lots of Ewoks would have died.
4) Armored pants aren't all that common in the real world. Most are trained to shoot center of mass as that's the largest target and where most of the vitals are.
Darth Spock wrote: Except we aren't. We are pitting Starfleet soldiers, like Burke, against Imperial troops. Starfleet does have a reasonable chance of winning, but their armor isn't going to be what does it. Their phasers are far more impressive than blasters, but they really offer little advantage under the circumstances set forth. Dead is dead, whether the enemy is lying there or "vaporized."
Tell me, who would win, if you take two parties, both equipped with type 2A body armor, the first group uses M 16's with 5.56×45mm NATO M995 armor piercing rounds,
the other with an AR-57 firing FN 5.7×28mm. The 5.56×45mm NATO M995 is a far more powerful bullet than the FN 5.7×28mm, but both are capable of penetrating type 2A body armor, and both are deadly. So who wins? Whoever deploys their troops better.
I'm simply going with the scenario put forth: 10 UFP foot soldiers against 10 storm troopers. Now, if you want to change it, make it 20 UFP soldiers against, say, 10 storm troopers and a couple of AT-ST's, I'd vote for the Fed's. No guarantee, but I doubt the chicken walker's armor is strong enough to tank phasers on max. Maybe it would take a few shots, or a few seconds of sustained fire, but I'd bet those basic weapons already have all the anti vehicle firepower they need built in. The scenario of 10 foot soldiers against 10 troopers just doesn't play to the stronger points of the Fed's arsenal.
The thread specifies UFP foot soldiers who are usually shown wearing armor and generally dressing in different uniforms then their sailor counterparts the shows and movies focus on.
Darth Spock wrote: -1. Even if we ignore the logical problems, and blindly assume that this suit lets the Alpha stroll around on a collapsed star, it's not Federation technology. It's the special suit of an alien race from the Delta quadrant about which little is known. It does not reflect the defenses normally employed by the Federation or any of the other major Alpha or Beta quadrant powers.
Hirogen armor is technology that Federation technology can defeat, and is made of better stuff then any clone or storm trooper's armor was ever made from.
Conversely, we often see blasters defeated by metal plates.
Darth Spock wrote: -2. Looking at the the implications of that brief statement, the Hirogen's body armor rivals the defensive capabilities of a Federation Starship. That doesn't jive with the rest the technological comparisons. Even if the Hirogens are technological and physical super beings, thats pushing it a bit. Hand phasers don't shred starship hulls.
Shielding isn't exactly as well defined as you seem to be making it out to be, and Hirogen are sportsmen so they may purposefully turn off systems to enhance the thrill of the hunt.
We know that special metaphasic shields are used by the Federation shuttles and capital ships to enter super-dense corona, but while the shielding is effective in both cases, there is no reason to assume the shuttle's shields are as powerful as the Enterprise-D's shields.
Darth Spock wrote: -3. -A. Scientifically, I can't wrap my head around what type of collapsed star would have a neutronium mantle. In neutron stars, neutronium, specifically neutron-degenerate matter, comprises the core, maintained by the intense gravity. Any form of "mantle," in the traditional sense of the word, would not be comprised of actual neutronium in the sense implied here. On top of this, the surface temperatures of neutron stars, even a white dwarf, are hot enough to not only melt, but vaporize silicon. So much for tracking a silicon-based life form on one, unless the prey too was sporting a super suit.
-B. Assuming it is some alternate version of an exotic, dead star, it may be one that has cooled and is no longer emitting such extreme radiation. Such circumstances better fit the dialogue in the episode "Prey," considering the statement was prompted by Chakotay's questioning if the Hirogen's armor could withstand rapid pressure fluctuations. To be comprised of neutronium, the extreme gravity this suit must endure is still a little hard to swallow but, even if this is the case, and the suit truly allows him to overcome such gravity and pressure extremes, it still has no bearing on the claims made here. Since phasers, and blasters, appear to utilize thermal and particle radiation, not gravity.
This is actually real world physics at work. Much like the Earth, neutron stars have layers that differ in composition. It would appea rthat the surface of a neutron star is composed of iron for example.
http://www.astro.umd.edu/~miller/nstar.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutron_star
It's really more a matter of miniaturizing technologies the Federation is shown to have rather then coming up with systems that are alien to the UFP.
Darth Spock wrote: To summarize, I find the likelihood of the Hirogen literally walking around through the caverns of a collapsed star hard to accept. A number of unknown circumstances could be in play here, we only have a brief statement made by proud hunter. I find the assertions a bit contradictory to the rest of Star Treks typical technological capabilities, at least in the Alpha quadrant. Under those circumstances, a Hirogen with a jet pack could defeat a Federation shuttle in battle. Given the resilience of the Hirogen ships to Voyager's weapons later on, then perhaps we are supposed to believe that Hirogen body armor really is that awesome, but even if we do, it is still not Federation armor, and shows a definite disparity between the two cultures defensive technologies. That a hand phaser manages to defeat his armor is indeed impressive, assuming it is truly that resilient, but as there is already little doubt as to a phasers ability to defeat storm trooper armor, the whole point becomes moot.
To use that vague and isolated incident as an example of what the Federation should be viewed as capable of, is as reasonable sifting through one of the many extreme low end examples there are to chose from. I hope that clarifies my response.
A millimeter of something like Star Trek Duranium or Tritanium showed be more then enough to stop a blaster, but it really won't help against a phaser.