Page 1 of 1

Best Occultation Technology

Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2019 4:50 pm
by WhiteLion
Hi everyone, I was wondering among the various scifi series that you saw what you think is the best concealment technology. They can be seen motle in the various series, but many are so to speak "discoveries" using more or less fortuitous escamotage. At this point I ask you which are the most noteworthy?
For my part I would like to mention the Scimitar of the fim Nemesis and the Subspace Submarine of the Yamato 2199 series.

I mention both because the Scimitar is cited to have perfect concealment, and even the crew of the enterprise-E had to resort to more spaceships and an omnidirectional fire to detect it.

I would like to mention the Subspacial Submarine because it literally plunges into subspace and can retreat without emerging. Its only weak point is the periscope which despite being small in size must still re-emerge from subspace.

Re: Best Occultation Technology

Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2019 1:46 am
by 2046
Cool thread, though at first I was all "what Lovecraftian claptrap now?" ;-)

The Scimitar's cloak was impressive, in principle. At their best, Trek sensors can spot the itchy nerve signals on the behind of a gnat light-years away. But "perfect" is a function of the sensors and their operator more than anything . . . or plot. One would've expected things like space dust displacement to be observable, for instance. That's how they snared the Stargazer.

Re: Best Occultation Technology

Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2019 6:01 pm
by WhiteLion
I agree, the perfect term is appropriate only to the film, clearly if the scimitar was found against another ship of a future time, such as an enterprise j, then surely it would have been detected, better sensors, besides the technology of the scimitar would be it was no longer a novelty and would have been better understood, thus exposing flaws in the system that it was not possible to find in Nemesis.

Re: Best Occultation Technology

Posted: Sun Sep 08, 2019 11:34 pm
by Darth Spock
WhiteLion wrote:
Tue Sep 03, 2019 4:50 pm
I mention both because the Scimitar is cited to have perfect concealment, and even the crew of the enterprise-E had to resort to more spaceships and an omnidirectional fire to detect it.
In theory it's "perfect" within the confines of the plot, but if you really wanted to be harsh with "reality" then the omnidirectional fire trick is basically just energy intensive radar. What's the power threshold before a beam begins to observably "interact" with the target? Why not sweep a large area with wide beam stun? Once the general location is determined, all advantage should be lost.
I would like to mention the Subspacial Submarine because it literally plunges into subspace and can retreat without emerging. Its only weak point is the periscope which despite being small in size must still re-emerge from subspace.
Now this intrigues me. Sounds a bit like Star Trek's "Houdini" mines from AR-558, or the subspace warheads in Voyager "Human Error." Although they found ways of uncovering them in both episodes, that was only against automated systems, and their detection abilities were still limited. I'm curious, did the Yamato 2199 variant include actual protection from weapon interactions, or just from detection?

Re: Best Occultation Technology

Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 12:48 am
by WhiteLion
The ship was physically in subspace, it was not just for surveying, in fact the firing torpedoes had to re-emerge from subspace to hit targets, just like the periscope. In the animated series they succeeded in finding the periscope that emerged and consequently destroying it blinded the ship.

Re: Best Occultation Technology

Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 5:07 am
by Darth Spock
Very impressive. If they had multiple periscopes to deploy, and if they could be quickly repaired/replaced in between engagements that would be a very formidable vessel. Most "super ships" aren't that practical, but that would be a legitimate game changer. At least until very specific countermeasures could be developed.