What's the point of phasers when a regular gun can kill people?

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: dighn
regular guns don't have 100% safe stun mode
phasers are pretty damn powerful on maximum setting
bullets are boring

dunno why the borg is defenseless against kinetic attacks

They didn't adapt to the attack yet?

 

[MrDudeMan]

Originally posted by: tweakmm
The only thing I can't believe more than the responses in this thread is the fact that I read them all.

LMFAO i thought the same thing!

 

[dighn]

Originally posted by: yowolabi
The Borg didn't have physical shields because the people they fought didn't carry physical weapons. The Borg weren't morons, they simply prepared for the enemy's style of fighting. If the federation made it a habit to use guns, then the Borg would certainly have been prepared for them, and a phaser would have been the suprise that got through.

you'd think they would have encountered enough projectile/blunt force/slashing weapons in their quest to know that such primitive attacks can foil their plans and choose to equip some kind of basic protection against those. after all shields in the ST universe can stop physical attacks just fine. it's probably due to their evidently very bad threat assessment abilities (ie plot hole).

 

[Bateluer]

Something to think about too.

You can't replicate a charged phaser, or any other energy weapon in Star Trek. You can create energy from a replicator.
But, you can replicate a loaded gun because the chemical compounds themselves don't contain energy themselves.

The Borg hadn't encountered chemical weapons in a long time, usually considering those species too primitive to assimilate. If you were to continue to use chemical weapons against the Borg, they would adapt to it as well.

 

[KeithP]

You are incorrect.

In every episode/movie where the Borg was present they did use phasers to kill them at some point. It is just that the Borg were able to adapt their energy shields rather quickly to neutralize phasers as a threat.

The scene in the hollowdeck where machine guns were used to kill the Borg was a brief incident. There is no reason to believe that the Borg would not have quickly adapted their shields to block bullets if the crew had tried to continue to use guns as weapons.

-KeithP

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: Analog
Phasors don't always leave a body (old trek)

:evil:

 

[SagaLore]

You guys have no idea what you're talking about when it comes to the borg.

Had Picard continued to use a machine gun against the borg, they would have adapted. The first time they used phasers at a particular frequency, they also were able to hit the borg.

 

[imported_Imp]

I always had this question after watching First Contact with Picard in the holodeck and worf going melee. Guess they would adapt to bullets since in one Voyager epidode with the really advanced borg from the Doctor's mobile-emitter and Seven was bouncing other borg right off him just by touching.

 

[dighn]

Originally posted by: SagaLore
You guys have no idea what you're talking about when it comes to the borg.

Had Picard continued to use a machine gun against the borg, they would have adapted. The first time they used phasers at a particular frequency, they also were able to hit the borg.

I've never seen the borg coming up with a defense against physical assaults like from those kligon swords

 

[LordMaul]

Originally posted by: Stunt
Do you know what sucks?

Star Trek.

Exactly.

 

[imported_LoKe]

Clean; no blood.

 

[InverseOfNeo]

Originally posted by: MrDudeMan

Originally posted by: tweakmm
The only thing I can't believe more than the responses in this thread is the fact that I read them all.

LMFAO i thought the same thing!

Same here!

 

[gentobu]

You also don't have to aim phasers. You just point them in the general direction of your target and fire, and if you're a higher ranking officer, you will always hit your target.

 

[squirrel dog]

Eh , If you beam down to the surface and its too cold , the hand phaser can heat up rocks to make it all good.

 

[Goosemaster]

So, um, anyone want to go to hooters?



oh wait...

 

[Stunt]

Originally posted by: Goosemaster
So, um, anyone want to go to hooters?



oh wait...

Nerds have no problem going to hooters...it's the getting up and leaving part they find embarassing :laugh:

 

[Fenixgoon]

Originally posted by: Goosemaster

Originally posted by: Shadowknight
As they pointed in Babylon 5, one of the advantages of PPGs (sort of their version of an energy weapon) is that while powerful enough to kill someone, unlike a bullet, it doesn't have a chance of hitting a window or a weak section of the wall and rupturing the hull/breaking the window. Obviously, a bad, bad idea in space. Bullets also can ricochet off hard surfaces. With a gun, you have to reload when you get low and have to make sure the ship's stores are reguarly restocked at space stations or planet. With energy weapons, you just recharge them from the ships electrical system (powered by a nuclear reactor/antimatter/whatever a sci-fi ship uses for energy). With an energy weapon, you can usually just use it until the battery runs dry, depending on how much of a charge it holds. If you need to carry a large supply of "ammo" with you, having a few small batteries will weigh less vs. a crapload of bulets.

Plus, y'know, energy guns look prettier in design that guns. With the exception of the colonial assault rifles from Aliens.

I.E. the build quality of spaceships suck, and no one needs an entire paragraph to explain how a fictional tv show attempts to justify fazers...

you're just jealous - you know you want one goose

 

[JoeFahey]

The "cool" factor.

 

[PingSpike]

Guns don't work outside the ship. They require oxygen for the explosion of the gun powder.