Batman wrote:The problem being their duration is all over the place, from near-pulse short beams to sustained fire over several seconds. Same for hand phasers. As the energy delivered varies quite a bit depending on beam length, it makes sense to rate their wattage. Phase pistols are (IIRC) almost exclusively used as pseudopulse weapons.
All someone has to do is bring up an example of the phase pistol firing a beam that lasts more than one second. One example comes to mind for me right away -- there's an episode where Trip is testing a force field that can take 60% the power of a phase pistol. He mentions power, not energy, IIRC. I didn't see the episode, so I'm not sure if we actually see a continual beam from a phase pistol.
You are aware that we are talking about ENT here.
Yes, but phase pistols are direct predessors of phasers.
brianeyci wrote:
All someone has to do is bring up an example of the phase pistol firing a beam that lasts more than one second. One example comes to mind for me right away -- there's an episode where Trip is testing a force field that can take 60% the power of a phase pistol. He mentions power, not energy, IIRC. I didn't see the episode, so I'm not sure if we actually see a continual beam from a phase pistol.
Garbage. Rating a weapon that almost exclusively fires pseudopulses in joules makes perfect sense. Who cares if every one in a blue moon one is fired continuously?
You are aware that we are talking about ENT here.
Yes, but phase pistols are direct predessors of phasers.
I see the point flew right over your head. You're expecting continuity from ENT. Not gonna happen.
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OK Batman, I think it might be a good idea to take a step back and look at what we know for sure about pulse and beam phasers.
Beam phasers emit continuous beams of energy. The average duration is four or five seconds. Pulse phasers emit bursts of energy (refire rate is 4 per second according to Alyeska-although I have to say it looks a lot slower in ST:FC). Average duration of fire is about the same as beam phasers. Compared to beam phasers pulse phasers offer a dramatically reduced arc of fire.
Hypothesis: pulse phasers emit their energy in high intensity bursts, while beam phasers emit energy in a lower intensity continuous beam.
When you have a burst weapon and a beam weapon of the same power level this is exactly what you'd logically expect. For phaser pulses to not be of higher intensity than phaser beams pulse phasers would need to have a general power level inferior to beam phasers. Burden of proof is on you to show that pulse phasers have a lower power level than beam phasers.
Beam phaser duration average is only 1/4 of a second.
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Junghalli, just in case my last reply to you and Destructionator XIII's hilarious yet very true post didn't make it clear, I agree that both have the same power level. That's what I was riling about all the time. I mistook you using the term power in the purely physical sense (energy/time for the duration of the discharge) as a statement of overall firepower. Of course a pulse will be higher intensity than a beam, that's propably one of the reasons PPCs were introduced in the first place.
EDIT:Damn. I knew I forgot something.
*gives GOTLF card to Destructionator XIII*
'Next time I let Superman take charge, just hit me. Real hard.'
'You're a princess from a society of immortal warriors. I'm a rich kid with issues. Lots of issues.'
'No. No dating for the Batman. It might cut into your brooding time.'
'Tactically we have multiple objectives. So we need to split into teams.'-'Dibs on the Amazon!'
'Hey, we both have a Martian's phone number on our speed dial. I think I deserve the benefit of the doubt.'
'You know, for a guy with like 50 different kinds of vision, you sure are blind.'
Batman wrote:Junghalli, just in case my last reply to you and Destructionator XIII's hilarious yet very true post didn't make it clear, I agree that both have the same power level. That's what I was riling about all the time. I mistook you using the term power in the purely physical sense (energy/time for the duration of the discharge) as a statement of overall firepower. Of course a pulse will be higher intensity than a beam, that's propably one of the reasons PPCs were introduced in the first place.
I thought that there was some kind of miscommunication going on . I understood your theory to be that a PPC pulse has the same intensity as a phaser beam.
My take on it is that it's harder to hit an enemy with a pulse phaser but they're very good at putting serious hurt on targets. At least now we can end this destructive conflict once and for all.
. I understood your theory to be that a PPC pulse has the same intensity as a phaser beam.