Replicating Torpeadoes

[Admiral Johnason]

Can photon torps be replicated by a ship on patrol? The parts don't seem to be that complex and they don't use that much antimatter.

I was wondering about this after watching Nemisis again and thought that that could have been an excelent way to contine the fight.

[Darth Garden Gnome]

Can photon torps be replicated by a ship on patrol? The parts don't seem to be that complex and they don't use that much antimatter.

I was wondering about this after watching Nemisis again and thought that that could have been an excelent way to contine the fight.

I think they can, given time. After all, Voyager was sailing through the Delta Quadrant for years and still had plenty of torpedoes ready whenever a battle came up. But I don't think its something they can do on the fly, otherwise ship captains wouldn't ever run out of torps during battle.

[Grand Admiral Thrawn]

Janeway and Chakotay seem concerned about concerving their photon torpedoes at the beginning. It's possible they can't replicate them, but then bought a large supply of them.

[Equinox2003]

I think it is possible, but probably quite time consuming, hence the reason
Picard did not give the order in Nemesis to begin doing so.
Janeway on the other hand had years to replicate any, and hence
Voyager never ran out.

[Ted C]

Can photon torps be replicated by a ship on patrol? The parts don't seem to be that complex and they don't use that much antimatter.

A photon torpedo is probably too complex to be completely replicated. It will require specialized alloys and computer components that Starfleet consistently ships from place to place instead of replicating them on site. It requires propulsion system, a guidance system, a shield system, an antimatter containment system, a communication system (assuming they can receive self-destruct codes from the launch platform), and a sensor system, all of which could easily require components that can't be produced in a replicator. You could probably replicate most of it, but not all of it.

[Howedar]

Janeway and Chakotay seem concerned about concerving their photon torpedoes at the beginning. It's possible they can't replicate them, but then bought a large supply of them.

From whom could they buy Federation-standard torpedos?

[Grand Admiral Thrawn]

Janeway and Chakotay seem concerned about concerving their photon torpedoes at the beginning. It's possible they can't replicate them, but then bought a large supply of them.

From whom could they buy Federation-standard torpedos?

Parts of torpedoes. And they might not be Fed torpedoes, since they look all the same.

[Admiral Johnason]

Janeway and Chakotay seem concerned about concerving their photon torpedoes at the beginning. It's possible they can't replicate them, but then bought a large supply of them.

From whom could they buy Federation-standard torpedos?

Parts of torpedoes. And they might not be Fed torpedoes, since they look all the same.

Then, prehaps, they have workshops onboard.

[Howedar]

Janeway and Chakotay seem concerned about concerving their photon torpedoes at the beginning. It's possible they can't replicate them, but then bought a large supply of them.

From whom could they buy Federation-standard torpedos?

Parts of torpedoes. And they might not be Fed torpedoes, since they look all the same.

It seems quite unlikely that non-Fed torpedos could be fired from a Federation launcher.

[Sea Skimmer]

They can't replicate a warp core hatch; I highly doubt they could replicate a torpedo or even the components. But Voyager managed to kept going for quite some time; I suspect they had some form of machine shop stashed away that could make the needed components. Given the amount of space on Trek ships and there long missions they ought to have something like that. Course they should also have a lot of other things they don’t, working safeties and such.

[Gil Hamilton]

They can't replicate a warp core hatch; I highly doubt they could replicate a torpedo or even the components. But Voyager managed to kept going for quite some time; I suspect they had some form of machine shop stashed away that could make the needed components. Given the amount of space on Trek ships and there long missions they ought to have something like that. Course they should also have a lot of other things they don’t, working safeties and such.

Voyager managed to have more than a dozen shuttles destroyed or lost over the course of the series... even though it didn't have that many. It's likely they do have a machine shop or at least a large vending machine.

[apocolypse]

I'm not sure about the ability to replicate photorp parts, but I do remember seeing something in the TM (not canon I know) about producing anti-matter on a starship being time consuming and wasteful. I think it was something like 10 parts of duterium yields 1 part of antimatter? It's been a long time, so I can't remember the details, just that it wasn't very efficient, so it wasn't really done.

[Sea Skimmer]

Voyager managed to have more than a dozen shuttles destroyed or lost over the course of the series... even though it didn't have that many. It's likely they do have a machine shop or at least a large vending machine.

The number was something like 22 IIRC, plus one Delta Flyer which we saw them building in pieces. Perhaps its several vending machines for parts linked to superdense treknobabble cargo pod that looks like a tooth brush cover?

[Darth Wong]

Voyager managed to have more than a dozen shuttles destroyed or lost over the course of the series... even though it didn't have that many. It's likely they do have a machine shop or at least a large vending machine.

Replicators can't make antimatter; if they could, it would be ridiculous for Voyager to be running around searching for fuel. Therefore, they can't make photon torpedoes, since they're pretty much useless without the antimatter charge.

As for shuttles, they might have enough spare parts onboard to make the crucial components of another dozen shuttles for all we know, and they just needed the right raw materials to fabricate hull plates and windows and seats and crappy copper plasma conduits (like the ones in STFC) and shit like that. They could have bought, stolen, or bartered this from the locals (hell, they might have bought warp cores from the locals, since the tech is highly compatible).

[Sea Skimmer]

Replicators can't make antimatter; if they could, it would be ridiculous for Voyager to be running around searching for fuel. Therefore, they can't make photon torpedoes, since they're pretty much useless without the antimatter charge.

The torpedoes aren't kept loaded with anti matter in the first place, so that’s not a limit, there loaded off the ships main fuel supply just before launch. As long as the ship has fuel to spare they could make use of them.

[Darth Wong]

Replicators can't make antimatter; if they could, it would be ridiculous for Voyager to be running around searching for fuel. Therefore, they can't make photon torpedoes, since they're pretty much useless without the antimatter charge.

The torpedoes aren't kept loaded with anti matter in the first place, so that’s not a limit, there loaded off the ships main fuel supply just before launch. As long as the ship has fuel to spare they could make use of them.

True, although they were always low on fuel anyway, so I guess it's a moot point. Replication of the shuttles is more of a conundrum than the torpedoes.

[Gil Hamilton]

Replicators can't make antimatter; if they could, it would be ridiculous for Voyager to be running around searching for fuel. Therefore, they can't make photon torpedoes, since they're pretty much useless without the antimatter charge.

Course not. They said at the beginning of the series that they had a limited supply. So, they must have found some other way to assemble them. That's why I said they probably have some sort of machine shop to build the torpedoes themselves and use antimatter from their fuel supply to arm them.

As for shuttles, they might have enough spare parts onboard to make the crucial components of another dozen shuttles for all we know, and they just needed the right raw materials to fabricate hull plates and windows and seats and crappy copper plasma conduits (like the ones in STFC) and shit like that. They could have bought, stolen, or bartered this from the locals (hell, they might have bought warp cores from the locals, since the tech is highly compatible).

Actually, I was really joking about the shuttles. Its one of the funny things about the series, their seemingly endless supply of shuttle craft despite questionable means of producing them. That's why I commented about the possibility of a vending machine. They've got a large vending machine that they dump their loose change into and it spits out a shuttlecraft.

Of course, given Federation engineering, half the time the Shuttles get caught partially in the coils of the vending machine, get stuck, and they have to have 50 red shirts shake the machine to knock the shuttle free. This is dangerous, since the shuttle may well have a warp core breech and explode if shaken to hard.

[Admiral Johnason]

Or the vending machine could fall on the red shirts. Seriously, we rarely see Voyager trying to up its weapons. Janeway was always going for quick fixes that never worked or she wouldn't allow to work on purpose. She never prepared for the long haul for more then a few months and then blew everything to save a puny species.

Why did they never try to prepare for the long trip home by upgrading their defensive systmes as often as possible?

[HappyTarget]

Why did they never try to prepare for the long trip home by upgrading their defensive systmes as often as possible?

1) VOY's writing staff has a combined IQ of .0003
2) Janeway has an IQ of .0001
3) Everyone else on Voyager has a combined IQ of .0003

Take your pick. Any or all could be the likley culprits.

[Gil Hamilton]

1) VOY's writing staff has a combined IQ of .0003
2) Janeway has an IQ of .0001
3) Everyone else on Voyager has a combined IQ of .0003

Take your pick. Any or all could be the likley culprits.

4) All the smart ones on the ship were crushed by the Shuttle Craft Vending Machine tipping over.

[His Divine Shadow]

They might buy the raw materials for manufacturing of torpedoe casings on board in converted machine shops.

[His Divine Shadow]

Replicators can't make antimatter; if they could, it would be ridiculous for Voyager to be running around searching for fuel. Therefore, they can't make photon torpedoes, since they're pretty much useless without the antimatter charge.

The torpedoes aren't kept loaded with anti matter in the first place, so that’s not a limit, there loaded off the ships main fuel supply just before launch. As long as the ship has fuel to spare they could make use of them.

True, although they were always low on fuel anyway, so I guess it's a moot point. Replication of the shuttles is more of a conundrum than the torpedoes.

Yeah though I believe they can make AM using their fusion reactors(hence why they are always looking for deuterium), it's a net-loss process but it creates anti-matter.

[Uraniun235]

Personally, I doubt it, considering that the AM generator on the Galaxy class ships was supposedly one of the singly most massive components in the ship. I wouldn't be surprised if they conveniently overlooked that when writing episodes, though... wasn't there some stupid episode about Voyager "warp plasma" being super-rich compared to the local junk or something?

[CaptJodan]

I've always wondered about that "warp plasma". In a TNG episode, we see a bunch of mercenaries going after the warp plasma on the Enterprise, which was identified as WASTE from the Enterprise's engines. It was also highly volitile and considered a huge danger to be carrying around. We watched it blow up an entire vessel at the end of the episode.

So why doesn't the Federation use this for a type of primary or secondary weapon to put in their torpedoes? It's waste that can be used, not just stored somewhere, putting yet another ticking timebomb on the ship?

In reguards to the topic, though, they did make a big deal in the beginning that supplies were limited, but convienently forgot about it later on. The ship only carried like 32 or 38 or something torpedoes from what I've read, and that seems consistant with the first few seasons where they were extremely cautious with regards to them. Like the shuttles, I think this is just one of those things that was solved by writer stupidity than most else, otherwise it simply doesn't make much sense about them worrying about torpedo supplies in the beginning, but firing them off like a frickin peez dispenser later on.

[Col. Crackpot]

From whom could they buy Federation-standard torpedos?

Parts of torpedoes. And they might not be Fed torpedoes, since they look all the same.

It seems quite unlikely that non-Fed torpedos could be fired from a Federation launcher.

i agree. for the same reason you can't fire a .45 ACP and a 9MM Parabellum from the same gun. sure the may look similar as they wizz by you but they most certainly are not.