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Why was the Galaxy class saucer separation ability so rarely used? (startrek.website)

submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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The Galaxy class starship was designed with the ability to separate the saucer from the stardrive section, so that the "floating city" part of the ship could be left somewhere safe while the rest of the ship galavants off to do something risky. We see this happen precisely once, in the season one episode Arsenal of Freedom. We also see saucer separation deployed for a handful of tactical and or emergency uses (such as against the Borg in The Best of Both Worlds, or to escape the breaching warp core in Generations).

So, this seems like a useful ability to have, and the Enterprise is constantly being sent into dangerous situations. Why not use this ability more frequently?

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

The saucer section couldn’t leave the lower section fast enough and was caught in the blast radius. The end result was the same as if traditional life boats were used - the destruction of the entire ship.

... excluding that the lives of nearly everyone on the ship were saved, rather than everyone going kablooey in space?

no other ship had that feature moving forward

do we know that, or just assume it since we don't see it used? I would think that it would be a standard feature, considering the possibility of the warp drive going kablooey. Or I guess warp core ejection could be the standard use case.... ?

hmm

unsure

Could the Ent-D eject the warp core, or was separation the intended replacement for that...

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

Galaxy class starships definitely could eject the core, but for whatever reason they couldn't manage to do so in Generations.