• @CanadaPlus
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    610 months ago

    I guess you could assume that any substantial piece of matter will disrupt the cloaking field, but if you’re thinking about autonomous weapons there’s all kinds of other plot holes, too. It’s pretty rare anyone has to deal with drones or mines of any kind in Star Trek, even though you’d think it would be super convenient with mostly-unblockable communications over subspace.

    • @Followupquestion@lemm.ee
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      510 months ago

      I think they ran into the real problem with writer’s rooms in general, they suffer from a lack of knowledge in many areas. It’s why so many shows have “hammer noises” for Glocks, or the racking of a shotgun when people are about to kick in a door. They don’t know anything about weapons, and their ignorance is so complete they don’t even think to ask actual experts.

      • @CanadaPlus
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        210 months ago

        I think there’s a degree of “the audience loves it”, too. A realistic sword fight is rare in media because it’s not as fun to watch as twirls and beating multiple enemies at once.

    • JWBananas
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      310 months ago

      There were cloaked mines in DS9 and in ENT. But, like the transporter, they are as burdensome to the writers’ room as they are useful.

      • @CanadaPlus
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        10 months ago

        Yeah, at this point, with Star Trek I pretty much just treat the “science” like magic. It would be a tall order to have consistent rules with no exceptions over decades, I get that. I don’t think it’s too much to ask the characters to have consistent motivations and abilities, though.

        • JWBananas
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          210 months ago

          That’s the thing about fiction. Unlike in reality, the characters have to be believable.