romulan mines

posted on April 17th, 2009, 10:06 pm

@megaman

Cloaked mines are malice >:D I like it!

posted on April 17th, 2009, 10:11 pm

Sadly, if memory serves, the replicators and transporters use a very similar principle of basically energy assembled in a matrix by the computer.  I have serious issue with the 'emergency transport' armbands, because in theory the amount of energy required to use transporters and replicators would require either their own over-loaded nuclear power plant, a massive solar-array, active matter-antimatter reactors, an active warp-core (which needs the matter-antimatter reactors anyway to start and periodically boost it's gravimetric conversion process), a Romulan Singularity Core, or as Mimesot said, some kind of miniature Zero-Point array.

If the mines are in some kind of movement, I suppose they may have hydrogen scoops and a means of converting the hydrogen to anti-matter, or perhaps some kind of energy-channeling system so that the explosion of a nearby mine powers the act of replicating it.

But I'm running out of theoretical ideas on how to make it happen that aren't entering the realm of Borg and Preserver tech.  And neither of those races would (or would have, as the case may be) create something like that.  It's ineffecient for the Borg's purposes, and the Preservers weren't warlike at all.

posted on April 17th, 2009, 10:35 pm

The transporter system, as well as warp, are StarTrek phantasy that cannot be taken back any more nor interpreted in a off-canon way to give them more realism. I resigned myself to it a long time ago because they ARE StarTrek, although they are incompatible with quantum mechanics or special relativty. (Not even considered the energy costs.)

For all other technologies that are explaind in an unrealistic way: I find my own explanation, or otherwise it it goes in one ear and out the other. 

Concerning hydrogen scoops: I was implying ecactly that approach in my first pseudoscientific post.