Tbh I never really liked that the captain has to tell the crew to do these things. You would think that a experienced crew would know what to do in certain situations.
But this is how naval ships, including submarines (which the Enterprise is modeled after), work. Captains give orders, crew follows them.
I dont know, most functions on navy ships dont require constant and explicit input from the captain today either. To stick with trek: The captain sets a destination and speed, the crew makes it happen. He doesnt have to specify they should put dilithium crystals in the warp core, they know to do that stuff because it is part of the procedure.
Similarly the common tactical maneuvers like evasive action, reinforcing shields where damage is coming in, or disabling enemy weapons should be automated or subject to the judgment of the tactical officer. Once the captain has ordered to engage, these things should be done “under the hood” like 95% of stuff that happens aboard.
I never thought about it before, but it is kinda funny that Picard or Riker are always the ones issuing tactical commands and Worf is apparently just there to press buttons for them.
That was specifically what I had in mind while writing that comment lol
Like, why is he even there if he has no actual function beyond suggesting strategy (that the captain politely dismisses virtually every time). Might as well be an advisor like that fold faced stratagema player then
“Captain, I recommend that we…”
“No.”
“You all are so invalidating to me!”
“Well, now you know how your son feels, Mr. Worf.”
Worf: “Who?”
“Precisely.”
“0.1% of our ship’s systems are using more than half of all newly-generated power. The greed of Stellar Cartography knows no bounds.”
I always laugh at how life support represents a huge fraction of power. They can boost shields 20% from life support. Shields that protect them from gigantic weapons.
Meanwhile Apollo 13 astronauts survived for 3 days with no power and a tiny oxygen tank.
Well you have to account for Riker’s “dating” programs running on the Holodeck at all times due to his excessive privilege as an unelected official of the Enterprise. He gets away with it because he deemed it a critical life support system. That alone counts for half of the energy usage of life support.
I’m guessing the replicators recycling the air and water are part of life support. Apollo 13 used pee bottles, a box of foam and some duct tape.
All those fires on the bridge every time they get hit use up a lot of oxygen.
It is also funny how they never shut down the artificial gravity
It’s called life support and not survive support though. Big difference between conserving as much energy as possible vs being able to freely do what you want without thought of concern.
I did some math. Volume of TNG bridge: 480,000 liters. 1 person breathes 8 liters per minute of air. That’s not using up all the oxygen but it’s how much you would use without any oxygen reduction at all.
480,000 / 8 = 60,000 minutes of air before noticing the air is stale.
60,000 minutes / 11 crew on the bridge (including Wesley) = over 3 days of no air before they’d even notice that oxygen was lower.
What about temperature regulation? Lights? Water? Food? It’s not just air that’s “life” support.
I think entertainment is also included, so TVs, music, etc. that’s all put on the side burner when life support goes down, it’s a large portion of power if you include everything and not just “oxygen”.
temperature regulation
Vakuum has no temperature. Maybe a problem close to a star. And that bit against infrared loss…
You know we have a space station up there?
What…? Space is incredibly cold unless you have the warmth of a sun to warm you up, so you would always need heat, or AC at any given time. You can shut turn these lower to save power and find and optimal orbit for heat or something, but yeah, temperature regulation in space is crucial.
Space has no air to transmit temperature. Well, maybe a few atoms of hydrogen and dust every m³ (and they do have about -200°C if i remember right), depending on where you are, but that does nothing. Only way to transmit heath in space is via radiation. You lose a bit of warmth via infrared radiation but i doubt that a crewed spaceship has no insulation. And the 400k liter of air in Enterprise should be an adequate buffer.
That bit about inszantly freezing in space is Hollywood, same with firey explosions.
I think the bigger issue is that shields can be at 99% after a hit and somehow there’s still sparks shooting out all over the bridge.
When they were first testing star fleet ships researched realized that everyone was ignoring the icon and text dialog that popped up when a ship was damaged. Exploding consoles assures that the current ship status is addressed in a timely manner.
Oh, so the fireworks purposefully added to the consoles is canon?
