The Narada

[Teaos]

What if the next federation starship is 2 ly away? Even at W 9.9 it would need about 2 days or so and its not really a great distance in ST
What if the pirates jam the radio?
What if the next vessel is just a filthy oberth class?

Starships seem to be much more common around the boarders and our skirts where pirates would be a real problem, thus 2ly is probably on the very high end of the scale.

And I highly doubt lone pirate ships are technologically advanced enough to avoid being detected and chanced down by any of the major powers. Its always shown to be rather simple to trace ships.

In the core you assume things are so developed that pirates arent so much of a threat since it would be rather developed, and the boarders are populated with ships.

Thus just sticking a few mid powered phasers on ships would be more than enough to fight off the average pirate.

[Avatar2312]

I won't discuss the strength of pirate ships in a fictional universe *g*

But you have proven the point, that a mining ship should be sufficient armed to combat pirates by itself and not rely on additional aid. Especially if you try to earn a living with mining so that you have to stick to mostly unexplored systems, where you won't permanentley find friendly starships within visual range. No risk no gain. Of course you don't put 42 Type XXI Phaser Turrets on every inch if the hull and have several 8472 bioship weapons lurking out of every window. But 4 - 5 Disruptors and one or two missile launchers...

I mean if Columbus said "uh, going west is too risky, let's head east and have a nice holiday on mallorca", he would have had an easy journey, but discovering the new world for the rest of Europe? I could imagine, that it would have become difficult.

[Captain Seafort]

And I highly doubt lone pirate ships are technologically advanced enough to avoid being detected and chanced down by any of the major powers. Its always shown to be rather simple to trace ships.

The only two pirates we've seen in TNG (in Unification and Gambit) were shown to be extremely stealthy, and were only found by anticipating their next attack and being in position ahead of time.

Emissions of any kind don't travel faster than light (that's one of the biggest nonsense in ST where they claim to scan that much lightyears in just a matter of minutes or so, or where they could bring a real-time view of a ship a lightyear away or so on screen)

Short-range sensors are apparently limited to lightspeed, but long-range stuff does propagate substantially faster than c. It's a scientific impossibility, but so are FTL, transporters, phasers, etc.

[Teaos]

Subspace plays a bit roll in trek science and is the reason for a lot of the FTL things we see.

[Captain Seafort]

Subspace plays a bit roll in trek science and is the reason for a lot of the FTL things we see.

It's nothing of the sort - its the key to virtually all the scientific impossibilities shown.

[steamrunner]

Subspace plays a bit roll in trek science and is the reason for a lot of the FTL things we see.

Did you mean "big" instead of "bit"? No subspace = No Star Trek

[Avatar2312]

Short-range sensors are apparently limited to lightspeed, but long-range stuff does propagate substantially faster than c. It's a scientific impossibility, but so are FTL, transporters, phasers, etc.

Not directly.

FTL depends on the point of view. Warping space to reduce distances to a fraction of the original may seem to the spectator FTL, although the ship never gets over light-speed in absolute speed. And it is theoretically possible.
Transporters... well... maybe not that kind we see in ST. But we already "beamed" a photon.
Phasers... uuumph. Maybe kind of, although i still say, that the most efficient way to damage something is to throw something at it at tremendous speed *ggg*

But emissions do not warp space, so they are bound to light-speed. The only possibility to detect something that is really far away in time are spatial sensors, that can measure the warping of space and so calculate that a ship is travelling at "warp(ing space) speed" and don't misread it for a black hole or a sun or something like that. But that's a) completely ot and b) far far away. 8)

[sunnyside]

The only two pirates we've seen in TNG (in Unification and Gambit) were shown to be extremely stealthy, and were only found by anticipating their next attack and being in position ahead of time.

I suppose it depends on your defnintion. But we also had the Ferengi in "Peak Performance". If they're willing to jump a Galaxy and Constillation when they have a good oportunity I think what they'd do to an barely armed mining ship if they came across one isn't too hard to guess. The Maquis staged some ambushes too, and since I believe the Romulans expand by agression it's reasonable there are groups like that all around their borders.

And note that this thing is still no Scimitar, or even a D'deridex by the look of things.