[lizardfolk]

Hey Trekkies,

I just have a question. I've watched TOS, TNG, Enterprise and a bit of DS9. I know DS9 goes into the whole "war" thing more than most star trek series.

But I just have a few questions about "war" in star trek and I don't wanna go back to watch years of star trek just to get some answers.

I know Gene wanted a "peaceful" future in Star Trek. So my question is... do all the weapons in Star Trek have the ability to be benign?

I know Type 1 and Type 2 phasers have the ability to be set to stun. Which is pretty harmless to it's target. However, what about the rifles? Specifically the Type 3 and the Compression rifles.

I'm only asking because I'm wondering if Star Trek's view on ground warfare in the future to be very benign and casualties to be light (if any at all). If there were such a thing as a starfleet marines... would they all be carrying rifles and weapons that have a stun setting? If so... why would the soldiers set their weapons setting to anything other than stun?

Any insight on starfleet military or military forces in ST and their policies on engagement would be fantastic

[Kirok]

lizardfolk, on 27 February 2012 - 07:12 AM, said:

Hey Trekkies,

I just have a question. I've watched TOS, TNG, Enterprise and a bit of DS9. I know DS9 goes into the whole "war" thing more than most star trek series.

But I just have a few questions about "war" in star trek and I don't wanna go back to watch years of star trek just to get some answers.

I know Gene wanted a "peaceful" future in Star Trek. So my question is... do all the weapons in Star Trek have the ability to be benign?

I know Type 1 and Type 2 phasers have the ability to be set to stun. Which is pretty harmless to it's target. However, what about the rifles? Specifically the Type 3 and the Compression rifles.

I'm only asking because I'm wondering if Star Trek's view on ground warfare in the future to be very benign and casualties to be light (if any at all). If there were such a thing as a starfleet marines... would they all be carrying rifles and weapons that have a stun setting? If so... why would the soldiers set their weapons setting to anything other than stun?

Any insight on starfleet military or military forces in ST and their policies on engagement would be fantastic

Good question - there is a whole philosophical debate on when and if it is ethical to take a life:Jus in Bello. I've never had to face that situation and with luck never will.

I can see that the settings for stun and kill would need to be different for Human, Vulcan, Romulan and Klingon. Knowing that a Klingon disruptor has only a kill setting might make you not want to take the chance that one of the big guys might shrug off a stun setting and disembowel you. To a certain extent it correlates to the debate in military circles about 5.56mm vs 7.62mm infantry weapons.

K

[lizardfolk]

Kirok, on 27 February 2012 - 07:33 AM, said:

Good question - there is a whole philosophical debate on when and if it is ethical to take a life:Jus in Bello. I've never had to face that situation and with luck never will.

I can see that the settings for stun and kill would need to be different for Human, Vulcan, Romulan and Klingon. Knowing that a Klingon disruptor has only a kill setting might make you not want to take the chance that one of the big guys might shrug off a stun setting and disembowel you. To a certain extent it correlates to the debate in military circles about 5.56mm vs 7.62mm infantry weapons.

K

Ok so I'm assuming that star trek in general didnt establish rules of engagement with ground troopers engaging in combat as I know the shows generally didnt feature this type of situations.

Just out of curiosity... does the compression rifle have a stun?

http://en.memory-alp...on_phaser_rifle