Offensive Teleportation

[General Specific]

I'm so sick of it! People always teleporting from one place to another! Who do they think they are! Oh, wait, no not that kind of offensive.

What I really mean is, why is it that we don't see more sci-fi shows/series using teleporters as a weapon?

I'll take Star Trek as a prime example. I get why the Federation or any of the "good guy" races don't do it, probably a war crime or just forbidden on moral grounds. But why would the early Klingons or any of the bad guy aliens introduced for a film or show NOT use transporters on opposing crews to disable ships? It wouldn't even have to be lethal. Just once the shields are down on an enemy ship, start transporting the bridge crew or engineering away so the ship can no longer function.

It's just a weird thought I had while in the shower tonight.

 

[Ravenpoe]

I'm so sick of it! People always teleporting from one place to another! Who do they think they are! Oh, wait, no not that kind of offensive.

What I really mean is, why is it that we don't see more sci-fi shows/series using teleporters as a weapon?

I'll take Star Trek as a prime example. I get why the Federation or any of the "good guy" races don't do it, probably a war crime or just forbidden on moral grounds. But why would the early Klingons or any of the bad guy aliens introduced for a film or show NOT use transporters on opposing crews to disable ships? It wouldn't even have to be lethal. Just once the shields are down on an enemy ship, start transporting the bridge crew or engineering away so the ship can no longer function.

It's just a weird thought I had while in the shower tonight.

I think the short answer is that once you start doing that, you write yourself into a corner and don't leave a vehicle for more conventional, and thus audience approachable, warfare.

The long answer is it has been done in Star Trek. Technobabble mumbo jumbo means that usually a ship can block unwanted transporter use, and that more technobabble mumbo jumbo means that transporting a moving target is real hard, but there have been times when key components have been disabled, allowing personel and equipment from being teleported away. And of course the borg are well known for doing this, albeit slower since they want to keep the ship running.

 

[PatrThom]

(Grr. Glitch ate my original post. Let me try and recreate it)

I believe the in-canon reason is that getting a good "lock" requires a willing participant (or technological help such has having a beacon attached, or at least being immobile). An unwilling target could just, well, move out of the beam to avoid teleportation.

But I get what you're saying. A teleporter is basically a device that disintegrates a target in one location and then reintegrates that target in a new one. If you don't care at all about that second step, you can do away with silly requirements like the extra precision necessary to discriminate between your intended target and its environment, you don't need to generate a template/mold/schematic/pattern of the subject in order to ensure faithful reintegration at the other end...heck, you don't even need to ensure you're grabbing the entire target in one go. Basically you then just have a machine that, at a distance, converts matter into energy, which I suppose you could even then repurpose to powering your ship...Galactus-style.

But that would be cruel.

--Patrick

 

[GasBandit]

Also, even once you've got the enemy's shields down, using the star-trek teleporter requires you to also lower YOUR OWN shields. Giving away an advantage like that is very risky, assuming your opponent still has functioning weapons.

 

[Dave]

I would also hope that there's some sort of jamming technology that could be used. Maybe even something as simple as a disruption signal. So unlike Pat's example where the ship basically "eats" the teleporting parties and uses them as fuel, you could just cause them to disperse. The people teleporting would be gone and the senders wouldn't know this happened if the defenders sent a fake successful handshake back to the attackers.

 

[AshburnerX]

I would also like to point out that the Klingons do, in fact, transport commando crews over to disabled enemy ships if there is a pressing need to take prisoners or get something out before the ship explodes. This is standard operating procedure for them and it's one of the reasons every member of Starfleet gets issued a phaser during Red Alerts. They'll even use shuttlecraft to board the enemy vessel if using the transporter isn't an option.

As for Star Trek Online, there are even options to transport demolition crews onto enemy ships while the fighting is still on-going to get quicker kills. It's kind of shitty and weak, but you can do it.

 

[Eriol]

Also, even once you've got the enemy's shields down, using the star-trek teleporter requires you to also lower YOUR OWN shields. Giving away an advantage like that is very risky, assuming your opponent still has functioning weapons.

When they say "teraport" think "teleport, in, out, yourself, whatever" in this context:

Take over your opponent's ship via transporting in overrides to EVERYTHING. Why blow it up? Turn it to your side. Oh and turn off life support and/or vent to space IMMEDIATELY as well so they can't take it back from inside.


As others have said, the reason they don't do this "obvious" technical thing (no matter what it is) is that it would not be a show people liked to watch.

 

[@Li3n]

When they say "teraport" think "teleport, in, out, yourself, whatever" in this context:

Take over your opponent's ship via transporting in overrides to EVERYTHING. Why blow it up? Turn it to your side. Oh and turn off life support and/or vent to space IMMEDIATELY as well so they can't take it back from inside.

At that level of control, why not just teleport the crew out of the ship (to space, or your brig, depending on your alignment), it would be a lot easier, and there'd be no need to make sure the overrides are compatible/right.

 

[AshburnerX]

Something to consider in regards to Star Trek: there are NUMEROUS treaties and agreements between the Federation, Klingons, and Romulans regarding how war is waged. There are likely numerous provisions like "do not defenestrate crews" and "Do not beam in containers of gas" and such explictly because no one wants it to happen to somebody on their side. The Klingons and Romulans generally push the envelope of these agreements but no one wants to deal with a Federation that is suddenly willing to fire bio-weapons into planetary atmospheres or some such.

 

[@Li3n]

Oh, and wasn't there a TOS episode where some guys had teleportation that actually shunted you to another universe and back, that could bypass shields? But it turned out to be killing them? Or maybe a TNG ep? I forget.

 

[Bubble181]

OTOH, since most ships keep their shields down when not in a combat situation, races with cloaking technology should be able to just beam proton torpedoes aboard any unsuspecting ship they come across - shields are down when cloaked, but transporting works. Romulans and Klingons really don't have much of a reason not to do it before they randomly decide to make an agreement with the Federation.

 

[Eriol]

Oh, and wasn't there a TOS episode where some guys had teleportation that actually shunted you to another universe and back, that could bypass shields? But it turned out to be killing them? Or maybe a TNG ep? I forget.

This one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_High_Ground_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)

 

[AshburnerX]

OTOH, since most ships keep their shields down when not in a combat situation, races with cloaking technology should be able to just beam proton torpedoes aboard any unsuspecting ship they come across - shields are down when cloaked, but transporting works. Romulans and Klingons really don't have much of a reason not to do it before they randomly decide to make an agreement with the Federation.

I'm pretty sure the Klingons would oppose it on the grounds of it being dishonorable; they might cloak to move freely and get surprise attacks, but the entire point of a fight for the Klingons is to have a fight. And who knows what the Romulans don't report.

 

[jwhouk]

And then of course there's the denouement of STIII:TSFS where the crew sets the self-destruct of the Enterprise just as the Klingons board it.