Type 1 phaser pistol firepower | STAR TREK

Type 1 phaser blast produces impressive pyrotechnics & dustcloud.
Geordi La Forge says that a single type 1 phaser pistol has enough firepower to finish off a whole regiment of troops. Obviously, a single officier or even a whole away-team armed with phasers can still be overwhelmed by a regiment of troops armed with muskets. However, Geordi suggests the phaser has a capacity of around 1,000 shots. Muskets, in contrast, must be reloaded after every shot.
" Prior to World War I, an infantry regiment in the French, German, Russian, and other smaller armies would comprise four battalions, each with a full-strength on mobilization of about 1,000 men."
Wikipedia
"A type-1 phaser was the smallest, most basic weapon carried by Starfleet and other Federation personnel. Type 1 phasers were typically carried when it would be inappropriate to carry a larger weapon, such as on diplomatic missions, or "undercover" work."
Memory Alpha
In other words, the type 1 is effectively a holdout phaser, or pocket phaser.
Although less powerful than larger phasers, type 1 sidearms still possess multiple settings including stun, kill, and disintegrate. The weapons design and small shape make it difficult to aim at a longer range. The weapon also struggles against dense materials and silicon targets.
Source, TNG: series 1 episode 10 "Hide & Q"

[@aiosquadron]

Bruh. That's the firepower you'd expect of a rocket launcher... In a sidearm...

[@djcuevas1057]

Later in the episode the Type 1 was disintegrating the soldiers with those shots. So I imagine this is what it does to things that arent people on disintegrate. You also have to remember that this is the smallest kind of phaser. It's meant to be a holdout weapon rather than a sidearm.

[@blastech4095]

I noted its disintegration setting in the description, added that its a holdout :);

[@tombaker8481]

All I know is that Wesley Crusher got stabbed through the gut from behind....and I laughed for an hour straight while rewinding his screams.

[@whopper170]

They hardly did this in the show, but it did happen at times and was in the various technical guides over the years. Phaser weapons, even the ones held by the away team, were capable of filling large areas with bursts of energy. So yes 1 officer with a phaser could shoot at a regimen if assembled together and take them all out. In the original series Kirk and Spock flooded an entire hallway. In Voyager a phaser was set to “wide burst” and took out several people. In TNG Riker, while 10-Forward was taken over by 3 aliens and took hostages recommended a security team come in shooting “wide burst”. The TNG Technical Manual also describes this. Why didn’t they use it more? Shoot-outs are entertaining.

[@djcuevas1057]

BTW thank you for making the video like I asked you too. Though I think your underestimating the blast since that boulder was clearly blown apart.

[@patrickspeegle9558]

It seems dangerous having such a powerful weapon that's obviously designed for close range. As you mentioned, because of its shape it would be very difficult to aim it (even at close targets in my opinion). Just imagine if you missed on full power and you killed yourself and all your squadmates with shrapnel. That'd be unfortunate. So it seems to me that the full power setting is probably very rarely used and is extremely intensive on the power supply. Also, Geordi probably simply didn't know what the technical definition of regiment was for the 17th century French army, so he (probably) doesn't really expect to be able to take on a regiment single-handedly. If he does, he's an idiot.

[@blastech4095]

Good points. It's possible Geordi's comments doesn't convey anything quantifiable and is just hyperbole.

[@JWMTR]

You may be on to something, 1,000 shots from muskets would most likely yield similar fire power to standard handheld phaser. The only know handheld weapon I’m aware of having a set yield is that of the Cardassian hand held disruptors. Which from a basic google search shows they have a yield of 4.7 mega joules per shot. A single musket shot according to a basic google search without further research shows that a Musket can fire a metal ball with the force of about 3,000-4,000 joules. Multiply by the number of men you gave, and each of them having a musket, a combined 1,000 musket shots would equal between 3-4 megajoules. Like you said, it’s easy to be overwhelmed by such a drastic difference in numbers, but based on everything I’ve looked up, seems about right. While I can’t confirm the exact phaser output, especially considering it is a much smaller size than some of the more regularly distributed phasers. I would say it’s about right.

[@scoutguard3015]

Okay but you have to be in a tactical position too or yeah you would tdkr down a bit bit they would still have soldiers But if you're in a stealth position you can kill them all

[@HolyknightVader999]

Reminds me of the DL-44. Too bad most phaser shots aren't that strong. Maybe it's for power conservation?

[@blastech4095]

Yeah probably; Riker likely tuned it up for the test fire. Of course, this is a compact sidearm, or holdout phaser, not the full-size type 2 sidearm.

[@HolyknightVader999]

@@blastech4095 And yet most phaser shots don't even have the firepower of a TPM-era blaster. What, are they conserving ammo like 40K guardsmen with lasguns?

[@raghuvarv]

@@HolyknightVader999 Most likely to conserve charge and not cause unnecessary collateral damage and casualties?

[@kingsman8475]

TOS, phaser I and II were very powerful.

[@HolyknightVader999]

@@kingsman8475 Not on most shots.

[@michaelcooney9368]

Oh I never understood why they don't just set a wide beam for attacking multiple targets. The same particle beam that can knock out half a cubic meter of hard granite, if it was spread out in a wide fan or cone even if each person absorbed a tiny fraction, would probably gruesomely remove your epidermis on any body parts facing the beam and scramble dna and render your outer flesh like overcooked meat.

[@kingsman8475]

What if the other side does not speak english? Mr Worf!

[@raghuvarv]

How would this destructive capacity compare to something like a modern day main tank cannon or howitzer?

[@blastech4095]

You could probably replicate it with a placed charge or a HE mortar shell. Certainly, the collateral blast effects are very limited by comparison to artillery, but if that's the boulder hollowed out there at the end, then that's impressive, as perhaps some fraction of a tonne of the rock is gone. I guess that tank shells could do more but i'm not sure. It is hard to find good examples of real-world weapons blowing up rocks for the sake of it xD. , especially when it comes to anything bigger than a BMG because naturally, it's expensive for people to get that kind of hardware for tests/spectacles. When they (KZbinrs) do get bigger guns, they usually fire them at cars, bricks, safes, trees, but not rocks :P

[@scoutguard3015]

I'm sure the type 01 firepower is like a M203 granade launcher which it's muzzle velocity is around 250ft The phaser type 1 is much faster and has more range I think.

[@rutgerb]

Hahaha oh that Worf😂

[@babtech]

Yeah, a regiment firing at unprotected troops, even with muskets, would be be overwhelming. But check out that hole where a rock used to be. And that’s from the small, type 1 phaser. Easily comparable to a blaster.

[@raghuvarv]

I would say that Type 1 Phasers are roughly comparable to heavy blaster pistols and blaster carbines. Type 2 are probably more powerful.