[KraziyK]

So I was thinking about some of the different systems on a starship, from the Trek verse. We have transporters, life support, communications, sensors, etc. But out of all the systems aboard a starship the most useless... rather I should say the most vulnerable always seem to be the inertial dampeners.

I'm just saying they seem like they're always offline from fights, random spatial anomalies, someone messed something up in engineering, or because of one of the many writer strikes.

So my question to you, what is either A: The most useless system onboard a starship, and or, B: What is the most vulnerable system aboard a starship?

[Solace]

I'd agree with you that the inertial dampeners are the most vulnerable because if I remember correctly the inertial dampeners are a field generated around the ship which allows the ship to jump to such high speeds (full impulse, warp speed). Without the crew ending up as stains on the back wall.

Maybe the writers needed something to always go wrong


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[KraziyK]

Ya. They're essential the seat belt of a starship. They're just as fragile as an skydiving egg.

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[Three of Seven]

The secondary command processors, seen as a nonessential part of the ship, however in Voyager it prevented the use of self-destruct, after it was damaged from continued and sustained fire. As such, it possibly ticks both boxes as it is not seen as being useful but does cause a vulnerability.

Not that most would consider going for the secondary command processors, most advanced races have no need to think about it!

[Kains]

Gotta agree on inertial dampeners, seems like every single time any ship suffers from anything those things go offline.

When you think about the speeds they are travelling, even at sublight, it should probably be a greater source of concern than it normally is...

Most useless though? Hmm, thats tougher. The designers did an awesome job making sure everything hooked together nice and neatly. If I had to pick one I could do without it would be whatever sytem cleans the ship. Especially when we have all those crewmembers just walking around aimlessly.

[vonLuden]

Most vulnerable: the crew.
Most useless: the crew.

[Christopher Halsey]

During battles or encounters with anomalies we've seen many systems disrupted, I don't think the inertial dampers were the most vulnerable system per-say I think it would more be a case of just how essential they were that any problems with them would be a major issue. If you are fleeing from an enemy armada and can't go to warp because the inertial dampers were out of alignment that is a problem, if one of the lights on deck 4 is out no-one probably cares enough to report it at the time.

From memory I would probably say the transporter was more vulnerable, of course purely for plot reasons. On how many occasions have ships been unable to transport or transport normally due to interference, system issues or damage? Quite a few. Thanks to transporter issues we've seen a half Neelix, half Tuvok, half plant (similar to ManBearPig), crossovers to alternate universes, whole space stations blowing up, Data's death, a whole lot of shaka when the walls fell and much much more.

As for the most useless I would have to say surge protectors/fuses because let's face it the moment a starship encounters anything inconvenient the computer consoles do their best to re-enact a Pink Floyd concert.

[Mobeer]

For a, useless:
* sensors that can't detect a cloaked ship when it can be visibly seen through the view screen

For b, vulnerable:
* The command consoles that explode far too often
* The exposed bridge, when the battle bridge (Enterprise-D style) would make far more sense to use when in combat