this post was submitted on 25 Mar 2025
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Why aren't shields up by default? (startrek.website)
submitted 2 days ago by the_sisko@startrek.website to c/daystrominstitute@startrek.website
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So, this may be a frequently discussed topic, and I'm sorry if so. But I was watching S1 of SNW and there was a scene where an early "shields up" saved the ship from serious damage. And now that I think of it, I just can't come up with a good reason why shields aren't up all the time, with a few obvious caveats.

  1. Yes, shields must be down to transport, this seems like the most obvious reason to have them down. But we see plenty of episodes where shields are brought down momentarily for a transport. Why not do that always?
  2. One reason brought up frequently is that raising shields could be taken as an act of aggression. But if you arrive with shields already up, then you're not doing anything aggressive, you just arrived that way, so I don't think this makes much sense in a world where most Starfleet ships just keep their shields up.
  3. I don't know for certain, but it seems possible that shields may not be usable at warp. I don't remember any specific episode where that happened, but it seems possible. But even then, a ship could just be programmed to bring them up as it drops out of warp.
  4. I guess it could be possible that the power usage of the shields is too much for the day-to-day use. But again, it seems like a lot of missions clearly begin with "dropping out of warp into an unfamiliar area" and those are the times where your shields should just be up by default.

Of course, I know the answer is that "shields up" is great dramatic dialogue, but I guess I wondered if there are any more satisfying answers than that?

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[–] T156@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

They are often up, but not at full power. TOS made many references to the computer raising the automatic defence screens, and by TNG, starships had navigational deflector shields that were always on.

  1. I don't know for certain, but it seems possible that shields may not be usable at warp. I don't remember any specific episode where that happened, but it seems possible. But even then, a ship could just be programmed to bring them up as it drops out of warp.

I want to say it's the opposite, actually. Shields, at least on some level, are required for safe warp drive operation. Voyager had an episode where they were unable to jump to warp speed because their shields were inoperative.

However, they're probably not at full, since warp drive puts considerable strain on the power systems, enough that your average starship may not be able to power their shields at full, and maintain warp drive at the same time. You may need a high-power ship like the Protostar with its dual core system to make it work.

  1. One reason brought up frequently is that raising shields could be taken as an act of aggression. But if you arrive with shields already up, then you're not doing anything aggressive, you just arrived that way, so I don't think this makes much sense in a world where most Starfleet ships just keep their shields up.

Only if they don't have a baseline. Starfleet ships seem to have no problem detecting ships charging their shields and weapons, even if it is an alien ship with technologies and configuration that they have never encountered before. There is no reason to think that aliens would be any different in that regard.

  1. I guess it could be possible that the power usage of the shields is too much for the day-to-day use. But again, it seems like a lot of missions clearly begin with "dropping out of warp into an unfamiliar area" and those are the times where your shields should just be up by default.

Shields interfere with a lot of systems, not just the transporter. It also messes with sensors, which is why ships like the constitution-class Enterprise and Phoenix have their shields set up so that they're lowered on a cycle to allow the (high-power) sensors to operate in that gap.

If you're in a new place taking sensor readings, having shields would unnecessarily hamper your readings, so you may end up spending longer there, or be unable to take some readings at all.