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Comment on It would be less dramatic though

This is one of the better explanations for the exploding consoles I’ve seen. It still doesn’t justify them, but at least it’s something.

The main issue is that there’s no reason that consoles should explode. These are effectively touchscreens. If you push a touchscreen beyond its operational parameters, it should glitch, it should have trouble recognizing inputs, but it shouldn’t blow up. If it was pushed beyond what was safe it should either break or be annoying to use. Not dangerous.

Even with 21st century technology, a touch-screen type thing basically sips power. Smart phones can sometimes explode, but that’s only because they contain a relatively huge battery. These things are hooked into the ship’s power so they should only be drawing a few watts.

Still, if we combine your suggestion about battleshorts with the idea that for some ridiculous reason they run everything on the ship on plasma that comes directly from the warp core, then maybe…

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skullgiver@popplesburger.hilciferous.nl ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
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- merc@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Sure, but that explanation isn’t interesting.
  
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jawsua@lemmy.one ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
I saw someone once theorize that the console designers knew their creations would get dumped with tons of heat and current under battleshort conditions, and had to come up with some fallbacks. So they just filled it with a ton of mass to soak it up as long as possible, a big hunk of basalt. Unfortunately, when it gets overloaded, it tends to explosively fracture. But that’s better than cooking every ensign to touch a panel when under fire

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- merc@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  
  would get dumped with tons of heat and current under battleshort conditions
  
  But, why? If it were part of the engine, or a pump, or a transformer, or something that requires a lot of power that would be one thing. But, there’s no reason that the consoles should be part of a circuit that draws a lot of power or heat or anything.
  
  Filling it full of rocks makes sense if soaking power was an issue, but this is just a basic UI element.
  
  Ok, how about this: it’s critical that consoles like security, navigation, steering, etc. always be available. Because of that, they can’t risk any downtime in a battle, so they need to be able to self-repair. Their solution to this is to embed replicator technology into each console, so that any damage can be instantly fixed. Unfortunately, replicators need to be able to draw huge amounts of power / energy, which means the consoles need access to a lot of power. That’s why when they get damaged there can be a big explosion, but also why they’re never broken in those explosions. They self-repair so that someone can take over the console and immediately start using it again. Maybe it also explains the rocks – raw material for the replicators to use when repairing.
  
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