We have been shown that there is some weight to a lightsaber when lit though. Like in Rebels and the Mandalorian/Book of Boba.
And this weight is different to how a normal sword would work. The length adjustment is to finetune this power/weight distribution to fit the user and their style of fighting. Which is why we get shotos and claymores, as well as different sizes for different sized species.
IHawkMike@lemmy.world 6 months ago
And similarly, why can’t Star Trek officers just set it to wide beam and/or just hold down the button while they paint the room?
Excrubulent@slrpnk.net 6 months ago
I think the simole answer to both of these questions could be “power limitations”.
Kolanaki@yiffit.net 6 months ago
That’s what the big rifle ones are for.
ummthatguy@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Janeway used a wide beam dispersal at least once.
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Excrubulent@slrpnk.net 6 months ago
Maybe the length of the saber doesn’t scale linearly. Maybe there’s some extremely fast dropoff in effectiveness after a couple of feet.
And the power limitations of the phasers seem to me like they require some kind of capacitor to charge up and release in a burst. Plus maybe the tip of the phaser would overheat under sustained fire.
And sure, you could say “add more tips”, but we’ve tried that with gun barrels IRL for the same reason. They’re heavy & unwieldy so they only get used for mounted guns, like with the minigun.