Brusia wrote:The Great Devourer of All wrote:
If the aliens actually targeted the bridge, their disruptors would blast a hole in the saucer so large you could see all the way to the 'neck' of the ship. The only reason the bridge consoles explode is because, well, they just do. All the time. The shuttle bay gets hit with a torpedo? A console explodes. A vacant living space depressurizes? A console explodes. One of the windows in ten-forward collides with a piece of debris the size of a skin cell? A bridge console explodes, dammit!
But yeah, as Drayxaso said, Trek ships are usually destroyed with a single shot after their shields go down, so we never really see combat sans shields. It would be rather like an intense firefight between tanks without any armor plating.
There was one alternate-timeline episode of Enterprise where the Bridge was definitely targeted after their shields went down ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7LnJPlRrBA ), one episode where it seems the warp nacelle was the first thing targeted after the ship lost hull plating ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eV8qR2IEHk ), and one mirror-universe episode where the first thing targeted after the Defiant's shields went down was the primary hull ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x38EH0PcxQ )but as far as I can recall it generally seems like the warp reactor is the main target after the shields go down (at least I seem to remember hearing "Target their reactor!" more than a few times) which might also explain why ships are destroyed pretty quickly once their shields are gone.
Well, considering the warp reactor is the most volatile and destructive part of the ship, it makes sense to attack the reactor as soon as the shield's go down.
