Starship phasers
Starship phasers are the primary weapons used by the Starfleet of the United Federation of Planets. The use the same operating principles as hand-phasers, but they are much more powerful
Firepower
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Firepower Examples
TNG "Who Watches the Watchers"
4.2 GW of power will supply a small phaser bank.
TNG "Best of Both Worlds, Pt 1"
The power output of the Enterprise's weapons is far less than the potential output of its main deflector dish.
TNG "Night Terrors"
A deflector dish blast releases less energy than the exothermic chemical reaction of hydrogen and another exotic compound.
A chemical explosion of low-density metryon gas is more effective as a weapon than the Enterprise-E's phasers and quantum torpedoes. Prior loss of the warp core probably affects phaser power, but should have no effect on torpedo power.
The power output of the Enterprise's phaser arrays is 1.02 GW.
TNG "A Matter of Time"
A high-power burst from the phasers can be difficult to control to within a 0.06 TW (60 GW) tolerance, indicating that TW-range output is possible but control is limited at such high power levels.
Range
The range of starship phasers is difficult to determine, largely because examples tend to be contradictory. When seen on screen, hostile ships invariably close to within a few kilometers of each other before exchanging phaser fire, but dialogue often suggests far greater ranges.
Range Examples
TNG "A Matter of Honor"
Riker advises the Klingon captain to close to within 40,000 km of the Enterprise before attacking, suggesting that Klingon disruptor range is greater than 40,000 km (and also implying that maximum transporter range of the Enterprise is about 40,000 km, as well).
TNG "The Wounded"
Data reports that a Cardassian ship fires torpedoes at the Phoenix from 300,000 km away. Data's statement is suspect, since he also reports (in the same scene) that the Phoenix moves beyond the Cardassian ship's weapon range and then returns fire, even though the tactical readouts on the viewscreen show that the Cardassian ship has greater weapon range than the Phoenix, and the Phoenix is still clearly within the Cardassian ship's range when she fires. Earlier in the episode, a Cardassian ship engaged the Enterprise from just a few kilometers away (at most).
TNG "Conundrum"
Worf reportedly states that the ship's phasers have a range of 300,000 km, yet later in the episode Riker says they are still several seconds from "optimum range" for targetting the Lysian command center, even though they are practically on top of a stationary target that is both very large and very poorly defended (by Federation standards).
TNG "Yesterday's Enterprise"
Three un-cloaked Klingon Birds of Prey close to within a few kilometers before firing on the Enterprise. Likewise, the Enterprise, knowing they will be attacked by the Klingons, doesn't fire until the enemy is at close range (the Federation was in a state of war with the Klingons in this alternate-timeline episode).
TNG "Redemption"
Space combats between Klingon ships in both Pt 1 and Pt 2 take place at ranges of just a few kilometers.
TNG "Hero Worship"
Data and Picard describe typical ambush tactics for cloaked ships, which involve closing to within three thousand meters (3 km) before de-cloaking and firing (according to the script). In the televised episode, they actually said it was typical to close to within three hundred meters.
VOY "Equinox"
Voyager reportedly attacks the Equinox with phasers from 30,000 km away.