Uploaded October 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Type 1 phaser blast produces impressive pyrotechnics & dustcloud.
Geordi La Forge says that a single type 1 phaser pistol has enough firepower to finish off a whole regiment of troops. Obviously, a single officier or even a whole away-team armed with phasers can still be overwhelmed by a regiment of troops armed with muskets. However, Geordi suggests the phaser has a capacity of around 1,000 shots. Muskets, in contrast, must be reloaded after every shot.
" Prior to World War I, an infantry regiment in the French, German, Russian, and other smaller armies would comprise four battalions, each with a full-strength on mobilization of about 1,000 men."
- Wikipedia
"A type-1 phaser was the smallest, most basic weapon carried by Starfleet and other Federation personnel. Type 1 phasers were typically carried when it would be inappropriate to carry a larger weapon, such as on diplomatic missions, or "undercover" work."
- Memory Alpha
In other words, the type 1 is effectively a holdout phaser, or pocket phaser.
Although less powerful than larger phasers, type 1 sidearms still possess multiple settings including stun, kill, and disintegrate. The weapons design and small shape make it difficult to aim at a longer range. The weapon also struggles against dense materials and silicon targets.
Source, TNG: series 1 episode 10 "Hide & Q"
Type 1 phaser blast produces impressive pyrotechnics & dustcloud.
Geordi La Forge says that a single type 1 phaser pistol has enough firepower to finish off a whole regiment of troops. Obviously, a single officier or even a whole away-team armed with phasers can still be overwhelmed by a regiment of troops armed with muskets. However, Geordi suggests the phaser has a capacity of around 1,000 shots. Muskets, in contrast, must be reloaded after every shot.
" Prior to World War I, an infantry regiment in the French, German, Russian, and other smaller armies would comprise four battalions, each with a full-strength on mobilization of about 1,000 men."
- Wikipedia
"A type-1 phaser was the smallest, most basic weapon carried by Starfleet and other Federation personnel. Type 1 phasers were typically carried when it would be inappropriate to carry a larger weapon, such as on diplomatic missions, or "undercover" work."
- Memory Alpha
In other words, the type 1 is effectively a holdout phaser, or pocket phaser.
Although less powerful than larger phasers, type 1 sidearms still possess multiple settings including stun, kill, and disintegrate. The weapons design and small shape make it difficult to aim at a longer range. The weapon also struggles against dense materials and silicon targets.
Source, TNG: series 1 episode 10 "Hide & Q"
![[Image] Victory star destroyer | planetary bombardment](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/fAK5NofUnKA/mqdefault.jpg "[Image] Victory star destroyer | planetary bombardment
Planetary bombardment from Star Wars Armada (2015, official art) conducted by Victory class star destroyers.
This short video reveals the approximate scale of bombardment by superimposing the blasts onto the Earth (a few pixels out on the right, apologies). The superhot fireball at the epicentre of each blast was many miles wide with estimated radii of ~20km, which is broadly consistent with weapons discharges in the multi gigaton range. These fireballs apparently persist for some time after turbolaser impact, or detonation of ordnance.
Have a go at scaling these explosions yourself using NukeMap :)
http://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/classic/
The real life Tsar Bomba was the most powerful man made nuclear weapon of all time; it produced a fireball 8 km (5 mi) wide and a yield equivalent to ~57 megatons of TNT.")
