You do realize that without shields, they’d have been blown out of the sky in one shot rather than being able to survive in a firefight, right? It’s like saying what’s the point of a kevlar vest if I’m going to get a broken rib from a body shot? If I can live, I’ll take that vest and broken rib, thanks.

Power is relative. There’ve been times we’ve seen weapons from less advanced species than the Federation bounce uselessly off shields or are seen as no threat. We’ve also seen Starfleet ships get carved up like a prize turkey. The Gorn are powerful, that’s just it. That doesn’t mean Starfleet aren’t heavy hitters - at this point it’s just that there’s a stronger kid in the playground.

I though everyone and everything getting wrecked was a throwback to TOS.

The enterprise Dansd E are pretty strong

For the number of ships, by TOS there are only 12 Constitution class ships, so there might not be more ships to send. We're a year or so out from the Klingon war, and it doesn't seem like the Federation is in a position to quickly replace ships. They already lost the Cayuga. Also the admiralty obviously isn't interested in a Gorn war at all, and certainly not over this planet or the potential survivors.

I will say it's been shown that Pike is just not a fighting captain. He's not the person you want in a combat situation. It does make me wonder why he's a Captain but idk. They really should send the Enterprise back on a deep space mission of exploration and have someone (who is not an evil mirror universe person) more like Lorca or Kirk running these border conflicts or something.

The Defiant was a “tough little ship.” 😉

Also, why didn't their friggin Chief of Security know about the new weapons?