posted
I wonder if photon torpedoes are usually launched at warp speed. It has been shown a few times that they were used like mines, but the normal procedure seems to be aim and fire, because they are no self-guided missiles. Nevertheless they can do course corrections, since the torpedo launchers usually don't aim directly at the target. If the target is close (in phaser range), the time to impact at warp will be at most some fractions of a second (unlike what is mostly shown on screen). A reason for the high speed seems to be that an enemy torpedo can't be shot down with the phasers. This is obviously quite different in "The Undiscovered Country" when the torpedo is equipped with a plasma sensor. Why didn't the Klingons just fire at the slow torpedo?
------------------ "No, thanks. I've had enough. One more cup and I'll jump to warp." (Janeway, asked if she would like some coffee in "Once upon a Time") www.uni-siegen.de/~ihe/bs/startrek/
posted
Well, no-one ever accused Chang of being totally w/ it. I mean, he did spin around in the captain's chair quoting Shakespeare... :-)
------------------ "I ran into Charlie Fogg. He blacked my eye, and he kicked my dog. My dog turned to me, and he said, 'Let's head back to Tennessee, Jed.'" -The Grateful Dead, "Tennessee Jed"
[This message was edited by TSN on June 09, 1999.]
I am looking for a reasonable explanation, because this dramatic effect would have been far too dramatic. The torpedo could have actually been so slow. The reason why the BoP couldn't be hit was that the cloaked ship continuously changed position, and the torpedo obviously searched for the target, running in curves.
posted
I have to check the TNGTM again. I thought the torpedoes were accelerated with a "linear warp engine" in the launcher.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
The warp sustainer engine is necessary for what its name already says, because unlike Newtonian speed warp speed cannot be maintained without a continuous warp field being present. The question is how the torpedo's warp speed is achieved in the first place.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
No, no, the sustainer "grabs" a portion of the ship's warp field, allowing the torpedo to stay at whatever warp factor the launching ship was traveling at. It doesn't have enough power to kick the torpedo into warp speed on its own.
------------------ "Gone savage for teenagers with automatic weapons and boundless love." -- Soul Coughing
posted
What I had in mind was that the torpedo was accelerated by the launcher or just the ship's warp speed itself. The warp sustainer would be a kind of weak warp engine that keeps the torpedo at a speed just above the peak transitional threshold where the required power is considerably smaller than the power to get it there. I doubt that the warp field of the ship itself can be used for this purpose, considering its steep decay outside the ship. This would only work for objects close to the ship, for instance another ship that is towed.
I think the official explanation was something like that, but I could be wrong and I'll check the TNGTM again.
posted
If the torpedo is fired at sublight speeds, it can accelerate 75% above the launching platforms current speed though it cannot break the lightspeed barrier on its own. If fired at warp, it will also accellerate 75% faster (or something like that) to escape the launcher so as not to run into the launcher.
------------------ "If I get lost, I'll just follow the ship infront of us."-Ensign Nog
posted
Sol, Black Knight: You're right in that the torpedo has to be launched at warp speed to achieve warp speed. TNGTM: "...to continue at warp if launched during warp flight by the starship...If launched at sublight, the sustainer will not cross the threshold into warp..."
The launcher tube is described as follows: "It is strung with sequential field induction coils and launch assist gas generators to provide initial power to the sustainer engine and propel the casing away from the starship."
The rest of the description is a bit nebulous like everything about warp propulsion. Maybe I've mistaken you, Sol, when you wrote "grabs a portion of the ship's warp field". It is possible that the sustainer engine can "attract" part of the warp field, but I doubt it takes much energy from it. Without either the field or additional energy the torpedo would drop out of warp almost immediately, and its movement energy would be "converted" to a low Newtonian speed. The warp field being not self-sustaining, the required power would have to be stored somewhere else in the torpedo (unlikely), or new power would have to be generated, and I think that's what the *sustainer* engine is mainly about: grabbing and holding the field.
posted
Don't forget there are similar devices used by the Saucer section during separation at warp. It doesn't generate its own field, it attracts part of the Battle Section's and allows it to decay as the Saucer falls out of warp.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Hm... If it can go 75% beyond the launcher's speed, what happens if you fire while stationary? 75% of 0 is still 0... :-)
------------------ "I ran into Charlie Fogg. He blacked my eye, and he kicked my dog. My dog turned to me, and he said, 'Let's head back to Tennessee, Jed.'" -The Grateful Dead, "Tennessee Jed"
posted
TSN: All the DS9TM says about it is: "In launches from DS9, the initial velocity remains at high sublight and will never reach warp 1. This does not imply that the torpedo is impractical for statoin defense; it has been shown that even at low impulse, the standard photon torpedo is effective against close-in threat vessels."
------------------ "If I get lost, I'll just follow the ship infront of us."-Ensign Nog
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