Post A Reply
my profile
|
directory
login
|
search
|
faq
|
forum home
»
Flare Sci-Fi Forums
»
Star Trek
»
Starships & Technology
»
The TNG Warp Speed Formula
» Post A Reply
Post A Reply
Login Name:
Password:
Message:
HTML is enabled.
UBB Code™ is enabled.
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Joshua Bell: [QB] [QUOTE]Originally posted by Shakaar: [qb] I certainly agree, I'm not saying that all the warp factors were arbitrarily tossed out there- just warp 10 set at infinity was. [/qb][/QUOTE]That statement implies that the (fictional) people that formalized the warp scale were idiots*. "Let's base 1-9 on some physical phenomenon, like energy minima. But then we'll make 10=infinite speed, for no particular reason." Either there are just 9 energy minima, and hence the TNG warp scale is based on physical phenomena, or there aren't. If there are just 9, then your solution is to make 1-9 based on energy minima and invent 10 more (10-19) which aren't based on anything, and then declare 20 to be infinite, which makes even *less* sense than the TNG scale to begin with! If there aren't 9 energy minima, then the whole thing is moot anyway since the TNG scale doesn't make any sense. I don't think you can have your cake and eat it, too. You can actually infer something about what Warp 10 means from the mere fact that they use various fractions between 9 and 10. If the scale simply went "6, 7, 8, 9, ludicrous speed!" then Picard could simply order "let's get there in a jiffy" and they'd pick v=d/jiffy and be done with it. Instead, they pile on the ever more ominous sounding fractions "9.6... 9.7... 9.8.... 9.85... 9.9..." as the ship starts to buckle. Measuring a boundless dimension with a finite scale isn't anything special, but the correlation between the position on the finite scale and the effects are a solid part of the show. IMHO, either look at the TNG warp scale as an elegant plot device and marvel in its beauty, or dispense with it entirely. Hacking it just makes it really ugly. * Or, similarly, politicians. I'd buy that argument. [/QB][/QUOTE]
Instant Graemlins
Instant UBB Code™
What is UBB Code™?
Options
Disable Graemlins in this post.
*** Click here to review this topic. ***
© 1999-2024 Charles Capps
Powered by UBB.classic™ 6.7.3