posted
But you also have to consider that there's nearly two centuries of progress in warp engine design.
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Rogue Starship
Ex-Member
posted
ok, I would assume that a warp capable fighter would be at least 20-30 meters long (at least!) As for armorment I still hold to the phaser cannons.
I would not dismiss the idea of impulse fighter squardons launched from capital ships. Now I am not saying STAR WARS type battles, because the capital ships still fight. I'm just saying it's like having two ships, becasue when 12 fighters go up against a Capital ship, I can tell you that the capital ship is going to be out gunned.
posted
Rogue Starship said: "I would not dismiss the idea of impulse fighter squardons launched from capital ships. Now I am not saying STAR WARS type battles, because the capital ships still fight. I'm just saying it's like having two ships, becasue when 12 fighters go up against a Capital ship, I can tell you that the capital ship is going to be out gunned."
I'm not so sure about this. A small fighter (warp-capable or not) probably has only a single small fusion reactor to power the shields, weaponry and impulse drive. Therefore, each of these systems will be rather weaker than those of a large cruiser. An analogy would be a squadron of single-seat fighters of WWII vintage (like Corsairs or Hellcats) with machine guns or even 30 mm cannon attacking a battleship like Yamato. They could probably do a lot of damage to the superstructure but probably couldn't sink the ship without torpedoes or bombs. Sure they might get some sort of lucky hit and cause a chain reaction that consumes a magazine or something, but that's again kind of like Star Wars.
That's another question. How small of a ship can carry a actual matter/antimatter reactor? How were shuttlecraft powered in TOS and later series? Runabouts are 23 m long: do they have matter/antimatter reactors?
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posted
It depends on just how small you think M/AM technology can get.
One one hand, a warp core is a pretty big piece of equipment. If you want to get decent results, it probably has to be of decent size.
On the other hand, there's the photon torpedo which can effectively combine matter and antimatter for a designed purpose. Granted, an explosive reaction is different from a controlled engine reaction, but do you get my point?
Also, Masao's got the concept of those "antimatter fuel celles" which were used during the Earth-Romulan War. These were small self-contained "batteries" which could be burned at a controlled rate. They could fit on the 50 meter Minotaurs a century previously -- I'm sure they could be used for shuttlecraft/fighters that are about half that size in the 2250's.
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Chris StarShade
Ex-Member
posted
I do not understand how such fighters could exist before the original series, since they didn't even have warp-capable shuttlecraft in the original series.
The methodology of Star Trek makes having smaller fighter vehicles unfeasible.
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Chris StarShade
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posted
Sorry to burst your bubble, but TOS shuttles were not warp-capable. TNG shuttles could get up to Warp 2. It wasn't until Voyager that shuttles could get any decent warp speed (unless you count runabouts, which were recorded going at least Warp 7 on several occasions, but technically runabouts are almost worthy of being called gunboats or corvettes).
In one episode of TOS a shuttle had trouble breaking orbit. Tells you how good those shuttles are (though it might have been because they ran out of fuel... but if it's that easy for them to run out of fuel...)
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I WAS IN THE FUTURE, IT WAS TOO LATE TO RSVP
Member # 709
posted
but then again, one episode had a shuttle pursuing the enterprise at warp speed. i realize 'metamorphosis' and 'the galileo seven' were vague about the concept, 'menagerie' definitely depicted the shuttle at warp.
and tng shuttles are rated at warp 3 or 4 according to the tng tm.
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posted
I really don't care if shuttles in TOS were warp capable or not. Shuttles in TOS were very bare-bone little boxes (about the size of an SUV) meant primarily to sell model kits adn to strand crew members in dangerous situations. The more relevant question for me is how small a ship can be and still have warp drive? I think we can all agree that a ship does not have to be 300 m long to have warp drive. Once you figure out that minimum, you can design a fighter (or any other ship) from there.
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posted
In regards to how small a ship could be and still have a warp drive in the TOS era, how large where the tholian web spinners? The quick search of the net I had showed them to be in the range of 30 metres. If they are that size wouldn't that be the size that your looking for in a fighter?
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Chris StarShade
Ex-Member
posted
To answer that question, the ship can be as small as a photon torpedo and still have a warp drive.
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Chris StarShade
Ex-Member
posted
As for how I would use fighters...
I would send them to blow a hole in the shuttlebay of the enemy, then enter it, and blow more holes until they get to the engine room, and then fry the reactor.
posted
The Runabout had her warp drive on the top. Now that is fairly small, and for a ship I believe had a max warp of Warp 5 or 6. The TOS shuttles apparently needed a warp dive considering that in some episodes if they did not have warp drive they would never caught up with the E-nil which was going at warp. The NX shuttles does not have warp drive granted they are the size of a small SUV, and the Pheonix was actually quite massive. Now I'd think that a fighter of Warp 1 or Warp 2 could have a small enough warp propulsion package that could fit into a 20 meter fighter.
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quote:Originally posted by Chris StarShade: To answer that question, the ship can be as small as a photon torpedo and still have a warp drive.
There is a minimal size required for a M/AM reactor to be regarded as a warp drive, what can fit inside a torpedoe is about only 1/4 the required size.
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