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» Flare Sci-Fi Forums » Star Trek » Starships & Technology » Warp Speed Limit (Page 3)

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Author Topic: Warp Speed Limit
blssdwlf
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If I'm not mistaken, in BOBW, the Enterprise does exceed light speed going from Saturn (or was it Jupiter) to Earth based on the short amount of time. I think it was 45 minutes to get to Earth and that would indicate they were going at least a low warp speed from Saturn/Jupiter to Earth. The Borg on the other hand, was probably just assimilating/destroying everything for fun.

I think ships should be just fine and dandy warping in and around star systems. The only fear really is a malfunction (due to a system failure or enemy attack) that would cause the ship to uncontrollably plow into a planet or star.


quote:
Originally posted by PsyLiam:

I'm sure the "we shouldn't warp inside a system" has been mentioned elsewhere on Trek, but I'm blown if I can remember where. The only instance that comes to mind is the Borg Cube and the Enterprise dropping out of warp while still at Saturn in BOBW. If the Enterprise was in such a hurry, you'd think they'd have dropped out of warp right over Earth.


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Timo
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Actually, if you go to high impulse, you supposedly get time dilation - so 45 minutes to travel the more than one light-hour distance could still count as sublight travel.

You'd have to spend most of that decelerating, though, assuming the ship cannot decelerate much faster than it can accelerate, and that the thousand-gee acceleration implied in the TNG Tech Manual is approximately correct.

Or was Riker planning on overshooting? Was Wesley basing his best-case calculations on not braking? Squeezing off a few shots as the ships whip past each other at near-lightspeed wouldn't be likely to harm the cube. But slamming into the cube at near-lightspeed might do the trick. Perhaps Riker was counting on ramming from the outset?

Timo Saloniemi

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Sol System
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One thing I liked about the Wolf 359 stuff from "Emmissary" was that it sort of addressed the question of why nobody tried ramming something big into the cube. (The answer being, as I recall, that somebody did, and nothing could even get close. Well, OK, I don't think it's ever explicitly said that that's what any of those ships are trying, but considering the fate of Controversially Named Excelsior, it seems a safe assumption.)
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Timo
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That's the sort of treknobabble-free treknology that I love. Show, not tell. Like in "A Time to Stand" where we see how a warp chase could turn into a sublight battle - it doesn't take a superweapon or special gadget to force a ship out of warp, just a phaser or torpedo hit that collapses the field without much harming the ship.

Perhaps warp fields are actually more finicky things than we realize, prone to collapsing when you least expect them to? In deep space, a sudden deceleration wouldn't matter much, but in a crowded solar system, you want to know EXACTLY where and when your ship is going to stop. Thus, a voluntary ban on warping into systems (but less of a ban on warping out of them). The warp field collapse need not *result* from being next to a planet - but it *becomes risky* when you are next to a planet.

Timo Saloniemi

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Bernd
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I prefer the idea that only untested warp drives are dangerous to be engaged in a solar system because of a calibration thing. All other mentions of "no warp in system" may be checked if they aren't special local regulations, for instance because of the amount of sublight traffic that would be endangered.

It's a bit digressing, but there's one problem with that theory. It makes the Enterprise's warp drive in TMP look as if it had been just assembled. Yet, the ship (everything else) can be made ready to launch in one day. There is clearly a discrepancy between the time to accomplish either. Not to mention the Enterprise-A and espacially the Enterprise-B, which comes with a perfectly operational warp drive, but without all the "Tuesday stuff" (okay, that was silly anyway).

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blssdwlf
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I'd have to watch it again, but I didn't get the feeling Riker planned on ramming the ship until he fired at it and i believe they both "stopped" for each other to take their shots. I think it would be safe that they went to a low warp or used impulse in its occasionally used "faster-than-light" mode.

quote:
Originally posted by Timo:
Actually, if you go to high impulse, you supposedly get time dilation - so 45 minutes to travel the more than one light-hour distance could still count as sublight travel.

You'd have to spend most of that decelerating, though, assuming the ship cannot decelerate much faster than it can accelerate, and that the thousand-gee acceleration implied in the TNG Tech Manual is approximately correct.

Or was Riker planning on overshooting? Was Wesley basing his best-case calculations on not braking? Squeezing off a few shots as the ships whip past each other at near-lightspeed wouldn't be likely to harm the cube. But slamming into the cube at near-lightspeed might do the trick. Perhaps Riker was counting on ramming from the outset?

Timo Saloniemi


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PsyLiam
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I do hate to get technical, but the Enterprise couldn't have been in low warp for two reasons.

1/ The stars were not streaking. (Ooh, kinky).

2/ Riker told Wesley to drop to impulse.

I rule.

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Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.

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djewell
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Maybe Wes was going into defiant mode. [Big Grin]

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"Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind."

-Einstein

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blssdwlf
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quote:
Originally posted by PsyLiam:
I do hate to get technical, but the Enterprise couldn't have been in low warp for two reasons.

1/ The stars were not streaking. (Ooh, kinky).

2/ Riker told Wesley to drop to impulse.

I rule.

Then Wes was running the impulse engines in the
"Faster Than Light" mode [Smile]

And to add to that, the stars never streaked at warp in TOS. They might have switched to TOS fast impulse/slow warp mode and still were FTL.

Either way, the Enterprise made the travel time to Earth from Jupiter (or was it Saturn) faster than what is possible at sublight speed.

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PsyLiam
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quote:
And to add to that, the stars never streaked at warp in TOS. They might have switched to TOS fast impulse/slow warp mode and still were FTL.
Yes, but the stars have streaked while at warp for every single episode of Trek since Encounter At Farpoint (bar a couple of times in the first season where they fucked it up). You can't bring in a TOS SFX example in this case, because it blatantly doesn't hold for TNG and beyond.

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Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.

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blssdwlf
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Hmmm -- I think in Voyager's The Swarm battle scene at the end they didn't show the streaking stars effect while they were at warp. Its been a while, so I might have misremembered it. There might be other episodes post Season 1 of TNG that have no-streak stars.

quote:
Originally posted by PsyLiam:
quote:
And to add to that, the stars never streaked at warp in TOS. They might have switched to TOS fast impulse/slow warp mode and still were FTL.
Yes, but the stars have streaked while at warp for every single episode of Trek since Encounter At Farpoint (bar a couple of times in the first season where they fucked it up). You can't bring in a TOS SFX example in this case, because it blatantly doesn't hold for TNG and beyond.

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Gvsualan
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quote:
Originally posted by blssdwlf:
Hmmm -- I think in Voyager's The Swarm battle scene at the end they didn't show the streaking stars effect while they were at warp. Its been a while, so I might have misremembered it. There might be other episodes post Season 1 of TNG that have no-streak stars.

Two things to know around here:
Voyager never happened, and everything else is besides the point!

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Hey, it only took 13 years for me to figure out my password...

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PsyLiam
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quote:
Originally posted by blssdwlf:
There might be other episodes post Season 1 of TNG that have no-streak stars.

Name one that isn't a mistake, and I'll shut up. Better yet, name one that has a PLANET in the same shot as the ship is at warp while the stars aren't streaking, and I'll show everyone my big pants.

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Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.

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Cartman
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As opposed to your tight hotpants?
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PsyLiam
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I do not wear tight hotpants. It is big baggy y-fronts for me.

--------------------
Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.

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