Old Warp vs. New Warp
“Speed of plot” notwithstanding, in episodes of Star Trek two
variants of warp speeds are given. In the Original Series,
alien ships are occasionally described as traveling at Warp
factors 10, 12 and 14, while it is often established in
the Next Generation-era episodes that Warp 10 is an upper
limit for Warp velocities as it is infinite. Conversely,
ships are often described in NG as taking 70 years to traverse
large distances at Warp 9 when the Enterprise covers comparatively
greater distances in much shorter times.
So what speeds do Warp Factor translate to?
Keeping with the “Old Style” warp, v=(w^3)c, where c is the speed
of light, v is the velocity and w is the Warp Factor, which is
then cubed. This value fits in with the “Maximum Cruise
Velocities” often given in all series-it took the Kelvins about
200 years to travel to our Galaxy from Andromeda while it would
take a starship 70 years to travel the distance which the Bajoran
wormhole covers.
These so-called “cruise velocities” do seem to work in all eras
and series-The first “NX” class vessels
(launch date of NX-Enterprise 2251)
have a MCV of w5.4 (157c), Constitution-Class vessels about warp 7,
Galaxy-class starships w9 and Intrepid-class w9.95.
For the actual speeds given on-screen to work, this formula is
insufficient. For example, at certain periods in the Original
Series, the Enterprise travels at around 600,000 times the speed
of light. As a further example, Bajor is probably at least 2000
l.y. from Earth and it takes about a week to travel between the
two planets, presumably above warp 8.
For Warp velocities to fit in with “speed of plot” (not to
mention managing an Interstellar Federation without it having
to take eight years to get from one part to another) a formula
of v=(w^4)c works between warp 5 and warp 8; after which it
increases rapidly in an empirical fashion up to infinite
velocity at Warp 10.
This also allows the MCV given for each class of starship to be
the maximum “New Style” on-screen velocity. This certainly works
for the NX-class Enterprise (5.4^4=850) as it must approach 1000c
fairly significantly and Voyager can manage warp 9.95 for exactly
one minute. Values for MCV reflect the amount of anti-matter a
starship can produce to power its drive without replenishing
its supply from a starbase. Upper limits for warp values
on-screen reflect the speeds a ship can go before it either
runs out of anti-matter
(not power per se as at least the Enterprise-D and
Voyager carry Bussard collectors to harvest interstellar hydrogen
for nuclear fuel)
or the engines are simply overloaded, risking a warp core
breach.
At warp 5 and below, the old formula still applies, so 22nd century
ships mostly travel at around 100c
(example, below warp 5 it takes
the Enterprise 60 minutes to reach Neptune, which sounds impressive
but is very slow in galactic terms).
There is something of a contradiction in using two formulae,
But Warp 5 is effectively the speed limit within a Solar System,
presumably due to the increased levels of interstellar(planetary)
dust present, so this could be a realistic reasoning for the change
in formula after warp 5.
“Speed of plot” notwithstanding, in episodes of Star Trek two
variants of warp speeds are given. In the Original Series,
alien ships are occasionally described as traveling at Warp
factors 10, 12 and 14, while it is often established in
the Next Generation-era episodes that Warp 10 is an upper
limit for Warp velocities as it is infinite. Conversely,
ships are often described in NG as taking 70 years to traverse
large distances at Warp 9 when the Enterprise covers comparatively
greater distances in much shorter times.
So what speeds do Warp Factor translate to?
Keeping with the “Old Style” warp, v=(w^3)c, where c is the speed
of light, v is the velocity and w is the Warp Factor, which is
then cubed. This value fits in with the “Maximum Cruise
Velocities” often given in all series-it took the Kelvins about
200 years to travel to our Galaxy from Andromeda while it would
take a starship 70 years to travel the distance which the Bajoran
wormhole covers.
These so-called “cruise velocities” do seem to work in all eras
and series-The first “NX” class vessels
(launch date of NX-Enterprise 2251)
have a MCV of w5.4 (157c), Constitution-Class vessels about warp 7,
Galaxy-class starships w9 and Intrepid-class w9.95.
For the actual speeds given on-screen to work, this formula is
insufficient. For example, at certain periods in the Original
Series, the Enterprise travels at around 600,000 times the speed
of light. As a further example, Bajor is probably at least 2000
l.y. from Earth and it takes about a week to travel between the
two planets, presumably above warp 8.
For Warp velocities to fit in with “speed of plot” (not to
mention managing an Interstellar Federation without it having
to take eight years to get from one part to another) a formula
of v=(w^4)c works between warp 5 and warp 8; after which it
increases rapidly in an empirical fashion up to infinite
velocity at Warp 10.
This also allows the MCV given for each class of starship to be
the maximum “New Style” on-screen velocity. This certainly works
for the NX-class Enterprise (5.4^4=850) as it must approach 1000c
fairly significantly and Voyager can manage warp 9.95 for exactly
one minute. Values for MCV reflect the amount of anti-matter a
starship can produce to power its drive without replenishing
its supply from a starbase. Upper limits for warp values
on-screen reflect the speeds a ship can go before it either
runs out of anti-matter
(not power per se as at least the Enterprise-D and
Voyager carry Bussard collectors to harvest interstellar hydrogen
for nuclear fuel)
or the engines are simply overloaded, risking a warp core
breach.
At warp 5 and below, the old formula still applies, so 22nd century
ships mostly travel at around 100c
(example, below warp 5 it takes
the Enterprise 60 minutes to reach Neptune, which sounds impressive
but is very slow in galactic terms).
There is something of a contradiction in using two formulae,
But Warp 5 is effectively the speed limit within a Solar System,
presumably due to the increased levels of interstellar(planetary)
dust present, so this could be a realistic reasoning for the change
in formula after warp 5.
posted by Legal Smeagol at 3:08 PM
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