ST - Warp speed used by other races = warp speed used by humans?

[cbrunny]

In Star Trek, basically every species that they come across that has space flight also has warp speed ability (Prime Directive!).

Is it always the "same" warp speed? Like the same way of generating the warp fields, same way of propulsion? The different species invented this identical thing independently? That would probably suck pretty hard, imo, if you invent warp speed successfully only to find out immediately that thousands of other species already had this and you're not only not special but also actually way behind the technological capabilities of others, and you're the new kid in intergalactic-town and have no authority or control whatsoever.

Or are they different, and there are multiple different ways of generating/creating/pushing/moving as fast as warp speeds? Would the physics of warp speed allow for multiple ways of moving at warp speed, but not "warp speed" specifically. In this case "warp speed" would be, say, a brand of engine.

Or is the difference only what we would typically expect from one auto manufacturer to another vis-a-vis internal combustion engine?

 

[Newbian]

For the most part many were around the same type of movement in TNG and most of what you see were in the federation and if I recall in order to join it you had to be advanced enough thus a warp engine was usually a big factor even it it was slower speeds.

In some episodes they talked about some of the species getting it either by buying the technology also or from stealing it for the most part.

Really the only species that stood out with something else was the borg but you see that a lot more in Voyager.

If you watched The Enterprise series you saw how their warp technology advanced over time a bit not to mention with help from some other aliens they meet but it was newer to them and a lot of the aliens they meet had it for a time and would limit the amount they shared with humanity such as what the Vulcans do in it.

There are a few alien species you see, mainly in Voyager as they primary dealt with new aliens they never met before, that had different types but they seem to be far between and they were either much more primitive versions or leaps ahead of warp drive.

 

[disappoint]

I'm sorry but the correct answer is: WHO CARES?

It's science fiction. It's intended to entertain not educate.

Just watch it, enjoy it, and move on.

If you want to learn something try REAL SCIENCE.

 

[cbrunny]

I know that as humans we are extremely early in terms of our development towards the "warp drive" but given what we do know (or perhaps think we know) about it, I wonder if there are multiple ways of creating the physics of warp drive.

 

[cbrunny]

I'm sorry but the correct answer is: WHO CARES?

It's science fiction. It's intended to entertain not educate.

Just watch it, enjoy it, and move on.

If you want to learn something try REAL SCIENCE.

Awesome contribution. Thanks for the rage. Helpful.

I heard the internet is running out of bandwidth, so maybe I shouldn't post in an Off Topic forum various wonderings. Gotta conserve that space!

 

[brainhulk]

Plaid > *

 

[cbrunny]

Plaid > *

I know this one... Plaid Trek is greater than Star Trek?

Sounds like a bad Scottish spinoff.

 

[mrjminer]

In Star Trek, basically every species that they come across that has space flight also has warp speed ability (Prime Directive!).

Is it always the "same" warp speed? Like the same way of generating the warp fields, same way of propulsion? The different species invented this identical thing independently? That would probably suck pretty hard, imo, if you invent warp speed successfully only to find out immediately that thousands of other species already had this and you're not only not special but also actually way behind the technological capabilities of others, and you're the new kid in intergalactic-town and have no authority or control whatsoever.

Or are they different, and there are multiple different ways of generating/creating/pushing/moving as fast as warp speeds? Would the physics of warp speed allow for multiple ways of moving at warp speed, but not "warp speed" specifically. In this case "warp speed" would be, say, a brand of engine.

Or is the difference only what we would typically expect from one auto manufacturer to another vis-a-vis internal combustion engine?

I am guessing they all operate the same. There have been some episodes where they have to get warp core coolant / transfer warp core stuff between ships from different species / retrofit. I think some warp fields may have had different signatures, but the specifics of the warp fields themselves I don't remember being brought up.

IIRC there may have been one-two races / advanced species that had different cores. Some episode about Romulans and Federation people being basically "frozen" in a super-slow moving time where some series of events kept repeating itself due to a time loop, and having to use a portable forcefield around a person to get in and move people around to prevent their deaths comes to mind. I think that involved some advanced species that had some different mechanism of powering the warp core, but I don't remember very well.

And, of course, the traveler's method of getting around, and however the Enterprise went to warp 10 or whatever and had the giant floating head dude appear in the ship.

So, I think mostly or all the same, but the future may have revealed new methods of warp.

Plaid > *

Ludicrous speed is the only way to travel

 

[utahraptor]

Here is a really good fan article about what the different warp numbers actually mean in terms of raw speed:

http://www.reddit.com/r/DaystromInstitute/comments/2fxssr/a_comprehensive_theory_of_known_transwarp/

They mean different numbers at different times and in different series (TOS,TNG,VOY ect...)

As far as what is generating that speed it is a matter / anti matter reaction for the federation star ships. The romulans use a singularity warp core which means I think they have a tiny black hole in the engine.

I don't recall hearing how the other races ships achieve warp speed, but you hear a lot about trans warp coils in regard to the Borg and species 8472 uses some kind of organic mechanism. The Dominion shape shifters have been show to be able to shape shift into a vessel that can travel at warp in DS9.

 

[mrjminer]

Here is a really good fan article about what the different warp numbers actually mean in terms of raw speed:

http://www.reddit.com/r/DaystromInstitute/comments/2fxssr/a_comprehensive_theory_of_known_transwarp/

They mean different numbers at different times and in different series (TOS,TNG,VOY ect...)

As far as what is generating that speed it is a matter / anti matter reaction for the federation star ships. The romulans use a singularity warp core which means I think they have a tiny black hole in the engine.

I don't recall hearing how the other races ships achieve warp speed, but you hear a lot about trans warp coils in regard to the Borg and species 8472 uses some kind of organic mechanism. The Dominion shape shifters have been show to be able to shape shift into a vessel that can travel at warp in DS9.

Yea the singularity core, I think that's what was focused on in the episode I was mentioning.


Amusing story. This cashier at Walgreens near me is a super Trekkie. I checked out and he was going on for about 10 minutes about some various plot lines of TNG, Voyager, and DS9. He seemed like one of those guys that was super smart, but clearly nuts and socially 100% not there. I may have to ask him if he knows next time I have an extra 15 minutes when I go there.

 

[SunnyD]

Two words: Universal Translator.

 

[cbrunny]

Two words: Universal Translator.

Google will have that done in a matter of years!

But this is all very interesting to me. Even though it is a fictitious universe, I'm (apparently) very interested in the science of it. Maybe I should be actually interested in the science of our own universe instead....

 

[SunnyD]

Google will have that done in a matter of years!

But this is all very interesting to me. Even though it is a fictitious universe, I'm (apparently) very interested in the science of it. Maybe I should be actually interested in the science of our own universe instead....

What I meant is that the Universal Translator also translates implied meanings across known species. So "Warp 4" for species X might actually translate to "Warp 8" for humanity across unit conversion scales. The Universal Translator takes these things into account.

 

[Newbian]

What's even more confusion is tos warp speeds were different then tng warp speeds.

 

[SunnyD]

What's even more confusion is tos warp speeds were different then tng warp speeds.

It's actually not confusing at all, and I believe it was even explained in one of the TNG episodes where at some point warp efficiency thresholds became great enough that the warp scales had to be revised, and because of changes to technology it was possible (and did eventually - Voyager) happen again.

 

[poofyhairguy]

OP, the answer is they can be different.

An artificial quantum singularity (also known as a confined, or forced quantum singularity) was a method utilized by the Romulans for generating energy, instead of the more traditional matter-antimatter reaction used in Federation starships.

http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Artificial_quantum_singularity#Artificial_quantum_singularity

Was the performance the same? Maybe not, there is evidence the Romulans were slower.

 

[02ranger]

OP, the answer is they can be different.



http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Artificial_quantum_singularity#Artificial_quantum_singularity

Was the performance the same? Maybe not, there is evidence the Romulans were slower.

I think that is just the difference in how they generated the power to acheive warp speed, not in how warp drive itself worked. I think 99% of the warp speed capable species encountered in TNG, DS9, and VOY (never watched ENT and don't like TOS) used the same mechanism for FTL travel, but different ways to generate the power. The other 1% would cover things like Transwarp drive or the one with the wormholes or that episode of TNG where they tried using that slide/wave thing to transport the ship.

 

[K1052]

OP, the answer is they can be different.



http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Artificial_quantum_singularity#Artificial_quantum_singularity

Was the performance the same? Maybe not, there is evidence the Romulans were slower.

IIRC, the explanation was always the Romulan warbirds were designed for long term cruise under cloak rather than for absolute speed. In "Tin Man" one ran at about warp 9.5 causing irreparable engine damage and the cloak to fail intermittently. Whereas a Galaxy class could run at the mid 9s for periods of time without damage.

 

[zephyrprime]

This is like asking if there are different versions of moving at 100mph. No. Warp speed is all the same. There are different engines but there aren't even very many different engines. I recall the romulans used an impulse engine that ran through a single warp coil or something. Of course you are going to get your ego busted when you meet up with more advanced aliens and learn that they invented all the same shit you did.

 

[cbrunny]

I think that is just the difference in how they generated the power to acheive warp speed, not in how warp drive itself worked. I think 99% of the warp speed capable species encountered in TNG, DS9, and VOY (never watched ENT and don't like TOS) used the same mechanism for FTL travel, but different ways to generate the power. The other 1% would cover things like Transwarp drive or the one with the wormholes or that episode of TNG where they tried using that slide/wave thing to transport the ship.

See that makes sense to me. That's what I would have expected the answer to be. A bit nuanced but it makes sense.

 

[SithSolo1]

I'm not a die-hard Trekkie so I may be wrong but as far as I can remember not all spacefairing races they came across had warp capability. Nor did all the warp capable races use the same technologies to cross the threshold to warp speed. In one episode of Voyager they basically used a "slingshot" type mechanism to hit warp. Once you actually achieve warp there are various degrees of speed thus Warp 1, Warp 3, Warp 8, etc. I think "Warp 10" was basically infinite speed.

 

[cbrunny]

I'm not a die-hard Trekkie so I may be wrong but as far as I can remember not all spacefairing races they came across had warp capability. Nor did all the warp capable races use the same technologies to cross the threshold to warp speed. In one episode of Voyager they basically used a "slingshot" type mechanism to hit warp. Once you actually achieve warp there are various degrees of speed thus Warp 1, Warp 3, Warp 8, etc. I think "Warp 10" was basically infinite speed.

If I remember correctly, the episode where they modify the delta flyer to hit warp 10 (voyager) stated that an object travelling at warp 10 occupies every space in the universe instantaneously.

Or was that Futurama... Shit. I can't remember.

 

[Kadarin]

None of this matters now since the last Star Trek movie rendered all this obsolete. Why bother with starships when you can just beam yourself (from a spinning helicopter thing, no less, so clearly it doesn't take a whole lot of energy) to a planet many lightyears away, in enemy territory?

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Not every being in the Star Trek universe moves by warp propulsion or even technology at all. Q would be an example.

 

[JEDIYoda]

I'm sorry but the correct answer is: WHO CARES?

It's science fiction. It's intended to entertain not educate.

Just watch it, enjoy it, and move on.

If you want to learn something try REAL SCIENCE.

This is a fun topic.......why be a grumpy person?
When you post a new topic I will post WHO CARES to you topic.

As if I care anyways....