Max Warp

[Nebula]

Found this video to be highly interesting

[Morgan]

I saw that on Reddit!  Very cool indeed.

Though I don't buy the Sovereign hitting warp 9.985.  For some reason it just feels like a hamstring approach to making it seem super advanced.  I always thought 9.8 was better since it fits in better with the ship's lore about having power management problems due to the heavy weaponry, regenerative shields, and enhanced deflector.

[Mark McWire]

I saw that on Reddit!  Very cool indeed.

Though I don't buy the Sovereign hitting warp 9.985.  For some reason it just feels like a hamstring approach to making it seem super advanced.  I always thought 9.8 was better since it fits in better with the ship's lore about having power management problems due to the heavy weaponry, regenerative shields, and enhanced deflector.

In Fact Files is given Warp factor 9.95. I think this value is more realistic. The USS Voyager is guaranteed faster than the Enterprise, as it pursues a very different warp concept. The Intrepid class is designed as a fast research and courier ship, which is why f.e. Admiral Ross used the USS Bellerophon for the trip to Romulus.

[Mark McWire]

You should not forget that above Warp 9 the speed increases exponentially with the warp factor decimals.

For example, Warp Factor 9 is about 1500 times the speed of light.
Warp 9.2 about 1650, so only 10% more than Warp 9.
Warp 9.6 around 1900, that is nearly 1/3 faster than Warp 9.
Warp 9.9 about 3000, thats already the double of Warp 9.
Warp 9,95 is approximatly 5000, thats above triple of Warp 9
Warp 9.975 is approximalty 6000, thats four times the speed of Warp 9
Warp 9.99 finaly is arround 8000, thats  abouve five times the speed of Warp 9.

No known ship can travel faster than Warp factor 9.99 with a normal warp drive. In VOY Threshold, this factor is the beginning of transwarp speed.

[Mark McWire]

You should not forget that above Warp 9 the speed increases exponentially with the warp factor decimals.

For example, Warp Factor 9 is about 1500 times the speed of light.
Warp 9.2 about 1650, so only 10% more than Warp 9.
Warp 9.6 around 1900, that is nearly 1/3 faster than Warp 9.
Warp 9.9 about 3000, thats already the double of Warp 9.
Warp 9,95 is approximatly 5000, thats above triple of Warp 9
Warp 9.975 is approximalty 6000, thats four times the speed of Warp 9
Warp 9.99 finaly is arround 8000, thats  abouve five times the speed of Warp 9.

No known ship can travel faster than Warp factor 9.99 with a normal warp drive. In VOY Threshold, this factor is the beginning of transwarp speed.

Conclusion: No one should design a future starship with more than warp factor 9.99 with conventional warp drive.

[King Class Scout]

well, at least someone remembered the fact that the warp scale changed between TOS and Next G.  there's still arguments over what the multiplier for warp factors is, though, in both scales.
the guy missed something, though.  most canon and fanon puts it that Scotty had to tweak the living hell out of the connie Cochrane C3's to get it to do emergency eight.
there's also the fanon theory I read somewhere that the hull configuration applies the same way as aircraft wingsweep, shaping the warp envelope or wave.

[Mark McWire]

well, at least someone remembered the fact that the warp scale changed between TOS and Next G.  there's still arguments over what the multiplier for warp factors is, though, in both scales.
the guy missed something, though.  most canon and fanon puts it that Scotty had to tweak the living hell out of the connie Cochrane C3's to get it to do emergency eight.
there's also the fanon theory I read somewhere that the hull configuration applies the same way as aircraft wingsweep, shaping the warp envelope or wave.

Aerodynamics or the subspace equivalent should only play a limited role. According to the TNG: TM, energy is the limiting factor. To accelerate a spaceship from warp 9 to warp 9.95 takes 10 times as much energy as bringing it from warp 1 to warp 9. I extrapolate the diagram for warp factors over 9.9. At Warp 9.99, several kilograms of antimatter per second go through the warp core. Assuming 300 tons of storage of a Galaxy class of anti-deuterium, the spaceships could only keep this speed for 10 or 15 minutes before the stock is completely exhausted.

[King Class Scout]

like I said, a fan theory.  it was to explain the fact that sovs and intrepids are pointy nosed, and why gals and nebulas have that wide-oval saucer.
I'd have added another zero to the fuel storage numbers, if the weight of a gal is close to what I read it is, 2.4 million tons.  for comparison, a connie is supposed to run 160-180k, and the refit at 195k (with a circa 20K weight savings for leaving the paint off).

[Mark McWire]

Galaxy class has 4.5 million tons = 4.5 billion kg
Nebula class has 3.3 million tons = 3.3 billion kg
Sovereign class has 3.20 million tons = 3.20 billion kg
Original Constitution class had 190.000 tons = 1.9 million kg

Thats the official weigths from Starship Spotter.

[hobbs]

In the TNG: Tech manual (which i like to use as my goto book) its says the warp field is helped to be shaped by the shape of the hull. TNG (galaxy Class) warp theory allowed for its shape to be the best for current understading of warp field stability. it the final section were they look at potential designs for the Nova class they state that with new understading of warp field etc... then these designs could be possible.

Ive always assumed that the pointyness of new ships like the intrepid and sovie are due to advances in warp theory and practical aplications.

also i recall from voyager and maybe tng/ds9 that subspace is layered (infact i think its in the tng:tm too) subspace radio etc... runs on a different layer of subspace than the warp drive thus its that much quicker.
maybe the new designs are encroching on the next layer of subspace and so the shape of the ship is pointy.

also i personally think that slipstream ships use a very pointy design to allow the ships to push into the slipstream tunnel, then when its forced open the tunnel and is inside the slipstream drive produces a feild that holds the tunnel open. (all what i think lol not actual evidence on screen)

King Class Scout: nice to see you here
nice to see you ALL here

[King Class Scout]

Hobbs, you and the other dads better get yer butts back online!!  at least give SOME of us details how it' going with the kids, for pete's sake.

Hobbs mentioned what I meant earlier, that there was a scource that said the ship shape influences the Warp envelope.

[Mark McWire]

In the TNG: Tech manual (which i like to use as my goto book) its says the warp field is helped to be shaped by the shape of the hull. TNG (galaxy Class) warp theory allowed for its shape to be the best for current understading of warp field stability. it the final section were they look at potential designs for the Nova class they state that with new understading of warp field etc... then these designs could be possible.

Ive always assumed that the pointyness of new ships like the intrepid and sovie are due to advances in warp theory and practical aplications.

also i recall from voyager and maybe tng/ds9 that subspace is layered (infact i think its in the tng:tm too) subspace radio etc... runs on a different layer of subspace than the warp drive thus its that much quicker.
maybe the new designs are encroching on the next layer of subspace and so the shape of the ship is pointy.

There is something real in it. On the other hand, the Borg have very large and square spaceships and can fly very fast. The shape does not necessarily play the big role.
In the unloved episode "Threshold" it was suggested that Warp Factor 9.99 is the limit of normal Warp. This statement is also confirmed in the "Fact Files", since there the highest conventional warp speed for the Borg cube with warping factor 9.99 is given. In the book "Star Trek Starship Spotter" the maximum warp of the Prometheus class is given with 9.99. It makes sense, that this would be the economical limit of a warp field, because of energy consumption.

For faster speeds, all known races use Transwarp.

[King Class Scout]

McWire: did you ever think that the sort of Warp the fed uses is literally federation specific?  and I've also run into a warp theory in the novels that states when a ship warps, it "steps sideways" into a particle-less universe.  that one's been disproven enough for me to ignore it

I think Transwarp and so on acts like every other sci-fi's "hyperspace" or "Jump Gates".  after all, the borg have a network set up, right?

[Mark McWire]

McWire: did you ever think that the sort of Warp the fed uses is literally federation specific? 

I think that warp physics is universal. It does not matter if the Federation, the Klingons or the Borg use this technology. It is always the same physical principle. And all have the same limits.

The basic principle is that you expose a certain material (verterium-cortenid) to a strong source of energy and that material generates a subspace field. It does not matter where this energy comes from. It can come from an antimatter reactor (warp core), from a quantum singularity (Romulan propulsion) or from a simple fusion reactor. The subspace field ensures that the spacetime is curved accordingly, that the spaceship glides through space in a warp bubble or warp fields. The shape of the warp field is of course determined by the shape of the spaceship and the arrangement of the warp coils. However, the shape of the warp field has far less influence on the achievable speed, but rather the energy contained in the warp field.

Transwarp is more of a generic term for many different drive technologies. The Voth use a kind of superwarp as transwarp drive. They seem to have been more of an evolution of the classic warp drive. That's why you can see there the classic stripes in flight.

The Borg use a kind of wormhole as transwarp drive. So you use corridors through the subspace. This is to be compared with the classic hyperdrive from other series as in Stargate or Andromeda. The drive of the Xindi works the same, except that it is not called a transwarp corridor but a subspace corridor. And the naturally occurring channels of the Vaadwaur are simply called underspace.

Quantumslipstream is another form of transwarp, less stable but far faster than Borg transwarp.

[King Class Scout]

well, now, at least, I know the name of the alloy that warp coils are made out of.

I also ran into a warp theory (and, apparently, this is the one that RL scientists think could work) that the ship actually rides a compressed wave of spacetime to acheive hyperlight speeds.
then there's the star wars' universe hyperdrive superlight which throws things off, because there's no listing for how fast exactly they're going, but how long it takes to get there.  No distances are ever given, and no exact times.  the only thing given as canon anywhere that I remember is the fact that the Millennium Falcon uses a faster multiplier.  if the Star Wars galaxy is as large as the Milky Way and Andromeda, then that would mean hyperdrive is at least a thousand times faster than the trekverse's theoretical max.  I'm basing this on the fact that the falcon did 60-80k lightyears in only 48 hours (with a standard ratio hyperdrive doing it it in 96)!  and this in a universe where no-one thought to invent continuous use scanners with real time updating.  imagine what this would do if someone started anylizing ludicrus speed

you might be interested in my own creation's warp theory, which fuses the warp AND hyperspped concepts

[Mark McWire]

I've put all known warp formulas and some of my own ideas into an Excel spreadsheet (created with LibreOffice).