*Spoiler* Was there ever talk of giving DS9 Warp engines?

Could this have been possible? It would have been awe inspiring to see DS9 featured in the actual battle in the last episode.

 

I guess not?

 

It wasn't really designed to move too much. Moving it to the mouth of the wormhole nearly ripped the ship to pieces.

 

It would have been awe-inspiring! Silly, but awe-inspiring nevertheless.

 

What? No... the station could not have gone to warp. The thing was massive by comparison to the things Starfleet was able to slap a warp drive on. It nearly shook apart just by moving it the one time they did. That's not to mention the fact that most of the people on board were civilians.

I'd rather they gave DS9 it's own Sovereign class ship for the last episode.

-Withers-​

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpraJYnbVtE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jm6B31HKBw

 

That would kind of defeat the purpose of its being a space station, wouldn't it?

 

Voth City Ships?

I kid!

 

Just remembered, in one of the DS9 relaunch novels Empok Nor travels at warp, though that is been towed by I think starships at low warp. The station received structural damage but survived the trip. It was at the start of the Section 31 novel, Abyss.

 

In the very first episode of the show the station had 6 thrusters they used to move the station away from Bajor and closer to the wormhole. If the station had thrusters then why can't it have warp engines? That's my thoughts on this thread's topic.

 

Because thrusters are a completely different source of propulsion? Heck, they can't even get the ship up to proper impulse speeds.

The idea of DS9 traveling at warp sounds like when the Castle of Lions became a ship towards the end of Voltron. Fun as a kid, ludicrous as an adult.

 

Forget the technical or silly looking reasons why the station can't be moved very far with out threatening to cast its debris to the far solar winds and instead think of it's stationary position as one for more dramatic reasons. If the station would be easily moved then it less the dramatic tension.

Essencially the station is an easy target for anyone who wants to take a shot at them. So given that disadvantage it forces the characters in terms of story to adapt. I think dramatically it makes the show more interesting if the station has to stay put and make a stand and can't run away when the going gets tough.

 

It nearly shook apart because the shields, station deflector, and SIF were acting like they were being held together by chewing gum and bailing wire.


While I agree, DS9 with warp engines is a bit silly, I would like to see if anyone could come up with a decent idea for a mobile outpost.

 

NEVER MIND what I said.
Something Kaziarl said got me to thinking.

The word "mobile" got me to thinking about that tv show M*A*S*H*.
M*A*S*H* wasn't just the name of the show, those letters stood for something:
Mobile
Army
Surgical
Hospital
Notice what the m stood for? If they had made DS9 a "mobile outpost", it would've turned the show in to the Star Trek version of M*A*S*H*. Come under attack? Pack up, move, set up camp in safer territory. While all the Star Trek shows had their funny moments and funny lines, I don't think Gene Roddenberry intended for original Star Trek or any spin-offs of it to be one hour sitcoms. And I have to admit, with all this in mind, I now find imagining DS9 warping around the Alpha quadrant pretty amusing.
After thinking of all this, I decided DS9 was just fine without warp engines.

 

I remember watching Emissary and I was so sold on the space station thingy and suddenly they began moving the thing around and I was like wtf...

DS9 showing up at the battle would have been terrible. If the station had been an ancient structure with hidden superpowers, maybe (still terrible imo)...but the old Cardie mining station coming to the rescue?!

 

While the show M*A*S*H was indeed a sitcom, the actual M*A*S*H units were far from funny and played an extremely vital role in military operations. And while the hospitals did tend to try to keep out of the line of fire, I was thinking along the lines of a Mobile Command. A strategic operations base that could coordinate military movements into more hostile territories. Once ground is taken, the base would move forward instead of having to build a new one to coordinate in the next area.

 

If ya read DS9 Bloodletter, set after the first season episode 'Babel', Bashir tries to develop a mobile isolation unit, which is sent to stake a claim to the Gamma side of the wormhole.

Just sayin'...

 

Presumably the thrusters were only there because the orbit of the station around Bajor would decay over time, so it would need re-positioning every now and then. Having small maneuvering thrusters is quite different to having massive warp engines.

 

I gather even Federation-level civilizations could build warp-capable ships the size of DS9 if they put some effort into it. The point here would be that DS9 was not built to be such a ship. Modifying it for such a task would be as futile as turning an old wooden sailing ship into a hydrofoil; you'd have to discard every last timber and nail of the original and rebuild the thing ouf ot 100% new materials.

If Starfleet, or DS9 the show, needed a warp-capable space station (aka ginormous starship), the likeliest way for them to get one would be to destroy DS9 somehow - thus leaving the slate clean for a construction project.

Timo Saloniemi