Besides warp drive slipstream drive and wormholes, what other propulsion methods were reliably used for faster than light travel?
FTL Methods in Trek
- Thread starter Ronald Held
- Start date
Well, divine teleporting - every demigod out there seemed to do that reliably, regularly and safely. Might be related to subspace transporters which did FTL for the Feds, or the Sikarian interstellar transporter.
Spore drive, too - it never failed to deliver.
At least two distinct sorts of conduits: Borg transwarp and Waadwaur. Although those might be related: perhaps the Borg assimilated their ideas from the Waadwaur, or they in turn appropriated old and decayed Borg conduits.
What else? Coaxial warp might be its own thing, or then not. Time travel allows for FTL, or even for arriving long before you left. Many an alien failed to tell the heroes what propulsion system he, she or it used. The Eymorg had ion drive which was decidedly FTL but might merely have been the same as the ion power that made Starfleet shuttle warp engines go (only better done).
Timo Saloniemi
Spore drive, too - it never failed to deliver.
At least two distinct sorts of conduits: Borg transwarp and Waadwaur. Although those might be related: perhaps the Borg assimilated their ideas from the Waadwaur, or they in turn appropriated old and decayed Borg conduits.
What else? Coaxial warp might be its own thing, or then not. Time travel allows for FTL, or even for arriving long before you left. Many an alien failed to tell the heroes what propulsion system he, she or it used. The Eymorg had ion drive which was decidedly FTL but might merely have been the same as the ion power that made Starfleet shuttle warp engines go (only better done).
Timo Saloniemi
I'd argue that every DemiGod / Q-like being's teleportation is closer to a Temporal Transporter than just SubSpace Transporter.
Warp Drive
Quantum SlipStream Drive
Spore Drive worked once you figured out the Biological Navigator issue
TransWarp had Borg TransWarp Conduit Generators
Voth style TransWarp that blended into regular warp, so I argue it's a different form of "TransWarp" due to the graphics
CoAxial Warp Drive is basically "Folding Space" to allow for it's form of FTL, faster than anything short of the Spore Drive according to my calculations
SubSpace Vortex
Spatial Flexures (Q's son Jr. used a Deflector Dish to trigger it while he was stuck as a human)
Graviton Catapults
Temporal Drive which literally allows you to cross Space & Time, so you can literally go back in Time while crossing space.
But that's FAR into the future
Soliton Wave's could be a future system.
Warp Drive
Quantum SlipStream Drive
Spore Drive worked once you figured out the Biological Navigator issue
TransWarp had Borg TransWarp Conduit Generators
Voth style TransWarp that blended into regular warp, so I argue it's a different form of "TransWarp" due to the graphics
CoAxial Warp Drive is basically "Folding Space" to allow for it's form of FTL, faster than anything short of the Spore Drive according to my calculations
SubSpace Vortex
Spatial Flexures (Q's son Jr. used a Deflector Dish to trigger it while he was stuck as a human)
Graviton Catapults
Temporal Drive which literally allows you to cross Space & Time, so you can literally go back in Time while crossing space.
But that's FAR into the future
Soliton Wave's could be a future system.
Last edited:
There have been times that impulse has been shown to go ftl.
Although it doesnt make much sense, the Bajoran sail craft in ds9 seemed to be able to go ftl (or it's a REALLY close neighborhood 'round those parts.
Some of these I had forgotten. Are Borg transwarp and Waadwaur conduits types of stable wormholes?
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Underspace
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Subspace_corridor
Borg TransWarp Corridors are artificially generated and do not last forever unless they have structure implanted inside to keep them open.
Vaadwaur found natural SubSpace Corridors and gave it the name "UnderSpace"
They mapped out the location of "UnderSpace" relative to real space and kept the knowledge secret by memorization within their own minds to prevent the knowledge from being stolen.
Last edited:
SO inside either corridor, a ship is traveling FTL inside, versus a wormhole, where one is not?
Should have typed in the OP that this information may go into a future presentation.
Think Babylon 5, the Corridor is a form of "Hyper-Space (Generic Term)" where 1 meter of travel in the __ Corridor" corresponds to WAY more than 1 meter in Real Space.
A Wormhole (think DS9's wormhole) is a dedicated Corridor between two points in space, think a short cut where you don't have to expend your own FTL systems energy to cross the vast distances in space, ergo saving on resources. You use STL (Impulse) systems to traverse said Wormhole and you end up crossing vast distances of a "Fixed Route" in space.
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Bajoran_lightship
They mention they went into warp, but not how fast. And the Bajoran Light-Ship wasn't meant for Warp Speed stresses, ergo parts of the rigging broke off during the journey.
I doubt the speeds they gained were significant, but on any event, they didn't have full control of what was going on when the Tachyon Eddies pushed them into Warp. So there's no way of fully knowing what speeds they were going.
Not familiar with B5 to remember any FTL methods.
Ok then, another thing on the list of legendary Sci-Fi TV shows that you should DEFINITELY WATCH!
But basically, when you enter the Sub-Space Corridor, you can travel faster because traveling 1m in the Sub-Space Corridor would have a MUCH greater 1 : X correlation to real space.
Ergo you save "Energy" by crossing vast distances without having to use your own FTL drives.
Granted you don't control the destination, but that's part of the benefits of "UnderSpace" / WormHoles.
Conserve energy while traveling at FTL speeds in a very short amount of time.
Almost every race uses jumpgates, although the Shadows and some of the other First Ones were shown to apparently enter hyperspace without the need to use them. The Vorlons presumably could have used that as well, but were always shown using normal jump points.
OT, but jumpgates move you between fixed points with no to little elapsed time?
B5 jumpgates allow for passage into hyperspace without the need for a jump drive. A ship follows navigation beacons to another jumpgate to return to realspace.
Wondering off the beacon can get you lost in hyperspace with no way out.
If a ship has a jump drive, they can make there own exit and entry points to hyperspace, but beacons still help with navigation as it is easier than mapping for gravity disturbances or whatever is used to find star systems that have not been explored or just have no functioning beacon.
It is possible that the jumpdrive/jumpgate tech was originally Vorlon in origin and handed down over time. I don't recall any race discovering it on their own (though its been a while since I looked into that lore).
Wondering off the beacon can get you lost in hyperspace with no way out.
If a ship has a jump drive, they can make there own exit and entry points to hyperspace, but beacons still help with navigation as it is easier than mapping for gravity disturbances or whatever is used to find star systems that have not been explored or just have no functioning beacon.
It is possible that the jumpdrive/jumpgate tech was originally Vorlon in origin and handed down over time. I don't recall any race discovering it on their own (though its been a while since I looked into that lore).
Vir said in Thirdspace (IIRC) that many of the younger races discovered already existing jumpgates, but weren't sure exactly which race might have first developed them. It could have easily been the Vorlons or other First Ones. The main catch with hyperspace is that it has no features, which is why the beacons are essential to navigation. It's basically like an ocean of energy.
With things like the Bajoran Lightship existing in Star Trek, one wonders if their were any places in the Galaxy were there is local interstellar empires or trade routes that are all handled like its the 17th century or even earlier sailing ships. No warp drive or other FTL propulsion, just tachyon sailors.
If there are, it must be within the Planetary System or very close nearby Planetary Systems.
And when Aliens discover them, some might take advantage and conquer them.
Similar threads
