Are starships limited to car/boat/airplane style control?

[MaximRecoil]

Even though starships are supposed to have unconventional means of propulsion, when on screen, it seems like they stick to the rules of conventional rearward force propulsion. Now keep in mind that I'm most familiar with TOS, so maybe things are different in the newer shows, but in any event, what I mean by this is that they always point the front of the ship in the direction they want to go.

Can a starship travel in any direction without first turning to face that direction; like this for example (if you can't see what direction the ship takes off to then your monitor is not bright enough)?

If it can do such things, are there any scenes in any of the Star Trek TV shows or movies that show it powering itself in a direction other than the one it is facing? I think scenes like this would be cool because it really illustrates the advanced, unconventional means of propulsion being used.

 

[Luckyflux]

It would be cool! I agree with you 100%, but I think it was just a TV thing. Done that way because that is what the audience would expect. Sudden stops, turns and warps, would be difficult to depict on TV and be tough for the general audience to understand.

Instead of a face to face scene between ships, I always wanted to see the Enterprise (on the level) and then see another ship slowly approach from underneath. Why not right?

 

[Cyke101]

I think in-show physics explained "leveled" warp travel as an afterthought. Some mumbo jumbo about warp speed requiring the subspace version of aerodynamics. Of course, it's all made up I don't think anybody tried explaining warp field dynamics in TOS (and thank God for that).

As for moving that way at sublight, it seems the impulse engines do follow newtonian physics; when the engines glow red, they accelerate forward simple as that. What I don't understand is... how does the ship move backwards? There are no impulse engines facing forward

Though that graphic in the OP is pretty cool and it would be nice to see more of that in Trek.

 

[nx1701g]

In Booby Trap we see the Enterprise using Thrusters to maneuver, but we've never actually seen them use the impulse engines or warp drive to move in any other direction than forward that I can recall.

 

[Cyke101]

In Booby Trap we see the Enterprise using Thrusters to maneuver, but we've never actually seen them use the impulse engines or warp drive to move in any other direction than forward that I can recall.

I *think* the E-A used impulse power to back away from Chang's first attack in Star Trek VI, but I could be wrong.

 

[Chrisisall]

I don't think anybody tried explaining warp field dynamics in TOS

Warp field singularities expressed in layman's terms would be simplistic at best.

 

[Cyke101]

I don't think anybody tried explaining warp field dynamics in TOS

Warp field singularities expressed in layman's terms would be simplistic at best.

Y'know what's simpler and worked well in TOS?

"Make ship go fast NOW!"

It don't get much better than that, really

 

[Warp Rider]

In Booby Trap we see the Enterprise using Thrusters to maneuver, but we've never actually seen them use the impulse engines or warp drive to move in any other direction than forward that I can recall.

TOS Season 3, they used Warp Drive to maneuver against a Klingon D-7 Cruiser. =3

"The Dolmon of Elas"(sp?) I think that's what the ep was, something like that anyways.

 

[Timo]

Yeah, Kirk was asking for "pivoting" at warp 2 in that episode.

Also, in the opening credits, the ship seems to fly at high warp in a nose-down attitude, a bit like a helicopter.

Apart from those, ships have only been seen maneuvering in an aircraft-like fashion in open space, except when they are going real slow. At low speeds, movement in any direction on thrusters is obviously possible, and Kirk does a "down and up" maneuver in ST2 to tactical advantage. Why he doesn't dive down nose first, and also come up nose first, is left unexplained: Khan's ship would present a bigger target if Kirk rose from the "depths" nose first. Then again, perhaps Kirk wanted to take near-simultaneous shots on Khan's dorsal torpedo pod and ventral nacelles without risking hitting the inhabitants in the saucer - so a firing position level with Khan's saucer was an advantageous choice.

Of course, ships and shuttles maneuver more like helicopters when operating near a planetary surface...

Perhaps the reason we seldom see the ships move portside first, or topside first, is that they have omnidirectional weapons. There's no particular advantage from having the ship point in any particular direction vis-á-vis the direction of movement, so everybody goes nose first by default. Only the need to point torpedoes would result in odd orientations, and torps aren't close combat weapons for the most part (ST2 notwithstanding).

Timo Saloniemi

 

[The Badger]

Also, in the opening credits, the ship seems to fly at high warp in a nose-down attitude, a bit like a helicopter.

And in the TAS opening credits, the Enterprise seems to be flying sideways. That may just be cheap animation though!

 

[Mr. B]

Ignoring warp field physics, I think the generally cylindrical shape of the warp engines lends to the assumption that they are intended for propulsion on a single forward vector. I'm not sure how charging the warp coils in rapid succession could achieve any wild changes in direction.

 

[Vanyel]

Yeah, Kirk was asking for "pivoting" at warp 2 in that episode.

I always thought the reason for that was because the 1701 had only been shown to have forward facing weapons.

 

[Yug]

I always thought that the warp engines opened up a sort of warp "corridor" ahead of the ship. Which is what I thought explained the wormhole in TMP being created by the errant asteroid getting caught in the warp field. And is also why there is a deflector dish at the front of all starfleet ships, and why warp engines also face in one forward direction universally in starfleet, but I really don't know for sure. Impulse engines might operate differently, combined with thrusters. I can't say I've ever seen much explanantion on how that all works.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The Enterprise goes straight down, without turning, in TWOK.

 

[barnaclelapse]

It would be cool! I agree with you 100%, but I think it was just a TV thing. Done that way because that is what the audience would expect. Sudden stops, turns and warps, would be difficult to depict on TV and be tough for the general audience to understand.

Instead of a face to face scene between ships, I always wanted to see the Enterprise (on the level) and then see another ship slowly approach from underneath. Why not right?

Agreed. I think it was done simply for the sake of simplifying things.