The same way Vulcans and other races colonized space before Cochrane discovered the Space Warp. I'd like to think that Impulse, some types of Ion drives, Total Conversion Drives, and other non-warp drives were FTL with specific limitations that Space Warp doesn't have.
Coming up with a pre-TOS "history" of Vulcans and Romulans that sort of fits in with TOS canon was a mind-numbing chore. I figured the Romulans were Vulcans who left thousands of years ago and then traveled at various percentages of light speed to go south, east, and north of Vulcan to end up closer to Earth than to Vulcan. I used star maps from Winchell Chung to find a route. A big problem was that the distance from Earth to the Neutral Zone/Romulus was too far for communications to Starfleet in 2260s but close enough for early warp ships to fight a massive war in the 2160s. Canon is a mess, so coming up with a history requires you to pick and choose, which will lead to disagreements with some canon "facts."
My vague idea is the ancient Vulcans who became Romulans just happened to go outward in a general direction away from Earth. Some centuries in flight at percentages of light managed to put them a fair distance from Earth, at least in terms of the 22nd century. By the mid 23rd the Federation could be more mindful that the Romulans aren’t really that far away. All this speculation adds up to interestingly diverting thought exercises since it won’t change a thing officially beyond the head canon some of us may have. But it does help to get a sort of historical and sociological grasp that could help shape what kind of designs could be considered for ships of the mid 22nd century era as envisioned by the creators of TOS.
This bit of exposition lifted from James Blish's adaptation of "Balance Of Terror" was the basis for what generations of fans accepted as the backstory for pre TOS history. I've always liked it and I still do. There are two inconsistencies with the broadcast episode--it refers to the Federation rather than Earth being at war with the Romulans (interesting because the book was published in January, 1967 which was before the Federation was established on television, although it's possible Blish saw forthcoming scripts and thus already knew the Federation was going to be established in the series.) and it refers to the war being 50-75 years in the past rather than the century referenced onscreen. It also say that Romulan bodies were recovered and so Earth already knew what the Romulans looked like, which contradicts what Spock asserts onscreen. Nonetheless it's not far-fetched to accept that earth forces did learn something about Romulan physiology only it never became common knowledge. I supect the same could have happened on the Romulan side.
I think it is hard to imagine a war among technologically advanced forces being fought without each side gaining the most basic knowledge of the other. But I also think it makes sense that Vulcan might have demanded any evidence of their connection to the Romulans be sealed as a condition for their joining the Federation.
Found some images of my 22nd century Constellation. For some reason, though, I'm having trouble finding the files of the actual 3D model. The idea, here, was this would be one or two evolutionary steps beyond the ringship configuration.
I’m thinking a lot of stand off missile firings.. not much left to recover. Subspace catapaults….Aridas’s super impeller concepts…high-chi corridor space-lanes…all these might allow early warp ships to travel farther and faster than they could on their own. I have this Idea of huge expendable ring ships with many rings down its spine that warp out very fast and then disperse these almost star gate looking ring elements…and later nacelle ships thread the needle. As nacelles take over, the ring systems aren’t used for anything but civilian concerns. Thus very primitive warp ships can still show up on your doorstep via a “subway” left by Preservers. So it becomes a case of crossing the T…that is what is meant when you hear how no quarter is given…and early atomic not leaving much left. No visuals due to EMP swamping everything. Dirty. It would be like Bear bombers and B-52s mixing it up somehow. Of course you won’t see the other guy. Section 31 might know what is going on Kremlin Letter style.
It’s been years since I’ve read them in entirety. I do recall that sometimes they differed in distinct ways from the actual episodes. In “The Doomsday Machine” adaptation Decker (named Brand Decker!) survives because he doesn’t do his suicide run. In the “Operation—Annihilate” adaptation there is no Sam Kirk and family and the Enterprise tracks down the home planet of the parasites and destroys it. Sometimes the characters’ dialogue didn’t quite ring true. But in an era before home video recording and store bought pre-recorded VHS and later DVD they were the only way to revisit the episodes beyond catching syndicated reruns. Interestingly Blish is the one who gave Uhura more to do on occasion. She is more prominent in the adaptation of “Balance Of Terror” as well as in Blish’s original novel “Spock Must Die!” Uhura is given more dialogue, technically oriented, that underscores more of her diverse abilities. And yet in the aired episode much of that dialogue goes to Spock. Pity as more scenes like this would have strengthened Uhura’s onscreen character and given Nichelle Nichols more to do.
Fortunately there ion storms, magnetic storms and other "space weather" phenomena in the Star Trek universe which are known to sweep ships many light years off course. So even if the Romulans were heading for the next system over from Vulcan, that might not be where they ended up...
...A three hour tour... No seriously, it is the way the bajorans reached Cardassia...though they are much closer systems. My personal belief is that the early FTL can be achieved without a M/AM reaction, but it cannot be as efficient or most-likely safe when compared to "actual" warp.
Random space weather is not needed to push the Romulans out farther into space. If one assumes the early Vulcans either had near light speed ships and sleeper technology (similar to 21st Century Earth technology levels), then it is most probable than they also had decent astronomical knowledge of surrounding star systems. They would know, before the Romulans left Vulcan, the star type, number of planets, atmosphere of said planets, etc. out many light years in all directions, perhaps hundreds of light years. As shown in Space Seed, early sleeper ships could travel for a century or so. Romulus could be farther out than "the next star system over there".
The Romulan Way by Diane Duane and Peter Morwood is an interesting book, but for me the most interesting part was the history of the Rihannsu, the name the Romulans gave themselves (cool name, too). It recounts the circumstances that compelled the Romulans to leave Vulcan as well as the perilous journey to their new home. If I recall correctly more than one ship departs Vulcan, but few survive to make planetfall. Also when this book was written terrestrial planet finding technology was barely in its infancy and not common knowledge. So while star types could be known from afar what orbited those stars was a blank slate. So the story of the voyage was partially based on that level of science unlike how it might be written today.
When I first saw the teaser commercials for Star Trek: Picard, I thought the large space station over a red planet being attacked by smaller ships was a flashback to the original Romulan exodus from Vulcan, with a Romulan colony ship being attacked by Vulcans. Of course I ended up taking the scene completely out of context, since the planet was Mars, not Vulcan, the large ship was a Utopia Planitia space station, not an ancient Romulan colony ship, and the small attacking ships were Starfleet drones, not ancient Vulcan attack ships (disclaimer: the screecap below shows the later-added Starfleet insignia on the drones; the original teaser didn't have them.) https://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/epics/PIC-S1/S1E3/PIC-S1E3-3.jpg
Non M/AM warp would probably use up fuel a lot faster as well. So a ship would have to return to base to refuel, wait for a tanker to meet up with them, or produce fuel in situ for a time before continuing their exploration.
On the long stem phaser rifle…I wonder if that stalk could bend around corners with the small screen giving you the emitter’s eye view… A phaser grease gun
That sounds like it should be "a dozen long stem disruptor rifles. How to show you really care". Sounds distinctly more appropriate for Klingons! Actually, did they show disruptor rifles in TOS? I think they first appear onscreen in the movies, specifically "Search for Spock", and look like movie pistols, just with modular stocks added. I know FASA came up with them for TOS, so I'd like to see what you might come up with, Matt Jeffries inspired wise, @Warped9 .
In the real world we would see multiple designs for different purposes. On a television series, particularly one of the 1960s, we wouldn’t get that luxury. Presently I’m pondering mid 22nd era warships for the Earth-Romulan War.
That's exactly what they were, similar to a broomhandle Mauser. Starting in TFF, the Klingon pistols were made to look like flintlock pistols, both in the films and on TNG.