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Cloaks and Torpedos

As my thread has been hijacked, I am merely asking that from an Engineering aspect, that someone post a plausible explanation that a Warp Drive or Core is technically possible. Anybody can watch Star Trek, but it is not definitive.
The technology seen in Star Trek is make-believe. Take from this what you will.
 
I am merely asking that from an Engineering aspect, that someone post a plausible explanation that a Warp Drive or Core is technically possible. Anybody can watch Star Trek, but it is not definitive.

That's a little different than your original thread :)

Hi all,

One question if I may. Would it be possible for Klingons to cloak their Torpedos? Any thoughts welcome :)

Thanx.

In anycase, you are correct, Star Trek is fictional. If you want to theorize how something works in Star Trek, then you should take in account what happened in Star Trek. If you'd like to theorize how a Real Life (TM) Warp Drive might work based on current science, then feel free to do so and ignore Star Trek. The challenging part is to have Real Science accurately describe Star Trek which as you've seen up thread isn't so easy ;)
 
I am merely asking that from an Engineering aspect, that someone post a plausible explanation that a Warp Drive or Core is technically possible. Anybody can watch Star Trek, but it is not definitive.

That's a little different than your original thread :)

Hi all,

One question if I may. Would it be possible for Klingons to cloak their Torpedos? Any thoughts welcome :)

Thanx.

In anycase, you are correct, Star Trek is fictional. If you want to theorize how something works in Star Trek, then you should take in account what happened in Star Trek. If you'd like to theorize how a Real Life (TM) Warp Drive might work based on current science, then feel free to do so and ignore Star Trek. The challenging part is to have Real Science accurately describe Star Trek which as you've seen up thread isn't so easy ;)

Yeah I know. Just got annoyed that the thread decended into chaos. I split a few threads in my time because of that. Also I don't believe personally in a Warp Drive, But I still enjoy Star Trek a great deal and I apologise if I have offended anybody. I know the rules of a forum and the nature of the forum. Newbies have to earn their pips and not throw their opinions to peeps whom obviously have a great deal of knowledge and are obsessed by it. I am the same with Overclocking, so again I meant no offense!!
 
That's a little different than your original thread :)

Hi all,

One question if I may. Would it be possible for Klingons to cloak their Torpedos? Any thoughts welcome :)

Thanx.
Haha, I was going to point out the same!

As for the original question, I think its been answered or at least debated healthily for quite a few pages. The only reason it devolved into a discussion of warp was an extension of the idea that you could just warp a payload into a planet and not bother with a torpedo, and whether or not you COULD warp a payload to cause destruction. I still like my original answer that the torpedo would need to be the size of a small shuttle in order to generate a cloak, and thus its not really a torpedo anymore but a tactical missile.


As for whether or not warp drive is possible IRL, I'm also on the side that "warp drive" as portrayed on Trek is never going to happen. Far more likely that we discover hyperspace/hyper-drive as depicted in other Sci-Fi, or even possibly the Jump Drive as depicted in Battlestar Galactica. My basis for this claim is that I believe in dimensional science, and that a hyper-drive or jump drive would merely cause the vessel to travel through a higher dimension before returning to our own. "Warp Drive" as depicted on Star Trek drops the ship into something called subspace, which somehow still exists in normal space (vessels can be scanned, viewed on viewscreens, torpedoes fired at, impacted by gravity, etc), and which I think is total malarkey.
 
The jump drive system in Battletech works something like that, and even then the maximum range is very limited (about 30 LY). Non-military jumpships are essentially about 90-95% engine in terms of their total mass, and I think warships somewhat less because they use a more compact drive. Most modern warships have what's called a lithium-fusion battery, which stores enough energy to make two jumps, but the engines afterward have to recharge via a solar sail. Warships are capable of sublight movement and combat when necessary, whereas civilian jumpships are pure FTL transports for smaller craft.

This system isn't based on Einsteinian principles, but a different set altogether. There's generally less handwavium in the BT universe.
 
I like it. I'm not familiar with Battletech, but a quick Wiki search gives a lot of information on the Jump technology they use. Exactly what I was suggesting.

I was a little disappointed that the Graviton Catapult from The Voyager Conspiracy wasn't revisited again. That seems like technology the Federation would be extremely interested in, especially considering Federation Space spans thousands of light years. Instantaneous travel between the outer reaches of the galaxy would be highly desirable. It seems the Catapult required an immense power source and obviously the catapult would be left behind after you use it, but they could set up Starbases in the vicinity of the catapults to maintain ownership.
 
tighr said:
"Warp Drive" as depicted on Star Trek drops the ship into something called subspace, which somehow still exists in normal space (vessels can be scanned, viewed on viewscreens, torpedoes fired at, impacted by gravity, etc), and which I think is total malarkey.

I always presumed that any ship kind of piggy backed subspace as it were. A ship would Warp through a lower level of subspace or the edge of it, while still being in the threshold of normal space.

This scenario kind of like how the Shadow vessels depicted in B5, were able to phase between the realms at any point. Perhaps a Hyperspace tap could be reversed from B5 tech and perhaps applied to ST and subspace. I have read in some fanfics that there is possibly a tunnel network in subspace. Don't know if that is plausible or not. Gonna google the battletech that Undead metioned. Never heard of that.
 
I have read in some fanfics that there is possibly a tunnel network in subspace. Don't know if that is plausible or not.
We've never seen a subspace tunnel network. We've seen transwarp conduits and slipstream conduits, but subspace has always been depicted as a full layer of regular spacetime, capable of being navigated.
 
...Although it may well be that subspace doesn't map back to realspace in an intuitively simple 3D-to-3D manner. Were it more like 3D-to-2D, it would be easy to understand how subspace explosions create rings, rather than spheres, as their wavefront patterns. Or why starships have such high odds of meeting each other in space, or a tendency to maintain the same orientation.

Timo Saloniemi
 
Like subspace would be a 3D realm where point to point travel is negated, and navigation being impossible unless you can map back to normal space in that is 2D?

If that were the case, would it be feasible that you cut say a couple of days cruising at Warp, down to say a couple of hours. Given that subspace would be 3D and normal space 2D. Given that you have to skirt planetry bodies?
 
^ It may be that subspace has somehow divided the galaxy into series of discrete layers and that travel along these layers at warp is only possible along the plane with limited Z-axis motion. Navigation between planes would require a bit of time on impulse power, then once you're on the "next floor" you can move along at warp speed.
 
Maybe, maybe not. Either way we do see starships puttering around at impulse power a lot more often than we should expect. It's possible that for the sake of navigational convenience most exploration/colonization takes place in a single plane first and that movement between them is troublesome enough that only starships/warships actually do it.
 
Yeah that would make sense. What I am not sure of is how subspace is wholey depicted in ST. If I recollect, in the Voyager (Apologies, useless with names) episode S7?, the chap that tried to convince Seven of Nine to join their group, did the ship have the abillity to warp subspace and appear thousands of light years away?
 
Yeah that would make sense. What I am not sure of is how subspace is wholey depicted in ST. If I recollect, in the Voyager (Apologies, useless with names) episode S7?, the chap that tried to convince Seven of Nine to join their group, did the ship have the abillity to warp subspace and appear thousands of light years away?
Are you referring to the season 5 episode Think Tank? (Jason Alexander guest starred).

If you are, their ship had a subspace cloak that allowed it to exist in subspace. One of the items they requested in trade with Voyager was their Quantum Slipstream technology, which would be an odd thing to request if you already had superluminal travel.
 
One of the items they requested in trade with Voyager was their Quantum Slipstream technology, which would be an odd thing to request if you already had superluminal travel.
But a technology that seems to be a relatively easy to incorporate into existing warp-driven starships, thus allowing the Think Tank to use as a trade with other species in future.
 
One of the items they requested in trade with Voyager was their Quantum Slipstream technology, which would be an odd thing to request if you already had superluminal travel.
But a technology that seems to be a relatively easy to incorporate into existing warp-driven starships, thus allowing the Think Tank to use as a trade with other species in future.
True, despite Janeway's warnings that they never got it to work. However, you would expect the Think Tank to be able to rectify that situation.

You would also expect the Think Tank to be able to figure out a way to send Voyager all the way back to the Alpha Quadrant, and not merely call off their vicious attackers.
 
You would also expect the Think Tank to be able to figure out a way to send Voyager all the way back to the Alpha Quadrant, and not merely call off their vicious attackers.
You're falling into the trap of believing that because the Think Tank were shown to be extremely effective at solving problems, it follows that they should be able to solve virtually every problem presented to them - like a starship stranded on the wrong side of the galaxy needing to get home.

While they may have solutions to many complex problems, that doesn't mean that they can solve everything.
 
[QUOTE="Sandoval]You're falling into the trap of believing that because the Think Tank were shown to be extremely effective at solving problems, it follows that they should be able to solve virtually every problem presented to them - like a starship stranded on the wrong side of the galaxy needing to get home.
[/QUOTE]


Does that not suggest with the command of subspace, they could have sent her home.
 
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