Engineers

[Willim Davies]

why do most starfleet engineers insist on pushing the limitations of their ships warp capabilities??!!
if it was a normal car thats understandable, if it doesn't work your car breaks.
but if a ship has been designed to not exeed warp 7.5 for example, comon sense surley says "better not tamper with that"
what happens if te stress is too much and the ship begins to tear from the bulkheads etc??
like i said this is a ship in space, you can die very easily, not a car pushing 120 down the road.

 

[BlobVanDam]

I look at it like overclocking a computer. Every ship has it's maximum rating, that most engineers shouldn't try to exceed. But it shows the skill of the engineer in the show that they how to push the ship's limits beyond the recommendations, because they're supposed to know the ship better than anyone, and they'll have tweaked the ship over time to differ from the class standard.

 

[T'Girl]

Another possibility is that by the time you become a chief engineer you've come to realize that the official recommendations aren't based in reality. Also, the engines have only so many effective hours of use before they have to be replaced, so maybe you can get fifty thousand hours at warp six, but if you put a total of ten hours at warp eight on the engine over the course of the engines life span, you actual reduce that life span from fifty thousand hours, down to maybe forty thousand hours. Every second above warp six does progressive damage to the warp coils and other support equipment.

Part of a chief engineers official duties is to to get as much life out of the engines as possible, and he (or she) might even face a court martial for failing to live up to that responsibility.

"But I was only following orders."

 

[Willim Davies]

I must admit, i have never thougt of it like that before, you raise a very good point T'Girl

 

[Finn]

What are you talking about???? Scotty is always going on how "she cannot take it any more". Geordi would always tell Picard how briefly a specific speed would be sustainable.

It's the Captains doing the "pushing to the limit"

 

[C.E. Evans]

What are you talking about???? Scotty is always going on how "she cannot take it any more". Geordi would always tell Picard how briefly a specific speed would be sustainable.

It's the Captains doing the "pushing to the limit"

This.

 

[Saspearia]

I would think desperation and risk go to together, if the situation is dire, you may feel the risk is worth it.

 

[trekkiebaggio]

What are you talking about???? Scotty is always going on how "she cannot take it any more". Geordi would always tell Picard how briefly a specific speed would be sustainable.

It's the Captains doing the "pushing to the limit"

This.

Yep. The engineers always carry it out reluctantly and see it as a huge burden.

 

[Timo]

I would think desperation and risk go to together, if the situation is dire, you may feel the risk is worth it.

It's something of a pity that we never see the risk-taking backfire. When the skipper pushes the ship to get to the crisis spot an hour faster, the end result might well be that the engines fail and the ship is late by five months...

I mean, this would never happen to our heroes, because they wouldn't continue to be heroes then. But it could be the fate of some Starfleet guest star, sidekick or background character...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[KJbushway]

Its just to add time to the show. but in Star trek land, most engineers modify their ship as they go on. They know that engine like you wouldn't believe, so they believe they know more than some scientist back at HQ.

 

[T'Girl]

It's something of a pity that we never see the risk-taking backfire.

Spock and the paradise syndrome would be a good example of that. The Enterprise's high speed run rendered the ship incapable of preforming the necessary deflection of the big scary rock.