Just hanging out in the Delta Quadrant...

[2 of 10]

Can anyone explain why when they should be warpping out of an area at W/F 9.975, they always seem to be just hanging out, cruising along at impluse. Case in point, in "Ashes to Ashes" once they had Lindsey Ballard back on board, they should have left Kobali space at warp 9.975. However, they sometimes seem to just be content to just limp along at impluse speed, inviting a confrontation with ships, they could/should have left in their space dust...

 

[roguephoenix]

Can anyone explain why when they should be warpping out of an area at W/F 9.975, they always seem to be just hanging out, cruising along at impluse. Case in point, in "Ashes to Ashes" once they had Lindsey Ballard back on board, they should have left Kobali space at warp 9.975. However, they sometimes seem to just be content to just limp along at impluse speed, inviting a confrontation with ships, they could/should have left in their space dust...

one thing i can imagine is that besides the urgency to get home, they didn't see any need to be running away at that point.

also, maybe they're trying to conserve as much energy as possible since they often have problems getting enough of it. maybe 7 and kim crunched some numbers and figured the best route and speed at given times given their energy reserves.

i dunno. >_<

 

[SoM]

Thing is, Voyager should only have travelled at impulse when actively searching an area, or when approaching a planet. Maybe maximum warp would have been too energy-inefficient to maintain at all times (if you press the accelerator flat-to-the-floor in a car, you won't just empty the petrol tank quicker than if you maintain a more modest speed, you'll also travel a shorter distance for the same amount of petrol. And wear-and-tear on the engine will also accumulate quicker), but they should have kept up at least a cruising warp speed at practically all times.

 

[Jeri]

We were discussing this about a month ago; I can't remember in what topic. But in Pathways they do discuss Voyager's average speed: I think it's warp 6. It came up, because the Pathways project was trying to estimate Voyager's location to send a message. So there must be a good reason for going Warp 6.

 

[SoM]

We were discussing this about a month ago; I can't remember in what topic. But in Pathways they do discuss Voyager's average speed: I think it's warp 6. It came up, because the Pathways project was trying to estimate Voyager's location to send a message. So there must be a good reason for going Warp 6.

Is that including the various slipstream/Kes/etc "jumps" they had?

 

[2 of 10]

You are totally right, when I mentioned WF 9.975 is was to illustrate that even thought they don't always have to be in "pedel to the metal" mode. At times it makes sence to "Get out of Dodge" ASAP Although I'm sure that Tom would not really mind jamming on to WF 9.975 to much : ) In Pathfinder your also right, Admiral Paris estimated that Voyagers average speed would be around WF 6.2. Finally, just how long can Voyager sustain it's maxium rated speed, I recall reading that it's somewhere around 10-12 hours.

 

[Jeri]

Ok, I think I found that most recent thread, which contained an interesting discussion about Voyager's speed. It starts at:

Just an observation...

 

[ria 75]

I suppose the path lying ahead has to be very clear and well-charted for the ship to travel it at warp. If I understand it right, warp is not like hyperspace where you can go through matter lying around in conventional space. So the busier (and dangerous, perhaps) the area gets, the slower they have to move, and expose themselves to a lot of contacts.

Also, as you guys have said, there is the question of fuel conservation. Deuterium doesn't grow on trees and there are no Federation filling stations.

There's an interesting post in that Just an observation... thread about the warp core potentially using exponential quantities of fuel relatively to warp level. I know, that's obscure, just hit the link. It's in one of the 1st posts.