Maximum speed of the NuEnterprise

As much as I hate to keep flogging a dead horse, the time it took the Enterprise to reach Vulcan in the film still bothers me. So the other day I went on a site with a warp calculator, and it calculated that a vessel could travel 16 light years (the distance between Earth and Vulcan) in around two hours and eight minutes (I figure this was probably around the time the trip took) if it travelled at warp 9.9997 (TNG scale). Could a ship like the NuEnterprise feasibly hold this speed though?

 

The prima facie evidence of the onscreen action would seem to indicate that yes, it is indeed feasible for the Enterprise to fly that fast.

 

Of course it can. Nero's appearance in the alternate universe accelerated technology to well beyond that of the TNG era by 2258. So sure, why not.

 

Shame if that's true. One of the things I like most about the TOS era was the limitations on technology which seemed to me to get in the way of the human element in TNG. Obviously, it needs to be better than modern tech but we'd be better off with limitations and characters acting smart within those limitations instead of advancing the tech and then have the characters forget about those advancements, acting like dummies, to try and add to the drama of a predicament.

 

Regarding the technological advancements of the alternate universe's 2250s, I have actually been entertaining a vague theory that it may not all be entirely due to the appearance of Nero in 2233, but maybe he and Spock Prime aren't the only people of the original universe to visit the new one? Maybe at some point in the 25 years between Nero's incursion and the launch of the NuEnterprise, someone else from a time beyond that of Nero and Spock Prime in the original universe came to the new reality and gave Starfleet the means to upgrade their ships and technology to a late 24th - early 25th century level, hence the greater speeds (though I personally reckon that the 9.9997 warp factor is most probably only used in emergencies and for limited periods).

 

Same as it's been since the beginning of TOS: Plot Speed.

 

Lol - it was annoying then and it's annoying now!

The difference is that modern writers now have easier access to more resources to ensure internal consistency. They should also have enough experience to know that educated audience members and especially nerds will spot glaring mistakes (and tiny mistakes).

Maybe they make the mistakes deliberately to keep us talking?

 

The actual time of the trip was simply not established on screen.

 

There is actually a point where some time could pass in this initial sequence, just before Chekov starts his mission briefing, a couple of hours could have passed within this time.

The only other option is McCoy gave Kirk a sedative that was only effective for about ten seconds, which isn't very likely.

Basically we see a bit of time compression in the opening sequence, 'cos its a film and not real.

 

Not to mention the fact that Bones had time to change uniforms. I know it didn't take him two hours to do it, but the fact that he was in the red cadet uniform when he gave Kirk the sedative and in his blue uniform when Kirk woke up clearly shows that some time had passed.

 

Yes the time it takes to get to Vulcan is far longer than shown on screen but there is a strong implication that it is much less than would have been possible using realistic TNG warp speeds.

 

Precisely. We need a specific time and distance to calculate a speed.

Since the Time is variable, we literally don't know how long it took the Enterprise to reach Vulcan.

 

Hence my hypothesis. Does anyone actually think it could work?

 

Work? What are you refering to?

That the ship traveled at Warp 9.997?

If it could maintain that speed if it did?

That elves from the Prime Universe visited the NuNiverse?

 

Why do you say that? There is not a single TNG episode where they fly to Vulcan from Earth, in ENT it clearly is not very far, and in fact in TNG when they do visit Vulcan it does not take long to get there.

One thing that is pretty clear from almost all Trek is that a lot of the planets regularly featured in stories are pretty close together, and the core Federation worlds particularly are close to both each other and the Klingons and Romulans.

 

I'm not completely anal bout this sort of thing - I never really paid that much attention to the time taken in the shows if I'm honest. I think the problem for other fans is that we know which star is meant to be home to Vulcan and there aren't many stars close enough together in the real universe to explain the speed of these journeys at TNG speeds and TNG speeds are supposed to be faster than TOS speeds.

Warp corridors is one hypothesis, although if they existed, somebody would have mentioned them by now. If there is enough evidence to support the argument for travel times then I suppose that we're left with the reasoning that warp speeds must be a LOT faster than the supposed TNG scale.

I think my old FASA rpg books suggested that the cruising speed of a Constitution class ship was Warp 6. Faster speeds could only be maintained over short periods. I don't know if that was ever made official though.

 

I think it goes .5 past light speed and can make the Kessel Run in twelve parsecs.

 

40 Eridani.

 

In the new movie, the trip to Vulcan took 5 minutes 25 seconds. I agree it should have taken considerably longer, but (due to unfortunate editing) the events of the trip overlap each other and leave no room for a more realistic travel time. Given the distance to 40 Eridani, this makes the speed of the new Enterprise in excess of 1.5 million times the speed of light. Hopefully the next movie will correct this latest inconsistency...

 

I tend to favor the idea that warp factors can vary widely depending on local stellar conditions (Warp 4 here could be vastly faster than Warp 9 there). So the term "maximum warp" can just be a catch-all phrase a captain gives for his ship to get to its destination as fast as it can, regardless of its actual warp factor, IMO.

If we go with the idea that warp factors are base values, some warp factors could be multiplied anywhere from ten to a thousand depending on where you are in the Galaxy. In other parts of the Galaxy, warp factors may be many times slower than the base values.

Navigators may take local stellar conditions into account when they plot out a course to a specific destination (in some instances, the quickest way between two points may not be a straight line).