Quantum Slipstream V.S. Transwarp
- Thread starter Gorgon
- Start date
At the beginning of TNG, Warp speed was far faster than where it ended up by the time Voyager aired.
They messed up the speeds consistently (there's no disputing that) but we do know that the speed went progresivelly down as TNG went from one season into the next, until it finally settled with Voyager on 1000 Ly's per 1 year at warp 9.975 (bear in mind that this velocity in TNG season 1 would probably scale with QS v2.0 at 10 000 Ly's in 1 minute).
They messed up the speeds consistently (there's no disputing that) but we do know that the speed went progresivelly down as TNG went from one season into the next, until it finally settled with Voyager on 1000 Ly's per 1 year at warp 9.975 (bear in mind that this velocity in TNG season 1 would probably scale with QS v2.0 at 10 000 Ly's in 1 minute).
A thounsand lightyears per year partially at 9.975, plus lots of time spent sublight, taking side trip to investigate stuff, forage for food, occasional doubling back, etc.
All of which added together equals a thousand LY per year. Averages out.
So, maybe Picard meant eight thousand lightyears something like this ...
They already have a fully functional QS drive v2.0 (10 000 Ly's in 1 minute).
SF merely needs to resolve the phase variance and that's it, or for starters, they can use the v1 that Voyager originally procured from Arturis ... 15 Ly's in 15 seconds if real time on the show is to be taken into account).
That's 60 Ly's in 60 seconds, or 3600Ly's in 1 hour (beats the heck out of fastest warp speed.
Of course, the v1 of QS meant that Voyager would need to be in it for 3 months before reaching Earth (60 000 Ly's away at the time).
That's about 714.285 Ly' per day (or 5000 Ly's in 1 week) - significantly slower than 1 Ly per second as was implied before the fake Admiral Hayes messed it all up.
However that STILL beats any fastest Warp speed.
That v1 had problems in terms that the quantum stresses would tear the ship apart after 1 hour.
Still... that's 29.75 Ly's in 1 hour if we stick to the 3 months to Earth in QS (while in the show, the ship got 300 Ly's in 1 hour after already spending how much time chasing Arturis to bring Janeway and 7 back - which was significantly faster - lol - the writers don't know basic math?).
Either way, the v1 of QS wheter it takes you 3 months to cross 60 000 ly's or just over a week is essentially much faster than anything SF was able to achieve with stable warp speeds (strange accidents or alien influenced machines not-withstanding). And seeing how v1 had quantum stresses to deal with, I would imagine that a SF can find a way to lower those stresses so they can either increase the time under QS, or simply negate them all-together.
Either way, they can get v1 operational faster than v2 probably, and v2 wouldn't be far behind (or might be for a few years if their computers are simply too slow to compensate for the phase variance occurring in the Slipstream envelope - though it wouldn't be impossible to fix even with their tech).
I know I may be new to this type of Star Trek talk. I thought transwarp drive with a faster version of warp drive and the quantum slipstream. That was the one to fold space and get there faster. There could be a duel engine. 1 Transworld Drive the other slipstream but that's just my newbie idea
QS and TW are likely analogies to types of FTL drives that surpass regular Warp.
They are based on standard Warp drive most likely, but apart from that, they seem a lot more efficient and faster.
Both are seemingly capable of being integrated into existing Warp propulsion technology... but then again Federation ships are designed to be very modular/adaptive.
They are based on standard Warp drive most likely, but apart from that, they seem a lot more efficient and faster.
Both are seemingly capable of being integrated into existing Warp propulsion technology... but then again Federation ships are designed to be very modular/adaptive.
Taking what we know from observation, both methods seem to involve some sort of subspace "shortcut" whereas conventional warp simply manipulates a subspace field. I suppose the real question is what makes slipstream different than transwarp? Transwarp seems to require pre-existing conduits whereas slipstream is generated by the vessel itself. It's amusing that the transwarp conduits in "Endgame" are the pale blue hue of the slipstream conduits from "Hope and Fear" and "Timeless." 
Slipstream as described in "Hope and Fear" seems to be something completely different than warp drive, yet in "Timeless" the crew seem to modify their existing warp core to produce the same result. OTOH, perhaps the core we see is actually Voyager's fabled spare core, repurposed and rebuilt extensively, yet looking very similar to the normal warp core to we casual observers. By contrast, the Enterprise-D was able to access Borg transwarp conduits by simple remodulation of her deflector, and Voyager was able to achieve the same with stolen transwarp coils. Why Voyager couldn't use the deflector trick and what role the coils play exactly is of course up for debate.
I've always been somewhat partial to the take on transwarp from "Mr. Scott's Guide to the Enterprise." Here it was posited that transwarp was an outgrowth of the studies done by Mr. Spock of what happened to the Defiant in "The Tholian Web." The interphase effect was later developed into a method of popping into subspace along a prescribed course, and then popping back into normal space. For the crew, much less time had passed than in normal space. Of course, this was written before it was declared transwarp had been a failure or the Borg were ever created.
"Threshold" notwithstanding, perhaps what Starfleet was originally trying to create was closer to what was eventually successfully created as slipstream?
Slipstream as described in "Hope and Fear" seems to be something completely different than warp drive, yet in "Timeless" the crew seem to modify their existing warp core to produce the same result. OTOH, perhaps the core we see is actually Voyager's fabled spare core, repurposed and rebuilt extensively, yet looking very similar to the normal warp core to we casual observers. By contrast, the Enterprise-D was able to access Borg transwarp conduits by simple remodulation of her deflector, and Voyager was able to achieve the same with stolen transwarp coils. Why Voyager couldn't use the deflector trick and what role the coils play exactly is of course up for debate.
I've always been somewhat partial to the take on transwarp from "Mr. Scott's Guide to the Enterprise." Here it was posited that transwarp was an outgrowth of the studies done by Mr. Spock of what happened to the Defiant in "The Tholian Web." The interphase effect was later developed into a method of popping into subspace along a prescribed course, and then popping back into normal space. For the crew, much less time had passed than in normal space. Of course, this was written before it was declared transwarp had been a failure or the Borg were ever created.
"Threshold" notwithstanding, perhaps what Starfleet was originally trying to create was closer to what was eventually successfully created as slipstream?
