Runabouts

[Starkers]

Hi. I just had a question about the Danube class runabouts and wondered if anyone had an answer.

Basically is there any info available as to their top speed? I have a vague recollection of warp five but not sure how accurate this is.

Any help would be much appreciated!

 

[Tigger]

Per the Ex Astris Scientia site, the DS9 Writers Bible notes a speed of Warp 4.7 and in the episode "Dax", Kira limits her search to vessels with a cruising speed of less then Warp 5.

 

[Starkers]

I was on the right lines then. Thanks for that!

 

[Timo]

In "Jem'Hadar", when Nog panics, he tries to coerce the runabout computer to engage warp eight. Of course, the computer fails to comply on the "engaging" part, so we don't hear what it would have thought about the "warp eight" part...

Apart from that, nothing seems to contradict the implication from "Dax" that warp 5 is too much for the poor things, and warp 4.7 thus remains as good a choice as any. Sure, these things sometimes go toe-to-toe with the same Jem'Hadar battlebugs that can give successful chase to the warp 9'ish Defiant. But in all of those engagements, we can assume that the Jemmies are not actually trying to outrun the runabout.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[SicOne]

"Starship Spotter" gives Warp 4 cruise, with Warp 8.3 max.

 

[T'Cal]

"Starship Spotter" gives Warp 4 cruise, with Warp 8.3 max.

I remember reading that they could go W4 when the show started.

I thought it would've been a good idea to make the runabouts into fighters designed to protect DS9 during the Dominion War. On each, O'Brien could've removed the warp core and upgraded the impulse engines. Then, he could've added a phaser touret and a forward facing, uni-directional torpedo launcher. A pair of runabouts could've remained in orbit of the station at all times with two crew members: one as pilot and another as weapons officer.

 

[nx1701g]

I know it isn't canon but in the novel Warpath they had successfully modified a runabout to travel at faster than Warp 8. It was supposed to be the first.

 

[Timo]

I'm not particularly fond of the idea that some overburdened frontier outpost repairman can suddenly modify a 25-knot patrol boat to do 160 knots. I mean, that's probably not even theoretically possible, unless one removes all parts of the patrol boat save for the pilot's seat, and installs that seat into a small aircraft. And if it's doable at all, it would be done by some resource-rich R&D facility at a major center of habitation and industry, not a frontier outpost.

Not sure if an upgunned runabout for station protection would be a good idea, either. After all, usually the station ends up protecting the Defiant! The firepower of a, say, tenfold-upgraded runabout would probably not even register in a battle to defend the station.

Timo Saloniemi