Question: would a starship carry spare warp coils? Or have the ability to assemble a new warp coil from parts on hand or from replicated parts?
Spare Warp Coils?
- Thread starter Sovereign_One
- Start date
Another good question. 
Flashover
Lieutenant Commander
I could imagine that they keep some of the coating stored in a cargo bay, and maybe enough ceramic powder to cast a pair of new coils... but they would be very very low efficiency emergency-use-only not a full efficiency "hey lets trade a warp coil for beer" kind of thing.
Flashover
Lieutenant Commander
Either it would be done EVA or they would open the nacelle and remove the damaged one and cast a new one in place.
This would be a dire-emergency situation... like something you'd expect to see done with a ship in Voyager's situation.
Under the floor, in the cargo bay, or attached to an armature on the outside of the shuttlebay door.
Saquist
Commodore
...you're serious?
No, not particularly. It's a starship, not a Land Rover.
There would probably be equipment onboard to "patch" damaged coils onboard most Starfleet ships. Big Damn Starships like the Galaxy-class might carry equipment to cast replacement parts, but such equipment (And the supplies for it) surely would take up a lot of space. The most practical choice for outright replacing coils is pretty much to pull into a Starbase and get it swapped out.
There would probably be equipment onboard to "patch" damaged coils onboard most Starfleet ships. Big Damn Starships like the Galaxy-class might carry equipment to cast replacement parts, but such equipment (And the supplies for it) surely would take up a lot of space. The most practical choice for outright replacing coils is pretty much to pull into a Starbase and get it swapped out.
YARN
Fleet Captain
Sure....
...except they're like the donut spare tires you put on your car.
They're not rated past warp 5.5 and they make your ship wobble.
One of Jackill's pod designs for the transport/tug series is basically a "huge volume" pod for transporting things like a spare nacelle, if a ship had to jettison one and couldn't make it back to a base, or even a secondary hull pod for construction purposes or perhaps saucer reattachment.
Flashover
Lieutenant Commander
As serious as one should be on a forum where we discuss pretend technology that is part of a fictional universe.
Now if this was a SERIOUS discussion forum like the one I discuss religion on or the the political forums I visit, then I could see the need to be SERIOUS about such things.
One wonders if it would be possible to restore a warp engine to partial health by jettisoning the damaged coils and sliding the remaining ones forward or back to compensate? Or at least to shorten the whole assembly so that one jettisons all the damaged coils from the stack, then reshuffles the intact ones so that there are no gaps left in the stack?
I'd like to think that it's impossible to create warp coils in the field, and pretty damned difficult to even repair one without the aid of facilities the size of a not so small asteroid. That's dramatically more satisfactory than having these starships be completely self-sufficient... And the casting process for the coils, even if discussed in backstage sources only, is a nice way to slow down starship production to "realistic" levels even in a replicator-equipped culture.
Timo Saloniemi
I'd like to think that it's impossible to create warp coils in the field, and pretty damned difficult to even repair one without the aid of facilities the size of a not so small asteroid. That's dramatically more satisfactory than having these starships be completely self-sufficient... And the casting process for the coils, even if discussed in backstage sources only, is a nice way to slow down starship production to "realistic" levels even in a replicator-equipped culture.
Timo Saloniemi
In the VOY episode "Deadlock", didn't Voyager have fused warp coils in both nacelles? It was the more damaged version of Voyager that survived, while the less damaged version blew itself up to destroy the Vidiian ship. But I don't think the show ever covered how they fixed the problem.
Also, I do vaguely remember seeing screenshots of a VOY episode I missed in which Voyager had landed on a planet and they were lifting warp coils out of a nacelle with the aid of shuttlecraft.
Also, I do vaguely remember seeing screenshots of a VOY episode I missed in which Voyager had landed on a planet and they were lifting warp coils out of a nacelle with the aid of shuttlecraft.
Yup, that was "Nightingale" and the ship's planetside layover was the excuse to send Kim onto his solo adventure.
Dialogue didn't tell if there was anything wrong with the warp drive, but they had discovered fractures in the nacelles, which might be why they were removing the coils from those even if the coils themselves were okay.
Yup again. Sounded really severe. I do wonder how they got around that one...
Timo Saloniemi
Dialogue didn't tell if there was anything wrong with the warp drive, but they had discovered fractures in the nacelles, which might be why they were removing the coils from those even if the coils themselves were okay.
Yup again. Sounded really severe. I do wonder how they got around that one...
Timo Saloniemi
Flashover
Lieutenant Commander
Perhaps some of those containers in the cargo bay contain concentrated warp-core Spackle and Joint Compound? Concentrated but deactivated (maybe two-part mixture?) warp coil coating compound.
So long as the coil matrix itself isn't fractured too severely or burned away they can re-coat the coils with this stuff and start moving again.
It's a temporary "survival" measure meant to get you to a point where someone can tow you the rest of the way home or until you can find a friendly nation that can help you fabricate new coils.
So long as the coil matrix itself isn't fractured too severely or burned away they can re-coat the coils with this stuff and start moving again.
It's a temporary "survival" measure meant to get you to a point where someone can tow you the rest of the way home or until you can find a friendly nation that can help you fabricate new coils.
Saquist
Commodore
As serious as one should be on a forum where we discuss pretend technology that is part of a fictional universe.
Now if this was a SERIOUS discussion forum like the one I discuss religion on or the the political forums I visit, then I could see the need to be SERIOUS about such things.
Ah...
I wonder if that might not even be necessary. There may be ways and means to simply deactivate or bypass a damaged or 'fused' coil by diverting plasma away from it and modifying the timings of the remaining coils to ensure they're energised in an appropriate order. Do the same in the other nacelle, and perhaps still create a symmetric (albeit less efficient) warp field that can get you to a decent speed but perhaps consume a little more fuel along the way.
IIRC the NX Enterprise rammed a Xindi ship with a nacelle but was still able to reach reduced warp speeds. Hard to believe that didn't knock a few coils out of alignment.
I propose that the primary rule is that you need the same number of coils in both nacelles. From there it's a matter of how many you have and how powerful they are that determines your maximum speed.
I propose that the primary rule is that you need the same number of coils in both nacelles. From there it's a matter of how many you have and how powerful they are that determines your maximum speed.
Wait! Warp coils are cast? For some strange reason I always imagined they were coiled. Like windings on an electromagnet.
Hold on *Looks it up in the TNG Tech Manual*
Dang it! You're right! They are cast! For the first time ever, I'm just a little bit disappointed in Rick Sternbach. Rick, if you're reading this, what's the deal?
--Alex
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