I was thinking of the Voyager episode Equinox and was wondering how else one might add a 'power adder' to a Warp Core? Without killing the sentient beings from another dimension.
Warp Core Turbocharging?
- Thread starter collins1707
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You mean to boost the warp core?
SF would have to find a way to synthesize the compound identical to the aliens (just not a live one) and infuse the core systems with it.
Essentially the compound has increased warp drive efficiency and speed (for a short period of time).
If you are asking of other ways to charge up the core ...
Let's see ... modifying the warp core so it can generate a quantum warp field (as seen in an episode 'Message in a bottle') so the ship can enter Slipstream (but also without having damaging effect on the hull).
As with any superior propulsion technology that Voyager encountered, they could have used it repeatedly by stopping periodically until they made sufficient repairs and then did it again.
Problem is, the writers just decided it would end the show too soon.
Kes supercharged the warp core right after she flew out of Voyager in a shuttle and evolved through her abilities into something else.
It allowed Voyager to essentially go through 10 000 light years in 10 seconds (which threw them out of Borg space and put them 10 years closer to home).
I do recall that in order to reach that velocity, the Warp core came online as Torres stated and said the following:
'Torres to Bridge, the Warp core just came online.
Matter-antimatter reaction at 102% ...
A 110% ? A 120 !!!!'
So ... the reaction in the warp core of 20% above standard was enough to propel the ship 10 000 ly's in 10 seconds.
Of course the ship was seemingly coming apart as Kim himself shouted, but they did it.
Kes was able to do that effect because her abilities were obviously far more powerful than what SF tech could achieve on purpose (unless an experiment went horribly out of whack and produced a similar effect).
Therefore the effect was not duplicated ... although I'm saddened that the writers never tried to provide a mini story arc that involved Torres and other engineers actively working on duplicating that or other effects for several episodes.
I think that as far as supercharging the core, only 2 instances (the alien compound the Equinox used and of course Kes supercharging the core) can be taken into account that actually invovled warp speed itself.
Other variations included the ship entering a different layer of subspace and utilizing speeds other than Warp.
SF would have to find a way to synthesize the compound identical to the aliens (just not a live one) and infuse the core systems with it.
Essentially the compound has increased warp drive efficiency and speed (for a short period of time).
If you are asking of other ways to charge up the core ...
Let's see ... modifying the warp core so it can generate a quantum warp field (as seen in an episode 'Message in a bottle') so the ship can enter Slipstream (but also without having damaging effect on the hull).
As with any superior propulsion technology that Voyager encountered, they could have used it repeatedly by stopping periodically until they made sufficient repairs and then did it again.
Problem is, the writers just decided it would end the show too soon.
Kes supercharged the warp core right after she flew out of Voyager in a shuttle and evolved through her abilities into something else.
It allowed Voyager to essentially go through 10 000 light years in 10 seconds (which threw them out of Borg space and put them 10 years closer to home).
I do recall that in order to reach that velocity, the Warp core came online as Torres stated and said the following:
'Torres to Bridge, the Warp core just came online.
Matter-antimatter reaction at 102% ...
A 110% ? A 120 !!!!'
So ... the reaction in the warp core of 20% above standard was enough to propel the ship 10 000 ly's in 10 seconds.
Of course the ship was seemingly coming apart as Kim himself shouted, but they did it.
Kes was able to do that effect because her abilities were obviously far more powerful than what SF tech could achieve on purpose (unless an experiment went horribly out of whack and produced a similar effect).
Therefore the effect was not duplicated ... although I'm saddened that the writers never tried to provide a mini story arc that involved Torres and other engineers actively working on duplicating that or other effects for several episodes.
I think that as far as supercharging the core, only 2 instances (the alien compound the Equinox used and of course Kes supercharging the core) can be taken into account that actually invovled warp speed itself.
Other variations included the ship entering a different layer of subspace and utilizing speeds other than Warp.
I didn't understand how the antimatter from the alien's bodies had this effect anyway, and it was not really explained at all, so theorizing about other ways the same effect could be created is beyond me.
As for what Kes did, that was some form of super-telekinesis (read: magic) and I imagine the mechanisms by which it operated had little or nothing to do with conventional warp drive at all. After the "trip," Paris says:
Though perhaps a bit sarcastic, this may be easier to make sense of, too. I imagine the reactions in the warp drive that were briefly mentioned to be some kind of side effect, rather than Kes and her super powers actually having to "use" the ship's drive to accomplish her feat.
As for what Kes did, that was some form of super-telekinesis (read: magic) and I imagine the mechanisms by which it operated had little or nothing to do with conventional warp drive at all. After the "trip," Paris says:
Though perhaps a bit sarcastic, this may be easier to make sense of, too. I imagine the reactions in the warp drive that were briefly mentioned to be some kind of side effect, rather than Kes and her super powers actually having to "use" the ship's drive to accomplish her feat.
Plecostomus
Commodore
Well, you could just make something up.
Here's my take: For an RPG situation we looked at boosting the power of the core but that would only give us 15% more speed, and only for a very short period of time before the auto-shutdown kicked in. Right up boosting the power output is a brute-force method at best, and one most often used about size-conscious fanboys. Most (not all!) of the "more power" crowd has no idea how much work can be done by a kilowatt laser or a ton of TNT yet they keep adding "more" power and explosive yield without realizing just how powerful 50 megatons REALLY is... how much work can be done by a 250 megawatt beam... (shakes head)
You could work on power conversion efficiency, boosting the amount of power that gets turned into work. You could do this by adding a coating or modifying the coils in the nacelles, changing the plasma injector routines, infusing the warp-plasma with some sort of exotic something or other or any combination of. This could be a permanent boost or it could be a one-shot depending on the needs of the story.
What about other energy domains/propulsion modes? Maybe you could drive the ship to a "deeper" level of subspace or warp space in such a manner that instead of a straight-line course the ship is flung or bounced to it's destination. This could work well with the above suggestions about modifying the coils or injector routines.
You could also keep in mind all that drives isn't warp. Why limit yourself? Over the course of Voyager we have seen all sorts of nifty ideas that could be refined or expanded on... or you could make up something. We use a one-shot hyper-drive displacement system like seen on the game Homeworld 2... Starfleet recalled ships to defend against the Borg and the first wave (over 30ships) arrived at the staging area within two hours using this drive method. It's a near-instant displacment from wherever you are to wherever you need to be... To keep storytelling balance and game-play ballance I decided the drive could only work TO a given destination (pre-programmed) and it was a one-shot device once it was used the module was burned out and had to be replaced.
Here's my take: For an RPG situation we looked at boosting the power of the core but that would only give us 15% more speed, and only for a very short period of time before the auto-shutdown kicked in. Right up boosting the power output is a brute-force method at best, and one most often used about size-conscious fanboys. Most (not all!) of the "more power" crowd has no idea how much work can be done by a kilowatt laser or a ton of TNT yet they keep adding "more" power and explosive yield without realizing just how powerful 50 megatons REALLY is... how much work can be done by a 250 megawatt beam... (shakes head)
You could work on power conversion efficiency, boosting the amount of power that gets turned into work. You could do this by adding a coating or modifying the coils in the nacelles, changing the plasma injector routines, infusing the warp-plasma with some sort of exotic something or other or any combination of. This could be a permanent boost or it could be a one-shot depending on the needs of the story.
What about other energy domains/propulsion modes? Maybe you could drive the ship to a "deeper" level of subspace or warp space in such a manner that instead of a straight-line course the ship is flung or bounced to it's destination. This could work well with the above suggestions about modifying the coils or injector routines.
You could also keep in mind all that drives isn't warp. Why limit yourself? Over the course of Voyager we have seen all sorts of nifty ideas that could be refined or expanded on... or you could make up something. We use a one-shot hyper-drive displacement system like seen on the game Homeworld 2... Starfleet recalled ships to defend against the Borg and the first wave (over 30ships) arrived at the staging area within two hours using this drive method. It's a near-instant displacment from wherever you are to wherever you need to be... To keep storytelling balance and game-play ballance I decided the drive could only work TO a given destination (pre-programmed) and it was a one-shot device once it was used the module was burned out and had to be replaced.
You know ... I personally detest the term 'magic'.
Magic refers to something unexplainable. Telekinetic effect on the other hand is explainable (controlling matter with conscious thoughts that originate in the cerebral cortex ... but of course not proven in reality through scientific aspects /at least not yet ... which of course relies on the theoretical concept that such abilities actually exist).
Most of the things that happened in Trek (to which people refer as 'magic') are explainable in Trek terms quite easily.
Warp drive was even hypothesized to be possible in reality, as are transporters (but of course, not in the same effect as shown on screen).
And besides, while Trek IS fiction ... keep in mind that we barely began to understand anything about how the world (let alone the universe) functions. So I would personally keep an open mind to the future and what we may discover.
If anything, the hypothetical idea that telekinesis exists is likelier than 'god' because a so called 'god' (if you refer to the term as an entity) is nothing more than an entity with an ability a human lacks. Same comparison can be applied to humans and animals.
We created technology, structures, shuttles to take us to space, etc ... while animals did not, however we aren't 'gods' because we have an ability the animals (seemingly) lack.
Given that comparison, in my perspective it will never be possible to actually 'prove' that 'god' (such an outdated and ridiculously limiting concept) exists. It's a simple difference in who has what kind of abilities, nothing else. Clarke's third law sums it up nicely.
And besides, people have stated on numerous occasions to have seen people in India and Tibetan monks performing feats that are seemingly 'impossible'. And also, given some of my own personal experiences, I leave an open mind to the possibility that the cerebral cortex might just hold secrets contemporary science simply lacks the means of uncovering.
As for Paris stating: 'we've just dropped out of ... whatever it was we were in' ... well, from a visual interpretation, it looked like a warp effect.
Only Paris described it as the unknown because he personally never traveled at such a velocity before.
On another note ... we define warp limitations as as they came to be known by SF's technological limitations in warp propulsion.
Voyager's maximum warp velocity is warp 9.975.
The more you approach the TW threshold, the warp speed at which you travel increases exponentially by the decimals.
So a 20% increase in M/AM reactions increased the maximum velocity (which would be consistent of traveling at extreme warp velocities that damage the ship's hull in the process [which happened]) exponentially, allowing the ship to travel through 10 000 Ly's in 10 seconds (which is about 6x faster compared to the second Slipstream drive version the crew created in early Season 4 to cut through 10 000 Ly's in 1 minute before future Kim shut down the drive himself to avoid the overload in the quantum matrix).
To explain how a warp core could be 'turbocharged',we must first eval what we mean by turbocharge.
Obviously its to go faster than standard speed.But why is there a 'standard' speed in the first place?
Well,I'd imagine the speed of a starship isn't limited by its engines.Its stuff like life support,hull integrity,and other incidental necessities of practical warp travel that limit the speed of a starship.
Ergo,it falling apart when Kes was 'turbo-ing' Voyager.
So the problem isn't making the ship go faster via the 24th century version of warp core nitrous,but making sure you still have a ship left to fly.
In action,here's what I mean:imagine Torres injecting anitmatter into the warp core and making Voyager fly an extra 5000 LY. Well and good,but now there's micro-fractures on the pylons now.Not good.
Worse,cause the ship wasn't built to go that fast,the inertial dampeners won't handle the speeds.
And so on with this part,and so forth.Just like a car,the 'turbocharger' is usually the easy part of hot rodding.The work is making sure everything else still works with it.
Obviously its to go faster than standard speed.But why is there a 'standard' speed in the first place?
Well,I'd imagine the speed of a starship isn't limited by its engines.Its stuff like life support,hull integrity,and other incidental necessities of practical warp travel that limit the speed of a starship.
Ergo,it falling apart when Kes was 'turbo-ing' Voyager.
So the problem isn't making the ship go faster via the 24th century version of warp core nitrous,but making sure you still have a ship left to fly.
In action,here's what I mean:imagine Torres injecting anitmatter into the warp core and making Voyager fly an extra 5000 LY. Well and good,but now there's micro-fractures on the pylons now.Not good.
Worse,cause the ship wasn't built to go that fast,the inertial dampeners won't handle the speeds.
And so on with this part,and so forth.Just like a car,the 'turbocharger' is usually the easy part of hot rodding.The work is making sure everything else still works with it.
That's an explanation, huh? Not sure how that makes it any less magical. "Unexplainable" doesn't appear anywhere in Webster's definition of magic (the only one I have handy); detest it all you like, but don't redefine it in order to do so. Fact is, Trek didn't do much to explain any of its psi-power stuff scientifically; it's unexplained, it's supernatural, it plays by its own rules. I don't know what else to call it when it's hurtling ships tens of thousands of light years. Magic is equally "theoretical" and sort of hard to differentiate from a psychic power to alter one's environment for which no scientific explanation is offered.
I'm also not sure how a percentage increase is being equated to a vast exponential increase. Rather than the number being a static value or trying to depict the extent of what was happening, I feel like the scene was trying to imply that something outside the regular functioning of the warp drive was taking place; it hardly seems necessary for Kes's magic to work within the confines of the warp hardware.
In "TW threshold," what exactly is the threshold you refer to?
I personally never perceived the portrayal of telekinetic abilities and pushing ships through vast distances at will (to name a few) as 'magic'.
Just as a cerebral or technological/synthetic ability that our heroes lacked.
'Magic' is in my opinion a limiting and plainly dumb term used by some people to describe something they don't understand.
I don't confine myself to such terms because I don't attribute something I cannot explain to limiting and outdated perceptions of the past ('magic', 'religion', 'supernatural' and others).
In reality, there is always an explanation for something we don't understand (or an effect happening through means we cannot identify), so if for the moment I cannot really define it properly, I just say it's 'unexplainable for the moment. I don't have the need to resort to terms for which there is a high possibility they have no connection to the said effect whatsoever.
Telekinetic effect and other processes were in fact described partially in Trek (also in reality ... just not proven by contemporary science). The Doctor if you recall stated that Kes's Serotonin levels were very high in the same episode before she left the ship. Adding along the fact that 8472 were communicating with Kes days before that, which also (I don't recall the exact details of the episode right now) stimulated her abilities.
Once she evolved into something else, her abilities also grew in turn.
As for 'TW threshold'.
I was referring to Transwarp threshold.
It was established in Trek to my recollection that warp velocity (once you go into the 9.xxx range) increases exponentially by the decimals as you approach the TW threshold.
These differences aren't that large in the lower warp factors range (although there have been numerous instances where the speed differential was noticeable and necessary even for the heroes to reach their destination in time by forcing the ship to maximum speed ... NX-01 for example comes to mind), however they become much more noticeable in the higher warp factors range.
Of course at those velocities the ship starts coming apart.
Voyager's maximum sustainable velocity was 9.975.
By 'sustainable', we don't know if there is a limit to how long it can be sustained or was it meant in terms 'by the time the fuel runs out'.
My theoretical guess is, it would be by the time the fuel runs out (although this wasn't so numerous times in the show because of the 'drama').
Kes's abilities merely activated the warp core and provided enough to stabilise it at 120% in terms of M/AM reaction which would in effect push the ship into high warp factor range (beyond the maximum velocity of the ship itself) which was enough to travel through 10 000 ly's in 10 seconds.
Just as a cerebral or technological/synthetic ability that our heroes lacked.
'Magic' is in my opinion a limiting and plainly dumb term used by some people to describe something they don't understand.
I don't confine myself to such terms because I don't attribute something I cannot explain to limiting and outdated perceptions of the past ('magic', 'religion', 'supernatural' and others).
In reality, there is always an explanation for something we don't understand (or an effect happening through means we cannot identify), so if for the moment I cannot really define it properly, I just say it's 'unexplainable for the moment. I don't have the need to resort to terms for which there is a high possibility they have no connection to the said effect whatsoever.
Telekinetic effect and other processes were in fact described partially in Trek (also in reality ... just not proven by contemporary science). The Doctor if you recall stated that Kes's Serotonin levels were very high in the same episode before she left the ship. Adding along the fact that 8472 were communicating with Kes days before that, which also (I don't recall the exact details of the episode right now) stimulated her abilities.
Once she evolved into something else, her abilities also grew in turn.
As for 'TW threshold'.
I was referring to Transwarp threshold.
It was established in Trek to my recollection that warp velocity (once you go into the 9.xxx range) increases exponentially by the decimals as you approach the TW threshold.
These differences aren't that large in the lower warp factors range (although there have been numerous instances where the speed differential was noticeable and necessary even for the heroes to reach their destination in time by forcing the ship to maximum speed ... NX-01 for example comes to mind), however they become much more noticeable in the higher warp factors range.
Of course at those velocities the ship starts coming apart.
Voyager's maximum sustainable velocity was 9.975.
By 'sustainable', we don't know if there is a limit to how long it can be sustained or was it meant in terms 'by the time the fuel runs out'.
My theoretical guess is, it would be by the time the fuel runs out (although this wasn't so numerous times in the show because of the 'drama').
Kes's abilities merely activated the warp core and provided enough to stabilise it at 120% in terms of M/AM reaction which would in effect push the ship into high warp factor range (beyond the maximum velocity of the ship itself) which was enough to travel through 10 000 ly's in 10 seconds.
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Think of it like a car. My Pontiac without a computer governor is capable of 130 MPH top speed.However my car's cruising speed is more like 80 MPH.
Sure I can do 130 and if I add a turbo, probably go faster than that. However, my tires can only handle 105 MPH top speed, so unless I upgrade them Ill blow out and crash.
Enter the suspension. Above 120 MPH the car's aerodynamics suck, so the car will lose control faster if I hit a bump.
And so on , and so forth.Theres so much more involved to going faster than just , well, going faster.
I can imagine if its that complex to turbo a rather simple Earth automobile, making an FTL drive starship safely exceed its rated speed without self-destructing would be HARD.
Sure I can do 130 and if I add a turbo, probably go faster than that. However, my tires can only handle 105 MPH top speed, so unless I upgrade them Ill blow out and crash.
Enter the suspension. Above 120 MPH the car's aerodynamics suck, so the car will lose control faster if I hit a bump.
And so on , and so forth.Theres so much more involved to going faster than just , well, going faster.
I can imagine if its that complex to turbo a rather simple Earth automobile, making an FTL drive starship safely exceed its rated speed without self-destructing would be HARD.
Totally. I've been down that road with cars a few times and it's exactly as you stated.
I guess 'Turbocharge' might be a bad word to use. I remembered after I posted it that a turbocharger is basically a device to reclaim wasted energy from an I.C. engine and turn it into useful potential. I'd imagine there's little wasted energy in a Matter/Antimatter engine that a similar device could reclaim.
That said something like a supercharger that was directly driven by the engine could be employed. Maybe it could be used so the ship could use a smaller and/or built up warp core not just for speed but powering the different systems when it was needed.
Maybe then a Defiant type ship wouldn't have the overpowering issues it did going over Warp ~8. Turn the boost down to go faster, turn it up when the Borg and Dominion are on top of you and route the power where it's needed.
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