Given what I've read from the Klingon Bird of Prey Manual on how they achieve FTL:
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91hKYv0zvJL.jpg
I've noticed that there are many ways of achieving Warp Drive, so here I've listed a few ways with sources taken from Alpha & Beta Cannon that I can trust along with my own deductive inferencing & reasoning based on observation from the source materials:
Warp Drive Types that I've observed and listed :
Any other forms of Warp Drive from alien races or StarFleet ships that I might not have noticed?
The only one I can think off the top of my head is the Voth City Ship.
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91hKYv0zvJL.jpg
I've noticed that there are many ways of achieving Warp Drive, so here I've listed a few ways with sources taken from Alpha & Beta Cannon that I can trust along with my own deductive inferencing & reasoning based on observation from the source materials:
Warp Drive Types that I've observed and listed :
- Type: "Parallel Coils"/"Parallel Nacelles":
- Examples:
- The Vast Majority of StarFleet designed vessels with Nacelles mounted on pylons of some form
- Details:
- Usually mounted in some form of Nacelle with either Circular, Oval, or specialized Ring shape of some form
- Opening's in the Coil show where the Warp Field emissions emit out of
- PRO(s):
- Better Manueverability at FTL in High Warp Factors compared to Coleopteric Type
- Highly Stable Warp Fields
- Balanced FTL characteristics in terms of Power Consumption, Scalability, Complexity, Stability, etc
- Better Manueverability at FTL in High Warp Factors compared to Coleopteric Type
- CON(s):
- Not as efficient as Coleopteric in a Straight Line
- Needs at least 2x Warp Fields interacting in 3D space for maximum efficiency
- See (Intrepid Class/USS Voyager) as example that breaks the mold compared to (Constitution Class/Galaxy Class) for simple line of sight rules due to more advanced tech
- Usually the Nacelles hanging off of Pylons which give the enemy a giant visual signal to "Destroy this" to cripple the vessel from moving at FTL which makes it a VERY easy target
- Examples:
- Type: "Coleopteric"/"Ring":
- Examples:
- 22nd & 23rd century Vulcan Vessels
- Details:
- Requires some form of Warp Ring that wraps around the vessel:
- PRO(s):
- Highly Efficient for Straight line travel, not very manueverable at high FTL (Warp Factor)
- Very good straight line efficiency
- Very energy efficient Power Consumption Curve as it scales up the Warp Factors
- CON(s):
- Cannot turn at high FTL (Warp Factor) without significant stress to the vessel, usually must drop out of warp and reorient the vessel to re-engage Warp Drives
- Large Target that can be nearly attacked at from all sides to cripple
- Examples:
- Type: "Co-Planar"/"Flat Panel":
- Examples:
- See Klingon Bird-of-Prey with wings straight out in cruise mode
- Details:
- Parallel Flat Panels distributed on Port/StarBoard sides of a hull
- Panels are in-line(Co-Planar) with each other usually when making Warp Fields
- PRO(s):
- Volumetrically efficient
- Can assist with STL propulsion
- CON(s):
- Requires Cryogenic Cooling Fluids to keep the Panels from self destructing due to the tight spacing of the panels and excessive temperatures from the Electro Plasma
- Limitation based on Cooling requirements that Warp Coils suffer from far less due to physical space gaps
- Tight working spaces along with high toughness requirements to keep it working reliably
- Requires Cryogenic Cooling Fluids to keep the Panels from self destructing due to the tight spacing of the panels and excessive temperatures from the Electro Plasma
- Examples:
- Type: "Parallel Open Frustum"/"Integrated Hull":
- Examples:
- The Ferengi D'Kora class Marauder implements this on the aft end at the Ventral Edge with vertical slits that go from White to Orange when engaging Warp
- Details:
- A series of open plates aligned in parallel, usually Frustum shaped with Sub-Space Field Emissions out of the open sides of the Parallel Plates
- PRO(s):
- 2nd most Compact Surface Area
- Allows very flexible layout as it can run across the surface of the hull, you don't have to design a vessel around the Warp Engine
- Highly distributed nature allows some battle redundancy, although not as much as the DPSSFEA
- Size & Shape of each parallel plate don't have to be perfect and scan be slightly smaller or larger than each other, this allows for various design styles and uses
- CON(s):
- Any battle damage may have the Electro-Plasma feed back into the hull
- Requires sacrifcing some hull volume for the Warp Engine system
- Maintenance requires opening up some aspects of the hull on the outside and/or inside depending on design
- This makes it somewhat labor intensive when doing battle field repairs when time is super critical
- Examples:
- Type: Nozzle Type Sub-Space Field Emitter:
- Examples:
- Cardassian Galor Class and most Cardassian Vessel designs
- UFP StarFleet Defiant Class
- Cardassian Galor Class and most Cardassian Vessel designs
- Details:
- Warp Field Emission is out of a Nozzle of some form
- PRO(s):
- A large chunk of the Warp Engine can be buried within the hull and hidden underneath armor
- Much shorter routing paths for Electro Plasma and Data Wiring to the Warp Core
- CON(s):
- You must design the vessel around the Warp Engines, layout dictates where the Warp Field Alignment for Warp Field Syncrohnoization meets
- Repairs can potentially require full or partial dissasembly of the vessel structure depending on how you designed said vessel
- Battlefield repairs might be more complicated due to the nature of integration of the Warp Coils or Warp Instruments
- Any leakage of Electro Plasma will likely happen within the vessel
- Examples:
- Type: DPSSFEA (Distributed Phased Sub-Space Field Emitter Array):
- Examples:
- Almost all Borg Vessels use this form of Warp Drive
- Details:
- Numerous small Sub-Space Field Emitters that create Sub-Space Fields in a single direction work in tandem with others in a distributed array to create a precisely controlled fields for advanced FTL flight
- The arrays are usually spread evenly across the hull and allows for simple redundancy by adding in more units and adjusting software to control them
- Usually small distributed Sensors need to be placed nearby each Sub-Space Field Emitters to work in parallel
- PRO(s):
- Highly Energy Efficient when it comes to power consumption
- High Redundancy in case several units are taken off-line for whatever reason
- Creates near optimal warp fields easily regardless of the shape of the vessel
- Allows for High Speed Omni-Directional FTL Manueverability at all Warp Factors with very high turning / vectoring speeds at FTL
- Very flexible & precise control over the Sub-Space Field: Shape, Intensity, & distortion strength along with distortion vector
- You do not have to design the vessel around the shape of the Warp Engines, the Warp Engine can conform to the shape of the vessel as needed
- Hard to tell where your Warp Field Emitters are given the tiny nature of their apertures (especially when integrated with all the other tech on the surface of the hull)
- Highly Energy Efficient when it comes to power consumption
- CON(s):
- Incredibly Computationally Intensive compared to other FTL Warp Field based systems, requires lots of Parallelized Computers to work together across a vast distributed network on the vessel
- Nano-Second level Syncrohnoization becomes important for Computational and Field control
- Physical connections for Power & Data become a management nightmare due to sheer volume compared to other FTL Warp Field based systems
- Software needed to manage becomes incredibly complex and difficult to debug should problems arise before final roll out
- Software needs to be incredibly robust to handle taking Warp Field Emitters online and offline in real time while the Warp Drive is in use
- Maintenance Load becomes larger due to the volume of small problems you may encounter, although the scale of the problem is usually much lower and is a simple drop in replacement of parts
- Examples:
Any other forms of Warp Drive from alien races or StarFleet ships that I might not have noticed?
The only one I can think off the top of my head is the Voth City Ship.
). Wouldn't it be simpler to just think of the warp field as being able to expand in a sphere/bubble and pass through everything to encompass the ship?
