Enterprise "Impulse" - SPOILERS

The “Warp n = c * n^3.33333333… (up to warp 9)” formula of ST:TNG appears, as Aesiron points out, in the Star Trek Encyclopedia and the ST:TNG Tech Manual in a tabular, rather than formulaic, form.

The “Warp n = c * n^3” formula of ST:TOS is actually a retcon. It first appeared in the early 1970s among the writings of fans or ST novel authors (I forget which), but has since been considered canon. Note that since both “The Changeling” and the TOS episodes with the Kelvans mention the Enterprise going in excess of Warp 10, we know that TOS cannot be using the same formula as TNG, because the TNG formula declares that Warp 10 is infinitely fast.

Of course, in the series finale for TNG, Riker gets to say “warp 13” or somesuch, which blows the TNG formula away.

However, like any good grasping-at-straws Trekhead, I have come up with a tidy rationalization. :slight_smile:

It seems clear that in that future timeline shown in All Good Things, ludicrous warp velocities can be achieved. In other words, while in ordinary TNG, Georgi starts to sweat when Picard pushes the ship past, say, 9.6, and the bolts start to vibrate at 9.7, we can assume that in the future, 9.9 is not a problem. And since speed increases logarithmically and asymptotically, we can approach warp 10 but never achieve it. However, assuming radical improvements in technological capability, it quickly becomes unwieldy to say, “Helm, warp nine point nine nine two,” or whatever.

So a new terminology is invented, in which each number from warp 10 upward is understood as a shorthand means of adding a decimal nine. Warp 10 = 9.9, warp 11 = 9.99, warp 12 = 9.999, and so on. Warp X point Y works the same; 10.5 = 9.95, 13.4 = 9.9994, and so on. So Captain Riker, in the spiffy new Pentium Google warp ship, doesn’t have to say, “Helm, warp nine point nine nine nine nine nine nine two.” He can simply say, “Warp fifteen point two,” and the Academy-trained helmsman (or the computer, more likely) makes the adjustment.

However, given that the formula “n=c*n^3.333…” specifically says “for values of n up to 9,” it’s hard to say exactly what those higher warp numbers actually represent. If you use just that formula, you find diminishing returns the closer you get to 10; the difference between warp 13 and warp 14 is a measley six-tenths of c, which hardly seems worth the effort. But the graph in the reference book shows a huge spike after 9, so Lord only knows what warp 9.999 might actually be. It’s possible that 9.999 represents some totally implausible value by which it’s reasonable to get from one galaxy to another.

Even so, I thought it was a nifty way to explain something that seems to violate the “rules” and which I’ve never seen accounted for anywhere else. Thoughts?

O ye of little faith!

From The Star Trek Encyclopedia, 1999 edition, page 556:

Warp factor 9: 1516 times the speed of light
Warp factor 9.9: 3053 times the speed of light
Warp factor 9.99: 7912 times the speed of light
Warp factor 9.9999: 199516 times the speed of light

Oddly, though, there’s no entry for warp 9.999. So I guess you’re right – Lord only knows what warp 9.999 might actually be!

The Warp 13 line in All Good Things… is usually rationalized as the Federation using a new warp drive, either transwarp, slipstream, or one of the other hundreds that Voyager seemed to run into every other week.

Strangely, even tho having gone to such incredibly high warps, Riker wasn’t a fish.

Huh.

Salamander.

… which could easily be reversed by a hypospray administered by the Holographic Doctor.
“Gee, we’re 70,000 light-years away from home, and we’ve just discovered a way to travel infinitely fast whose only side effect is a slow and reversible transformation into a lizard. Let’s completely ignore this technology for the rest of the series!” :rolleyes:

That was 'cause they went Warp 10 on the traditional scale, not 'cause they used some new tech, NCB.

And on a completely unrelated note…this upcoming storyline sounds intriguing:

Spoilers for “Similitude”

Aes: Whoosh!
cplant: Newt. She turned me into a newt! Well great, man! Let’s put her in charge!

(I just love mixing references)

see y’all after the party

Hook 'em, Sooners!

That episode does look interesting. I just hope it doesn’t beat us over the head that CLONING IS AMORAL AT BEST; YOU WILL GET SOME KIND OF FUTURE AIDS TYPE DISEASE AND EVOLVE INTO A MONKEY IF YOU DO IT!!!1!

Ooo, that does sound like a good episode. I’m guessing Trip will die and replaced with 2 T’Pol clones and a smart cracking clevage alien. Huzzah for shameless ratings boosters!

Perhaps they cast it aside because Janeway didn’t want to chance mating with Tom Paris again. Or with Harry Kim, which might give him an Oedipal complex.

???

I figure that Trip Part Two will develop some sort of fatal malfunction, or else they’ll have to give him the “Tuvix treatment.”

carnivorousplant: smart cracking cleavage.

It’s like wisecracking cleavage, except it put its points into its Intelligence score instead of its Wisdom score.

That was a good episode.

Could you imagine Enterprise doing it? T’poshi… Triporthos…

WTF does Intelligence or Wisdom have to do with t-ts?

:slight_smile:

They sap men of all wit and intelligence?

Ah.