# Star Trek Warp Speeds **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 11, 2002, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-warp-speeds/123442 "2002-08-11T23:19:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2002, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-warp-speeds/123442/21 "2002-08-12T13:35:49Z")
It was Warp 13. I think that everybody assumed that the Warp scale was different in the future. Assuming for a minute that they do, in fact, follow the cube rule in TNG, it actually makes good sense. When they begin to achieve speeds greater than 1000c with any regularity, they would redo the scale. I guess that Warp 13 just means 2197c. ---
**Author:** ![Milton\_De\_La\_Warre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Milton\_De\_La\_Warre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milton_De_La_Warre)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2002, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-warp-speeds/123442/22 "2002-08-12T14:45:28Z")
Warp, shwarp. It’s still a friggin’ TV show. I beleive it was set at a 1 to 10 scale for easiest viewer comprehension. 1 = slow, 5 = medium, 10 = maximum speed. At least it’s on a decimal based scale. The episode with the reference to warp 13 or whatever is therefore meant to say to viewers “We’re going much faster than they ever did back in the older days”. Redefining warp in reality would be as practical and intelligible as redefining kmh/mph/mach to suit faster cars and aircraft. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-warp-speeds/123442/23 "2002-08-13T15:29:03Z")
Although “impulse” speeds are almost universally given as slower than light (I’ve seen “authoritative” figures for “full impulse” as anything from 0.25 to 0.98c), it’s implied on some occasions that interstellar travel is possible, and even achievable in practice, at these speeds. Case in point: the Romulan warship in _Balance of Terror_, which, according to Scotty, has “simple impulse” for motive power… thus making its every interstellar mission take years or decades; those Romulans are _really dedicated_ militarists. But, as **Tucker** and **Bryan Ekers** have said, it’s not really relevant… a ship travelling at warp X will take as much time to get where it’s going as the writers want it to. I wish they’d put some slight effort into making these things consistent, though - it gets irritating. Take the first _Enterprise_ episode. Warp 4.5 is a tad over 90c… they can make it to the Klingon homeworld in four days… that puts the Klingon Empire just about one light year from Earth. And yah boo sucks to any astronomers who think the nearest star is Proxima Centauri. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2002, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-warp-speeds/123442/24 "2002-08-14T01:08:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JCHeckler \* > \*\*Warp, shwarp. It’s still a friggin’ TV show. I beleive it was set at a 1 to 10 scale for easiest viewer comprehension. 1 = slow, 5 = medium, 10 = maximum speed. At least it’s on a decimal based scale. > > The episode with the reference to warp 13 or whatever is therefore meant to say to viewers “We’re going much faster than they ever did back in the older days”. And to think that all they had to do was make a Warp Drive whos dial went all the way up to 11+. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2002, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-warp-speeds/123442/25 "2002-08-14T01:26:19Z")
> [@](#): > > [ST Nerd] Of course now the future Enterprise should look different as all of the Upgraded Voyager goodies should have been implemented. [/ST Nerd] You think YOU’RE a ST Nerd? What about the simple fact that the future Enterprise couldn’t have existed like it did in the show, since the Enterprise-D was destroyed in _Generations_, and the Enterprise is now a _Sovereign_-class ship? ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2002, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-warp-speeds/123442/26 "2002-08-14T01:37:56Z")
[ST nerd] Actually, in _ **All good things…** _ it was said that Riker’s 3-nacelle Enterprise was from one **possible** future. I think. Of course, it probably also had an escape pod named the **Deus ex machina** … [/ST nerd] ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2002, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-warp-speeds/123442/27 "2002-08-14T03:15:06Z")
Well, in that possible future, the Enterprise from one of those other universes gets trapped in our universe, just as Enterprise E is destroyed. Admiral Riker Upgrades the other universe Enterprise D and reinstates it into service. And he doesn’t need any sissy Batmobile Armor. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-warp-speeds/123442.md?page=1)