Anyone know how to calculate Warp?

[ngabwI]

posted on 8-12-2003 at 04:40 PM

Anyone know how to calculate Warp?

I've been messing around with var'aq, the Klingon programming language, for a couple weeks now, and I want to do something Trek-related. A warp calculator, specifically.

But I don't know how to calculate TNG- era warp ("All Good Things..." isn't being considered in my question)

I can't google up enough on it to write the thing. So I turn to you, fellow KlinFolk.

[Kesvirit]

posted on 8-13-2003 at 11:58PM

Anyone know how to calculate Warp?

You may not be able to. TPTB ignore the time dilation aspect that says roughly that the faster you get to light speed relative to something else (i.e. the rest of the universe) the more time subjectively slows down. Why let trivial matters like the laws of physics get in the way of the plot?

"Canon" sources on the subject frequently contradict each other. I highly recommend you go through the rec.arts.startrek.tech FAQ: Warp Velocities pages to see if you can find enough consistant information to build a valid model.

Caveat:

Date: Fri, Jan 27, 1995 02:09 AM EST
From: MOkuda
Subj: Re: Star Trek Warp
To: Yar of Spit

The warp factors we've used in ST:TNG were computed in an arbitrary way to fit some specific characteristics we needed.

First, the speed for any given warp factor had to be greater than it was in the original Star Trek series. This was primarily to satisfy fan expectations.

Second, the new warp speeds couldn't be TOO much faster, or it would be possible for the ship to cross the galaxy in a fairly brief time. (In a way, maintaining this restriction made Voyager's story situation possible. If we hadn't done this, Voyager could have gotten home too quickly.)

We used an exponent of (I think) 3.33 or 3.33333... for warp factors less than 9.

Between 9 and 10, I gradually increased the exponent so that it approached infinity as the warp factor approached 10. Lacking knowledge of calculus, I just drew what looked to me to be a credible curve on graph paper, then pulled the points from there. I think I re-created the curve fairly accurately in the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual.

Hope this helps.

-Mike

Having gotten that out of the way...

This site on the history of HP calculators (a geeky project if ever there was }}; )  includes a page on the different warp systems used in the different series and inclused a program you may be able to modify for calculating them. Among other things it says that from the TNG era on, a system called UltraWarp is used in which the Warp Factors are to the 5th power (as opposed to cubed, as in TOS): V = WF^5*X*c

Use this with the numbers/values in the tables at http://hot.ee/roosimagi/warp1.htm, and you may ultimately have everything you need.

If you are familiar with C++ and can "translate" into var'aq, this page has information on relating warp speeds to light speeds based on information from the TNG Tecnical Manual.

You said you couldn't google up the information that you needed.  It would help to know what you already have and what you are still looking for. Let me know if any of the above helps.

 - Kesv


(Moderator's note: The rest of this thread was eaten by hungry spiderbots. Yep, still findin' 'em...)

[Kesvirit]

I do not know of the status or outcome of the Warp Drive Calculation Factor Project. Completed and in place? Limping along at subspace? Placed on the pad of a transporter set to deep space and maximum dispersion?

I came across a warp factor comparison chart in a packet of file recently released to the public by Federation authorities under the Fifty Year Rule clause of the Public Information Act. I can only guess that is must have exceeded the only-in-theory speed of Warp Ten to have arrived in the courier pouch only 17 years after the Act went into effect. I do not know anything of its origins, except that it was once posted at the now defunct, keenly missed "Star Trek in Sound and Vision" site.

Unfortunately the chart is too large to post here without compressing it to the point of illegibility, but I will send it to all who request it.

-=- Kesvirit

[ngabwI]

Yes, as a matter of fact, I was able to complete the Warp Calculator, and posted it to the var'aq-dev list. You can find most of the code I worked out on my var'aq page.

HovpoH 703339.4