The higher the amount of energy you require from the dilithium, the quicker it fractures. In newer starships they recrystallize whioe still in use, but in older federation ships like when Those Old Scientists were roaming the stars, it was a real danger that you’d break the only dilithium crystals on the ship and be more or less stranded if you pushed them too hard.
Of course you still have to deal with warp core stress and heat dispersion on newer ships.
So when a sovereign class goes to warp 6, that’s more or less cruising speed. When she goes to warp 9.975, she needs to haul ass to get somewhere right the fuck now
Especially with subspace damage at higher warps with less streamlined ships/warp bubbles, starfleet limited travel in general to warp 6 and some areas the speed limit is warp 3.
/uMO So in other words… Whatever the plot currently demands, that’s what they go with. It’s just a show of “we need to be there quickly” or “we have some time to kill” more or less.
Dilithium only regulates the matter/anti-matter reaction to keep the flow consistent. The core itself is powered by the matter anti-matter reaction, which has always been shown to be fueled by deuterium.
I can’t remember if it was stated onscreen, but I always understood it to be that the cruising speed of a starship is where they find the maximum efficiency of fuel use vs speed as well as wear-and-tear on the nacelles and warp coils.
Does a higher warp factor use more dilithium or something? I have wondered, when a captain orders “take us to warp one”, why not choose warp two?
The higher the amount of energy you require from the dilithium, the quicker it fractures. In newer starships they recrystallize whioe still in use, but in older federation ships like when Those Old Scientists were roaming the stars, it was a real danger that you’d break the only dilithium crystals on the ship and be more or less stranded if you pushed them too hard.
Of course you still have to deal with warp core stress and heat dispersion on newer ships.
So when a sovereign class goes to warp 6, that’s more or less cruising speed. When she goes to warp 9.975, she needs to haul ass to get somewhere right the fuck now
Especially with subspace damage at higher warps with less streamlined ships/warp bubbles, starfleet limited travel in general to warp 6 and some areas the speed limit is warp 3.
/uMO So in other words… Whatever the plot currently demands, that’s what they go with. It’s just a show of “we need to be there quickly” or “we have some time to kill” more or less.
What does that mean? Urban Dictionary has failed me here
un-miles-obrien, basically a cheeky way of saying unjerk my role play… Yeah not very clever mind you, but I work on transporters not words.
Dilithium only regulates the matter/anti-matter reaction to keep the flow consistent. The core itself is powered by the matter anti-matter reaction, which has always been shown to be fueled by deuterium.
I can’t remember if it was stated onscreen, but I always understood it to be that the cruising speed of a starship is where they find the maximum efficiency of fuel use vs speed as well as wear-and-tear on the nacelles and warp coils.
Makes sense since most ships cruise at warp 6-7 which I like to imagine is a nice cool 55mph on the highway
I assumed they cruised under impulse power and only went into warp when they needed to cross larger distances.