khaosworks

As I've noted, I'm not saying impulse doesn't function in the absence of warp. Warp makes impulse more efficient.

Also, by the mid-24th Century, impulse engines have driver coils build in which produce sublight warp fields to aid in impulse operations.

2

khaosworks @startrek.website 2y ago

(also copying my answer from the other place)

Good points, but to address a couple of them:

At the same time, that seems to be contradicted by ships that have no/limited warp capacity having impulse. The Constellation, sibling of the Enterprise, still retained impulse capabilities, in spite of the warp drive being turned into a pile of slag, and it's implied that the Hathaway also retained impulse, despite the warp core being non-functional. It wouldn't be much of a simulated combat if the Hathaway could only sit there.

I'm not suggesting that if warp drive gives out that impulse cannot be used. It obviously can be from the examples you've quoted, but I'd say that without the warp assist (from internal driver coils or external nacelles), it's less efficient and speed would be reduced. From SNW: "Memento Mori" itself:

PIKE: How fast can you push impulse?
ORTEGAS: The starboard nacelle is half-damaged. I can get us about half speed.

Given the Tech Manual's idea of incorporating warp drivers into impulse engines, I thought this fit in nicely as well with the idea of using a warp field's mass-lowering properties to assist impulse operations.

At the same time, if they can do that, you might expect that the warp field could then be used as a shield against alterations in the flow of time, or that being in a warp field would be extremely bad for anyone on board who's relying on biochemistry or conventional physics to live.

Coincidentally, Sternbach and Okuda have thought about those effects, because the Tech Manual makes passing reference to Starfleet safety standards for subspace field exposure in talking about the inertial dampening system:

The IDF operates by maintaining a low-level forcefield throughout the habitable volume of the spacecraft. This field averages 75 millicochranes with field differential limited to 5.26 nanocochranes/meter, per SFRA-standard 352.12 for crew exposure to subspace fields.

Like many things, they kind of gloss over them, but those millicochrane levels are pretty low, so there must be some kind of protective measure to mitigate against too much direct exposure to subspace. Perhaps it's in the material hulls and EVA suits are made of? Maybe any deleterious subspace radiation can be blocked easily.

At the same time, using a subspace distance unit that conflicts with a realspace distance unit seems like it would cause more trouble than not. If anything, were that to be the case, you'd expect the Federation to have a separate distance for subspace travel, just to avoid people getting confused if there is a disparity between realspace and subspace.

Although, for practical purposes since ultimately the ship is moving through real space anyway despite being enclosed in a subspace bubble, it all evens out in the wash. I mean, when we're saying Warp 3 is 39c (TNG scale), we still have to ask ourselves 39c relative to what? And the answer to that might be relative to subspace as a frame of reference, and the distance travelled is simply expressed in real space terms.

khaosworks @startrek.website 2y ago

I second this, because this is exactly how I've mounted it on my office wall.

khaosworks @startrek.website 2y ago

Here you go!

khaosworks @startrek.website 2y ago

Someone suggested Stardate 06107.2, which works out to February 8, 2329, which might be Freeman’s birthday.

2

khaosworks @startrek.website 2y ago

Well, the Genesis Planet did do something similar in ST III (keeping it vague for spoilers), but that one had a body to work with.

As for 06107.2, it could be a birthday (June 10, 1972), but the only reference I could find to that was the birthday of a background actor on ENT named Bobby Pappas.

khaosworks @startrek.website 2y ago

Annotations up at: https://startrek.website/post/3287357

khaosworks @startrek.website 2y ago

It's definitely not coincidental, considering that "The Inner Light" is one of the most famous episodes of the series. It's a pun, a play on words in relation to the TNG episode title. It doesn't have to have a thematic connection for it to be a title.

khaosworks @startrek.website 2y ago

Now that you mention it, the design is actually also close to the Academy Training Ships that Nova Squadron were using for the Kolvoord Starburst maneuver.

khaosworks @startrek.website 2y ago

T’Lyn did mention an “encounter” with a Klingon and Pakled ship to Mariner, but Mariner may not have connected that with the Cerritos.

khaosworks @startrek.website 2y ago

Annotations up at: https://startrek.website/post/3057890

khaosworks @startrek.website 2y ago

Of course Kirk is familiar with the works of DH Lawrence, one of the horniest poets ever.

khaosworks @startrek.website 2y ago

I think you got most of it covered except for living materials, which can’t be replicated because of the resolution limitations of replicators - like cargo transporters they operate on molecular resolution instead of the quantum resolution required for live transport. Gagh is a good example; because it ideally needs to be live it can’t be replicated in its intended serving form but has to be kept in barrels in cargo.

The other limitation would be stuff that’s prohibited by program not to be replicated, like weapons, banned substances, although that’s of course a coding issue rather than a materials issue.

Also, to correct a common misconception/inaccuracy repeated above - replicators don’t convert matter to energy or vice versa. They operate by dismantling the raw material for replication like a transporter does then reassembling them in new forms. The underlying technology is the same as the transporter, except that it rejigs the matter stream into a new configuration.

Which is why the question as to whether you want a holodeck or a replicator strikes me as a bit off because replicator technology is part of the way holodecks work. When you eat food on the holodeck it’s very likely that it’s replicated food, not a hard light illusion. Holograms of people can also either be hard light constructs or meat puppets manipulated by force fields, depending on the program and its requirements.

So if you ask me - holodeck or replicator, I’d choose holodeck because that gets me both the entertainment value and the ability to make objects and food.

khaosworks @startrek.website 2y ago

Annotations up at: https://startrek.website/post/2829352

3

khaosworks @startrek.website 2y ago

It would if he had visible genitals in that sequence, but he doesn’t.

khaosworks @startrek.website 2y ago

In LD: “Second Contact”, Mariner says she was once trapped in a sentient cave for weeks: “You ever been trapped in a sentient cave? That’s a dark place that knows things.”