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Warp Speeds List

Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2012 1:48 am
by 359
Here's a list of calculated warp speeds I have collected over time:

TNG Era:

TNG: "Q-Who?" 2,658c USS Enterprise-D:Warp: Maximum, 9.4

VOY: "The 37s" 21,472c USS Voyager:Warp: 9.9

VOY: "Dreadnought" 1,719c Dreadnought:Warp: 9

VOY: "Lifesigns" 933c USS Voyager:Warp: Various

DS9: "Whispers" ≥35,538c Runabout:Warp: Maximum, 5?

TNG: "Clues" 643c USS Enterprise-D:Warp: unknown, 5 likely

TNG: "Bloodlines" 834c USS Enterprise-D:Warp: 9

TNG: "The Most Toys" 39c The Jovis:Warp: 3

TNG: "Best of Both Worlds" >208,000c USS Enterprise-D:Warp: Maximum, 9.4

VOY: "Critical Care" 13,152c USS Voyager:Warp: Maximum, 9.975

VOY: "Friendship One" 1,584c USS Voyager:Warp: Maximum, 9.975

VOY: "Unimatrix Zero" 8,768c USS Voyager:Wrap: Maximum, 9.975

DS9: "Valiant" 101,994c USS Valiant:Warp: Unknown, 9 likely

VOY:" Hope and Fear" 2,737c USS Voyager:Warp: High, 9 likely

VOY: "Scorpion" 2,922c USS Voyager:Warp: Maximum, 9.975

VOY: "Maneuvers" 6,671c USS Voyager:Warp: Unknown, guess:6

TNG: "The Icarus Factor" 24,000c USS Enterprise-D:Warp: High, 9 likely

TNG: "Where None Have Gone Before" 9,000c USS Enterprise-D:Warp: Maximum, 9.4

VOY: "Friendship One" 116c Friendship One Probe:Warp: Very low, 2 likely


TOS:

TOS: "That Which Survives" 766,203c USS Enterprise:Warp: 8

TOS: "Obsession" 182,648c USS Enterprise:Warp: Unknown

TOS: "Bread and Circuses" 238,143c USS Enterprise:Warp: Unknown


It's not complete, for example I know that I do not have TNG:"The Chase" nor do I have any Enterprise, any other values are welcome.

Also, I put all of these values through a graphing program and threw all of the statistical analysis curves it knew at the data. Warp 9.6 generally was around 30,000c on its curves.

Re: Warp Speeds List

Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2012 2:34 am
by Mike DiCenso
It might be nice to have the relevant dialog quotes from those episodes as well to verify your results against. And yes, you are missing a huge number of examples, not just those from TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY, and ST:ENT, but also the movies, which have speeds that can be determined from dialog.

For example, in ST:Generations, the E-B travels across 3 light years to reach the El-Aurian refugee ships:

DEMORA: The ships are bearing at three one zero mark two one five. Distance, three light years.

HARRIMAN: Signal the closest starship. We're in no condition to mount a rescue. ...We don't even have a full crew aboard.


Given that the refugee ships were already in the Nexus and in danger of breaking up, the E-B taking days or weeks to reach them would be impractical to say the least. At most it seems to take is hours.

But to be very conservative, let's say it took 12 hours to reach the refugee ships. That's 1,095 light days x 24 = 26,280 light hours divided by 12 = 2,190c.

But that's being insanely conservative. Here's more dialog:

COMM VOICE: This is the transport ship Lakul. We're caught in some kind of energy distortion. Two ships in our convoy. ...We're trapped in a severe gravimetric distortion. We can't break free. We need immediate help. It' tearing us apart. This is the trans...

The ships were being torn apart and they needed help right away, so even arguing for a full hour's time becomes questionable given the context of the emergency. So a one hour travel time would net 26,280c. And it only goes up from there. If we assume the time on screen is the literal time, then you get really disgustingly high warp speeds, somewhere in the neighborhood of 525,600c, if the trip only took 3 minutes top.
-Mike

Re: Warp Speeds List

Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2012 4:34 am
by 359
Here's a couple quotes for some of the values, this'll take some time.

TNG: "Q-Who?":

Data: "According to these coordinates, we have traveled seven thousand light years."
...
Data: "At maximum warp, in two years, seven months, three days, eighteen hours we would reach Starbase one eight five."

Warp: Maximum; Time: 2y 7m 18d 7hr ≈ 2.6334y; Distance: 7000ly


VOY: "The 37's":

Paris: "Warp nine point nine. In your terms, that's about four billion miles a second."

Warp: 9.9; Stated speed: 4 billion miles per second


VOY: "Dreadnought":

Torres: "It's heading for a planet in a system over ten light years away."
...
Paris: "It's increasing speed to warp nine."
Chakotay: "At this rate it'll reach the planet in fifty one hours."

Warp: 9; Time: 51 h; Distance 10 ly


VOY: "Lifesigns":

Chakotay: "It's about ten light years away. We should be in the general vicinity in about twenty two days."

Voyager does not usually cruise at maximum warp.

Warp: unknown, not maximum; Time: 48h; Distance: 10ly


Whoops, missed VOY: "Caretaker":

Kim: "Captain, if these sensors are working, we're over seventy thousand light years from where we were. We're on the other side of the galaxy."
...
Janeway: "Even at maximum speeds, it would take seventy five years to reach the Federation"

Warp: Various Time: 75y Distance: 70,000ly


DS9: "Whispers":

O'Brien: "Maximum warp. Engage. Time to Parada system?"
Computer: "One hour, fourteen minutes."

DS9: "Emissary": Dax: "There is a star just under five light years away. No M-class planets Computer, identify closest star system."

Warp: Maximum; Time: 1h 14min; Distance: ≥5ly


TNG: "Clues":

Riker: "Point five four parsecs from our original position. Almost a day's travel in just thirty seconds?"

Starships do not usually travel at high warp.
Warp: unknown, low cruse likely Time: 1 day Distance: 0.54 parsecs


TNG: "Bloodlines":

Data: "I am tracing the transporter beam Bok used to send the probe. The ship is holding position approximately three hundred billion kilometres from here."
Picard: "Plot a course. Maximum warp."
Riker: "Even at warp nine we wouldn't get there for another twenty minutes."

Warp: 9 Time: 22min Distance: 300 billion km

Re: Warp Speeds List

Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2012 7:41 pm
by Mike DiCenso
Thanks for taking the effort to post those, 359. It makes it much easier to work from rather than having to go tediously through the episodes one by one and try to track down dialog and such.

Among the more important things you missed, like VOY's "Year of Hell, Part 1", which makes for important context with "Caretaker" since by using 7 of 9 and Ensign Kim's new astrometrics trajectory calculations Voyager is able to shave 5 years off the trip home.

You also missed the big TNG-era travel time episodes; "The Chase" and "Where Silence Has Lease", where the ship travels across immense distances in a matter or days or minutes.

"Where Silence has Lease" [TNG, Season 2]

RIKER: Aye, sir. Wesley, reverse our direction, set a course for the Cornelian star system. Impulse power.

WESLEY: Aye, sir. Reversing direction. Course laid in.

RIKER: Engage.

RIKER: Your engines have engaged, haven't they, Ensign?

WESLEY: Aye, sir.

[Engineering]

PICARD [OC]: Lieutenant La Forge, I'd like you to monitor our velocity closely.

LAFORGE: Is everything all right up there, Captain?

PICARD [OC]: Are the engines operating normally?

LAFORGE: Yes, sir. Everything looks fine down here.

PICARD [OC]: We're increasing to [b]warp two[/b].

LAFORGE: Aye, sir.

[Bridge]

PICARD: We should be seeing stars by now. Data, how far have we come?

DATA: Inertial guidance shows one point four parsecs travelled, Captain.

PICARD: Ensign?

WESLEY: Confirmed, sir. Exactly what my readings say.


Although no time is given in dialog, the scene clearly is continuous and lasts only about 2 minutes. Approximately 1,199,419.2 c at warp 2.

"The Chase" [TNG, Season 6]

GALEN: No. The work continued. I made a discovery so profound in its implications that silence seemed the wisest course. This work has occupied my every waking thought, it's intruded upon my dreams, it's become my life. When finished and I announce my findings, it will be heard half way across the galaxy.

PICARD: Tell me.

GALEN: I'm cannot, Mister Picard. That information comes with a price. Your agreement to join me on the final leg of this expedition.

PICARD: For how long?

GALEN: Three months, perhaps a year. If I had complete diplomatic access and a starship, it'd be a matter of weeks. But as it is, we'll have only my shuttle and whatever arrangement we can make with transports, combined with our talents.


Later in the episode, Professor Galen traces the route he expects to follow on a map of the galaxy, it traces a line that is roughly 40,000 light years long. After Galen's death, the following dialog ensures as Picard decides pick up where his mentor left off:

TROI: I know how much the Professor meant to you and how much you want to find out what happened, but staring at these numbers isn't going to bring him back. The conference on Atalia Seven has been scheduled for six months. Starfleet is relying on your mediation efforts to

PICARD: Counsellor, this is not simply a case of me taking the Enterprise and its crew on some wild goose chase to purge myself of guilt and remorse. I will not let Galen's death to be in vain. Now, if that means inconveniencing a few squabbling delegates for a few days, then so be it. I will take the full responsibility.


The E-D is the top of the line flagship for the Federation and Starfleet at this point in time, so a couple weeks or so at most and a few days at minimum set this one somewhere between 1,042,857c and 2,433,333c. Assuming it took the E-D either 2 weeks or 6 days to complete the journey.
-Mike

Re: Warp Speeds List

Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2012 8:13 pm
by 359
TNG: "The Most Toys":

Wesley: "The Jovis has a maximum speed of warp three. He's had twenty three hours so we can define a perimeter of point one oh two light years as his possible distance."

Wesley did say perimeter, but that makes little sense. It seems more likely that he is referring to a perimeter which is 0.02 light years out, which would make the speed of the Jovis 39c.


TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds":

Picard: "Captain's log, Stardate 43989.1. The Enterprise has arrived at Jouret Four in response to a distress signal from one of the Federation's outermost colonies."

We know that from First Contact that the Federation is some 8000 ly across. Just using earth as the center that makes a travel distance of 4000 ly. In the episodes there are several references to days passing, but not to many, the events happen fairly close to one another. So it's reasonable to say that this all happened within one week. This gives an average speed of 208,000c, but the Enterprise was not always traveling a full speed, so there is a lot of wiggle room in both directions.


VOY: "Critical Care":

Tuvok: "He traded us high-grade iridium, which has a very brief half-life. His ship is slow. Logic suggests he acquired the substance within a radius of three light years."
Janeway: "Cross-reference our sensor logs and long range scans."
Kim: "Two planets, no atmosphere or technology, a T class nebula. Here's something. An asteroid with approximately two hundred humanoid lifesigns. Subterranean structures.
Chakotay: Sounds like a mining operation."
Tuvok: "If that's where Mister Gar acquired the iridium, they may be able to help us find him."
Janeway: "Tom, how fast can you get us there?"
Paris: "Less than two hours."

Warp: Maximum; Time: 2h; Distance: 3ly


VOY: "Friendship One":

Tuvok: "Our current co-ordinates, and the nearest M class planet one hundred thirty two light years away."
Torres: "At maximum warp that's about two months round trip."

Warp: Maximum; Time: 2 months; Distance 264ly


VOY: "Unimatrix Zero":

Tuvok: "An asteroid approximately two light years from here."
...
Janeway: "Resume our previous course, Mister Paris, warp six. Make a note in the ship's record. We responded to a distress call at oh nine hundred hours. Arrived at the colony two hours later. No survivors. We don't know who these people were, but we know the Borg destroyed them."

Wrap: Unknown, Maximum likely; Time: 2h; Distance: 2ly

Re: Warp Speeds List

Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2012 8:55 pm
by Mike DiCenso
359 wrote:TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds":

Picard: "Captain's log, Stardate 43989.1. The Enterprise has arrived at Jouret Four in response to a distress signal from one of the Federation's outermost colonies."

We know that from First Contact that the Federation is some 8000 ly across. Just using earth as the center that makes a travel distance of 4000 ly. In the episodes there are several references to days passing, but not to many, the events happen fairly close to one another. So it's reasonable to say that this all happened within one week. This gives an average speed of 208,000c, but the Enterprise was not always traveling a full speed, so there is a lot of wiggle room in both directions.
Actually, we do have a time given for how long Picard was kidnapped by the Borg, but it comes from DS9's pilot episode "Emissary":

On Stardate 43997, Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Federation Starship Enterprise was kidnapped for six days by an invading force known as the Borg. Surgically altered, he was forced to lead an assault on Starfleet at Wolf 359.

So 4,000 light years x 365 = 1,460,000 light days divided by 6 = 243,333.33c.
-Mike

Re: Warp Speeds List

Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2012 9:09 pm
by 359
OK, so that further specifies that value.

Re: Warp Speeds List

Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2012 10:04 pm
by Mike DiCenso
Another example you might find very interesting is the Earth to Malcor III travel time that can be derived from the TNG episode "First Contact". The calculations have been run in previous threads on SFJN, most notably here.

Basically the time is just under 5 months, that begins with TNG's "Family" and covers the adventures of some 12 episodes (plus starbase layovers and other destinations not shown on screen) until FC for an average low-end speed of 4,800c to get across the stated 2,000 light year distance. But likely they went much faster than that since all those stops and adventures along the way have to be accounted for.
-Mike

Re: Warp Speeds List

Posted: Fri Nov 23, 2012 5:23 pm
by Mike DiCenso
By the way, your value for "Obsession" [TOS] is way too low:

KIRK: Whatever it is, Doctor, whatever it is, wouldn't you call it deadly?

MCCOY: Yes, there's no doubt about that.

KIRK: And what if it is the same creature that attacked eleven years ago from a planet over a thousand light years from here?

SPOCK: Obviously, Captain, if it is an intelligent creature, if it is the same one, if it therefore is capable of space travel, it could pose a great threat to inhabited planets.


Tycho IV is stated here to be "over a thousand light years" away. Later a time estimate to reach that planet and return across that distance to rendezvous with another starship is given:

KIRK: Yes, I think I do. I don't know how I know, but home is where it fought a starship once before. (to Uhura) Inform them of our tactical situation and inform them I'm committing this vessel to the destruction of the creature. We will rendezvous. Round-trip time, Mister Chekov.

CHEKOV: One point seven days, sir.

KIRK: We will rendezvous with the USS Yorktown in forty eight hours.


So rounding down for the sake of being conservative, the distance is 1,000 light years and we have two different times given. Chekov's is more precise, while Kirk's is obviously a few hours of padding, probably anticipating dealing with the vampire cloud creature once they get there. In either case:

That's a minimum of 2,000 light years x 365 = 17,520,000 light hours/48 = 365,000 c. If 1.7 days (40.8 hours), that's 429,411 c. In either case, these are lower-end values since Kirk stated Tycho IV is "over a thousand light years" away, but we do not know how much more.
-Mike

Re: Warp Speeds List

Posted: Sat Nov 24, 2012 11:30 pm
by 359
Ah, I used 1000ly and 48 hours, good catch.

DS9: "Valient":

Collins: "The training cruise was supposed to last three months. We had seven regular officers and a crew of thirty five cadets. The plan was for the cadets to run the ship while the officers

observed and critiqued our performance."
Jake: "So this was a training ship. Like the other one, the, er, the Republic."
Collins: "Not quite. The Republic's an old ship. I don't think she's left the Terran system in fifty years. The Valiant's a state of the art warship. Our mission was to circumnavigate the entire

Federation before returning home."

Width of Federation: 8000ly
8000*π = 25,132
Perimeter of 4000ly radius circle: 25,132ly

The Federation probably is not a perfect circle (which would reduce travel distance), but the border is also probably uneaven with ziggs and zaggs (which would add travel distance).

Warp: Unknown, 9 likely Time: 90 days Distance: 25,132ly


VOY: "Hope and Fear"

Chakotay: "Scan for Voyager."
Tuvok: "No sign of them. Commander, we've travelled over fifteen light years."

Janeway: "Captain's Log, Supplemental. After two days at high warp, we've rendezvoused with the Dauntless. Arturis has helped us reconstruct most of the Starfleet message. The pieces of this puzzle are finally coming together."

Warp: High, 9 likely Time: 2 days Distance 15ly


VOY: "Scorpion":

Seven: "Insufficient. Our latest tactical projections indicate that the war will be lost by then. The nearest Borg vessel is forty light years away. You will reverse course and take us to it."
Chakotay: "Even at maximum warp, that's a five day journey in the wrong direction. We're supposed to be heading out of Borg space, not deeper into it."

Warp: Maximum Time: 5 days Distance 40ly


VOY: "Maneuvers":

Kim: "That's difficult enough when both ships are travelling at warp. The Kazon ship's not even moving."
Torres: "I can compensate for that."
Janeway: "How?"
Torres: "By synchronising the transporter's annular confinement beam to the warp core frequency."
Kim: "Maybe, but at a relative speed of two billion kilometers per second, it's pretty tough to get a lock on somebody."

Warp: Unknown, maximum unlikely Velocity: 2 billion km/sec


TNG: "The Icarus Factor":

Hmm... Can't find the distance component. It looks like I used the width of the Federation for distance, but that's not right, there is no reference in the episode. I must have mixed it up with something else.

Oh well, looks as if this one is invalid.


TNG: "Where None Have Gone Before":

Data: "Two million seven hundred thousand light years."
Picard: "I can't accept that."
Data: "You must, sir. Our comparisons show it to be completely accurate."
LaForge: "And I calculate that at maximum warp, sir it would take over three hundred years to get home."

Warp: Maximum Time: 300 years Distance: 2.7 million ly


TNG: "Friendship One":

Janeway: "It helps being the only Starfleet ship within thirty thousand light years."
...
Janeway: "In any case, we lost contact with the probe one hundred and thirty years ago but, its last known co-ordinates."

Earth isn't at the edge of the Starfleet's range, so I added another 5000ly

Warp: Very low, 2 likely Time: 300 years Distance: 35,000 l


TOS: "That Which Survived":

Spock: "Nine hundred and ninety point seven light years to be exact, Lieutenant."
...
Spock: "Eleven point three three seven hours, Lieutenant. I wish you would be more precise."

Warp: 8 Time: 11.337h Distance: 990.7ly


TOS: "Obsession":

Kirk: "And what if it is the same creature that attacked eleven years ago from a planet over a thousand light years from here?"
...
Kirk: "Yes, I think I do. I don't know how I know, but home is where it fought a starship once before. (to Uhura) Inform them of our tactical situation and inform them I'm committing this vessel to the destruction of the creature. We will rendezvous. Round-trip time, Mister Chekov."
Chekov: "One point seven days, sir."

Warp: Unknown Time: 1.7 days Distance: 2,000ly


TOS: "Bread and Circuses":

Chekov: "Only one sixteenth parsec away, Captain. We should be there in seconds."

Warp: Unknown Time: 27sec Distance: 1/16 parsec (1 parsec ≈ 3.26ly)

Re: Warp Speeds List

Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 12:46 am
by 2046
Here is a page dated from 2008 that I never finished.

http://st-v-sw.net/STSWwarpsuck.html

The idea behind it was to have a master list of values stacked by reliability, where head-calc'edvalues would have less weight, so that a full chart of values could be made. As I am nowhere close to having that kind of time anymore ...

Also noteworthy is the fact that DS9 allows many multi-episode examples thanks to Idran. Anytime they come out of the wormhole, the closest system is like five light-years distant. Many examples of mine since then flow from that.

I commonly post observations of that type now on the @STvSW Twitter account. I think there is a "Dauphin" one from June-ish, and of course 11001001's six hour warp flight, and all the aforementioned DS9 events like "Whispers", Battle Lines"[DSN1], etc.

Re: Warp Speeds List

Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 5:17 am
by 2046
I have to say, I think the list works better when quotes are given like that.

For instance, I am unsure of:

TNG: "The Icarus Factor" 24,000c USS Enterprise-D:Warp: High, 9 likely

Re: Warp Speeds List

Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 5:37 am
by Mike DiCenso
Interesting list there, though you do make some very loaded assumptions with "Obsession" and a few of the others in order to bring down some of the numbers.

However, the Lonkar pulsar cluster travel times have some rather startling implications for speeds when you think about them. Here's the dialog in full:


PICARD 2: Thank you, Lieutenant. Mister Data, the nearest pulsar is in the Lonka cluster, is it not?

DATA: Correct, sir.

PICARD 2: What do we know about that pulsar?

DATA: A great deal, sir. It is a rotating neutron star of approximately four point three five six solar masses.

PICARD 2: Mister Crusher, how long would it take us to get there?

WESLEY: At warp seven, thirty four minutes.

PICARD 2: Mister Crusher make it so.

WESLEY: Sir?

PICARD 2: Set course for the Lonka pulsar. Warp two.

WESLEY: Aye, sir. Sir, at warp two we'll arrive at the pulsar in thirty one hours.
PICARD 2: Thank you, Ensign. Engage.

WESLEY: Aye, sir.


So we have an estimate of 34 minutes to travel across an unspecified distance. The distance can't be under a light year and the ship is clearly not passing already through the cluster. So let's assume one light year distance at maximum.

Thus, 1 light year = 365 light days x 24 hours = 8,760 light hours x 60 = 525,600 light minutes/34 = 15,458.82c.

That's rather impressive. This number only goes up if we assumed typical distances given such as a parsec or 5 light years, so the E-D's warp seven speed can go up to 50,000c and beyond! Also bear in mind that clusters can be as much as 100 light years wide and if the E-D had to travel deep inside such a cluster, it would make the distance even longer still.
-Mike

Re: Warp Speeds List

Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 11:56 pm
by 359
Mike DiCenso wrote:So we have an estimate of 34 minutes to travel across an unspecified distance. The distance can't be under a light year and the ship is clearly not passing already through the cluster. So let's assume one light year distance at maximum.
Is the light year minimum because they are still in orbit and star systems are rarely that close, or is there another reason?
2046 wrote:For instance, I am unsure of:

TNG: "The Icarus Factor" 24,000c USS Enterprise-D:Warp: High, 9 likely
I messed up on that one, somehow it's data got mixed with another episode's.

Re: Warp Speeds List

Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 1:14 am
by Mike DiCenso
359 wrote:Is the light year minimum because they are still in orbit and star systems are rarely that close, or is there another reason?
The E-D was in orbit and preparing to leave to rendezvous with the Hood. The reasons are thus:

1.) They were in orbit of an inhabited planet:

Captain's log, Stardate 43714.1. We have finally succeeded in eradicating the Phyrox plague on Cor Caroli Five, and will soon be preparing to leave orbit and proceed to our next mission. A rendezvous with the USS Hood to assist their terraforming efforts on Browder Four.

2.) They were not traveling through the cluster at the time.

3.) The Lonka pulsar is stated to be inside the cluster, and it is a very large pulsar 4.3 solar masses. No way it could be so close to Caroli Five, an inhabited world. One light year is insanely close. The closest pulsar to Earth is PSR J0108-1431, some 280 light years away. When supernovas that form go off, they tend to have rather devastating effects, even from hundreds of light years away, Caroli V would have been utterly sterilized from a light year and then some, never mind the intense radiation from the pulsar itself later on.

4.) Many clusters, regardless of type, as already mentioned above, are several light years wide, and can be as much as several tens of light years wide in radius.

5.) The indications are that this will require a significant diversion of time and distance away from the rendezvous with the Hood.

So I believe given those factors that a single light years is a highly conservative distance.
-Mike