FTL Charts

Technical data for the game Star Trek Adventures: USS Hathaway

Starships are the very heart and soul of Star Trek. Without the ability to travel faster than light, there would be no adventure for us to view each week, and the simple relativistic effects of space travel would preclude any type of understandable action. There are four types of FTL-capable engines that we will discuss.

FTL PROPULSION SYSTEMS​

In actuality, the ST:TNG Technical Manual released by Paramount in 1992 lists the warp factors as being a semi-logarithmic scale, peaking up in the proverbial "envelope" of 100,000 C (C being defined as the speed of light...or the distance (as defined by Einstein) that light travels in one second-186,000 miles, or about 300,000 km) I will not give the absolutes that have been calculated elsewhere for the distance of a light year, but do keep in mind that a parsec is 3.2 light-years-the distance between Earth and our nearest neighbor, Alpha Centari). I prefer to think of warp as being the cube of the number given, which was the original formula given by Roddenberry himself in "The Making of Star Trek", by David Gerrold.

Following that logic, TransWarp is to the fourth power, and UltraWarp (that used in THE NEXT GENERATION is calculated as being to the fifth power, at least within this game scenario). To cut back on the amount of time it would take you (even with the ever-present calculator) to figure the actual speeds, I've compiled the relative speeds in the following chart. Along the same line, the old Hyperspace Drive is included here, and will be discussed in depth later.

FACTOR	HYPERSPACE	WARP	TRANSWARP	ULTRAWARP
1	x1	x1	x1	x1
2	x2	x8	x16	x32
3	x3	x27	x81	x243
4	x4	x64	x256	x1024
5	x5	x125	x625	x3125
6	x6	x216	x1296	x7776
7	x7	x343	x2401	x16807
8	x8	x512	x4096	x32768
9	x9	x729	x6561	x59049
9.9	x9.9	x970.299	x9605.9601	x95099.004

One constant throughout the entire Star Trek universe is that Warp Factor 10 may never be exceeded. The rational behind this is that 10 is the top end of any form of scale, and that once a speed exceeds Warp 9.999 (as fast as one can get in any one of the three drive styles), the natural laws of the universe takes over again and you enter an unending "loop". For more specific data on this, refer to the NEXT GENERATION novel, Vendetta.

Now, the exception to the "Warp 9.999" rule. Within recent years, there has been a development known as the ICW, or, Improved Conventional Warp engines. Simply put, during the developmental phase of the Transwarp Drive engines, Quantum theorists within the Federation discovered a loophole in the old "Warp Ten" theory, giving them the capability to design standard warp engines that will exceed the old limitations without having to be refitted with the Transwarp drives. Granted, the upper limit on these new motors is but Warp 15, but it is still a considerable improvement over the old engines. Listed below is the ICW scales, taking the speeds to WF 15.

ICW FACTOR	SPEED (in C)
10	x1000
11	x1331
12	x1728
13	x2197
14	x2744
15	x3375

Why are there the four separate drive systems? Four different ways in harnessing the same technology. The basic idea remains the same between all four, however, TransWarp drive generates a second Warp Field, and by creative use of the Transporter system, beams the Field out in front of the vessel, thus the ship "leaps" from Field to Field and builds up a higher rate of speed. UltraWarp uses the same principle, however, the Transporter has been done away with, and the Warp Field is "layered", eliminating the "drag time" between hitting each of the Warp Fields and thusly, increasing the overall speed of a Starship. But we won't get to UW in this campaign.