...then why did Worf refer to them as B'rel class BoPs? :P


-Adam

I think it would be a pretty bad idea to use full acceleration for the entire trip inside the atmosphere. The huge speeds generated would either do damage to the ship, or (more likely) cause serious shock-wave effects on the outside. So I would assume that there is a maximum speed set for atmospheric travel. They may have gone to full-impulse to start with, but once they reached maximum safe speed, they would have cut the acceleration. They would have needed some de-acceleration time at the end also.

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...And that, my liege, is how we know the Earth to be banana-shaped. --Sir Bedevere

It might have been a "throw-away" line or the perspective in that picture is wrong and they are B'rel class. You guys really should visit the TrekBBS tech section. http://www.trekbbs.com -Colt

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Be not afraid of any man no matter what his size; when danger threatens, call on me, and I will equalize.

> I think it would be a pretty bad idea to use full acceleration for the entire trip inside the atmosphere. The huge speeds generated would either do damage to the ship, or (more likely) cause serious shock-wave effects on the outside <

Well, they wanted to get there as soon as possible. My guess is that max speed inside the atmosphere is going to be less than the 20 miles/sec or so the conversation implied. And Kirk was in a hurry. Best tactics depend on the characteristics of impulse. If, as has been implied, full impulse gets you to some max velocity more or less instantaneously, then the optimal strategy would be to blast straight up out of most of the atmosphere, go to full impulse until over the whaler, then blast straight down. If impulse more closely resembles newtonian acceleration, then the trajectory would be more of an arcing one, with top speed achieved while out of the sensible atmosphere.

Given that the survival of the race was at stake, and that the shock waves would be mostly over open water (and could be blamed on a meteoroid), i don't think Kirk would have limited his speed within the atmosphere due to worries about shock waves. Presumably this would reflect hard limits on what the ship could do. Still doesn't convey much useful information on impulse characteristics. Or why Kirk didn't just beam the whales on board as soon as he was within range, rather than confronting the whaler directly (maybe that was covered in the movie and i've forgotten. wouldn't have been as cool, though, and to Kirk image is important. And was there something special about these whales that required Kirk to risk changing the future by exposing himself to the whaler?).

Which episode did you get that screen shot from? It looked to me to be from "Yesterday's Enterprise", which definitely were K'Vort class.

You think that's bad? What about the implications of going to warp speed in an atmosphere?!?

The screenshot and dialogue I cited were from "Rascals".


-Adam

Would full power be the same in an atmosphere as in space? or under the influence of gravity?

Just think of when you are driving.. pedal to the metal is not the same going up hill as it is going down hill...

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Tuttle

I still have doubts that that analogy works. "Full impulse power" is defined by noncanon sources as .25 c, so I don't know how it would work in this scenario.

Of course, this has already been addressed, and I'd agree with some of the replies.


-Adam

^.25c is standard, full impulse power. Ships in ST though can go right up to the speed of light on impulse. The reason why it is limited (normally) to .25c is that Time Dilation does not cause problems between the ship and the rest of Star Fleet. I think that it has been stated in one of the TNG episodes (and it is definatly in the TNG: Tech manual) about impulse speeds, and why only .25c. -Colt

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Be not afraid of any man no matter what his size; when danger threatens, call on me, and I will equalize.

That's why I referred to "noncanon sources". Paramount has acknowledged that the technical manuals, novels and such are only speculative.


-Adam

I like that movie. impulse speed is fast but doesnt quite get to light speed. Warp goes at light speed. hey, it was made long ago. when captain kirk was in start trek, i think we had gone to space and would of known you can't brethe but if you saw Star Trek next generation(movie) Kirk dies and they stand right in space with out choking. it's a weird tv show for new comers.

The wonders of forcefields. [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]


-Adam