Threshold x discovery

[Thebestoftherest]

I just had the horrible idea, what if the dilithium in Threshold we're really spores from discovery.

[hammerofglass]

I believe Threshold is considered non-canon, so sure why not.

[TGLS]

I mean, it could, but that would require some retconning. The spores in Discovery "work" by moving the ship through a network of spores, and requires a form of alien life (or at least a human with gene therapy) to move through this network at an appreciable speed. Dilithium "works" by controlling the rate of a matter-antimatter reaction to power a warp drive, which "works" by altering the shape of the spacetime to allow ships to move around faster. The dilithium in Threshold "works" by being able to more efficiently control the matter-antimatter reaction to generate more power, which means that the warp drive can alter the shape of the spacetime until everywhere is the same place (i.e. warp 10).

You know, I'm left wondering why anyone would want to go to warp 10 to begin with. Going to warp 9.99 would seem to be a lot more useful than warping space until everything converges to a point. Even ignoring, "what happens when your position is the same as the center of the sun, what your position would become when you unravel space back out flat again seems like it would be highly unpredictable.

[McAvoy]

I mean, it could, but that would require some retconning. The spores in Discovery "work" by moving the ship through a network of spores, and requires a form of alien life (or at least a human with gene therapy) to move through this network at an appreciable speed. Dilithium "works" by controlling the rate of a matter-antimatter reaction to power a warp drive, which "works" by altering the shape of the spacetime to allow ships to move around faster. The dilithium in Threshold "works" by being able to more efficiently control the matter-antimatter reaction to generate more power, which means that the warp drive can alter the shape of the spacetime until everywhere is the same place (i.e. warp 10).

You know, I'm left wondering why anyone would want to go to warp 10 to begin with. Going to warp 9.99 would seem to be a lot more useful than warping space until everything converges to a point. Even ignoring, "what happens when your position is the same as the center of the sun, what your position would become when you unravel space back out flat again seems like it would be highly unpredictable.

More like Warp 9.999999 or something super fast. Honestly at that point the whole warp scale should be redone. I can imagine a crewmember calling out the speed and have to count the number of 9s.

[TGLS]

More like Warp 9.999999 or something super fast. Honestly at that point the whole warp scale should be redone. I can imagine a crewmember calling out the speed and have to count the number of 9s.

So I decided to do some math. Apparently they never actually made a formula for velocities for factors in excess of warp 9, just a hand drawn line. But Wolfram Alpha is willing to approximate off that, so after determining an approximation of that curve {v(f)=52.3614/(10-f)+1516}, I calculated what there warp factors would be based on the formula for factors less than 9. They are as follows:

9.900000, 9.84
9.990000, 14.09
9.999000, 26.27
9.999900, 52.01
9.999990, 103.69
9.999999, 206.87

Yeah it gets a bit silly fast. I think from the production standpoint the warp 10 barrier makes a lot of sense. Otherwise you get, "Well gee. Kirk went warp 13 last week, so this week we need to have warp 17 to show how crazy fast we're going."

Though traveling from Earth to Vulcan in would only take 9 seconds at Warp 9.999999 (alternatively 206.87).

[Riedquat]

9.900000, 9.84
9.990000, 14.09
9.999000, 26.27
9.999900, 52.01
9.999990, 103.69
9.999999, 206.87

Yeah it gets a bit silly fast. I think from the production standpoint the warp 10 barrier makes a lot of sense. Otherwise you get, "Well gee. Kirk went warp 13 last week, so this week we need to have warp 17 to show how crazy fast we're going."

Though traveling from Earth to Vulcan in would only take 9 seconds at Warp 9.999999 (alternatively 206.87).

That's what logarithmic scales are for.

[Durandal_1707]

I'm pretty sure the spores from Discovery were supposed to be related to whatever "sporo-cystian" was meant to be in Caretaker.

[TGLS]

That's what logarithmic scales are for.

Well then you're back to the same deal as it is in TNG. Except now if you're doing Encounter at Farpoint, the dramatic scene where the Enterprise tries to outrun Q isn't a gradual climbing of speed from Warp 9 to Warp 9.5 (~20% faster), it's instead a gradual climbing from Warp 4 to Warp 4.1 (~25% faster, assuming Warp factor is defined as W(v)=log10(v)+1)

[stryke]

I believe Threshold is considered non-canon, so sure why not.

Indeed, there's a line by Paris in a later season that heavily implies that it's the one episode to be officially stricken from the record.

[TGLS]

I believe Threshold is considered non-canon, so sure why not.

Indeed, there's a line by Paris in a later season that heavily implies that it's the one episode to be officially stricken from the record.

I mean they said it sucked, but not that it wasn't canon (https://www.reddit.com/r/DaystromInstit ... aid_about/) They contradicted it, but they contradicted lots of episodes.