How fast do FC or SFB ships move in warp factors?

Mazza · Post by **Mazza** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 1:40 am

Is there a table anywhere which translates speeds from Federation Commander or Star Fleet Battles into warp factors like we read in the fiction or in the films?

I'd actually like to know for the purposes of my Prime Directive campaign, where we use Federation Commander to play the starship combat, so that characters can use the same terminology as characters in ADB fiction / the original show, but I suppose this is a generic question so I picked this forum for it.

Starnite · Post by **Starnite** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 2:02 am

Last I checked, the speed is the cube root of the number of hexes moved. Ie 27 is warp 3, 8 is warp 2, and warp 1 is one hex

Mike · Post by **Mike** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 3:11 am

Somebody will probably post the correct answer to this and they'll have some ADB source material to quote from.

Back in the early days of SFB, the way you stated it was the way it was. That meant that, with a maximum game turn speed of 31, ships could barely move past Warp 3. I'm not exactly sure how its all translated now.

Ignore the Okudas and "their" so-called reference material for Star Trek. With the TNG TV show, they redefined a lot of things, including the warp factors. With them, warp 10 was an exponentially unreachable speed. I believe, though, that in the last two-part episode of TNG (All Good Things), it was mentioned that the futuristic 3-warp-engine Enterprise was traveling at Warp 13. Go figure!

Scoutdad · Post by **Scoutdad** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 3:21 am

Starnite wrote:Last I checked, the speed is the cube root of the number of hexes moved. Ie 27 is warp 3, 8 is warp 2, and warp 1 is one hex

Starnite is correct. Warp speed is the cube root of the hexes traveled.

Mazza · Post by **Mazza** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 3:36 am

Awesome, thanks very much.

djdood · Post by **djdood** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 5:42 am

There was a table printed in one of the Captain's Log that listed all the SFB/FedCom speeds and their equivalent Warp Factor decimal values. I thought it was included in the PD book.

OGOPTIMUS · Post by **OGOPTIMUS** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 8:15 am

I think there have been a few of those...with some being more precise than others. I was about to go looking for this myself. I'll get back to you.

Ravenhull · Post by **Ravenhull** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 4:20 pm

Well, the cube rooted thing is only applical to the lower end. In order for it to work with F&E strategic distances and speeds, they made the higher speeds (Warp 6 and beyound) more than the the speed cubed * lightspeed.

Oh, and hte Warp 10 = infinite speed isn't used in SFU. You can have warp 12 or 25 or such.

justicar · Post by **justicar** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 2:34 am

Mike wrote:Ignore the Okudas and "their" so-called reference material for Star Trek.

Did you mean "Otaku?" Please be very careful with that as it's a very offensive name to call someone. At best it refers to someone as having no social life whatsoever, and it does not mean "guru." At worst it refers to a pedophile who went on a toddler murdering spree, videotaping his actions.

So, again, please be careful with your word choice.

Scoutdad · Post by **Scoutdad** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 3:02 am

the "Okudas" (Michael Okuda and Denise Okuda) were the authors of the Star Trek Encyclopedia and several other well-known ST reference volumes.

djdood · Post by **djdood** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 6:06 am

They are two of the producers of the current TOS-Remastered and were both involved in every Trek series from TNG onward. However, as Tony pointed out, Mike Okuda made some assertions in his books that a lot of people don't agree with (and the SFU diverges drastically from).

Scoutdad · Post by **Scoutdad** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:07 pm

Actually, Mike was the one who pointed out the Okudas and their "interpretation" of Warp Factors. I just attepted to explain that the term used was a proper noun and not a misspelled slang term.

Mazza · Post by **Mazza** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:47 pm

djdood wrote:There was a table printed in one of the Captain's Log that listed all the SFB/FedCom speeds and their equivalent Warp Factor decimal values. I thought it was included in the PD book.

The GURPS Prime Directive book includes a table showing how many parsecs a day can be travelled by various classes of ships moving at a handful of different speeds. That table is fine for non-combat warp travel discussions being conducted in terms of warp factors. I wanted the tactical warp conversions so that while in combat, the captain could order, say Warp 2.88, to have his ship move at speed 24.

justicar · Post by **justicar** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 7:16 pm

I have never been so happy to be wrong. I completely forgot about Michael and Denise. D'oh! I was on an anime board where the other word was being tossed about like candy. Sorry for jumping the gun.

djdood · Post by **djdood** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 7:39 pm

justicar -
You can call me a baka hito or a gaijin if you'd like. My mother-in-law does all the time...