The end result of all of this is that traveling very long distances is expensive and is best done with a warp jump no matter what the mass of your ship. Warp jump time: 10*log(distance in AUm).Warp jump energy: 1000*log(distance in AUm) MW per ton.Conventional warp time: (distance in meters)/((server speed)*100*10^(warp factor))).Conventional warp energy: (warp factor)^2*10^(warp factor) kW per sqrt(mass in tons).More massive ships would see that cross-over point move higher (maybe closer to 150 AUm for a 100 ton ship). The cross-over point in terms of energy consumption and time actually appears to be around 12 AUm for a 1 ton ship (~24 seconds and ~700 kWh at warp 3.9). Then it would take 20 seconds and 1279 kWh/ton to execute a 100 AU warp jump. Now, let the charge-up power be 100 MW/ton, so 100 MW for our 1-ton ship. Let's assume a calculation/charge-up time that scales with the distance traveled, perhaps 10*log(AUm traveled) seconds so 100 AUm would require 46 seconds, and 1 lym (lightyear-modified) would require ~110 seconds.
Let's look at a 100 AUm jump, hopefully somewhere near the point at which we might expect warp jumps to become favorable over conventional warping (transit time of 150 seconds and 6667 kWh/sqrt(ton) at warp 4). Now, with this result in hand, we can look at warp jumps. Now, let's say that the energy required goes as (warp factor)^2*10^(warp factor) kW then warp 2 would require 400 kW/sqrt(mass), warp 3 would require 9 MW/sqrt(mass), and warp 4 would require 160 MW/sqrt(mass) (yielding transit times of 150, 15, and 1.5 seconds for energy expenditures of 17 kWh, 38 kWh, and 67 kWh, respectively for a 1-ton ship). If we say that a warp drive requires 10 kW/sqrt(mass in tons) at warp 1, then the energy expenditure would be just ~4 kWh for our 1-ton ship (so faster and far less energy than conventional thrusters). Assuming instantaneous acceleration to warp speed and back (and an effective speed of 100 km/s), the journey at warp 1 would take 1500 seconds. As it happens, that's pretty close to 1000x the current server max speed, or warp 1. The ship would reach a top speed of just over 122 km/s. But first we need to figure out the energy consumption for warping vs standard travel.Īssuming a thruster efficiency of 1 kN/kW, sending a 1 ton spacecraft a distance of 1 AUm at 10 g's would require a 100 kN thruster (and thus 100 kW input) and 2450 seconds, consuming ~68 kWh in the process (includes acceleration and deceleration). The energy required would depend somewhat on the distance (sublinearly, perhaps). Now, there would also be the option of executing a warp jump, which would become a substantially more involved (and costly) operation. We could then imagine having planets at 100 AUm or more, which would require much higher warp factors to reach in a timely fashion (warp 3+). If distances were reduced by a factor of 1000, then 1 AU would become 150e6 m (or 1 AUm, AU-modified), and could be traversed in ~25 minutes at warp 1 (2.5 minutes at warp 2). So, warp 1 might be 1000x the server max speed of ~100 m/s, warp 2 might be 10x warp 1, and so forth. Warp factors could standardized as a multiplier of the server's max speed. Warp jumps would also be an option, though they'd be more efficient for longer trips. The warp drive would consume power in proportion to the requested warp factor, and power loss would result in a fairly catastrophic collapse of the warp bubble, including severe damage to the warp drive and damage to the outer layer(s) of the ship (so, you know, don't do that) the previously isolated instance would then become available as a destination for a warp jump for anyone with sufficiently powerful scanning equipment. The ship's conventional thrusters would then switch off, and the ship would be transferred to a small, empty, isolated instance playfield at rest (this would trivially allow moving about on the ship). Once a ship reached a sufficient velocity and was sufficiently far from a gravitating body, the warp drive could be activated in warp mode, generating a warp bubble around the ship that would then accelerate. Suppose we actually use a warp drive as a warp drive (instead of as a jump drive). The main goal is to have a coherent system for traveling over a very very wide range of distances. Inspired by Einman's comments, I have worked up a new warp travel proposal.
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