OT: Revised Edition Star Trek

[Suicide Junkie]

My point is that the power source dosen't matter.
They need to have some energy generation in order to stay alive and operating.
If they were to have no emmissions, then the temperature of the ship would have to rise. On a temporary basis that can be handled, but these ships run on gigawatts. Lifesupport, artificial gravity, structural integrity, containment fields, doors & lifts, and all the bells and whistles. It won't take long before they have to release the waste heat or melt into a bubble of expensive goo.

[NullAshton]

Okay, so the more energy it uses, the faster the tachyons emitted are? Or slower, actually.

[Suicide Junkie]

In the same manner that "gamma rays" make "the hulk", "tachyons" make the "cloak detector".
Pure fertilizer-grade technobabble.

[NullAshton]

So? Tachyons are cool, they stay. Tachyons are one of the cooler things of star trek, remove them and it falls apart.

[Suicide Junkie]

" Narf:
Hey, anyone want to create a rational and consistant ST universe?"

Your opinion of coolness has nothing to do with rationality or consistency.

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Now, I have no objections to having cloaked ships emit tachyons, provided that they are in fact tachyons, and the side effects are taken care of.

For example, if ships can emit and detect tachyons, why aren't they used for FTL communications? Less energy to make the message go faster seems to be a huge advantage.

[Wolfman77]

So tachyon could be used for detecting Romulan ships. Sounds ok to me since their clock shifts them slightly out of phase. I remember a couple TNG shows about that. One with Geordi and Roe, and one about Rikers former ship.

How about the Klingon ships, do they work differently? Maybe some kind of exhaust detection would work good for them. Though I'm still not sold on them just thinking exhaust conainment was unimportant.

SJ: I was thinking that if they could store, or block the energy then they should also be able to use some of it for power. Kind of like recycling, to extent the time they could remain cloaked. Not that it means a whole lot as it is sci-fi, but at least then the energy used wouldn't melt them in a calculation (x gigawatts heats up y Kg to Zº in t minutes). The longer they stay cloaked the more they emit, untill it is finally detectable.

[NullAshton]

Because tachyons are hard to form a coherent message with? Or to modulate, for that matter. Klingon ships stole their cloaks from the romulans. And I think SJ is talking about heat buildup.

[Wolfman77]

I assumed it was heat build up, still could be used in this way though, couldn't it?

Someone should talk to Narf about using "rational" "consistant" and "Star Trek" in the same sentance.

[Suicide Junkie]

Using the energy they generate efficiently is always a good goal.
And the less they generate from fuel stores, the less they have to store in their hull.

However, entropy prevents you from recycling energy.

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You can easily have different detection methods for romulans or klingons.
The design decision of how to get rid of the heat generated on your ship would turn out differently for both. Internal politics, probably at the forefront.
"Design X was chosen because the company which designed it was located it the home province of the current governor", for example.

[Wolfman77]

They use a warp core to travel FTL, powered by matter-antimatter reaction using dilithium to regulate it. They have artificial gravity, and energy shields. Makes entropy less of a "this won't work" problem, in relation to the rest of it. I do know what you mean though.