What if Voyager had been a Nebula-class?

[Lt. Staplic]

well then what's the diff between max cruise and max Warp?

[Lazar]

well then what's the diff between max cruise and max Warp?

I imagine just the amount of time that it can be sustained. That is, normal cruising speed could be sustained for a very long period of time, maximum cruising speed could be sustained maybe for a short duration interstellar trip, and maximum warp can only be sustained for a very short period of time, like for making an emergency escape or rescue.

[Teaos]

I would imagin standard cruise can go until the tank runs dry, maximum cruise is how fast you can go for a long but not indefinate period.

You'd use normal cruise day to day, maximum cruise if you were racing to somewhere and maximum rated when you were running away from something.

[Mark]

Just out of curiosity GK, why did you rate the Nebula slower that the GCS?

[Deepcrush]

Thats a good point. I would have expected them to rate the same if the Neb isn't a little faster. Smaller warp field and mass.

[Teaos]

I would tend to agree but the GCS was ment to be the best.

So maybe they just gave it a better standard of hardware.

[Capt. Jethro]

well then what's the diff between max cruise and max Warp?

I would assume that a warp engine might be just like any other engine that has operating temperatures or whatever a warp engine may measure. There are normal operating temps. Max temps for a limited duration and emergency temps for just such an occasion. To continue to operate past the normal regime there is a risk shortening the life span of a component that will eventually lead up to failure.

[Aaron]

well then what's the diff between max cruise and max Warp?

Max cruise is the maximum speed they can go for an extended period of time.

Max warp would the fastest they can go before things start breaking, usually an hour to a couple hours in the show.

[Mikey]

The Intrepid-class seemed to have been built to be an outrider/scout/picket sort of ship, and thusly creted expressly to be faster than anything else. I'd expect it to have a higher top end than a Nebula.

[Praeothmin]

The Intrepid-class seemed to have been built to be an outrider/scout/picket sort of ship, and thusly creted expressly to be faster than anything else. I'd expect it to have a higher top end than a Nebula.

Top end speed, yes, but not necessarily a higher "normal" cruising speed.
The average sustainable speeds (speeds it can hold until its fuel runs dry) could be comparable.

[Mikey]

"Could be." Exactly - we don't know what "typical" cruising speed was for either class, nor the size of the fuel supplies, rate of consumption, or rate of replenishment. Precisely why we can't assume that an Intrepid would be so much faster to get home than a Neb.

[Praeothmin]

Precisely why we can't assume that an Intrepid would be so much faster to get home than a Neb.

I agree completely.
Since speed can be thought of comparable, we can only really try to analyze the situation strategically.
Which makes some people's points that the Neb would have cakewalked the Kazon pretty realistic and logical... Ok, perhaps not "cakwalked", but they would have beat the crap out of them...

[Deepcrush]

Voy seemed to handle the Kazon pretty well for her size. A Neb should be able to them each Kazon ship out in short order if it focused its fire.

[Mikey]

Yeah, I think "cakewalked" is the appropriate term.

[Sionnach Glic]

Yeah, I think "curbstomped" is the appropriate term.

Fixed.