If a civilization has developed their own version of warp drive or a sort of work around does that still count as warp drive according to the rules in UP?
For example since Vaadwaur and Turei ships use underspace corridors (which functions like warp drive) to travel would that count as warp drive and add points to their ship’s systems total (especially if you want to update the Vaadwaur assualt fighter system’s total based on events in STO)?
Is it really the warp drive that counts?
Or do we look for interstellar travel with non-conventional drives
In regards to non-UE, Federation, or Klingon vessels of any size you are supposed to “reduce the number of System Points by 1 for each 50 years prior to this time to represent the Confederacy of Vulcan (and by extension Romulan Empire’s) extremely long history of warp capable flight, and the Vulcans sharing technology (or having it stolen and reverse engineered) with the nearby polities on Andor and Tellar Prime. After 2160, technology matches that of the overall Federation.”
And while it says after 2160, technology matches that of the Federation, the Vaadwaur and Turei are exceptions due to their use of underspace corridors instead of warp drive. Another exception in regards to technology matching the Federation, is the Talarian Q’Maire which possesses warp drive but uses outdated weaponry and technology that matches 20th century Earth.
I think the first thing to note is that the book explicitly says it assumes you are creating a Federation ship, with guidance for other types included. I think you’d just have to decide on a case-by-case basis how to handle a ship. The Talarian vessels, for example, might have a significantly decreased weapons stat, or the actual weapons they have would reflect the inferior loadout they are described as having. Something with an alternative to warp like the Delta Quadrant races might have an engines stat that’s lower, or just have different traits that affect scenes differently (e.g. the Ankari and their nucleogenic propulsion would be harder to detect).