How do you explain it?

[Blueentity]

Yes, Science Fiction is fiction, something that not true. Those of us who are steeped in it may forget that from time to time, but every SF story requires some suspension of disbelief. That doesn’t have to take away from the tale, if the rest of the story is told well. At first, “warp”, “teleporters” and “communicators” were used by Roddenbery merely to keep the story line going. Even if warp is technically impossible (or too expensive in real energy to ever use), the ability to move around quickly is an ancient story-telling device. Magic carpet anyone?

As far as game balance, some games work well when everyone starts from ground zero; other games work when differing research and traits exist. What I enjoyed about the Civ 3 traits was that they could be toggled on or off depending on my mood, which was normally off. When I want to play an "underdog" scenario in SEIV I can, but don't have to every time. I hope the same option exists in SEV.

[Randallw]

The whole point of the transporters was that it was not possible to make the effects for landing the Enterprise, so yes it was a story device. Then they went and had a story where Sulu nearly freezes to death because the transporters wouldn't work. They couldn't use a shuttle because no one on the writing staff had thought of one