Poll: Which one would you choose to command?

[NIGHTBRINGER]

 

[Aginor]

That's a weird list. Everything is a space ship, except one that is a telephone booth.

Also: I assume I would command the ship in the role it was made for?
Like: I wouldn't want to be an X-Wing pilot in Star Wars. Most of them die quickly.

I'd probably go for the TNG Enterprise. It is the most "complete" ship. No slouch in combat, but more importantly made for long range missions, with a lot of science equipment on board, and enough crew and cargo capacity to fulfill a vast number of roles.
Plus: Holodecks!

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

I'd probably go for the TNG Enterprise. It is the most "complete" ship. No slouch in combat, but more importantly made for long range missions, with a lot of science equipment on board, and enough crew and cargo capacity to fulfill a vast number of roles.
Plus: Holodecks!

That's a good choice and is #2 on my list! As you said, the holodecks are a nice bonus!

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

Never heard of Serenity, so that was out of my list straightaway, and you’ll have to enlighten me on the full power of the Serenity.

Obviously the most powerful one of those is the Star Destroyer - Star Wars is second only to 40K in the OP-ness of ships - but it is also the most cumbersome and while its great for you to command, it isn’t so nice for your underlings who have to live with you quite literally breathing down their necks. Just a question, if you choose a particular ship, are you then cast as an officer from the organisation owning the ship and follow all of that organisation’s rules, or are you, in effect, still just you and you just take the Star Destroyer out of that universe and into our own? If it’s the former, then of course your underlings would be bound by Imperial doctrine to tow the line and do as they’re told so they’ll expect this. If it’s the latter, you’d better prepare for a mutiny, as I imagine your inferior crew won’t tolerate the elitist working conditions of a Star Destroyer for long...

The TARDIS can of course travel practically anywhere, but as far as I know it is useless in combat (although I haven’t seen much Doctor Who). You’d Just have to keep time travelling away from anyone who wants to kill you - better hope that its time-travel functionality remains not nearly as faulty as the Falcon’s hyperdrive, or else you’re stuffed.

The Romulan Bird of Prey is from Enterprise and TOS, I believe, and is nothing compared to the Klingon Birds-of-Prey that oppose it. If it was a Warbird from the 24th Century, I would consider it in greater detail, but it’s smaller predecessor...nah.

The X-Wing is obviously the least powerful, but also the most manoeuvrable. Certainly an experienced and skilled pilot might be able to defeat any of the other ships on the list (even if it had to be with a kamikaze strike on their bridge), but for me at least, that’s far too much of a gamble.

The Falcon is stronger than the X-Wing, but again it is too small to stand up to the bigger ships in a straight fight. Also, faulty hyperdrive as mentioned above

The TOS Enterprise is again too much on the small side for my liking. Certainly it wouldn’t stand much of a hope against its 24th Century successor, let alone Galactica or the Star Destroyer.

Talking of the Enterprise-D, I would say that is my second choice over the Star Destroyer, because as others have pointed out, it is one of the most well-rounded vessels of the lot - good weaponry, decent manoeuvrability, is suited to long-range missions, and can also split into two ships to tackle a bigger opponent (although holodecks can be more trouble than they’re worth sometimes).

Which leaves my number one choice, Battlestar Galactica. Why would I pick Galactica, I hear you ask? Well, like the Enterprise-D, she is similarly suited to long-range missions with a large quantity of cargo space, and is arguably better-armed, with a hefty array of defensive batteries and also a large hangar capacity for a substantial starfighter force - don’t know if they come as part of the ship or not in the case of this debate, but that is an additional advantage if they do. It is certainly the one ship of the eight others that has the best hope of defeating the Star Destroyer in a straight fight. The Destroyer would still win I imagine, but I’m sure Galactica would severely damage it before going down.

The only thing is, do I have similarly limited fuel reserves as they do in the show, or do I have allied bases nearby that allow me to refill?

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

Never heard of Serenity, so that was out of my list straightaway, and you’ll have to enlighten me on the full power of the Serenity.

It is from the show Firefly. Great show, I highly recommend it.

The ship in my opinion is inferior to the others on the list in terms of speed, defense and firepower.

Obviously the most powerful one of those is the Star Destroyer

I'm not sure I would agree with that. It's shield reactors seem to be taken out fairly easily (by small craft fire). I think the Enterprise D would be able to take it down with good tactical maneuvering. If I were the Enterprise Captain, I'd warp in, take out a reactor and warp out (rinse and repeat 2 more times). Once the shields are down, I'd beam a quantum torpedo onto the bridge and call it a day.

The Enterprise has several advantages over the Star Destroyer...

• more manuverable
• more accurate
• can jump to warp far faster than the Star Destroyer can jump to hyperspace
• better sensors
• more versatile
• transporter technology

Even the Bird of Prey would have a chance, if it makes good use of its cloaking technology to execute guerrilla warfare hit-and-run style of attack. Of course, if it makes a mistake, it would be taken out pretty quick.


The TARDIS is by far the most powerful. Time travel is the ultimate weapon!

Just a question, if you choose a particular ship, are you then cast as an officer from the organisation owning the ship and follow all of that organisation’s rules, or are you, in effect, still just you and you just take the Star Destroyer out of that universe and into our own?

Assume you have a loyal crew that answer only to you.

The TARDIS can of course travel practically anywhere, but as far as I know it is useless in combat (although I haven’t seen much Doctor Who). You’d Just have to keep time travelling away from anyone who wants to kill you

As I said above, time travel is the ultimate weapon. Seeing as no other ship can reliably travel time (the Enterprise has done it, but they can't do it at will) no other ship could get to you. Offensively, time travel is also the ultimate trump card.

Which leaves my number one choice, Battlestar Galactica. Why would I pick Galactica, I hear you ask? Well, like the Enterprise-D, she is similarly suited to long-range missions with a large quantity of cargo space, and is arguably better-armed, with a hefty array of defensive batteries and also a large hangar capacity for a substantial starfighter force - don’t know if they come as part of the ship or not in the case of this debate, but that is an additional advantage if they do. It is certainly the one ship of the eight others that has the best hope of defeating the Star Destroyer in a straight fight. The Destroyer would still win I imagine, but I’m sure Galactica would severely damage it before going down.

It's funny, I've had this very same discussion before outside of this forum. I don't see how the Battlestar Galactica (BG) would stand a chance against the Enterprise. The BG doesn't even have shields, it would be over in seconds. No need to penetrate the hull armour when you can beam photon or quantum torpedoes through it. Too slow and poorly defended. The Enterprise is far more technologically advanced.

Also, the BG's faster than light travel seems massively inferior to those of the Enterprise or Star Destroyer.

The only thing is, do I have similarly limited fuel reserves as they do in the show, or do I have allied bases nearby that allow me to refill?

Assume you have access to bases/sources where you can refill.

 

[ravagekitteh]

The TARDIS, full stop. Infinite possibilities of travel, an infinite interior to live in, and having command over it would limit unwanted destinations and malfunctions, as a fairly recent episode reveals, they are deliberate by the TARDIS. Plus, you get to hang out with the Doctor without too many unwanted excursions!

 

[Aginor]

Time travel sucks though.

Edit: unless portrayed horribly wrong, i.e. violating causality.
And if it is: extremely dangerous, even a tiny, seemingly unimportant thing could blow up the whole universe as you know it.

 

[ravagekitteh]

Time travel sucks though.

Edit: unless portrayed horribly wrong, i.e. violating causality.
And if it is: extremely dangerous, even a tiny, seemingly unimportant thing could blow up the whole universe as you know it.

Who says you have to travel in time? It can go anywhere in space too nigh instantly, or if you prefer the views of the journey can fly there manually. Instant translation never hurts either!

 

[pendrake]

Obviously the most powerful one of those is the Star Destroyer

Not obvious AT ALL.

One angry Nomad Probe trashes a poor, sad, Star Destroyer any day of the week. With. One. Shot.

Energy is the important factor.
Size is irrelevant.

...better hope that its time-travel functionality remains not nearly as faulty as the Falcon’s hyperdrive, or else you’re stuffed.

The ability of the Doctor’s TARDIS to reliably travel in space or time is laughable.

The Enterprise has several advantages over the Star Destroyer...

• more manuverable
• more accurate
• can jump to warp far faster than the Star Destroyer can jump to hyperspace
• better sensors
• more versatile
• transporter technology

You left out being able to make an attack pass while moving AT WARP. In fact, nearly any warship from Federation Space can do that, a puny little Klingon D7 did that to Kirk a few times...

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

Time travel sucks though.

Edit: unless portrayed horribly wrong, i.e. violating causality.
And if it is: extremely dangerous, even a tiny, seemingly unimportant thing could blow up the whole universe as you know it.

It really does depend on your take on time travel. In a multiple universe setting, it works quite well. In any event, with time travel I could easily get rid of AoS, Brie Larson, Rian Johnson and Kathleen Kennedy... it is worth the risk!

 

[Aginor]

OK, Tardis aside as I am not an expert on Doctor Who. I saw a few episodes but didn't like it at all.

The Star Destroyer doesn't stand a chance against the Enterprise D, probably not even against the warbird or the TOS Enterprise.
In Star Wars most of the weapons and stuff moves sloooooow. Terribly slow. The ships as well. A Star Destroyer needs minutes to turn around, the Star Trek ships are far more nimble.
Star Wars ships know basically two speeds. Slooooow and hyperspace a.k.a ludicrous speed and you can't see a thing, and it has a lot of risks and limitations (although some of the limitations can be bypassed if you are ready to take even greater risks, like Han used to).
Also Star Wars ships have pretty weak shields. Many of them can be destroyed by a few shots, and they don't seem to work all that well against physical projectiles.
As far as weapons are concerned: mostly lasers (although they don't look like lasers at all).

Star Trek shields are extremely powerful.
At one point in TNG Picard asks Worf about the armament of an enemy ship they encounter, and Worf says something like "only lasers".
It might be in the same episode (IIRC the one with captain Okona) that they actually joke about lasers since those couldn't even penetrate the navigation shields (the one created by the deflector dish) let alone the main shields.

The Enterprise also has long range torpedoes capable of moving at warp speed.
I am not sure if there is anything in the Star Wars universe, except perhaps a planetary shield or something, that would be capable of stopping the Enterprise or the majority of other Star Trek ships we know.

 

[pendrake]

I picked Enterprise D because it is by far the most comfortable ship for the CO.

 

[Aginor]

I picked Enterprise D because it is by far the most comfortable ship for the CO.

That, too!

 

[Killer Angel]

I so love cloacking. My choice would be the Bird of Prey.
On the other side, IIRC it was a ship made for war, resembling a sort of submarine when you look at things as the main bridge or other rooms. So not exactly the most confortable ship to fly around the universe.

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

I am not sure if there is anything in the Star Wars universe, except perhaps a planetary shield or something, that would be capable of stopping the Enterprise or the majority of other Star Trek ships we know.

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Sun_Crusher


Of course, it is no longer canon. Plus it is pretty ridiculous.



Ship for ship though, Star Trek wins out. The only thing that Star Trek would have difficulty with would be a really powerful force user.

 

[pendrake]

Ship for ship though, Star Trek wins out.

This ^

The only thing that Star Trek would have difficulty with would be a really powerful force user.

Federation, Yes.

But, Organians? Also,...

Q

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

This ^

Federation, Yes.

But, Organians? Also,...

Q

Q beats anything in the Star Wars universe (the same goes for other extremely powerful entities encountered in the various Star Trek series).

I think the closest thing that Star Wars has is (but still no match against Q)...

 

[Scalenex]

Never heard of Serenity, so that was out of my list straightaway, and you’ll have to enlighten me on the full power of the Serenity.

This poll is inconsistent. Serenity is a Firefly class transport ship. The Millenium Falcon is a heavily modified YT-1300 freighter. I know this because when I played the Star Wars RPG in the 1990s, the Y-T1300 freighter was the only transport ship starting players could afford so we ended up with quite a lot of them.

A Star Destroyer is a type of ship, not a specific ship. Same with a Romulan Bird of Prey. So you have some types of ships and some specific ships.

I guess a good reason to fly on Serenity is because Serenity has more female crew members than you usually see in a sci-fi shows and they are all gorgeous.

True, in the movies, X-wing pilots tend to die a lot. I did however play hundreds of hours of the classic computer game X-Wing making the X-Wing the only ship on the list I am remotely qualified to pilot. And if it happens that 99% of the pilots in the Star Wars universe fly as well as the AI pilots do in X-WIng I would basically be a demigod in the Star Wars universe. I am not invinicible when playing X-Wing but I would last a long time and get a legendary pilot log and during the year or two I would last, I would be a beloved celebrity on every Rebel ship. While not as nice as Star Trek with replicators and holodecks, Star Wars technology is advanced enough that living on a Calamari Cruiser would seem luxurious compared to my current apartment.

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

This poll is inconsistent.

Don't hate the poll, hate the game!

A Star Destroyer is a type of ship, not a specific ship. Same with a Romulan Bird of Prey. So you have some types of ships and some specific ships.

Just go by the picture provided.

 

[ravagekitteh]

A Star Destroyer is a type of ship, not a specific ship.

An ISD (Imperial Star Destroyer) is a specific model of Star Destroyer made by the Empire. Because of their attitude towards customisation, the difference between say the Avenger and the Devastator is negligible at best, so the fact it is not a ‘specific ship’ is meaningless. The only possible exception is the Chimera, but even that’s difference is only cosmetic, and the fact it has not been specifically stated as such strongly implies it is not that ship.

A forum inhabited by numerous Star Wars nerds is probably not the place to be too pedantic about it, especially if your own pedantry is susceptible to pedantry itself!