Imperial Star Destroyer versus Federation Gunship

[Guest Jobber of the Week]

I know, all over the internet, there are massive debates raging between Star Wars fanboys and Star Trek fanboys about which is more damaging, a phaser or a turbolaser. I was talking to a friend of mine seriously (as serious as a discussion between two geeks about sci-fi can be) and we were trying to decide on the advantages each side would have and in a one-on-one battle which ship would win? Here is our list, and I would like you all to add your own and discuss.

 

 

Star Fleet-

 

Galaxy Class - Around 1000 meters long ( I think)

ISD - 1600 meters long (according to my guide to Star Wars universe)

 

Phasers - Phased Light. From what I understand, they shift around the spectrum and pulse pattern, therefore bypassing (mostly) static, passive shielding. Phasers are very precise, and can continually fire.

Turbolasers - Coherent beams of light. Extremely hot and dense energy bolts. Limited tracking, ISD has many batteries to fire

 

Engines - Standard reaction engines Hyperdrive would not matter in a tactical situation, except for running away

Impulse drive - Rapid change of speed, faster than engines (see above) Warp Drive (Picard Maneuver anyone?)

 

Transporters - Not sure if they would work against ISD shields, I don't know enough about the shielding technology of either universe. But subspace transporters would work, if they needed to do it.

 

Fighter complement. ISD has 72 TIES (normal fighters, I don't know about any others) Depending on how the shields work on the Federation ship, may or may not make a difference. Phasers I think would make quick work of TIES wothout shields.

 

Shields. I don't really know enough about the shield systems of either to make much of an assessment. I imagine Star Wars shields to be static field shields, and Star Wars shields to be phasing shields.

 

 

 

Anyways, that is what we came up with. I think that the Enterprise, with more tech, maneuverability, and precision with their weapons would win. However, a good barrage from a full six wings of ties and Turbolasers would fuck the Enterprise up. This is not taking into account the crews or captains of either, though. Any technology I missed or advantages I forgot please correct me. And remember, this is an Imperial Star Destroyer, so the Jedi wouldn't come in and wipe out the Federation ship.

[Guest Blue Bacchus]

I've had simular discussions with my good Trek buddy (I'm the Wars guy).

 

Our conclusion was that the Galaxy would take down the ISD, which is the same as yours. There's an episode of TNG, where Picard & Co are challenged by a ship that has lasers. They actually have to contain their laughter. Unless the TIEs, whether they be TIE/LN, TIE/IN or TIE Bombers, decided to go kamakize (sp?) there's no hope for the ISD at all.

[Guest SP-1]

Put Sisko, old skool Kirk, or Riker in charge and the Ent also has a command advantage. Picard is cool and all but Riker's more badass.

 

And screw Galaxy Class. Give them a Sovy to go in with and they've got it wrapped up. It's a tighter, sleeker design with more maneuverability but more firepower than the Galaxy.

[Guest Jobber of the Week]

Put Sisko, old skool Kirk, or Riker in charge and the Ent also has a command advantage. Picard is cool and all but Riker's more badass.

I kind of avoided going into Captains and Crew because typically what happens is the Wars guy will just say "Fine, then Darth Vader is driving the ISD and chokes Kirk out." It usually degrades into nonsense from there out.

[Guest SP-1]

Put Troi on staff and she can likely help eliminate that problem, at least for a time. She's demonstrated some more powerful abilities in NEMESIS. She might be able to shield one person from Vader's efforts. And before anyone comes at me with, "But it's the FORCE!", remember that Watto was indifferent to Jedi mind tricks.

[Guest Lil Naitch]

This thread's hillarious.

 

I seem to remember an episode of TNG when picard shot down like six fighter crafts in a couple of second, so I thing that the new enterprise would make quick work of TIE fighters and then finish off the ISD.

 

Or Picard could ram the sucker, just for the hell of it:)

[Guest Vyce]

Am I the only one who thinks the ISD would win?

 

Guess so.

[Guest razazteca]

Put Sisko, old skool Kirk, or Riker in charge and the Ent also has a command advantage.  Picard is cool and all but Riker's more badass.

I kind of avoided going into Captains and Crew because typically what happens is the Wars guy will just say "Fine, then Darth Vader is driving the ISD and chokes Kirk out." It usually degrades into nonsense from there out.

Q can squash Vader

 

The Last Starfighter destroys all.

[Guest Jobber of the Week]

Q can squash Vader

Yeah but Q isn't an officer or even particularly an ally.

[Guest MrRant]

One the Picard Manuver comes into play... there ain't nothin safe.

[Guest J*ingus]

The Enterprise would win here, for one simple reason: it can fire weapons (or at least photon torpedoes) while in warp speed; no Star Wars ships can fire or participate in battle while in hyperdrive. A cheap but effective tactic would be for the Enterprise to keep zooming back and forth near the Destroyer at warp speed, shooting it continuously until it becomes nothing more than a pretty fireworks display.

[Guest phoenixrising]

This reminds me of a website I used to frequent where these kinds of debates popped up with posters using calculated power off of screenshots to say who was better than who.

Here's the site: http://kier.3dfrontier.com/forums/

And another for fan fics based on Star Wars v. Star Trek: http://www.daltonator.net/fanfics/

 

Personally, I'd say the Star Destroyer, but I'm biased toward Star Wars. As for actual reasons other than bias...it'd probably get the first shot in (Starfleet negotiates then shoots, Empire shoots then negotiates), it's turbolasers are more powerful than regular lasers and it has a lot of them, and even if the fighters are sitting ducks, an ISD carries 72 of them, making 72 more targets for the Galaxy to worry about. Also, the ISD is bigger and has more crewman, meaning that it would be able to take a lot of punishment while waiting for the opportunity it needs to blow the Galaxy into little smithereens.

 

SP, I agree with you with the Sovereign class. Those are bad-ass ships, one of my favorite designs from any SF series. It just looks speedy and powerful at first glance. Big improvement on the Galaxy.

[Guest Cover of Darkness]

The command advantage goes to the ISD, no matter who's commanding it.

 

The Empire are ruthless, evil, and cunning. The Federation are the Captain Whitebreads of the Galaxy.

 

I'm not saying that alone would do it, but still.

 

 

If KHAN was in command of the Galaxy, I give it to the Galaxy.

[Guest razazteca]

Q can squash Vader

Yeah but Q isn't an officer or even particularly an ally.

Q is the mod of the sci fi universe if you will, Q can snap his fingers and make Vader disappear.

[Guest Cover of Darkness]

Q can squash Vader

Yeah but Q isn't an officer or even particularly an ally.

Q is the mod of the sci fi universe if you will, Q can snap his fingers and make Vader disappear.

Yeah, but Star Wars and Star Trek take place in alternate universes, so who's to say he has power there.

[Guest razazteca]

Q is a god like character and he is an ally of Captain Janeway.

[Guest Cover of Darkness]

Q is a god like character and he is an ally of Captain Janeway.

But if you were Q, wouldn't you side with the Empire?

[Guest razazteca]

Q needs his lovin from Capt Janeway.

[Guest Blue Bacchus]

They ruined Q in those Voyager episodes. I'm just surprised they haven't busted out Q in Enterprise yet like they did the borg.

[Guest SP-1]

I've never seen Q as a bad guy since All Good Things . . . aired. I think he's been rooting for humanity since the beginning, and I think he genuinely likes Picard.

 

And you seem to be underestimating James T. F'ing Kirk here. I'm talking OLD SKOOL Kirk, bitch'z. Shoot from the hip, negotiate until they piss you off, cunning bastard in battle Kirk. With the firepower of a Galaxy or a Sovereign at his fingertips. he could clean up.

[Guest Vyce]

I must say that I'm biased towards Star Wars too.

 

I mean, I fucking HATE Lucas.

 

But even with all the goddamn franchise raping and retconning, Lucas' shit ain't nothing compared to the sheer abomination-upon-the-intellect-of-humanity that is Voyager, Enterprise, and the last few let's-rip-off-as-much-of-Babylon5-as-we-possibly-can-without-getting-sued seasons of DS9.

[Conspiracy_Victim 0]

OK I'm lame, I'll play.

 

I'd have to fall on the side of the ISD, and not just because I'm a Wars fanboy. The Enterprise's phasers may be powerful, but there's no guarantee that they'd slice through the ISD's shields. For all we know they may phase shift as well, making it difficult for the phasers to break through. In fact, I know that the Wars universe has developed ray shielding, since the exhaust port in the original Wars was ray shielded in the book. And how many photon torpedoes can they fire off at once, 4 or 5 maybe?

 

The ISD, on the other hand, has about 70 paired turbolasers (if my memory serves from several books), and several dozen proton torpedo launchers. And it's not like they're firing at X-Wings or other manuverable fighter craft. It's a 1000 meter long cruiser, for cryin' out loud! I figure they can hit THAT, given enough practice. I'd have to guess that one or two broadsides coupled with the TIE's (figure 4 squadrons of regular fighters and 1 squadron each of bombers and Interceptors, both with shields and torpedoes) all merrily blasting away since apparently Trek didn't believe in having fighter cover for their big ships, and you'd end up with a lot of Federation scrap out in space.

 

And that's just with a smaller Liberty or Triumph class SD. A Super Star Destroyer, for instance, has 250,000 just in CREW and 12 squadrons (144 for those of you not keeping track) TIES. Any attempt to ram it would result in some chipped paint and an Imperial captain wondering about his opponent's sanity.

[Guest SP-1]

I've never understood how DS9 ripped off Babylon 5. Because one show is on a station, no other Sci-Fi show can be?

 

And I'm not sure how much it matters how many lasers there are. If a laser amounts to squat against Federation shielding, as demonstrated in the episode of TNG mentioned above, then more lasers still don't amount to much of an offense. It's like throwing pebbles at a giant mass of quadruple layered TRItanium. Alot of pebbles, but still nothing to show for it.