What If? Which of these ships can survive the longest in the Star Wars Galaxy

I think hyperfocusing on firepower is looking at this from the wrong angle (and frankly I just don't have the time or energy to delve info the weeds and try to hammer SW's hilariously inconsistent showings into some kind of sensible system). The battlegroup has to survive for ten years, this is a marathon, not a sprint. The key factors are how long they can maintain themselves and thier ships, and how easily they can evade/avoid imperial forces,and the answers to those questions vary wildly between ships.

Incidentally, that's another reason for maybe not wanting to push the hilariously weak figures from SW cartoons as some definitive showing while suggesting other factions are vastly more powerful,because the wider the tech gap, the harder it will be to find spare parts, or even materials to make those parts.

So, based on those factors:

1: USS Enterprise NCC 1701-F (Has a Slipstream Drive)

The enterprise can probably evade imperial ships fairly easily, there's some debate about hyperspace speed vs warp drive, but the key factor is going to be that hyperspace is mostly confined to known and difficult to map routes, while warp drive can go anywhere. Even if the Empire is faster, they can't really use that superior speed to catch the Enterprise, presuming they have the sensor range to track it in the first place.

On the other hand, spare parts will be an issue, as the two tech bases are radically different. Being Startfleet, I imagine they can kludge together solutions for the most part, but they is a fairly decent chance that eventually something important breaks and can't be fixed, leaving the ship a sitting duck.

2: USS Odyssey (Post Unending) Stargate SG1

Even faster than the Enterprise, possibly a bit better on the parts front, possibly worse.

3: The SDF-1 (Robotech) Macross Saga

No idea.

4: The Battlestar Galactica (NBSG)
5: The Battlestar Galactica (OBSG)

Screwed. Too slow to run, too weak to fight back, might be able to resupply locally but that can't save them.

6: Moya (Farscape)

Independent of supply chains, but unarmed and IIRC, slow.

7: The Whitestar (Babylon 5)

No idea.

8: USS Saratoga (Space Above and Beyond)

Probably about the same as BSG.

9: The Ark (Transformers G1)

The ship is screwed, it's got some light point defense guns for its only defense and, as far as I know (based just on Transformers: Fall of Cybertron) it doesn't have its own FTL drive.

The crew actually stands a much better chance of surviving without the ship, given they can easily hide within the Empire and even work against it, and unless they're seen transforming the Empire might never even know what they are.

10: The Space Battleship Yamato (Star Blazers)

No idea.
 
I think hyperfocusing on firepower is looking at this from the wrong angle (and frankly I just don't have the time or energy to delve info the weeds and try to hammer SW's hilariously inconsistent showings into some kind of sensible system). The battlegroup has to survive for ten years, this is a marathon, not a sprint. The key factors are how long they can maintain themselves and thier ships, and how easily they can evade/avoid imperial forces,and the answers to those questions vary wildly between ships.

Problem is that for most of them, we simply have no idea. Star Trek ships have replicators, but we only ever saw personal replicators, not industrial-scale ones, so it is unlikely that will help much with spare parts. Same for Odyssey, SDF, and Whitestar.

In fact, I only remember Galactica being able to reliably manufacture spare parts (and Vipers), and even then, Viper manufacture was done by the Pegasus in the RMD, not by Galactica itself.

They really would have done well with a Homeworld carrier battle group here.
 
One of the interesting things about this fleet is the Jump Engines on the White Star. B5s version of hyperspace is nothing like that of SW.

One option for the fleet is to have the White Star open a Jump Point and let the rest of the fleet into hyperspace. It may take a bit of work, but the ST sensors may be good enough to help chart a path through hyperspace's gravitational hazards allowing the fleet to strategically move around the galaxy via this method. It'll be slower than Star Wars hyperspace or Slip Stream, but it's one way to evac that the entire fleet can take advantage of.
 
1: USS Enterprise NCC 1701-F (Has a Slipstream Drive)

The enterprise can probably evade imperial ships fairly easily, there's some debate about hyperspace speed vs warp drive, but the key factor is going to be that hyperspace is mostly confined to known and difficult to map routes, while warp drive can go anywhere. Even if the Empire is faster, they can't really use that superior speed to catch the Enterprise, presuming they have the sensor range to track it in the first place.

On the other hand, spare parts will be an issue, as the two tech bases are radically different. Being Startfleet, I imagine they can kludge together solutions for the most part, but they is a fairly decent chance that eventually something important breaks and can't be fixed, leaving the ship a sitting duck.
Honestly wouldn't expect much issue spare parts wise. Voyager was a much smaller ship with a less than ideal crew put in a very similar situation and yet managed to replace photon torpedoes, shuttles even design the Delta Flyer for seven-tenths of the duration here while being entirely nomadic.

In contrast the Enterprise and the rest of the fleet could simply find a Rebel-aligned world with sufficient industrial base and dig in. And such worlds certainly exist. Mon Calamari openly retrofitted their cruise ships into frontline warships for the Rebellion and the Empire either couldn't or was unwilling to do a thing to stop them.

The ship is screwed, it's got some light point defense guns for its only defense and, as far as I know (based just on Transformers: Fall of Cybertron) it doesn't have its own FTL drive.
Well technically "Fall of Cybertron" I believe is part of the Aligned Continuity rather than Cartoon G1 continuity, the former being more of an Ultimate universe take on the franchise.

In terms of Faster than light travel, I don't think it was ever explicitly said regarding the ARK but we know Cybertonian technology is capable of it, the animated movie from 1986 the Autobots and Deceptions both use ships to travel to and from Earth and Cybertron and other alien worlds within a short timeframe. We also have examples of Astrotrain and Omega Supreme who did similar feats starting in the second season of the series.
 
Honestly wouldn't expect much issue spare parts wise. Voyager was a much smaller ship with a less than ideal crew put in a very similar situation and yet managed to replace photon torpedoes, shuttles even design the Delta Flyer for seven-tenths of the duration here while being entirely nomadic.

In contrast the Enterprise and the rest of the fleet could simply find a Rebel-aligned world with sufficient industrial base and dig in. And such worlds certainly exist. Mon Calamari openly retrofitted their cruise ships into frontline warships for the Rebellion and the Empire either couldn't or was unwilling to do a thing to stop them.

Voyager was able to trade for spare parts and materials with people that used the same sort of technology, and they got extremely lucky (look at the USS Equinox for what happens when you don't get lucky). They can't do that here, nor is it clear that just "digging in" will work, since that presumes SW is able to manufacture compatible parts to federation spec in the first place.
 
Voyager was able to trade for spare parts and materials with people that used the same sort of technology, and they got extremely lucky (look at the USS Equinox for what happens when you don't get lucky). They can't do that here, nor is it clear that just "digging in" will work, since that presumes SW is able to manufacture compatible parts to federation spec in the first place.
Actually they can make a lot of components thanks to these.
Vehicle replicator | Memory Alpha | Fandom
 
Voyager was able to trade for spare parts and materials
I could be mistaken but I don't recall them ever trading for photon torpedoes or even shuttle parts, or even raw bulk material that would presumbly be required to manufacture them. To pick a random example I could recall off hand, in the season six Episode "Alice" they trade for things like "power regulators" and "cultural artifacts" and maps. So it seems questionable that trade alone was the primary reason Voyager stayed functioning.

Nor does trading for an item in and of itself prove Voyager was incapable of building it themselves. It fully possible that relatively minor things like a power regulator was easier to trade for then waste the time and energy to replicate. And obviously a larger, more powerful ship operating as part of a fleet that may not decide to act as a space nomad is likely to do even better in terms of spare parts.

Battlegrinder said:
with people that used the same sort of technology
They operated on the same basic principals but the same could be said for cars in the real world yet you can't just swap parts between any make or model. The fact Starfleet engineers can treat any random space widget as the same is more a plus in their corner rather than a minus.

Battlegrinder said:
, and they got extremely lucky (look at the USS Equinox for what happens when you don't get lucky).
The Equinox was less a case of Voyager being "lucky" and more of the Equinox being extremely unlucky and ill-equipped for the situation it found itself in. Being designed for " planetary research, not long range tactical missions" and "short term research missions {with}minimal weapons {and} can't even go faster than warp eight ".

While in their first week in the Delta Quadrant, violated the territory of the " Krowtonan Guard" resulting in the loss of half of Captain Ransom's crew. In just about every way the Equinox was a smaller, less well-equipped starship than Voyager making it unlikely to be an applicable example in comparison to the Enterprise.

Battlegrinder said:
They can't do that here
Is there any particular reason behind your assumption Starfleet engineers can't either A.) adapt spare parts from local sources or B.) arrange to have the parts manufactured for them?

Battlegrinder" said:
nor is it clear that just "digging in" will work, since that presumes SW is able to manufacture compatible parts to federation spec in the first place.
Actually all it presumes is that an industrial world could produce the tools needed to manufacture the machines/replicators required for larger starship Maintenance as well as the raw resources.
 
I could be mistaken but I don't recall them ever trading for photon torpedoes or even shuttle parts, or even raw bulk material that would presumbly be required to manufacture them. To pick a random example I could recall off hand, in the season six Episode "Alice" they trade for things like "power regulators" and "cultural artifacts" and maps. So it seems questionable that trade alone was the primary reason Voyager stayed functioning.

We don't know to what extant Voyager was trading or for what, no. But we do know there's stuff ships cannot replicate, the plot of both Phantasms and The Drumhead involved replacement parts the Enterprise had picked up from the manufacturer and had installed, rather than just doing it themselves. Furthermore, there are some materials that can't be replicated (lithium), and it's also know that replicators are imprecise and leave flaws in the material produced (which may well be why warp core parts aren't replicated, it's not safe).

That's not to say it's certain the ship can't supply itself in the long run, but IMO based on what we've seen it's not likely.

They operated on the same basic principals but the same could be said for cars in the real world yet you can't just swap parts between any make or model. The fact Starfleet engineers can treat any random space widget as the same is more a plus in their corner rather than a minus.

You can't just remove a part and bolt another one on, no. But you can (probably) get most parts to work with a bit tinkering, and the engine will run well enough.

That's not what this scenario is, though. This is asking you to repair a jet engine with parts from your car.

Is there any particular reason behind your assumption Starfleet engineers can't either A.) adapt spare parts from local sources or B.) arrange to have the parts manufactured for them?

Well, that's not what I said they can't do. I said they can't roll up to a parts vendor and buy a new warp coil or a set of EPS conduits, because SW doesn't have those.

Could they build so....maybe, though, some spare parts aren't going to be available because some materials don't exist in the SW galaxy. Not going to be finding any dilthium there, for example.

Actually all it presumes is that an industrial world could produce the tools needed to manufacture the machines/replicators required for larger starship Maintenance as well as the raw resources.

Ok, so let's say you take an F-22 Raptor back to, let's be generous and say 1950, a mere 70 years. How easily are you going to be able to set up spare parts manufacturing?

And that's assuming you know exactly how to do it, which is again generous. Even starfleet engineers are not experts in the underlying technologies for their ships (Booby Trap), and that's what you would expect. A submariner that's gone to nuclear power school can operate and maintain a nuclear reactor, probably even make modifications and repairs if he really has to. But he doesn't have the skills or knowledge to build one.
 
We don't know to what extant Voyager was trading or for what, no. But we do know there's stuff ships cannot replicate, the plot of both Phantasms and The Drumhead involved replacement parts the Enterprise had picked up from the manufacturer and had installed, rather than just doing it themselves.
Phantasms would be a poor example since it explicitly was referenced to being designed via a new technique, which lead to the problem in the first place, while I'm going to need a more specific reference to the episode "The Drumhead". The faulty dilithium chamber hatch which prompted the plot was installed in McKinley station if that's what your referring too but all that shows is that Starfleet uses Starbases for maintenance. That its more practical/efficient for them to to do so that way rather than being impossible for a starship to do so.

Neither of the above would require Voyager obtain spare parts solely through trade. So faced with the knowledge that we know they can replicate some things with a replicator both organic and inorganic and a lack of evidence they supported themselves primarily via Trade the logical assumption would be Voyager made their spare parts themselves for the most part.

Furthermore, there are some materials that can't be replicated (lithium), and it's also know that replicators are imprecise and leave flaws in the material produced (which may well be why warp core parts aren't replicated, it's not safe).
Where is it stated that replicator leaves "flaws" and how are we defining "flaws" in this context. Additionally were are we told that warp core parts aren't replicated at all? That would seem to contradict the vehicle replicator @Sailor.X linked too.

You can't just remove a part and bolt another one on, no. But you can (probably) get most parts to work with a bit tinkering, and the engine will run well enough.
It would largely depend on the cars, the part in question and just how much tinkering you're talking about. From something that not only uses a shared principal but has a common origin on this planet. Now extrapolate that out to an entire alien tech base with different ideas of connection ports, voltage requirements ect and your car and jet engine would likely be closer in design/capability than that.

Well, that's not what I said they can't do. I said they can't roll up to a parts vendor and buy a new warp coil or a set of EPS conduits, because SW doesn't have those.
Imperial and Rebel tech doesn't use things called warp coils or EPS conduits, no. Whether or not they employ technologies and equipment that could be utilized for same purpose, with some tinkering, however is another matter entirely. I see no reason to broadly assume they couldn't as you have done.

Could they build so....maybe, though, some spare parts aren't going to be available because some materials don't exist in the SW galaxy. Not going to be finding any dilthium there, for example.
And do we have any specific information over what parts require what and what substitutions are possible? Or any detail to what degree, if any, this will impact ship functions?

Ok, so let's say you take an F-22 Raptor back to, let's be generous and say 1950, a mere 70 years. How easily are you going to be able to set up spare parts manufacturing?
Well we actually have a good example to work off of in the TOS episode "The City on the Edge of Forever". Spock, in a matter of weeks at most, managed to cobble an admittedly adhoc but functional computer using in part just what he could scrounge from 1930's US. Give him a team of starfleet engineers and a planet's resources at his disposal and he likely could do a whole lot more.

And since parts manufacturing is likely to be in this case just a big replicator anyway that would eliminate many of the secondary issues of resource allocation, refinement and then manufacturing to a finished product in sufficient scale, with the resultant necessary infrastructure that entails. All you'd have to do is custom build one set of the components for an industrial replicator, even if they're just cheap Chinese-copies compared to Starfleet standard, and then boom your in business. Shovel raw material and feed it power and it'll spit out what you need.

And that's assuming you know exactly how to do it, which is again generous. Even starfleet engineers are not experts in the underlying technologies for their ships (Booby Trap), and that's what you would expect.
I'm going to have to ask what you are specifically referring to from the "Booby Trap" episode.

Further a submariner likely couldn't build a nuclear reactor but he is not a starfleet officer nor would he have access to a starship database.
 
It's worth noting that Voyager didn't have a Quantum Slipstream drive installed when they began their journey. They built one, reverse-engineered from plans they obtained, out of replicated parts. They installed it and managed to travel tens of thousands of lightyears before they had to shut it off due to other issues, mainly that they didn't have their sensors working properly and couldn't see where they were going leading to crashes in timelines that got pruned. Then they designed and built a custom shuttle, the Delta Flyer, with a fully working QS drive and it went just fine and made it all the way to Earth.

That pretty strongly argues that no, the parts for a QS drive aren't impossible to get if you don't have the full Federation's industrial base to work with. There is no chance they were trading for parts to build that drive because it didn't exist anywhere before that.
 
Another fun fact about Starfleet. Most Starships have at least a few people who from time to time have served in the Starfleet Corps of Engineers. Meaning they know how to build ships, Shipyards and Starbases. Add in the fact the Macross has plenty of manpower to aid in such an endeavor. The Battlegroup and make a small starbase in orbit of a planet in maybe 5 years time. Faster with the help of a Star Wars world who offers help.
 
If the USAF Odyssey was feeling particularly spiteful they could introduce the SW galaxy to replicators, And they would be utterly fucked against that foe.
 
Also Starfleets engineers are basically Tony Stark level tech magicians. While their ships are pretty self sufficient and thanks to replicators are capable of fabricating nearly anything they could conceivably need. If the goal is just surviving for ten years then the Odyssey could share its hyperdrive schematics and then the fleet could literally just travel to another galaxy within weeks or if they share their superior power systems then the trip would be reduced to hours. Everyone forgets when Thor brought the team to his galaxy it took a few seconds when the system was properly powered.
 
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Also Starfleets engineers are basically Tony Stark level tech magicians. Also their ships are pretty self sufficient and thanks to replicators capable of fabricating nearly anything they could conceivably need. If the goal is just surviving for ten years then the Odyssey could share its hyperdrive schematics and then the fleet could literally just travel to another galaxy within weeks or if they share their superior power systems then the trip would be reduced to hours. Everyone forgets when Thor brought the team to his galaxy it took a few seconds when the system was properly powered.
Since not ever Star System in the Star Wars Galaxy has a Hyperspace route. They can set up shop on some world that is out of the Network and the Empire can do fuck all to get to them.
 
Since not ever Star System in the Star Wars Galaxy has a Hyperspace route. They can set up shop on some world that is out of the Network and the Empire can do fuck all to get to them.
However, given that it's the Star Wars galaxy, there's a good chance said planet would have ancient, forgotten Sith horror or natural Dark Side phenomena on it.

Well, either that or it turns out Warp Drive does an Event Horizon, or something. :p
 
However, given that it's the Star Wars galaxy, there's a good chance said planet would have ancient, forgotten Sith horror or natural Dark Side phenomena on it.

Well, either that or it turns out Warp Drive does an Event Horizon, or something. :p
We snag a Jedi with the first name Cal and the last name Kestis to join the Battlegroup. A Force User can easily sus out any Darkside stuff.
 

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