Federation ships can also fight and use sensors at warp, while Star Wars ships need to drop out of hyperspace to engage with one another and need to plant a tracker to follow someone. Which suggests that shoot-and-scoot tactics would be pretty effective.
But the real kicker is that the Federation are the good guys and the Empire are the bad guys. In both universes, that will tend to be determinative in the long run.
(Ask the Ewoks, who were a lot further from being able to mount a stand up fight against the Empire than any Federation cruiser. See also the Federation versus the Borg.)
"Maybe my imagination was limited, but most of my energy went into the heroes getting to know each other and the villains doing likewise."
That's way more interesting than trying to transfer a form of technology from one fictional universe to another one. (How much firepower can the Enterprise muster? Enough to level an entire planet, apparently, according to the show. How much firepower can a Star Destroyer muster?) I always skipped out on that stuff. (I'm sure I was an annoying child.)
"Vader has a nearly impossible time finding competent admirals in Empire Strikes Back."
I was greatly influenced by someone's essay on the subject, but the concept condensed something that bugged me about the original movie at the time: Vader is a really bad commander. Arbitrary, lunatic, impatient, etc. He's asking his commanders to do things that they aren't really good at - he has them trying to swat flies with sledgehammers. Vader is a good fighter in personal combat, but his behaviour in that movie (above the other movies) is what you would expect from a junta. Good at seizing power in a tottering Republic, but forced to engage in increasingly brutal actions to maintain control over the military forces the Empire inherited from the Republic. The Empire is fragmenting and falling apart because the two-Sith junta are putting all their efforts into maintaining control over a restless and fragmenting empire.
"The harder you squeeze, the more star systems will slip between your fingers."
You could compare Putin's similarly poor performance as a commander to Vader's performance. You could also compare it to the American decision to try and Evil Empire the Middle East.
elm
yes, i am aware that this is a subject for 13-year-olds
Totally agree about Vader, he has some strong Putin energy going on. Like after you watched him strangle that guy to death in a staff meeting would you ever publicly disagree with him again? I could totally see all the staff officers rubber stamping Vader's insane battle plan for Hoth just out of fear, disaster of course then ensues, see this classic breakdown: https://www.wired.com/2013/02/battle-of-hoth/
That is the thing: where do they get a shield that can protect the entire planet but only from above, not from the sides? Where DOES the 'ion cannon' come from? Shouldn't Star Destroyers have one of those on each ship? I mean the thing is powerful enough to move a Star Destroyer _out_of_the_way_ (but not destroy it)! Shouldn't the rebels use one during the final battle in Return of the Jedi? Why doesn't Vader have one?
Aside from that, Vader orders a stupid plan that doesn't take into account the giant (for one showing only!) ion cannon, and the plan fails and then he strangles the guy. I was sitting there at 12 thinking, 'If you kept strangling guys they won't be able to do what you want because they're too worried about being strangled.' IF the Imperial officers are dimwits you can't tell because you can't watch them in action long enough to make a determination and neither has Vader. They're all too busy trying to not get strangled.
(YES!: the strangling business is the director demonstrating the nature of Vader's character while building drama, thank you; you are also demonstrating that your all-intimidating Galactic Overlord is incompetent. Come to think of it, why hasn't the Emperor strangled Vader (or electro-bolted him or whatever) by the middle of the second movie and replaced him with a new Darth Dumbname guy?)
elm
yes, this is what i think of my favorite star wars movie which perhaps explains why i stopped watching them
Civilization with the Patrol as its military arm managed to consolidate two galaxies against a peer competitor, and by the end was routinely tossing around superluminal antimatter planets and weapons harnessing the entire output of a star.
There are probably space powers in SF that could give them a challenge, but they're pretty few and far between.
That was the first candidate that came to mind (no pun intended) for me too.
Though I don't think it's a slam dunk. The Arisians' Visualization of the Cosmic All seems more comprehensive than the Minds' ability to predict things, and Civilization is nothing if not adaptive.
But still, they're both using space opera energy scales, both have operatives used to operating on a "one enemy interstellar polity, one Lensman/Special Circumstances agent" basis, and both are backed by incomprehensible superhuman intelligences (who have been doing some design improvements on their chosen sapients). And the Culture is arguably sneakier.
My impression is that the Culture has much greater productive capacity, although granted that's a bit like arguing about the difference between infinity squared and infinity cubed.
Hah, the Ukraine vs Russia analogy is so perfect. A massive warship built for Intimidation, crewed by idiots, commanded by fools and psychopaths, versus a hero ship crewed and commanded by motivated, selfless individuals that learn fast and prevail in the end.
I'm reading your post right now very interesting. One thing that I've thought of that the Enterprise Star Trek might have ever the Star destroyers is that they could beam guys on to the Star destroyer. And also it would be interesting to see how the phaser guns would do against Stormtroopers
I was just reading your article. And that got me to thinking what if the Enterprise could beam people aboard a star destroyer to get them from the inside. I was also thinking how would a Star Trek phaser gun go up against a stormtrooper
You comment about speed is actually not accurate. Warp drive allows a starship to travel x amount of times faster that light by warping space. Hyperdrive in the Star Wars universe actualy propells a ship in to a different dimension, Hyperspace, which allows them to travers larger distances in a shorter amount of time. The Star Trek universe has better firepower, but the Star Wars universe has faster travel speeds. The only real advantage the Star Trek universe has over the Star Wars one is the MPG the ships get, lol. Star Wars ships burn through fuel much faster.
"Light speed is the fastest we ever hear a ship going in the <I>Star Wars</I> universe."
Minor quibble: Han Solo boasted that the <I> Millennium Falcon</I> could make "point five past light speed", not that it really changes the outcome of your analysis.
To build on the crew advantage of Star fleet ships, and the whole universe, technology evolve in Star Trek and from on a broad level, in Star Wars it seems to stand still and driven by very few individuals.
So one under discussed advantage any Enterprise crew would have, is that all the engineering and science crew got a plan for cranking out more effects to the shields, phasers and teleporters if needed , the loveable freaks just needs an excuse.
As the Paramount+ shows make clear, a Constitution-class starship is more than capable of fielding numerous small strike spaceships if doing so make tactical sense.
And if we're really going to go there, the "jump to light speed" is clearly a synecdoche for de facto FTL via hyperspace (an alternate dimension with shorter distances between points in real space, similar to the immer in Embassytown).
Federation ships can also fight and use sensors at warp, while Star Wars ships need to drop out of hyperspace to engage with one another and need to plant a tracker to follow someone. Which suggests that shoot-and-scoot tactics would be pretty effective.
But the real kicker is that the Federation are the good guys and the Empire are the bad guys. In both universes, that will tend to be determinative in the long run.
(Ask the Ewoks, who were a lot further from being able to mount a stand up fight against the Empire than any Federation cruiser. See also the Federation versus the Borg.)
"Maybe my imagination was limited, but most of my energy went into the heroes getting to know each other and the villains doing likewise."
That's way more interesting than trying to transfer a form of technology from one fictional universe to another one. (How much firepower can the Enterprise muster? Enough to level an entire planet, apparently, according to the show. How much firepower can a Star Destroyer muster?) I always skipped out on that stuff. (I'm sure I was an annoying child.)
"Vader has a nearly impossible time finding competent admirals in Empire Strikes Back."
I was greatly influenced by someone's essay on the subject, but the concept condensed something that bugged me about the original movie at the time: Vader is a really bad commander. Arbitrary, lunatic, impatient, etc. He's asking his commanders to do things that they aren't really good at - he has them trying to swat flies with sledgehammers. Vader is a good fighter in personal combat, but his behaviour in that movie (above the other movies) is what you would expect from a junta. Good at seizing power in a tottering Republic, but forced to engage in increasingly brutal actions to maintain control over the military forces the Empire inherited from the Republic. The Empire is fragmenting and falling apart because the two-Sith junta are putting all their efforts into maintaining control over a restless and fragmenting empire.
"The harder you squeeze, the more star systems will slip between your fingers."
You could compare Putin's similarly poor performance as a commander to Vader's performance. You could also compare it to the American decision to try and Evil Empire the Middle East.
elm
yes, i am aware that this is a subject for 13-year-olds
Totally agree about Vader, he has some strong Putin energy going on. Like after you watched him strangle that guy to death in a staff meeting would you ever publicly disagree with him again? I could totally see all the staff officers rubber stamping Vader's insane battle plan for Hoth just out of fear, disaster of course then ensues, see this classic breakdown: https://www.wired.com/2013/02/battle-of-hoth/
That is the thing: where do they get a shield that can protect the entire planet but only from above, not from the sides? Where DOES the 'ion cannon' come from? Shouldn't Star Destroyers have one of those on each ship? I mean the thing is powerful enough to move a Star Destroyer _out_of_the_way_ (but not destroy it)! Shouldn't the rebels use one during the final battle in Return of the Jedi? Why doesn't Vader have one?
Aside from that, Vader orders a stupid plan that doesn't take into account the giant (for one showing only!) ion cannon, and the plan fails and then he strangles the guy. I was sitting there at 12 thinking, 'If you kept strangling guys they won't be able to do what you want because they're too worried about being strangled.' IF the Imperial officers are dimwits you can't tell because you can't watch them in action long enough to make a determination and neither has Vader. They're all too busy trying to not get strangled.
(YES!: the strangling business is the director demonstrating the nature of Vader's character while building drama, thank you; you are also demonstrating that your all-intimidating Galactic Overlord is incompetent. Come to think of it, why hasn't the Emperor strangled Vader (or electro-bolted him or whatever) by the middle of the second movie and replaced him with a new Darth Dumbname guy?)
elm
yes, this is what i think of my favorite star wars movie which perhaps explains why i stopped watching them
And what about Kimball Kinnison and the Dauntless? Nobody reads the classics anymore!
Civilization with the Patrol as its military arm managed to consolidate two galaxies against a peer competitor, and by the end was routinely tossing around superluminal antimatter planets and weapons harnessing the entire output of a star.
There are probably space powers in SF that could give them a challenge, but they're pretty few and far between.
I hate to have to say it, but I think the Culture could almost certainly take Civilization.
That was the first candidate that came to mind (no pun intended) for me too.
Though I don't think it's a slam dunk. The Arisians' Visualization of the Cosmic All seems more comprehensive than the Minds' ability to predict things, and Civilization is nothing if not adaptive.
But still, they're both using space opera energy scales, both have operatives used to operating on a "one enemy interstellar polity, one Lensman/Special Circumstances agent" basis, and both are backed by incomprehensible superhuman intelligences (who have been doing some design improvements on their chosen sapients). And the Culture is arguably sneakier.
My impression is that the Culture has much greater productive capacity, although granted that's a bit like arguing about the difference between infinity squared and infinity cubed.
Either way, at least "Who'd win, Civilization or the Culture?" is less well-trod territory 🙂
Hah, the Ukraine vs Russia analogy is so perfect. A massive warship built for Intimidation, crewed by idiots, commanded by fools and psychopaths, versus a hero ship crewed and commanded by motivated, selfless individuals that learn fast and prevail in the end.
I'm reading your post right now very interesting. One thing that I've thought of that the Enterprise Star Trek might have ever the Star destroyers is that they could beam guys on to the Star destroyer. And also it would be interesting to see how the phaser guns would do against Stormtroopers
I was just reading your article. And that got me to thinking what if the Enterprise could beam people aboard a star destroyer to get them from the inside. I was also thinking how would a Star Trek phaser gun go up against a stormtrooper
Hyperspace the the fastest way we hear in the stat wars universe NOT lightspeed.
Hyperspace seems to be faster than warp as well
You comment about speed is actually not accurate. Warp drive allows a starship to travel x amount of times faster that light by warping space. Hyperdrive in the Star Wars universe actualy propells a ship in to a different dimension, Hyperspace, which allows them to travers larger distances in a shorter amount of time. The Star Trek universe has better firepower, but the Star Wars universe has faster travel speeds. The only real advantage the Star Trek universe has over the Star Wars one is the MPG the ships get, lol. Star Wars ships burn through fuel much faster.
"Light speed is the fastest we ever hear a ship going in the <I>Star Wars</I> universe."
Minor quibble: Han Solo boasted that the <I> Millennium Falcon</I> could make "point five past light speed", not that it really changes the outcome of your analysis.
Sorry, Dan, but I'll have to launch a full turbonerd attack that will leave you reeling. It's "ordnance", not ordinance. Game over!
If you toss in the spore drive from ‘Discovery’, it would seem to be a no brainer
Though evidence suggests that in a thousand years, no one built another of those.
To build on the crew advantage of Star fleet ships, and the whole universe, technology evolve in Star Trek and from on a broad level, in Star Wars it seems to stand still and driven by very few individuals.
So one under discussed advantage any Enterprise crew would have, is that all the engineering and science crew got a plan for cranking out more effects to the shields, phasers and teleporters if needed , the loveable freaks just needs an excuse.
As the Paramount+ shows make clear, a Constitution-class starship is more than capable of fielding numerous small strike spaceships if doing so make tactical sense.
And if we're really going to go there, the "jump to light speed" is clearly a synecdoche for de facto FTL via hyperspace (an alternate dimension with shorter distances between points in real space, similar to the immer in Embassytown).