Starship Smackdown!

[Evshell]

(NOTE: Scroll up to participate in poll)

In the spirit of some of our previous polling game threads, I thought I'd come up with a battle between 32 of the most popular starships from the series. Every week I will post two of the starships from the battle and you can vote on them. Vote on your favorite design, which speices you prefer, which show you like better, which one you think would win in a fight, which ship was better designed, which ship was more unique, etc... it doesn't really matter what criteria you personally use to decide. It's just for fun to see what craziness we can come up with and see what our Fleet's top 3 ships would be! You can even multiply smaller ships to make them equal to the mass of the bigger ship, if you want to use that as criteria, i.e. which would you choose for 253 Defiants against 1 Borg Cube??

I registered on a free bracket generator site here, so you can see the progress of the fight in real-time!!
http://challonge.com/starship_smackdown
*Note: the seeds were Randomly Generated so as to not inject any favoritism on my part and because it was faster

Also, if you wish, you may PM me your 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place guesses, and at the end I will announce who was closest to the actual result! The deadline for this submission is 1/18 @ 1600 EST (i.e. a day before the first poll ends).

In addition to voting, you may also post replies to argue for your favorite ship to see if you can sway people to your side for whatever reason! (Re-voting IS allowed!)

OK, so our first challenge is between the Klingon Vor'cha and the Federation Constitution

Klingon Vor'cha

Specifications
This imposing Klingon ship of the 24th century certainly would've made the Federation feel fortunate that they were at peace with this war-faring race! With many forward disruptor-cannons and photon torpedo tubes, along with a standard Klingon cloaking device, it was a dominant warship at the time, enough so to be prominently used in the Battle for Deep Space Nine.


Federation Constitution

Specifications
The one that started it all!! Everyone should be familiar with this iconic ship from the 23rd century. Sporting heavy laser cannons and 4 photon torpedo tubes, it was the top-of-the-line ship at the time, such that only a dozen were in operation at any given time. As the flagship of the fleet, the Enterprise NCC-1701 became the most famous Constitution-class in Starfleet history.

[Evshell]

(NOTE: Scroll up to participate in poll)

UPDATE: for those that PM me a list of your top 3 picks before Jan 18th, whoever is closest to the final result will receive the coveted, rarely awarded Lotus Cup!

[Athos]

First, Thank You Admiral Evshell for coming up with this very unique and easy to participate in activity.  This should prove to be fun...or frustrating. 

Okay, Constitution versus Vor'cha:

On one hand, the Vor'cha is the modern design of the classic D7; it is powerful and menacing and my favorite Klingon ship design.  In a fight, the Constitution wouldn't even scratch the Vor'cha...not to mention the Vor'cha's cloak that the Constitution couldn't begin to defeat.  The Vor'cha is bigger, faster, more powerful, hands-down. 

The Constitution class was the first Star Trek ship that we ever saw.  It has a very elegant design and, to the 1969 audience, was amazing.  It forced a generation of nerds to dream.  Though we see it as quaint in today's eyes, the Constitution class was ground-breaking in its time.

In-universe, the Constitution class was the pinnacle of starship design.  This class of starship literally kept the Klingons, Tholians, and Romulas at bay and kept the Federation safe.  A single Constitution class could take on multiple D7s; it took out the Doomsday Machine, traveled back in time, etc.  As much as the Vor'Cha can do, it is not as feared in its time as the Constitution was in its.  Furthermore, the Constitution class was equipped to to perform in multiple types of missions; science, exploration, medical, etc.  The Vor'cha is good for muscle...and that's about it.

So, the logical choice between the two, is the Constitution class.

[Kheren]

Athos said it all. On a purely combat standpoint, a 23rd century exploration ship is no match for a 24th century warship. It's like matching a 19th century steamship with a 20th century atomic submarine.

However, putting them each in their respective timeframe and comparing them shows how far ahead the all purpose Federation first heavy cruiser is to a Klingon battle cruiser that a trio of lesser birds of prey could severely threathen (ref TNG Redemption) while the Constitution outmatched one on one all of the best battleships of it's time (Klingon D7 in Elaan of Troyus, Romulan War Eagle in Balance of Terror, Tholian cruiser in The Tholian Web etc) and even unknown alien vessels like the Fesarius of the First Federation (The Corbomite maneuver). In ST TMP, it even survived V'Ger's attack which obliterated 3 K'Tingas in seconds. And to top it all, it is much more than just a warship.

Verdict; Constitution class.

[Jureth]

Since I don't seem to be able to think out of the box like my two esteemed comrades I voted purely on one on one combat which as has already been stated the Vor'cha would win easily.

While it is of course the classic Starship Enterprise the Connie is not my favorite ship design of the Star Trek Universe with that distinction going to the Sovereign Class. I don't know what it is but the Constitution Class just doesn't appeal to me that much. 

I find the Vor'cha to be all the things that have been mentioned and though the Negh'var is my favorite Klingon ship, the Vor'cha comes in a close second, so without expounding on it too much as I don't have a lot to add that hasn't been said, the Vor'Cha is my choice.

[Evshell]

Wow, it's neck and neck as of this post with 5 votes for each! This is exciting!

3 more days to get your vote in, and 2 more days to PM me your 3 starship picks if you want to be entered into the contest to win The Lotus Cup! If you PM me your picks, please order them #1-3.

For my personal preference, I already voted on the Connie. I actually agree with everything stated... it is hard to argue against any of it. The reason I picked the Connie was because of the crew of the Enterprise. In my mind if you put any random crew in the Connie up against the Vor'cha, there's no contest.

However, I specifically envisioned it as the Enterprise crew against a random Vor'cha that happened to time travel back to the 23rd century. I believe their ingenuity would've allowed them to survive where other crews would've failed.

That and the nostalgia factor made me pick the Connie, but I like that it is so far a very close race!

[Redding]

Well, the term smackdown does suggest which is better at fighting.

being a Starfleet RPG ship designer in the old days, I have a slightly different view on starship capabilities.

movies tend to be biased do too plot and so forth but I know them for their math.

The Klingon would of course beat the Constitution ship, but its not so superior as to be a shutout battle.

the Constitution ship could effectively harass the Klingon ship for at least a little while.

with that and for all the reasons stated above i will have to go with the Constitution class

[Evshell]

Congrats to the Federation Constitution for being this week's winner! It was a close one at 6-5.

Next up, we have a battle between the Federation Defiant and the Species 8472 (Undine) Bioship!

Federation Defiant

Specifications
The Defiant-class was a small, maneuverable fighter-type of escort that was designed to get in fast, do lots of damage, and get out even faster. With 4 rapid-fire phaser pulse cannons and 3 quantum torpedo tubes, this ship had an armament very impressive and deadly for its size. The original USS-Defiant also sports the only cloaking device ever to be allowed on a Federation vessel, making it as stealthy and deadly as any Klingon or Romulan ship.

Species 8472 (Undine) Bioship

Specifications Unknown
Not much is known about this ship from the universe inhabited by Species 8472. Perhaps more impressive than the ship herself is the crew: the menacing, frightening tripod species that can survive in nearly any environment including one that is almost lacking completely in oxygen. Starfleet Intelligence has been able to piece together some specs and the ship itself seems to contain an armament of some sort of yellow plasma beam and torpedo weaponry; probably designed to work in the viscous liquid that makes up the space between stars and planetory objects within their dimension. The ship itself is able to traverse both this liquid environment as well as the vaccum of space within our dimension.

[Redding]

Although not personally a fan of the Defiant class I would have to say that it would win this one hands down, in both combat capability and overall recognition.

The undine ship is bigger and far more durable then the defiant, with heavier firepower.
But against the far more maneuverable defiant it would only be a matter of time.

As for multi purpose properties I cannot say for the Undie, but the Defiant is greatly lacking.

Vote: Defiant

[Evshell]

Thanks, Redding, but please actually use the poll at the top of this thread to vote!