Spaceship race! (Which ship is fastest?)

[LordOfWolves]

If the "Millennium Falcon," "Serenity," the "Tantive IV," the 2009 movie version of the "Enterprise," "Voyager," the nBSG "Galactica," the fastest IoM ship, the original "Enterprise," and the TNG "Enterprise" all got together for a friendly (i.e no blasting each other to bits) race...

Who'd win?

To be honest, I think the "Serenity" would win since while it might not be fast, it's hella reliable and a rather sturdy boat. Of course, like I said, it's not fast, so it wouldn't win hands-down, but it's a contender, for sure.

[Stark]

STL or FTL? In a straight line or a multi-destination course?

Since Serenity is possibly one of the slowest ships in all science fiction and constantly breaks down, your statement is bizarre in the extreme.

[Ghost Rider]

Uh...yeah, what the fuck is this? I mean fastest IoM ship, but the best we give for SW is a small cruiser and a junker? I'm not even counting the others since that would comparing the fastest man running versus the goddamn Flash.

To determine this just pull out what is the best IoM speed(ignoring the variety of differences and just try to calculate raw speed of said vessel) and compare it to some of SW better mid range or MF speeds and there's our winner.

[Batman]

Serenity? For all we know she doesn't even HAVE FTL. Everything in Firefly apparently happens in a single (if impossibly large and complex) star system.

[Themightytom]

I think he intended "Fastest sublight" race as is evidenced by it being the only possibility period. Serenity doesn't go FTL like... ever.. and watching galactica race would be like having a seizure with the damn thing popping in and out ever 33 minutes or so. We all know that based on everything on this site Star Wars Hyperdrive is Muuuuch faster than Star Trek Warp speed. All of this in mind I choose the falcon in a sublight race any day.



Because no one picked the White Star Amiright???

That thing looks good standing still!

[Batman]

Ghetto edit:Oh, and anybody know the maximum distance nBSG can jump and how much time it takes to calculate said jump? For the jump ITSELF they pretty much win by default because their speed is essentially infinite but if the jump distance is low/the calculation time is high enough they might very well be even slower than Trek once it averages out.

[Srelex]

Did you even put any fucking thought into this? Star Wars vessels can achieve FTL speeds that all except the Galactica would faint at, and even then I'm not sure. Unless this is, as someone said, a STL one, but I don't believe it's so clear there.

[Batman]

If it's STL I don't see the need to distinguish between the Falcon and a Corellian Corvette.The speed limit for both is c, the only difference is how fast they can GET there. And as per ANH the MF actually isn't all that hot on sublight acceleration in-universe.

[Stark]

If it's STL I don't see the need to distinguish between the Falcon and a Corellian Corvette.The speed limit for both is c, the only difference is how fast they can GET there. And as per ANH the MF actually isn't all that hot on sublight acceleration in-universe.

I don't think you know how racing works. If two cars have a speed limit of 300km/h, but one takes 40s and the other takes 30s to get there, the one with faster acceleration will win.

[LordOfWolves]

Ok...ok...let me clarify. Dumb n00b is dumb, hurr!

It's a sprint race ("point A to point B"), STL for the most part. (In "SDN dummy talk:" fastest sublight)

No, there are no weapons (because we all know that's how the Imperium plays dirty: by using it's superior weaponry to turn the other racers into mulch). It wouldn't be fair because some of the ships (like the "Serenity") don't have standard weapons, and thus would have to rely on their speed to outrun the enemy barrages. Plus, armor would become an issue in that case.


I swear, I really need to stop being such a n00b and lurk moar...

[Stark]

What do you mean 'STL for the most part'? What does that mean? Can ships use their FTL or not?

Is this a course in the middle of nowhere, between two well-known positions, etc?

[LordOfWolves]

What do you mean 'STL for the most part'? What does that mean? Can ships use their FTL or not?

Is this a course in the middle of nowhere, between two well-known positions, etc?

What I mean is that the ships can use their FTL drives like NOS in "Need For Speed:" It can get them going in a snap, but they have to use it wisely as it's limited (or, at the very least, permitted on a restricted basis, such as trying to widen or close the lead, trying to pass another racer, getting extra 'oomph' for powering through a turn (not that there will be a whole lot of those...), etc.).

The course? I'm thinking from Kasshyyk (sp?) to...Courosanct (sp?). Seems far enough, if you think about it.

[Srelex]

The course? I'm thinking from Kasshyyk (sp?) to...Courosanct (sp?). Seems far enough, if you think about it.

Kashyyyk to Coruscant? The crew of the Serenity would likely die of starvation.

[adam_grif]

Vote 1 BC-304.

The course? I'm thinking from Kasshyyk (sp?) to...Courosanct (sp?). Seems far enough, if you think about it.

.....................

[Gil Hamilton]

What I mean is that the ships can use their FTL drives like NOS in "Need For Speed:" It can get them going in a snap, but they have to use it wisely as it's limited (or, at the very least, permitted on a restricted basis, such as trying to widen or close the lead, trying to pass another racer, getting extra 'oomph' for powering through a turn (not that there will be a whole lot of those...), etc.).

The course? I'm thinking from Kasshyyk (sp?) to...Courosanct (sp?). Seems far enough, if you think about it.

These rules are nonsensical. How can a race be mostly STL (leaving FTL heavily restricted) for a race across a significant part of interstellar space. None of the crews could possibly survive the voyage without FTL, as those voyages would take thousands of years (the crews survival would hinge on their ships ability to accelerate to a hair under the speed of light, to such a tau factor that they experience very little time compared to an outside observer).

I'm confused why you think that Serenity is a contender. It doesn't have an FTL and it really is a piece of junk. There was a whole episode of Firefly devoted to the ship catastrophically failing, nearly resulting in Mal's death. That the ship still flies is because Kaylee is exceptionally good with engineering band-aids.

[Batman]

If it's STL I don't see the need to distinguish between the Falcon and a Corellian Corvette.The speed limit for both is c, the only difference is how fast they can GET there. And as per ANH the MF actually isn't all that hot on sublight acceleration in-universe.

I don't think you know how racing works. If two cars have a speed limit of 300km/h, but one takes 40s and the other takes 30s to get there, the one with faster acceleration will win.

Assuming the race ENDS after 30 seconds.

[Stark]

What do you mean 'STL for the most part'? What does that mean? Can ships use their FTL or not?

Is this a course in the middle of nowhere, between two well-known positions, etc?

What I mean is that the ships can use their FTL drives like NOS in "Need For Speed:" It can get them going in a snap, but they have to use it wisely as it's limited (or, at the very least, permitted on a restricted basis, such as trying to widen or close the lead, trying to pass another racer, getting extra 'oomph' for powering through a turn (not that there will be a whole lot of those...), etc.).

The course? I'm thinking from Kasshyyk (sp?) to...Courosanct (sp?). Seems far enough, if you think about it.

I don't think you understand how interstellar travel works.

And no, Batman, if two cars take different times to reach the same maximum speed, it doesn't matter how long the race is. You do understand that slower acceleration means the faster car will be outpacing the slower one from the get-go, right, and that by the time they're both at equal speeds there will be a gap between them, that cannot be closed since they're both at their 'maximum' speeds?

[Rama]

Coruscant to Kashyyk? You're looking at a 32,000 light year straight line journey at best. How could the OP even propose a somewhat decent STL race across a quarter of a Galaxy when the majority of the crew would have starved to death in the first quarter of the first year of the first century of the first millennium out of thirty others?

What, are the ships just going to float the rest of the way?

[Batman]

And no, Batman, if two cars take different times to reach the same maximum speed, it doesn't matter how long the race is. You do understand that slower acceleration means the faster car will be outpacing the slower one from the get-go, right, and that by the time they're both at equal speeds there will be a gap between them, that cannot be closed since they're both at their 'maximum' speeds?

If and when ALL that matters is their respective acceleration and peak speed. Which ISN'T the case in an ACTUAL car race. I happily concede that the one with the lower acceleration loses IN THEORY, but YOU brought up actual RACES

[Stark]

Well there are sure no chicanes in space.

I hope.

[Ford Prefect]

To determine this just pull out what is the best IoM speed(ignoring the variety of differences and just try to calculate raw speed of said vessel) and compare it to some of SW better mid range or MF speeds and there's our winner.

There's like some 10,000+ gee stuff floating around in novels. Though at the same time there is some single digit gee stuff as well.

[Junghalli]

If it's STL I don't see the need to distinguish between the Falcon and a Corellian Corvette.The speed limit for both is c, the only difference is how fast they can GET there.

Only if both ships can accelerate infinitely. Realistically the winner of a long race would probably be the ship with the highest delta V (available change in velocity from its initial velocity). Assuming realistic rocketry this would come down to a combination of fuel efficiency and ratio of the mass of the fuel to the mass of the rest of the ship. Assuming some magic self-powering propellantless drive, it would probably come down to which ship's engines will break down last.

[Enigma]

Here is how I'd rank them,

1) Millennium Falcon
2) Tantive IV
3) nBSG
3) IoM
4) TOS Enterprise (If they managed to reach to the center of the galaxy in only a matter of hours(?) then they are a contender)

Everyone else will immediately quit since they do not plan to die\run out of fuel before they finish the race.

But if they have to stick to STL for most of the journey then they'd all quit because of the sheer stupidity of the race. This doesn't take into account that other than the SW participants the rest would not know how to complete the race due to being in an unfamiliar galaxy.

[Havok]

What I mean is that the ships can use their FTL drives like NOS in "Need For Speed:" It can get them going in a snap, but they have to use it wisely as it's limited (or, at the very least, permitted on a restricted basis, such as trying to widen or close the lead, trying to pass another racer, getting extra 'oomph' for powering through a turn (not that there will be a whole lot of those...), etc.).

The course? I'm thinking from Kasshyyk (sp?) to...Courosanct (sp?). Seems far enough, if you think about it.

Dude... are you retarded? Use it as NOS?

NOS adds a power boost to an engine, but it is still part of that engine system.

In almost every ship you have put in this race, the sub-light and lightspeed engines are two separate entities.

On top of that... how much of their 'NOS' can they use? 100%, 50%? How long can the 'boost' last?

And limited FTL? From Kashyyyk to Coruscant? I hope they have relief drivers.

Fuck... this has got to be one of the dumbest threads since... like yesterday.

[Feil]

I'd give it to Tantive IV in a slower-than-light race. If I recall correctly, the Falcon was getting outpaced by a Star Destroyer in Empire Strikes Back in linear acceleration at one point, and the Tantive IV was doing a pretty good job of running away from a Star Destroyer until the Star Destroyer shot a few holes in her in A New Hope. Besides, that huge bank of thrusters on the back has to be for something. The Millennium Falcon may be able to do the Kessel run in less than twelve parsecs, but if hyperdrive is off limits, she seems nothing to write home about.

EDIT: "Fastest Imperium of Man (presumably 40k?) ship" might take it, simply on the basis of the Imperium being huge as hell and having examples of ultra-rare technology that can't possibly be taken as representative of its abilities in general. "Fastest Imperium of Man ship of which there are at least one hundred in service at any time" would be a much more reasonable measuring stick.