Spaceship race! (Which ship is fastest?)

[Oskuro]

I'd like to point out that, despite being a rustbucket, the Serenity has that full-burn thrust that might give it an edge in sub-light movement. Admittedly, I don't know about the sublight capabilities of the other ships, just reminding people of the full-burn thing. And if the course requires manuevering, instead of being a boring straight-line drag race, it is either piloted by "I'm a leaf on the wind" Wash, or "I can read your fucking mind and see the future" River.

And no, Serenity has no FTL (the civilization in Firefly got to the star system they inhabit by means of generation ships).

[Manus Celer Dei]

Given that Kashykk is around 32,000 light years from the core and the ships are "mostly" restricted to STL, this becomes less about engine performance and more about whether or not the ship is big enough to house sufficient population to maintain a functioning gene pool for a very very long generational voyage. Galactica could possibly do it, given how many civilians it housed, and I'm sure there's probably a huge enough Imperium ship to accomplish the same thing.

I mean, assuming they don't break down or run out of fuel in the however-many-the-fuck millennia it'd take to finish the race.

[Oskuro]

Yeah well, I think it should either be assumed the race is a short intra-system run/gauntlet, or the whole proposal forgotten, because interstellar travel without FTL is just nonsense.

And using an FTL drive for quick NOS-like bursts still favors the high end ships disproportionately. We're talking orders of magnitude here between the different FTL systems, a 1s burst would be enough to have many of the ships out of the race.

[Norade]

Wow, it's like all the newbies are racing to see who can get the coveted VI title next...

[NecronLord]

Wow, it's like all the newbies are racing to see who can get the coveted VI title next...

The facile threads do not excuse facile speculation on punishments. You have to be more than simply childish and silly to get a custom title.

[Themightytom]

Wow, it's like all the newbies are racing to see who can get the coveted VI title next...

it is a little embarrassing to watch, this wasn't very well thought out. I would have said put them all in the (Tec Con space race, invite participants but clarify no weapons, no FTL, no blue shells.

[Themightytom]

The Enterprise-D wins. Here's why: the FTL is limited, but the trip is long.

So the other ships get a burst of ftl, then have to go back to stl to finish the race.

The Enterprise, however, can cheat in a way: it punches it up to warp speed, then separates the saucer. It is no longer using its FTL drive, so it isn't breaking the rules, but the separated saucer sustains the speed anyway. (It must; otherwise, how did they expect it to actually get to Farpoint when they separated thanks to Q?)

In a rare occasion, slow and steady actually wins the race.

edit: another occassion of warp sustainers without engines is "The Emissary" TNG (not to be confused with the DS9 two-parter). Worf's girlfriend is launched in a photon torpedo from a starbase, then holds warp 9 for the trip until the Enterprise picks her up, despite her little ride not having actual warp engines.

That or, exactly how far will a hyperspace jump get the Tantive IV or Millenium Falcon? The could and up far enough ahead that warp still won't work. if the BC304 was a legit ship its interstellar hyperdrive "boost" would probably end the race.

[Gil Hamilton]

I'd like to point out that, despite being a rustbucket, the Serenity has that full-burn thrust that might give it an edge in sub-light movement. Admittedly, I don't know about the sublight capabilities of the other ships, just reminding people of the full-burn thing. And if the course requires manuevering, instead of being a boring straight-line drag race, it is either piloted by "I'm a leaf on the wind" Wash, or "I can read your fucking mind and see the future" River.

And no, Serenity has no FTL (the civilization in Firefly got to the star system they inhabit by means of generation ships).

Wait, you are claiming that Serenity has a full-burn thrust that might give it an edge and then claim that you don't know the capabilities of the rest? If you don't know about them, why say that Serenity has the edge? For example, in terms of thrust, we've SEEN the Millenium Falcon lift off from Tatooine and reach orbit in seconds and reach a significant distance from the planet in that time. StarTrek ships, while the tend to lurch about at slow speeds relative to each other, seem to be able to achieve fast speeds on their own. And ALL ships in this thread don't NEED to actually travel distances at slower than light speeds, because all of them have reliable FTLs (except, possibly, the IoM ship, but the WH40K ogres can fill that in).

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.

You shouldn't count out the Enterprise from the new StarTrek. After all, it went from Earth to Vulcan (some 16 lightyears) in under an hour. If you take the movie at face value, it did it in a few minutes. That's damn impressive.

[Themightytom]

Kirk told Spock they could have him at Vulcan in two days at the end of TMP so Nutrek Enterprise seems significantly faster.

But That is at Warp Speed, and this is STL

[Gil Hamilton]

Kirk told Spock they could have him at Vulcan in two days at the end of TMP so Nutrek Enterprise seems significantly faster.

But That is at Warp Speed, and this is STL

The STL is nonsensical. Unless you can explain how a race can work over significant interstellar distances without most of it being FTL, then we've got to talk about FTL.

[Srelex]

As we seem to be agreement that the FTL suggestion is retarded, how about a simple race from Earth to Neptune's orbital path?

[SapphireFox]

I would like to second Srelex's sublight Earth to Neptune race idea. An FTL race from Couriscant to Kashyyk would be impossible for some of the listed ships or at least be mind numbingly long. Also using FTL as a "turbo boost" in an sublight race especially in an in-system race is dumb because of the increased risk of faceplanting into something like asteroids, comets, moons, or other heavenly bodies also there is the obvious chance to overshoot the "finish line" and have to come back. Sublight is the only way all of the listed racers can realistically compete.

[Oskuro]

If you don't know about them, why say that Serenity has the edge?

Reading comprehension is your friend:

the Serenity has that full-burn thrust that might give it an edge in sub-light movement. Admittedly, I don't know about the sublight capabilities of the other ships, just reminding people of the full-burn thing.

[Gil Hamilton]

Reading comprehension is your friend:

the Serenity has that full-burn thrust that might give it an edge in sub-light movement. Admittedly, I don't know about the sublight capabilities of the other ships, just reminding people of the full-burn thing.

And a person eating habenero peppers might fart and outrace a greyhound. Without knowing anything about the other competitors, saying that it might do something is an empty statement. So who cares about the full burn thing, if you don't know that it's worth anything in this race?

[Gramzamber]

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.

Do remember that the Falcon in TESB wasn't up to full performance due to the repairs and refits it was undergoing on Hoth, plus the Star Destroyer seemed to be doing a good job of catching up to the Tantive IV even before it was damaged extensively.

[Junghalli]

Given that Kashykk is around 32,000 light years from the core and the ships are "mostly" restricted to STL, this becomes less about engine performance and more about whether or not the ship is big enough to house sufficient population to maintain a functioning gene pool for a very very long generational voyage.

Actually that may not theoretically be necessary; there's no reason* a ship can't be defined as winning if it passes through the destination system as an ancient dead hulk full of 32,000+ year old mummies. You just have to keep the engines going until the fuel runs out and then the ship will just keep going on (roughly) the same speed and course to the destination regardless of whether there's any crew or active systems to mind the store or not.

* Well, aside from the obvious one that it's pretty silly.

Well, knowing what ludicrously high numbers some of these universes involve their ships may reach speeds where friction with the ISM and collision with random interstellar dust particles may be a serious issue without some kind of magic deflector that may need active power. Does a ship "win" if it arrives in lots of little pieces? If not, one of the slower ships may actually have a better chance just because its slow speed makes it more likely to be in one piece at the end of the trip.

[Themightytom]

Given that Kashykk is around 32,000 light years from the core and the ships are "mostly" restricted to STL, this becomes less about engine performance and more about whether or not the ship is big enough to house sufficient population to maintain a functioning gene pool for a very very long generational voyage.

Actually that may not theoretically be necessary; there's no reason* a ship can't be defined as winning if it passes through the destination system as an ancient dead hulk full of 32,000+ year old mummies. You just have to keep the engines going until the fuel runs out and then the ship will just keep going on (roughly) the same speed and course to the destination regardless of whether there's any crew or active systems to mind the store or not.

* Well, aside from the obvious one that it's pretty silly.

Well, knowing what ludicrously high numbers some of these universes involve their ships may reach speeds where friction with the ISM and collision with random interstellar dust particles may be a serious issue without some kind of magic deflector that may need active power. Does a ship "win" if it arrives in lots of little pieces? If not, one of the slower ships may actually have a better chance just because its slow speed makes it more likely to be in one piece at the end of the trip.

Oo OO!! Parts of the ship? In that case what about things emitted from the ship? there's obviously going to be light from anything with a window.. or what about pieces of the ship? Could Data be fired via "class 8 probe" at the finish line?

[The_Saint]

I trade the given ships in for a Xeelee Nightfighter

[Stark]

I trade the given ships in for a Xeelee Nightfighter

Do you want a full stop with that red herring?

[Oskuro]

And a person eating habenero peppers might fart and outrace a greyhound. Without knowing anything about the other competitors, saying that it might do something is an empty statement. So who cares about the full burn thing, if you don't know that it's worth anything in this race?

Great, a fucking idiot. I was simply offering information on the capabilities of a Firefly ship. Wich part of that can't you understand, you retarded moron?

[Batman]

And a person eating habenero peppers might fart and outrace a greyhound. Without knowing anything about the other competitors, saying that it might do something is an empty statement. So who cares about the full burn thing, if you don't know that it's worth anything in this race?

Great, a fucking idiot. I was simply offering information on the capabilities of a Firefly ship. Wich part of that can't you understand, you retarded moron?

That'd be the part where you DIDN'T offer information? The acceleration of Firefly on full burn is?

[ArX]

I don't know about the Serenity and Imperium but about the others... If we judge
them based on their speeds within their own universes then I think they are in this
order: BSG ships > StarWars ships > StarTrek ships...

But...

If one of them get home-universe advantage, and the others have to do without
any star charts and such in totally unknown universe, I think its safe to say that
who ever have the home-universe advantage wins... (If safety is a factor...)

If we don't care about safety, BSG could of course still plot some blind jump and
SW ships could jump to hyperspeed and cruise around much faster than ST ships
ever could (untill they runs into some star or something...)

[Gil Hamilton]

Great, a fucking idiot. I was simply offering information on the capabilities of a Firefly ship. Wich part of that can't you understand, you retarded moron?

Are you for real? Like, seriously? You gave absolutely no content or information in your post, admitted that you didn't actually know anything, AND you have the balls to call someone ELSE a fucking idiot?

Here's a clue, jackass, you don't get to talk shit unless you actually have an argument at all. You've given nothing. Hell, you haven't even given any information at all about the feature of the Serenity that you claim might give it the edge over the other competitors that you know nothing about. Saying that Serenity has something called a "full burn" is meaningless. That encodes zero information. What is a "full burn"? Fuck, you haven't even defined the term. If you haven't even defined the term, how can you say anything at all? You've offered NO information about the capabilities of a Firefly ship.

No, I think it's completely safe to say that you've dropped your pants and left a steaming, coiling pile of ignorance on the ground, and now you think acting like a junior high child can turn shit into sugar. How about instead of you being a dip, how about you either attach a supported figure to, well, anything or you go slink off this thread until the next time we need to crown the Pope of Fools?

[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.

You shouldn't count out the Enterprise from the new StarTrek. After all, it went from Earth to Vulcan (some 16 lightyears) in under an hour. If you take the movie at face value, it did it in a few minutes. That's damn impressive.

But even then, they are slower than TOS Enterprise. They managed to go from relatively close to the edge of the galaxy to the center in a matter of hours (correct me if I am wrong). If nuTrek ENT managed 16ly in a matter of minutes (let's say 5 minutes) that would still make the 32,000ly trip done in about a week.

Then again that is if the race was done in FTL. I agree with everyone that the "FTL boost" idea along with the race itself is stupid. No-one presses a button and suddenly the ship is in overdrive! Plus the nature of some of the ship's FTL drives do not do "boosts".

The Neptune to Earth race is a better idea but the ENT would not be making it in two hours time as (from googling) the distance from Neptune to Earth is around 4 light hours. Doing it in two wouldn't it make the ENT travel at twice the speed of light? Looking around I see that full impulse at least for TOS ships was 0.5c. That would make it an 8 hour race?

In that case, Trek ships would be dead last whereas I'd still put the MF as being the winner and the rest irrelevant.

[Gil Hamilton]

But even then, they are slower than TOS Enterprise. They managed to go from relatively close to the edge of the galaxy to the center in a matter of hours (correct me if I am wrong). If nuTrek ENT managed 16ly in a matter of minutes (let's say 5 minutes) that would still make the 32,000ly trip done in about a week.

Perhaps. That was StarTrek V right? There are some unknowns there since we don't know how close to the galactic core they were in the first place, I don't believe (it's been a while since I've seen STV and it didn't exactly stick). I suppose they must have made the trip to Earth to the desert planet though in a reasonable timeframe. However, several million times the speed of light is typically must faster than most Trek ships that aren't under the power of a lumpy headed weirdo, which definitely puts it up there with much of the examples of speed the TOS Enterprise did and much faster than anything seen since (it would have been trivial for either the TOS Enterprise or the NuTrek Enterprise to fly back from the delta quadrant in a few months based on what we've seen, something that would have taken the Voyager seventy odd years).