The Sovereign wins this one easily. The D'Deridex class warbird barely outgunned a Galaxy class, although it had a heavy forward weapon biass which gave it twice the forward firepower of a Galaxy. On the other hand a Sovereign has more then three times the forward firepower of a Galaxy as well as superior shields and armor. The Sovereign survives the initial volley and then swiftly destroys the Warbird.
I agree with you. A Warbird could not defeat a Sovergein in a direct fight. However in this scenario it does have a chance of destroying or possibly disabling the Sovergein.
The Sovergein's shields are down which means the Warbird can bring its powerful disruptors and torpedoes to bear on any of the Sovergeins defenceless subsystems. True the abalative armor on a Sovergein will minimize the damage the Warbird can cause before the shields come back online but that is all the Warbird needs to disable the Sovergein. The Warbird can hit the shield generator, phaser banks, torpedo launcers, lifesupport and indeed the bridge as some suggested.
Also since the Sovergein lowered its shields for transport any onboard transport inhibitors would be down also. This would allow the Warbird to beam photon torpedoes inside ship itself. A 64 megaton detonation in the main engineering is not going to do the Sovergein any good.
More phaser strips don't necessarily equate to more firepower, and I don't think it can vomit out Q-torps anywhere near as fast as the E-D could launch volleys of photorps (although I admit I'm basing this on "Yesterday's Enterprise", which is arguably a different E-D).
I think more phaser banks would definately equal more firepower since the Sovergein is armed iwith type XII phasers which are more powerful than the GCS models.
Also the Sovergein has photon torpedo launchers as well quantums so the total torpedo firepower would be higher than a GCS.
- If the Starfleet commander knows to hit the Quantum Singularity drive, they can win the battle somewhat quickly, as it seems to be an unstable device.
The Sovergeins phasers can not punch through the Warbirds shields like a smaller ship, they are too powerful. Of course it could hit the quantum singularity drive once the Warbird has been severaly damaged but that assumes that the Sovergein survives the initial attack by the Warbird.
- The Daystrom Institute site, puts it's "beam" strength, (what I assume to be disruptor beam) at 30% higher then the GCS, and it's hull armor 20% higher, which would theoretically make huitting the QSD harder.
The Warbirds hull should be much stronger than that since it is twice the length of a GCS.
People are suggesting the Romulans would aim for the bridge
Who says they would it?
First, Trek targetting systems, regardless of species, don't seem to be the best (personally, I think they all have ramming systems going to cause that, otherwise, the AI on any 3-D Shooter would be a huge improvement over there targetting systems)
We have repeatedly seen trek ships targetting individual subsytems. Star Trek accuracy is not as bad as you think. Their weapens are quite accurate and have a very long range. In "human error" Voyger hit a missile at five million kilometers.
, Sovereign class ships have exceptionaly good targeting. They can pinpoint attack an enemy system with phasers and retarget another system and fire in under a second. That speaks for quick aiming with good refire rates.
Agreed. In Insurrection we have seen the Enterprise destroying the lifesupport on the Sona ship without actualy killing anyone aboard.
Though of course there's nothing (these aren't klingons, they are without honour...) to stop the Romulans transporting a 'great big bomb' over to the sovvie's warp core.
A very intelligent idea. Total morons like Janeway have succesfully beamed torpedoes onboard a borg scout with SHIELDS UP, there is no reason why the romulans can not do it. They are after all one of the few star trek species that actualy follow legitimate military tactics.
Not if the Warbird was able to hit a nacelle beforehand... in which case (at least, going by what we see in Nemesis) the Soveriegn's warp drive will probably be down, and the Warbird can escape. Even if the ship wasn't destroyed, it's been effectively immobilized, giving the Romulan fleet that much more flexibility in dealing with it.
It might even destroy the Sovergein. The Enterprise-D was destroyed by a naccele tap in "cause and its effect". But it may not work since starfleet had done a lot work in improving warp drive safeties.
Unless the Warbird hits the warp engine and runs like hell, the Sovereign will be able to return fire and utterly scrap the Warbird in little time.
The Enterprise-E was fleeing at the sight of two Sona battleships in "Insurrection". They did not consider engaging them. If a weak race like Sona can build battleships that can take on a Sovergein there is no reason to beleive the Romulans who actualy exceed the Federation in some ways can not build a better ship. While the Warbird might be weaker than a Sona battleship since it is a older design it is still something to be feared. In a direct battle with a Sovergein the Warbird would be destroyed but not before giving a good fight.