Postulating a ST Federation that exemplifies competence...

[MJ12 Commando]

The main knock against the ST UFP I see on the main site is a utter lack of competence in ergonomics, weapons design, starship design, and the like.

Well, there's also the massive yield disparity to work against, but that's what fancy tricks are occasionally useful for.

Let us postulate a United Federation of Planets which has evolved to coincidentally have a similar overall technology level, but applies it as efficiently as possible for all their fields, including warfare. After all, he who desires peace must prepare for war.

Given the amount of crazy tech-of-the-week we've seen in Star Trek (and the stuff they have baseline but *never use*), we can presume that they can create some incredibly nifty applications of technology, allowing them mass superiority compared to their old selves in almost any field.

But the fun questions are twofold:

What would they probably have?

And would it let them stand anything resembling a chance against the Galactic Empire?

I'm betting the first is "a lot more awesome stuff than they have in canon" and the last is "probably not". Let's see if it turns out that way.

[Ghost Rider]

Your logic is backwards. They need to have the ability to generate the energy that the SW galaxy uses, then have compentence to not screw around.

In fact with more compentence they'd have LESS crazy dumbass shit because most of that crazy dumbass magic technology of the week kills their people then it does anything else.

And no amount of compentence is going to compensate for the technology disparity.

[Nefar]

The main knock against the ST UFP I see on the main site is a utter lack of competence in ergonomics, weapons design, starship design, and the like.

Well, there's also the massive yield disparity to work against, but that's what fancy tricks are occasionally useful for.

Good weapons design, starship design, grasp of tactics, etc. isn't going to do anything against 200 gigatons and over 10 million c. You do not win war's by hoping for fancy trick/acts of Q/luck.

What would they probably have?

At least the Borg wouldn't be a threat any longer (bullets!)

And would it let them stand anything resembling a chance against the Galactic Empire?

No. Just assuming the have 'competence' does nothing for their weapons (unless it's to increase accuracy).

The most noticable effect that an increase in competence and a decrease in technobabble would do would be increasing Star Trek viewership.

[Darth Wong]

Besides, most of the time when Trekkies talk about what they "could" do with their technology, they're making a lot of assumptions about the underlying capabilities they must have, based on what they've seen them do.

It's a bit like someone seeing a Harrier Jump Jet and assuming that this must mean we have anti-gravity technology. It may seem logical, given a certain lack of knowledge and some irrational thinking processes, but you have to always think: "what is the absolute minimum, lowest form of technology that a really clever person could possibly use in order to achieve that", rather than thinking "Hey, this means they can ..."

We know they have some terrible tactics, and that they have some really bad engineering methods in wide use. However, a lot of times when Trekkies assume that they have near-godlike technology that they're just using inefficiently, they're ignoring the possibility that the gizmo in question is actually really cleverly designed to make the most out of the technology they do have. A good example is replicators: Trekkies tend to assume that under the replicator lies a fantastic technology that can make anything, and they're just failing to use it. But it's also possible (and in fact far more likely) that they have much more limited technology in their replicators and they use a lot of clever tricks to do what they do.

[General Trelane (Retired)]

What would they probably have?

Less technobabble!

[Batman]

But the fun questions are twofold:
What would they probably have?

Common sense. That in and of itself would be a major improvement for the TNG Feds but it's not going to do beans to change their tech base. Most if not all of their gee-whiz one episode wonders worked via exploiting the weaknesses of their technobabble-driven technology (when they worked as advertised in the first place which was rarely enough).
A lot of the underlying stupidity (kids on 'war'ships, forcefields instead of doors, core ejection mechanisms that FAIL if the power goes out instead the other way round etc) would go away but they'd still be limited to impulse, Warp drive, and M/AM energy generation.

And would it let them stand anything resembling a chance against the Galactic Empire?

The phrase 'HELL NO' comes to mind. Even if the Feds stop being complete and utter morons, they're still hopelessly outgunned, outnumbered and out-everything elsed. Their offensive weapons aren't up to it, their defensive weapons aren't up to it, their STL propulsion likely isn't (do we have any hard numbers on impulse accelleration?), their FTL propulsion DEFINITELY isn't, their power generation isn't (we're talking 9.3 ts of reactant at 100% efficiency to power a single Acclamator MTL bolt)...

I'm betting the first is "a lot more awesome stuff than they have in canon" and the last is "probably not". Let's see if it turns out that way.

No it doesn't. What little of the 'awesome stuff' worked as it was supposed to worked through exploiting technobabble weaknesses of Trek technology and would be useless against anybody else.
As for 'probably not', TT+ shields/firepower for Wars vs maybe-MT for the Feds and maybe-GT for the Borg. How about HELL NO again.

[Coalition]

Given the amount of crazy tech-of-the-week we've seen in Star Trek (and the stuff they have baseline but *never use*), we can presume that they can create some incredibly nifty applications of technology, allowing them mass superiority compared to their old selves in almost any field.

But the fun questions are twofold:

What would they probably have?

They would have had a hard peace treaty with the Cardassians. No need for Maquis, as the Cardassians would have been kicked back to their border, and future Cardassian threats would be met with Picard mentioning about the casualties in the last Cardassian war, and how the Gul does not want that to happen again.

The Klingons would have been steered towards a 'proper' succession, where the Imperial heirs are selected for intelligence, rather than hand to hand skill.

Riker knows military tactics, and the only reason the Duros sisters manage to fight is due to several additional cloaked Klingon warships nearby.

Romulans would be very nervous about provoking the Federation hive, given what happened in the last war (let alone Narendra 3, where a single Federation ship engaged 4 Romulan ships). The difference is that in this case the 1 ship holds off the 4, until reinforcements arrive and send the 1 surviving Romulan ship fleeing at top warp (burning out its warp engine, and being towed back to Romulan space as a message, 4:1 odds plus surprise is not enough to engage a Fed ship).

Ferengi 'capitalists' get a lesson in proper business ethics from the Federation, and human businessmen show them what crooked deals can be realy like.

Borg attacks would be met regularly, and soon the Borg are sending multiple cubes. Federation technology base grows after each attack, and sensors are picking up Borg transwarp nexii. Strikes are performed to damage these nexii so Borg ships are damaged exiting the TW nexii, making them easier prey for Federation ships.

The Dominion gets slammed hard when they try to attack.

You get a sense of the Federation being a steel fist in a velvet glove, where they will be polite to others, but if you mess with them, the gloves come off, and they will steamroller over your empire.

Proper uniforms, with pockets, environmental suits for engineering personnel, a fully fleshed out ground army, the officers are specalists rather than the Captain or other named character being the only one who knows the answers, etc. So in DS9, when the staff beams down, they are 'captured' by the Federation personnel (who have proper guards out), and the DS9 crews provide engineering and repair experience, rather than combat power. Actual First Contact specialists are sent to a developing planet, rather than the ship's XO.

Just go to the main site, in the Star Trek database, and look up 'Culture', 'Design', or 'Command Structure'. That would answer a lot of questions right there.

[Ghost Rider]

The garbage went this way