What if Voyager had been a Nebula-class?

[SuperSaiyaMan12]

Given some of the difficulties that Voyager had being an Intrepid-class, against races with more firepower than their ship and such, how would things have been if Voyager had been a Nebula-class with a weapon's pod? Think of it as a uprated Nebula, with bionerual circuitry, the EMH, etc.

[Teaos]

Well they would have kicked the Kazon arse a lot worse.

Having a lot more supplies and people they may of just decided to settle down.

[Sionnach Glic]

The Neb would have probably done a lot better, in that it would have been far more survivable than VOY in the various situations those idiots got themselves into. The Kazon would have been no threat, for example. The larger crew would also mean less reliance on potentialy troublesome Maquis as crewmen which, although not a problem in the series, would have been for the better.

The downside is that the Neb is slower than the Intrepid, meaning it takes longer to get home. Though given that they thought they'd be traveling for 75 years, I doubt an extra few years would have made much of a difference to them.

Having a lot more supplies and people they may of just decided to settle down.

I doubt it. If they didn't decide to settle down on that paradise planet in The 37's, then I can't see them changing their minds just because they've got a bigger and more powerful ship. Hell, the increased survivability could push them to keep going.

[Teaos]

Maybe but the Nebula is slower. It would take them 178 years to get home compared to an Intrepids 70.

Well beyond a humans time time, were as the Younger members of Voyagers crew could have expected to get home, especially since small jumps are to be expected.

The ship would simply fall apart even with heavy maintenance.

[katefan]

I don't see how it would have fallen apart. According to the producers you can fly a D-7 class for a hundred years and support families inside it with no problem (Prophecy). And Voyager could be severely damaged at the end of one episode and be working just fine by the start of the next, the most obvious incident being that ep. where Voyager was tied to a duplicate and it was almost completely wrecked.

[Graham Kennedy]

They would have obliterated the Kazon when they attacked the Caretaker's array, and then gone home for pancakes.

[Mikey]

They would have obliterated the Kazon when they attacked the Caretaker's array, and then gone home for pancakes.

There it is. ST: VOY would have been a two-part miniseries.

Rochey - I don't know that the reliance on Maquis crew would have been less. I'd expect the losses from the trip to the DQ would have been expressed in a percentage of the crew.

Anyway, my take is that (barring Graham's theory) the Nebula - with its greater space, facilities, amenities, survivability, and probably adaptability, but lower speed - would have become a generational ship.

[Praeothmin]

Maybe but the Nebula is slower. It would take them 178 years to get home compared to an Intrepids 70.

How do you figure this?
Voyager was certainly not going at its maximum speed.
Think about it.
You are far from home, low on ressources for such a trip, you don't know when you'll be able to refuel or resupply.
You certainly will not push your engines to their limits, especially if you know you might have enemies too powerful to fight and that you'll need those engines to operate at peak capacity to escape.
Heck, we heard Janeway say Warp 6 often enough to think that was the speeds they were travelling at most of the time.
The Nebula can certainly do Warp 6 for as long as Voyager.

Because, if they had been travelling at top speeds, then it would have taken them far less time to get home.
In "The 37s," Paris states that Voyager's top speed is at 4 billion miles per second, i.e., 21,500c.
That means at their top speed, Voyager could have gotten home in less then three years.

So they were definitly not going at their top speeds, which means that the upgraded Nebula, with a top speed of Warp 9.9, could easily travel at the same speeds Voyager travelled at.

[Teaos]

They're not capable of travelling at their top speed for very long, and doing so one would assume really drains their fuel and maybe damages the engines. Just like driving your car into the red.

[Coalition]

More people -> higher chance of someone thinking of using a timer on the explosives beamed onto the Caretaker.

Larger ship also means they have more time to do their usual conference room discussions while the green ensign tells tactical to fire phasers at Kazon ships that approach within XX range.

Here goes my try at the meeting:
Janeway: "We have a choice here. Option one is we go home now and leave the caretaker intact. That will allow the Kazon to gain access to its technology and to the Ocampa though. Option two is we destroy the Caretaker, denying the Kazon access to its technology and keeping the Ocampa safe, but stranding us here."

(Common Sense crewman): "Captain, there is a third option."

Janeway: "Such as?"

CSC: "Well, I use these pieces of extremely rare technology for my cooking, to make sure I know to accomplish specific tasks at specific times. Each of them are roughly four hundred year old, passed down in my family for generations. They will provide the necessary accuracy to make sure the explosives detonate after we leave."

Janeway: "What are they called?"

CSC: "Kitchen timers."




Of course the fun option is where a Romulan D'Deridex gets stuck in the Delta Quadrant. Singularity means they can run at warp for long periods of time while only needing waste to refuel the reactor. Cloak means they can bypass the sensor grids of petty little empires (such as the B'omar from The Raven). Heavy weapons and the willingness to use them means that they will become the Bogeyman of the Delta Quadrant for many years to come.

[Capt. Jethro]

Assuming that Voyager is a reality, then Janeway would have never been in command of the ship. They would have had a BETTER captain and either two things would have happened.
1. The ship would have never gotten thrown into the Delta Quadrant.
2. If they still got thrown in the DQ then they wouldn't have done as many stoooopid things.

[Mark]

And another Captain would have thought of that magical invention called a timer.

[Schrodinger's Hat]

Hell, even if they hadn't thought of using a timer, you'd figure there'd be someone on the ship willing to stay behind and make a heroic sacrifice both to save the Ocampa and to ensure their crewmates made it home within their lifetimes. Starfleet officers are always doing that kind of thing. All it takes is one suicidal/heroic sonuvagun willing to sit on the Array, have a cigarette, and then set off a tricobalt device manually, Armageddon-style. Boom! Voyager's home. It's all over. We now return you to your regularly scheduled program.

[Mark]

Good point. Janeway DID demonstrate some suicidal inclinations later on....................

[Sionnach Glic]

Or simply fire a torp on a course that will take a few minutes to hit the array, use the array to get back home, and then when you're gone the torp hits the array. Boom.