Just how powerful IS voyager?
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Mikey
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I agree with Jim - the constant need for maintenance and repair was not due to the many unorthodox upgrades; rather, it was the motivation for them in the first place. If your ship is constantly getting pummeled, after you fix it then you think of ways to defend it better.
I can't stand nothing dull
I got the high gloss luster
I'll massacre your ass as fast
as Bull offed Custer
I got the high gloss luster
I'll massacre your ass as fast
as Bull offed Custer
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Duskofdead
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Voyager is a quick scout. It was never "uber", nor designed to be (in my opinion). Everything Starfleet people ever say about it is that it's "quick" or "smart" or "fast", they never say it's big, strong or powerful. (Well, Janeway says that when bluffing or trying to intimidate possible enemies.) I think within the Federation it would have never been a frontline vessel, it would have been meant for research, scouting, patrol, etc. (Note the USS Bellerophon being basically a diplomatic transport during the Dominion War and taking diplomats to the summit on Romulus, not exactly front line combat duty.) I am not sure where the figure of Voyager having Type 8 phasers comes from, if that is canon from a bit of dialogue or just speculation, but if so that would put it considerably less well armed than even the Galaxy class (which is an older design), especially when you take into account no burst fire torpedo tubes.
With the various alien enhancements, yes I believe that in most regards Voyager itself can outperform probably most other Intrepid class ships, at least assuming they both have access to repair and maintenance facilities. (Voyager during Year of Hell or during the various points where it was low on deuterium obviously wouldn't perform better than a normal Intrepid, etc.) I am NOT counting the transphasic torpedoes or ablative armor generator because it was always my complete impression, from the get go, that Starfleet would never allow these things to be used again. (Temporal prime directive.) Of course there might be some causality loop where some guy gets the "idea" for one or the other or makes an important breakthrough by reading about their use on Voyager, but that's another topic.
Once you discount the torpedoes & armor generator, no, Voyager would not slice through a Galaxy class ship or singlehandedly take on any five starfleet ships or anything like that. I think Voyager gives a false impression of itself because for about the whole first two seasons of the show, and for probably about 60 or 70% of the show overall, it is being compared against alien races who are markedly less advanced. The whole Delta Quadrant had the feel of ruin across it, it felt to me almost (excluding Borg space) like it was meant to feel like right after the fall of the Roman Empire or something, you had all these little powers (many just single system) who were recovering or hiding or just emerging as local powers. The empires that felt anything like what you'd run into in the Alpha Quadrant were few and far between, and typically rushed past in a single episode.
To make a long story short, Voyager (even pre-upgrade) was able to more or less go at least toe to toe with more or less everything that it came across for a good majority of the show.
I think that something more serious like a Galaxy class retracing Voyager's same route would have been a totally different story. Kazon? Joke. Plow right through. A Galaxy might have had more severe supply issues than Voyager had, being a bigger and more powerhousing ship. And it might have attracted much more unwanted attention than a small scout ship slipping through the Delta Quadrant. Almost certainly it would have presented a more attractive target to the Borg. But I think that regardless of upgrades, nothing (short of the endgame upgrades) it received would up its combat strength by 500% or whatever would be required to put it above a Galaxy class. IMHO.
With the various alien enhancements, yes I believe that in most regards Voyager itself can outperform probably most other Intrepid class ships, at least assuming they both have access to repair and maintenance facilities. (Voyager during Year of Hell or during the various points where it was low on deuterium obviously wouldn't perform better than a normal Intrepid, etc.) I am NOT counting the transphasic torpedoes or ablative armor generator because it was always my complete impression, from the get go, that Starfleet would never allow these things to be used again. (Temporal prime directive.) Of course there might be some causality loop where some guy gets the "idea" for one or the other or makes an important breakthrough by reading about their use on Voyager, but that's another topic.
Once you discount the torpedoes & armor generator, no, Voyager would not slice through a Galaxy class ship or singlehandedly take on any five starfleet ships or anything like that. I think Voyager gives a false impression of itself because for about the whole first two seasons of the show, and for probably about 60 or 70% of the show overall, it is being compared against alien races who are markedly less advanced. The whole Delta Quadrant had the feel of ruin across it, it felt to me almost (excluding Borg space) like it was meant to feel like right after the fall of the Roman Empire or something, you had all these little powers (many just single system) who were recovering or hiding or just emerging as local powers. The empires that felt anything like what you'd run into in the Alpha Quadrant were few and far between, and typically rushed past in a single episode.
To make a long story short, Voyager (even pre-upgrade) was able to more or less go at least toe to toe with more or less everything that it came across for a good majority of the show.
I think that something more serious like a Galaxy class retracing Voyager's same route would have been a totally different story. Kazon? Joke. Plow right through. A Galaxy might have had more severe supply issues than Voyager had, being a bigger and more powerhousing ship. And it might have attracted much more unwanted attention than a small scout ship slipping through the Delta Quadrant. Almost certainly it would have presented a more attractive target to the Borg. But I think that regardless of upgrades, nothing (short of the endgame upgrades) it received would up its combat strength by 500% or whatever would be required to put it above a Galaxy class. IMHO.
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Sionnach Glic
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