Rolly-Polly Deathmatch #4: A Match Made in Space

[The Widowed]

(Flavor text goes here...as soon as I get around to it. I'm sleepy and it's storming outside. )

Combatant One of Six:



A Borg Cube
Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.


Combatant Victory-Two:



A Star Destroyer
Do not underestimate the power of the Dark Side of the Force.

Nuggets of Insight:

• The Borg have telepad technology and can transport boarding parties aboard any enemy vessels within range. However, the teleportation will not transmit matter through energy shields, which Star Destroyers have in spades. The Borg Cube would first have to eliminate the Star Destroyer's shields before Borg assault teams could be beamed aboard.

Amendment: Perhaps the Borg's transporters can beam matter through energy fields after all. I even recall the Star Trek Voyager shoot-em-up in the arcades, where the first stage involved you and the rest of the Voyager's red shirts gunning down a mess of Borg who had beamed aboard the Voyager; no indication was given that the Voyager's shields had been disabled before the raid, so we must conclude that the shields were intact when the Borg closed the distance and beamed aboard. Also, I was the king of scoring headshots on Borgies in that game, and I racked up a ton of Headhunter bonuses from popping off oodles of Borg like that.

• With the benefits of nanoprobe technology, the Borg can swiftly assimilate subdued enemies and increase or replenish their numbers. However, full-body protection--such as Imperial stormtrooper armor--will impede or prevent the insertion of nanoprobes and the assimilation of the wearer.

• The Star Destroyer has a broad variety of weapons, whether employed by infantry, by TIE assault craft (or other launchable vessels, such as Imperial shuttles or assault gunboats) or--in the case of turbolasers and larger versions of warheads such as proton torpedoes and concussion missiles--by the Star Destroyer itself. The TIE Bomber in particular can load and launch anywhere between twelve and twenty warhead munitions of various types--as well as employing conventional laser cannons and ion cannons--during one sortee without affecting the bomber's maneuverability. However, the Borg Cube's structure and onboard intelligence are capable of learning about and adapting to any vectors of harm previously used against the Borg; if the Star Destroyer's first turbolaser volley doesn't destroy the Borg Cube, chances are good that subsequent turbolaser blasts will be even less effective, if not outright useless.

• Both vessels have FTL capability as well as standard propulsion technology, but lack of data prevents me from determining which of the two vessels is faster in either category. Between the two vessels, the Borg Cube is considerably more maneuverable than the Star Destroyer in close engagements. Don't let the Borg Cube's blocky appearance fool you; remember, aerodynamics don't exist in the cold void of outer space, and the Borg Cube appears to use an omnidirectional inertialess drive rather than thrusters.

• Both vessels have tractor beam technology available as well.

• Star Destroyers have heavy shields, and Imperial shuttles and gunboats have conventional shields. Borg Cubes are lightly shielded or unshielded--depending on whether or not the individual cube has developed shields--but are capable of adaptation and, under certain conditions, autorepair. The majority of TIE assault craft--including the TIE Fighter, the TIE Interceptor and the TIE Bomber--are unshielded, while the more advanced TIE models such as the TIE Advanced (modeled after Lord Vader's TIE Fighter), the TIE Avenger and the TIE Defender are shielded; however, these advanced TIE craft are rare and do not appear before the "Empire Strikes Back" era. The Borg do not employ fighter craft at all, preferring to handle engagements either through the insertion of infantry or through the great variety of energy weapons which complement each Borg Cube or Borg Sphere (in addition to any new forms of attack resulting from the Borg's adaptations).

• Unless he's there to conduct an inspection, no, Darth Vader isn't on board the Star Destroyer. Yeah, sure, we all know that he could take a Borg Cube by himself, but he's either aboard the Executor, the Death Star (if the Rebel Alliance hasn't blown it up already), the Tantive IV, Cloud City, the planet Hoth...hell, a sparefaring hot dog stand...anywhere but the Star Destroyer. He can't be everywhere micromanaging everything; that's why the Galactic Empire's Navy has admirals on the payroll. Too bad, huh?

[The Widowed]

Hi, Gold Rush. Speak up!

...clearly and lucidly!

[Gold Rush]

I was actually thinking about doing/posting something similar to this, but it's cool.

And if you want my take on this fight, as much as I prefer the Star Destroyer to the dirtied up Rubik's Cube, I am unfortunately gonna have to go with the Borg in this case.

The Borg was always viewed imo as something outta Dragonball Z, but the writer's got lazy (as they usually did) after the season finale and never really fully developed or utilized them.

[The Widowed]

Dragonball Z? I never watched it. The constant grunting and screaming turned me off in a hurry. Do explain.

(...and I'll read it in the morning. Bedtime! )

[Gold Rush]

It's more of an off-beat analogy, really. It means the Borg are too overpowered and godlike to either effectively believe in them or to have any shred of hope, so it becomes unbelievable.

Granted, I know that the Borg were "laid low" in a TNG by very simple, humanistic means (they got infected with emotions) ....but they "got better" alluvasudden and have been fairly strong on the warpath, as it were. Heck, one of the few good things I liked about Voyager was re-introducing a species from the Original Series cartoon as Borg Hunters.

Of course, this also lost steam, especially since they fell to the old TV standard of, "Alien makeup/computer effects are too costly for every episode, so let's put pointy ears on and bring in the guy that did "My Favorite Martian" as one of the aliens."

I'll clarify what I wrote if you need it, but I too, am sleepy.

[Dr Jack Wolfe]

I can't believe you opened this can of worms. Did we learn nothing from the great slaughters on the StarWarsVsStartrek news groups of the 90s? How about the Late Great SpaceBattles.com that went so far as to produce fan films using Amigas to depict the fight. Or the dork from MIT who claims to have measured the size of an asteroid(Ie pulled it out his ass) from TESB and calculated the amount of energy needed by one turbo laser bolt to vaporize said asteroid and how it overwhelmed any Star Trek ship with one shot. Star Trek guys screaming the numbers from the Tech Manual weren't canonical, some Star Wars Dipweed saying that the Enterprise didn't pack anymore punch the a Sea Wolf sub cause the maximum yield on a photon torpedo was only (ONLY FOR GOD's SAKE) 64 megatons. Oi and Vey.

One on One Borg Cube for the win. Hell Kirk's Enterprise takes em both based on what we've seen on screen.(Kirk used to open fire at 90,0000 km you know real range?)

All out War? Well I tend to think the Trek Universe has a higher and more flexable tech base, but the Imperial fleet has something like 35,000 of that particular class of Star Destroyer and entire galaxy is a lot of resources.


Vorlons for the win

[Nerfed]

If the borg assimilate the stormtroopers, will their aim be assimilated into the collective? Because if so, maybe its good for the universe that the empire loses.

[The Widowed]

Originally Posted by Nerfed

If the borg assimilate the stormtroopers, will their aim be assimilated into the collective? Because if so, maybe its good for the universe that the empire loses.

Stormtroopers aim just fine...whenever they're not trying to shoot Luke Skywalker, that is. You know how every Jedi has some different ability bestowed by the Force? I think Luke's Force manifestation is "crapify goon accuracy, 10-mile radius".

I myself would have to vote for the Star Destroyer. The Voyager used to singlehandedly destroy Borg Cubes, even with its limited weaponry. The Star Destroyer's accompaniment of TIE Bombers alone carries an arsenal which could potentially dwarf that of the Voyager. Hell, back when I was playing Star Wars: TIE Fighter in the 90's (a game produced by LucasArts, so both the game's contents and its mini-novel--The Steele Chronicles--are accepted as canon), I once took out a Mon Calamari frigate (not a cruiser; a frigate...which is like the cruiser but a wee bit smaller, so it's still a pretty big accomplishment) by disabling all of its rear turbolasers with precision hit-and-run strafes with my TIE Bomber's ion cannons, then flying right up the frigate's tailpipes, dual-linking my warheads and pumping off every heavy rocket I had. BOOM! A capital ship for the local Rebel Alliance fleet, destroyed by a humble TIE Bomber.

And a typical Star Destroyer has an entire squadron of TIE Bombers ready to launch at all times...ready to swarm a hapless Borg Cube, bombard it with a whole crapload of warheads and scuttle it before it can properly adapt to the assault. The Borg's complete lack of small, swift, maneuverable fighter craft will drive the nails into the Borg Cube's coffin as the Empire will brutally triumph over the Borg in the preliminary starfighter phase alone.

Star Destroyer FTW.

[suburbanhell]

Star Wars > Star Trek. Star Destroyer FTW.

[RedSwitchblade]

All it takes is ten or twenty Borg goons wth good placement on that Star Destroyer to take down the whole damn fleet.

Viral humans FTW.