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Ended:07/21/11
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 The System Lords of Stargate vs the Federation of Star Trek (6)

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The System Lords of Stargate vs the Federation of Star Trek

Hello all,

This topic is all about comparing the two major protagonists of Stargate and Star Trek and finding out which force would emerge victorious in a war. As a side-issue of this discussion, I am imagining that how to analyse the evidence (and even what constitutes evidence) will be an aspect of this debate.

For example, I hold to the view that suspension of belief and the scientific method are the best ways to approach analysing the capabilities of sci-fi forces.  That is to say, we take what we see on-screen as real, and we look at the effects of weapons, the performances of shields etc, and derive figures from them.  There is also dialogue, which makes for a good secondary source, although it's more open to interpretation, as characters do not always speak literally and cannot be assumed to be infallible. 

My case is that the System Lords represent the more powerful of the two groups.  The main evidence for this comes from the SG1 episode Beach Head, which involves clear numbers about the performance of large bombs and percentages, allowing us to work out low-end firepower of 100MT per shot for the System Lords' main vessels.  These numbers are backed up by the SG1 episode Enemies, where such a ship spends several hours in the 'coronasphere' of a blue giant star.

Contrast this with the Federation, where in the Original Series episode Doomsday Machine, 100MT represented the output of a Federation's ships engines set to overload.  There are also problems with relatively low-speed impacts bringing down shields, such as Klingon ships (which are similar in performance to Federation ships) being completely destroyed in the DS9 episode Tears of the Prophets.

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0 points

The System Lords were the protagonists in Stargate? Really?

That little nitpick aside, I'm taking the Federation for two simple reasons.

1. Unified command.

2. Loyal troops.

The System Lords will stab each other in the back at the drop of a hat, and the Jaffa would chop them all up into hamburger if they become convinced they could get away with it. Don't care how powerful their ships are if they spend as much time shooting at each other as the other guys... which they generally do. The Federation on the other hand stands together against all comers.

Plus they have telepath member races... nobody ever really seems to put too much thought into the massive strategic and tactical advantages of that, they barely ever touch on it in the series. Troi doesn't count, she's just an empath.

Side: Federation
darthtimon(41) Disputed
1 point

Thank you for your reply.

Whilst it is true that the System Lords are, generally speaking, a disparate bunch, they can and do band together for common goals. They did not contradict one another's stances as gods, worked together against the Tokra, and unified to face Anubis. Against a common enemy they do work together.

It therefore becomes the case that, even if their ships are only roughly equal in firepower to their Federation equivalents, their strategic superiority is far better- their hyperdrive allows them to deploy anywhere in Federation space, at any time of their choosing. They can then withdraw to staging areas and bases well outside the Federation's ability to reach.

Side: System Lords
gcomeau(536) Disputed
0 points

They band together temporarily and ineffectively, are constantly plotting the entire time for how they can betray the other guys first to grab more power for themselves which as a slightly detrimental effect on their ability to function together efficiently, they hardly worked together against the Tokra... they each faced off against them individually. They banded together against Anubis extremely briefly. And they kinda sucked at it.

And did I mention that fact that a large portion of their troops would like to see them dead?

Tech advantages are temporary (especially against a force that has, as I mentioned, telepaths in their ranks). The Federation on the other hand will always be the more coherent fighting force with an actual functional command structure.

Side: Federation