Poll Geordi vs Miles...who'd be YOUR Chief Engineer?

[apollo1984]

O'Brien was basically the "chief engineer in all but name" for the Defiant, one of the most accomplished war vessels, as station "chief engineer in all but name" he had to keep a gigantic space station based on alien technology (where there's few tech manuals on hand I would imagine) on the go as well as to help repair ships docked at the station. LaForge is very good n' all, but he really has a very easy time of it compared to O'Brien.

Your raise a good point about the Defiant, when it was first brought onto the show it would shake itself apart if pushed to max, plus despite all its firepower still gets its ass handed to it it their first encounter with the Jem'hadar, after that it becomes the most accomplished war vessel the federation had, Laforge started with working state of the art tech and maintained it pretty well, but the Defiant basically is re-built under O'Brien's supervision, fixes the inherant issues that the defiant had in the testing phases, upgrades the defiant to include ablative hull.

But not only that, he equips the station with weapons to defend itself, from scratch since the Cardassians removed all existing weapons from the station before leaving.

 

[TheSeeker]

This is a great topic, one deserving of a poll as a few posters have suggested, so as my first official act as the new Moderator of this forum, I have added one!

My vote goes to O'Brien. I love La Forge, but as pointed out by others, O'Brien had to run a giant alien space station without a manual, and he had to get a cutting edge starship that was still a prototype working properly. Plus I totally want to go have a pint or two with him.

 

[The Old Mixer]

If "Other" puts Scotty on the table, then it's no contest...he defined the role.

 

[Capn Nick]

I guess this is cheating but I think it depends on the mission posting you took as captain. If your job was to explore, on a starship that was large and complex and had a huge staff of officers, I'd take LaForge. He seems to be a great manager. He tried to get the best from his people and keeps the ship running. He isn't afraid of ideas others throw out.

But if you were assigned an outpost or had to put together a team for a specific mission, I think you would want O'Brien. Just because he is more of a in the field guy. Combat knowledge and willing to just get it done.

This is a silly analogy, but I work in hotels. When I was at a large hotel with a huge staff and just a lot of different space, the chief engineer was an administrator. When I worked at a smaller and older hotel the chief engineer had to be more of a unflappable problem solver.

So, I guess I'd take LaForge, cause I'm not letting them put me in charge of any space station! :-)

P.S. That was hard to type because O'Brien is my very favorite part of DS9!

 

[TheSeeker]

I guess this is cheating but I think it depends on the mission posting you took as captain. If your job was to explore, on a starship that was large and complex and had a huge staff of officers, I'd take LaForge. He seems to be a great manager. He tried to get the best from his people and keeps the ship running. He isn't afraid of ideas others throw out.

But if you were assigned an outpost or had to put together a team for a specific mission, I think you would want O'Brien. Just because he is more of a in the field guy. Combat knowledge and willing to just get it done.

Nice analysis. I can't say that I disagree.

Welcome to the board!