And as for top speeds go, don't make me laugh. The TOS/TAS/old movie Enterprises covered a lot more ground in a lot shorter time than Voyager ever dreamed of.
How would other starship classes have fared in the Delta Quadrant?
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Tbh, I just tend to retcon some of TOS's "leaving the galaxy" concepts as exploring areas that aren't in sync with the galaxy around them. For instance, the "Galactic Barrier" could simply be an area of space near the federation's boundaries, rather than bordering at the edge of the galaxy itself.
In one of the newer novel (it heavily featured the Q) it was said that the Enterprise E was equipped with bio-neural gel packs too.I don't see why this piece of technology would be unique to the Intrepid Class. Likely all the ships in the fleet, including the older Galaxy Classes, were modified with gel packs. Either replacing their isolinear chip system, or "piggy-backing" onto the existing system.
I have a special love for the Constitution Class, but it's hard to see one of them traveling home from the Caretaker's Array.
I don't think the Defiant would have the range and endurance for the journey either. However, the Defiant under Sisko might have been able to defend the Caretaker's Array from the Kazon for a protracted period of time, enabling someone like Dax to carefully study the Array, and finding a way for it to send the ship home. Avoiding the need for the voyage home using warp drive.
In combat, Warp velocities are generally irrelevant (save things like the Picard Maneuver, which still don't require high warp) unless one side is fleeing the battle. Impulse speeds are much more important. There is nothing in canon to say whether Galaxys or Intrepids are superior at impulse, but perhaps Galaxys are, for whatever reason, which would make them superior combatants. Especially in a defensive war like the Dominion War, where the enemy is mostly coming to you. And even if they aren't, they are bigger and sturdier platforms to hang lots of weapons off of.
Canon says Voyager would win an endurance race, though, hands down.
But they also could not have counted on those breaks. At est. 300 years at max cruise to get home, I stand by what I said I believe my strategy would be as a Galaxy-class ship's captain - explore the area, try to make friends and build an outpost of the Federation for when home finally manages to come to me.
Going meta is cheating.
By that definition, Voyager should never have gotten home.
It isn't as hard to see how they could have left the galaxy when you remember that the Milky Way is disc-like. "The edge of the galaxy" when travelling perpendicular to the disc is not so far away - in Trek terms, anyway.
The top of the Orion arm's "thin disc" is about 1,200 light years from Earth.
Not far at all.
I'm still a fan of the non-canon idea of warp corridors, or at least a subspace topography that enables faster warp travel in certain directions, like an aircraft using air currents (or gravity for that matter) to travel faster than the aircraft's theoretical top speed.
That's okay - because I'm pretty sure that whoever decided that you could get to Vulcan from Earth that quickly in the last movie is, too.
Star Trek V would be the worst offender, they travelled to the center of the galaxy in what seemed like hours, days at most. Totally stupid.
Maybe the Enterprise-A only breached the inner rim of the Galaxy and were still many thousands of light-years from the Core itself.
^^^
To be fair, though, we have seen ships cross vast regions of the Galaxy in a relatively short period of time both before and after Star Trek V (VOY was really the only series that implied any kind of speed limit and even it found ways around it). It may give some credence to the idea that warp factors vary wildly depending on where you are in the Galaxy (a.k.a. plot drive).
To be fair, though, we have seen ships cross vast regions of the Galaxy in a relatively short period of time both before and after Star Trek V (VOY was really the only series that implied any kind of speed limit and even it found ways around it). It may give some credence to the idea that warp factors vary wildly depending on where you are in the Galaxy (a.k.a. plot drive).
I think most people on here have hit the nail on the head. A Galaxy or Sovereign ship would have had an easier time than Voyager, simply because of their bigger size and heavier weaponry. I don't think bigger ships would necessarily attract more attention, since Voyager seemed to have a big enough reputation as it was. An Excelsior ship might have faired as well as Voyager, depending on how recently it was upgraded. Older ships like the Miranda probably wouldn't have survived, but with the right captain in the center chair, who knows? The Defiant would have certainly kicked some butt in the Delta Quadrant, but like many have said, the crew would go nuts!
The Defiant wouldn't have lasted long though, it's not meant for extended space missions nor does it have sufficient science facilities.
Frankly, for a story like VOY the best type of ship to use would be a Heavy Cruiser or above. In nearly every "One ship lost on its own" show out there they've always had them be large powerful vessels:
Farscape: Moya is a huge vessel, doesn't need maintenance since it is organic, and has a teleporting ability no one else does.
Blakes Seven: The Liberator is an alien battleship superior to all other vessels and is automated and self-sufficient.
NuBSG: Galactica is a huge Battleship-Carrier, armed to the tooth, doesn't need a singe weapons resupply in the entire series, has magic teleport engine that can't be tracked.
Stargate Universe: The Destiny is an Ancient Battleship of some kind, automated and doesn't need maintenance, powerful weapons.
VOY might've worked out better if they also were on some alien ship that was automated and didn't need maintenance.
Frankly, for a story like VOY the best type of ship to use would be a Heavy Cruiser or above. In nearly every "One ship lost on its own" show out there they've always had them be large powerful vessels:
Farscape: Moya is a huge vessel, doesn't need maintenance since it is organic, and has a teleporting ability no one else does.
Blakes Seven: The Liberator is an alien battleship superior to all other vessels and is automated and self-sufficient.
NuBSG: Galactica is a huge Battleship-Carrier, armed to the tooth, doesn't need a singe weapons resupply in the entire series, has magic teleport engine that can't be tracked.
Stargate Universe: The Destiny is an Ancient Battleship of some kind, automated and doesn't need maintenance, powerful weapons.
VOY might've worked out better if they also were on some alien ship that was automated and didn't need maintenance.
Weren't they always running out of food?
Pilot episode.
Admittedly, I stopped watching after a half dozen episodes, but wasn't it a major point of the show that the Destiny desperately needed maintenance?
Ooh that's interesting - if VOY took place on a mysterious alien ship that they had to abandon their Starfleet ship for. It's a little too DS9 (taking place on an alien construct) but whatever - it could have been radically different from the station. It might have put the Starfleet and Maquis crews more on equal footing if the ship was neither of theirs. Maybe if the mysterious SGU-like ship kept changing loyalty too from crew to crew. Even at some point took on a third crew of baddies. The main thing is that it remain mysterious: people gripe about how the Maquis were domesticated too quickly but DS9 lost its edge too quickly for my taste as well.
EDIT: T'Girl, that the Destiny was even functioning after millions if years alone speaks volumes about its ability for self-maintenance. I think what Anwar was getting at regarding the nBSG is that it too was fine four years after that initial pile-up in the miniseries, and they used a lot of weapons and fuel. I think the fleet manufactured more as needed.
EDIT: T'Girl, that the Destiny was even functioning after millions if years alone speaks volumes about its ability for self-maintenance. I think what Anwar was getting at regarding the nBSG is that it too was fine four years after that initial pile-up in the miniseries, and they used a lot of weapons and fuel. I think the fleet manufactured more as needed.
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I'm not so sure about the idea of bigger being better in this case. Having more fire power could lead the Captain and crew to stand and fight rather than cut and run or avoid sections that they really should.
A ship the size of a Galaxy or Sovereign would be better at repelling boarding parties.
I do have to agree it would be a bigger target, the Kazon want Voyager for her technology, they'd want a Galaxy or Sovereign for its technology and weapons. The Hirogen would see those big ships as prize worth hunting and probably keep up pursuit and attacks until it was taken or destroyed.
One thing glossed over by all the series, such a powerful ship making first contact may not be the wisest of choices. If you're a warp capable species whose ships could only go 1/4 of the speed of a Galaxy, Sovereign or even an Intrepid and had about the same deficit in weapons, wouldn't you see it as a threat and perhaps fear it and throw what ever you got at it to keep it away from your space?
The 15 year mission capability of a Galaxy assumes a few things, like no major battle damage or any damage. That the ship is not pushed to its limits too often. That it works flawlessly. They are other variables that I can't even think of, but they are there. The Intrepid's ability to land, and maybe even hide on a planet gave it a chance to conduct repairs and maintenance that a larger ship would need a spacedock to do.
Didn't all Leviathans have that starburst ability? And they were never completely sure where they'd end up after a starburst especially after an emergency let's-get-the-hell-out-of-here starburst.
NUBSG had to resupply it weapons some how, weren't they all projectile weapons? If that's so they're only choice for resupply would be to cannibalize parts of Galactica or other ships.
A ship the size of a Galaxy or Sovereign would be better at repelling boarding parties.
I do have to agree it would be a bigger target, the Kazon want Voyager for her technology, they'd want a Galaxy or Sovereign for its technology and weapons. The Hirogen would see those big ships as prize worth hunting and probably keep up pursuit and attacks until it was taken or destroyed.
One thing glossed over by all the series, such a powerful ship making first contact may not be the wisest of choices. If you're a warp capable species whose ships could only go 1/4 of the speed of a Galaxy, Sovereign or even an Intrepid and had about the same deficit in weapons, wouldn't you see it as a threat and perhaps fear it and throw what ever you got at it to keep it away from your space?
The 15 year mission capability of a Galaxy assumes a few things, like no major battle damage or any damage. That the ship is not pushed to its limits too often. That it works flawlessly. They are other variables that I can't even think of, but they are there. The Intrepid's ability to land, and maybe even hide on a planet gave it a chance to conduct repairs and maintenance that a larger ship would need a spacedock to do.
Didn't all Leviathans have that starburst ability? And they were never completely sure where they'd end up after a starburst especially after an emergency let's-get-the-hell-out-of-here starburst.
NUBSG had to resupply it weapons some how, weren't they all projectile weapons? If that's so they're only choice for resupply would be to cannibalize parts of Galactica or other ships.
that all depends on the captain. Not everyone is going to stand and fight if they are in the middle of no where.
If I am not mistaken all ships have workbees (sp) onboard. All the captain has to do is find a place to hide like a nebula or the upper layers of a gas giant?
That was why the Galactica and fleet was always on the run. They weren't looking for a better place to fight, they were looking NOT to fight. At certain points, they were forced into it.
Moya and the other Leviathans were the only ones that could Starburst, but it was still an untrackable teleport trick that always got them out of trouble even if they said it was dangerous.
And NuBSG wanted us to believe that the one weapons stockpile it got in the pilot was enough to last it the entire series. They never mentioned just how they'd resupply and never said they were running low.
But yeah, if VOY was on some alien ship then maybe some things would've been more acceptable for storytelling purposes: since it was an alien starship it could do things Fleet ships couldn't do and since it was mysterious or run by some sentient alien computer, they'd have en excuse not to keep doing that stuff all the time.
And NuBSG wanted us to believe that the one weapons stockpile it got in the pilot was enough to last it the entire series. They never mentioned just how they'd resupply and never said they were running low.
But yeah, if VOY was on some alien ship then maybe some things would've been more acceptable for storytelling purposes: since it was an alien starship it could do things Fleet ships couldn't do and since it was mysterious or run by some sentient alien computer, they'd have en excuse not to keep doing that stuff all the time.
