[Question] What is the best fictional spaceship?

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@Li3n

@Li3n

GasBandit said:
Awesome it is, a tank, not so much ;)
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But it's a vehicle, because it's mobile... it's not a tank because it doesn't satisfy the requirements of being one any more then a armoured personnel carier does...

While a nominal space station that has spaceship like engines does kinda satisfy the requirments for being a ship...
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

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@Li3n said:
But it's a vehicle, because it's mobile... it's not a tank because it doesn't satisfy the requirements of being one any more then a armoured personnel carier does...

While a nominal space station that has spaceship like engines does kinda satisfy the requirments for being a ship...
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No, there's a larger standard of definition than just "can be moved." Otherwise this is a "car.":

 
PatrThom

PatrThom

It potentially gets even more complicated when you consider Ego, the living planet. Here we have a planet-sized living organism which eventually gains mobility when it gets a rocket motor shoved into its rear end.

LordRendar said:
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Now I'm not going to be able to get TSOP out of my head all day.

--Patrick
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

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sixpackshaker said:
Why isn't a Super Star Destroyer, just called a Star Cruiser or Star Battleship?
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Actually, the real term is "Executor Class Star Dreadnought," but (retconning says) it was called a "super star destroyer" on initial paperwork to obfuscate it's true scale from enemy spies.

figmentPez said:
So, where do you draw the line? How big can a spaceship be before it ceases to be a ship anymore? A super star detroyer is a hell of a lot bigger than Atlantis (Stargate), both are able to travel under their own power. Is Atlantis not a starship because it looks more like a city?

http://conservationreport.com/2009/01/14/science-fiction-spaceship-size-comparison-chart/
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To me it's more a question of function than size. As your poster shows, the Executor is (was? a long long time ago?) a good deal larger than Babylon 5 is (will be? the year is 2257?), but they are still a ship, and place, respectively. A "ship" is something you go to "places" in, a "place" (or "base") is somewhere ships go. That you can change where a "place" is doesn't make it a "ship," in my book.

It is neat to see the various sizes though - it never occurred to me that the White Star (B5) was bigger than the original (Star Trek) Enterprise... and I expected the Doomsday Machine planetkiller to be a lot bigger...
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

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GasBandit said:
To me it's more a question of function than size. As your poster shows, the Executor is (was? a long long time ago?) a good deal larger than Babylon 5 is (will be? the year is 2257?), but they are still a ship, and place, respectively. A "ship" is something you go to "places" in, a "place" (or "base") is somewhere ships go. That you can change where a "place" is doesn't make it a "ship," in my book.
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So, an aircraft carrier is a base and not a ship?

The Death Star wasn't a stationary encampment, it was a mobile planet destroyer.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

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figmentPez said:
So, an aircraft carrier is a base and not a ship?

The Death Star wasn't a stationary encampment, it was a mobile planet destroyer.
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It was more than just a weapon, it was designed as a base. And the fact that aircraft carriers can launch/retrieve planes doesn't make it a base any more than a star destroyer (which can launch tie fighters).
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

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figmentPez said:
In what ways is the Death Star more of a base than an aircraft carrier?
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Because, for one thing, you can fucking build star destroyers in it:



Another thing - even without it's primary weapon, it was a formidable base - it housed over a half million ground troops and over 30,000 storm troopers. It had shopping malls, cantinas, all the crap you'd need on a planet or starbase to house a permanent population. It. Was. A. Space. Station. If that isn't enough for you, because Obi Fuckin' Wan Kenobi said it was, so shut up.
 
Frank

Frank

Man, that picture is neat, but where do they get the info that a Romulan Warbird is THAT much larger than a Galaxy Class ship?

Officially it's quite a bit smaller than what they're portraying. MEMORY ALPHA!
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

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Frankie Williamson said:
Man, that picture is neat, but where do they get the info that a Romulan Warbird is THAT much larger than a Galaxy Class ship?

Officially it's quite a bit smaller than what they're portraying. MEMORY ALPHA!
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There are several different classes of warbird. According to MEMORY ALPHA, the d'deridex class is 1300 meters.
 
Frank

Frank

The original designer's intended length was that, but the model ended up shorter. The only official length came out of the DS9 technical manual at a 1040 meters but that's also disputed.

It just never seemed in the show that the warbird was THAT much larger than the Enterprise.
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

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GasBandit said:
Because, for one thing, you can fucking build star destroyers in it:

Another thing - even without it's primary weapon, it was a formidable base - it housed over a half million ground troops and over 30,000 storm troopers. It had shopping malls, cantinas, all the crap you'd need on a planet or starbase to house a permanent population. It. Was. A. Space. Station. If that isn't enough for you, because Obi Fuckin' Wan Kenobi said it was, so shut up.
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It wasn't a Space Station because it wastn't stationary. The Death Star did not have a standard location, it moved around acting as a mobile base. Yes, it was a lot bigger than an aircraft carrier, but they both serve the same purpose. If an aircraft carrier were to be scaled up to the size of the Death Star, it's store would be scaled up to a shopping mall, it's mess hall would be scaled up to cantinas, it's long-term crew would scale up to a more-or-less permanent population and it's ability to service fighters would scale up to the ability to construct ships.

The Death Star is a mobile war camp, but it is still a ship, just as an aircraft carrier is the largest self-contained war camp that has yet been made on this planet, but it is still a ship.
 
Bowielee

Bowielee

figmentPez said:
It wasn't a Space Station because it wastn't stationary. The Death Star did not have a standard location, it moved around acting as a mobile base. Yes, it was a lot bigger than an aircraft carrier, but they both serve the same purpose. If an aircraft carrier were to be scaled up to the size of the Death Star, it's store would be scaled up to a shopping mall, it's mess hall would be scaled up to cantinas, it's long-term crew would scale up to a more-or-less permanent population and it's ability to service fighters would scale up to the ability to construct ships.

The Death Star is a mobile war camp, but it is still a ship, just as an aircraft carrier is the largest self-contained war camp that has yet been made on this planet, but it is still a ship.
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Not according to the Emperor.

Palpatine said:
Now witness the firepower of this fully ARMED and OPERATIONAL battle station
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Frank

Frank

Ha, that big size comparison picture reminded me of Lexx. Man, I dunno, I hear it called a fantastic show and that there was more to it than shitty Canadian actors and God awful special effects but I never saw it.

The ship does carry a hell of an oomph when it comes to sheer firepower and the ship itself is mildly retarded and completely obedient to it's captain.

 
GasBandit

GasBandit

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figmentPez said:
It wasn't a Space Station because it wastn't stationary. The Death Star did not have a standard location, it moved around acting as a mobile base. Yes, it was a lot bigger than an aircraft carrier, but they both serve the same purpose. If an aircraft carrier were to be scaled up to the size of the Death Star, it's store would be scaled up to a shopping mall, it's mess hall would be scaled up to cantinas, it's long-term crew would scale up to a more-or-less permanent population and it's ability to service fighters would scale up to the ability to construct ships.

The Death Star is a mobile war camp, but it is still a ship, just as an aircraft carrier is the largest self-contained war camp that has yet been made on this planet, but it is still a ship.
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If you really want to split hairs, since earth is orbiting the sun at 30 km/s, and the solar system is flinging around the milky way at 568,000 mph, and the milky way itself is zinging off at 300 km/s, technically nothing on the interplanetary, interstellar, or intergalactic scale is "stationary" and nothing is ever a station, ever.

But that's stupid.
 
@Li3n

@Li3n

GasBandit said:
If you really want to split hairs, since earth is orbiting the sun at 30 km/s, and the solar system is flinging around the milky way at 568,000 mph, and the milky way itself is zinging off at 300 km/s, technically nothing on the interplanetary, interstellar, or intergalactic scale is "stationary" and nothing is ever a station, ever.
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Yeah, but as i pointed out, it's because of an external force (or inertia)... "under it's own power" isn't a pretty necessary part of the definition you know.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

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@Li3n said:
Yeah, but as i pointed out, it's because of an external force (or inertia)... "under it's own power" isn't a pretty necessary part of the definition you know.
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It doesn't matter if it isn't under its own power if the definition of "station" is supposedly rooted in "stationary." That was my point. Bases can move, and I don't see the power source as having any bearing.

Let me put it this way... if your base is a tent city, and every day you take the northmost row of tents down and repitch them at the south end of the base, over the course of a year you'll have moved the base about a mile and a half. Does that mean it's a ship? A vehicle?
 
Frank

Frank

Yeah, I'm with GB on this.

Deep Space Nine had thrusters and moved around a bit on occasion, doesn't stop it from being a space station.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

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PatrThom said:
Of course it has thrusters. Otherwise it would've fallen into something's gravity well and perished.

--Patrick
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It has the capability to move. Nothing's to say that they couldn't fire those thrusters up and make a very, very slow migration across the galaxy. Hey look, ma, I'm moving under my own power! I R SPACE SHIP.
 
Frank

Frank

Well, it relocated itself from Bajor's orbit to right near the wormhole which, if the internet isn't lying to me, 3 hours distance by sublight impulse speed.
 
@Li3n

@Li3n

GasBandit said:
It doesn't matter if it isn't under its own power if the definition of "station" is supposedly rooted in "stationary." That was my point. Bases can move, and I don't see the power source as having any bearing.
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Well as you pointed out Stationary is a word that doesn't apply to reality.

What you want to use is "stationary relative to the universe"...

GasBandit said:
Bases can move, and I don't see the power source as having any bearing.
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If it doesn't then what's the difference between a metal container and a car...

GasBandit said:
Let me put it this way... if your base is a tent city, and every day you take the northmost row of tents down and repitch them at the south end of the base, over the course of a year you'll have moved the base about a mile and a half. Does that mean it's a ship? A vehicle?
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What part of "under it's own power" is so confusing?


The Death Star has features of both a station and a ship, basically being a hybrid, so it qualifies as a ship just fine for the purposes of this thread...


So does the Magog World Ship (although Worlds would be more accurate. Man, Andromeda had such potential)...
 
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