What are your favorite top three space / star ships of all time?

[Zhayne]

Gilfalas wrote:

Tectorman wrote:

Fardragon wrote:

Putting a tadis inside another tardis causes dimensional recursion (see Logopolis).

What happens when you put the Tardis inside itself?

Same thing that happens when you put a portable hole into a bag of holding and vice versa.

Do not put engineered extra dimensional spaces into each other. :-)

I thought PF got rid of that nonsense.

[Shinigami02]

Nope, still alive and kicking.

As for putting a Tardis in a Tardis... I think that actually happened once, I think it was one of the multi-doctor specials. Of course that was less dimensional looping and more crossing the timelines.

[IonutRO]

Shinigami02 wrote:

Nope, still alive and kicking.

As for putting a Tardis in a Tardis... I think that actually happened once, I think it was one of the multi-doctor specials. Of course that was less dimensional looping and more crossing the timelines.

It happened three times, actually. Once with the Doctor's TARDIS looping back into itself.

[Lanitril]

IonutRO wrote:

Shinigami02 wrote:

Nope, still alive and kicking.

As for putting a Tardis in a Tardis... I think that actually happened once, I think it was one of the multi-doctor specials. Of course that was less dimensional looping and more crossing the timelines.

It happened three times, actually. Once with the Doctor's TARDIS looping back into itself.

Yeah. Things got complicated.

[Kittyburger]

So there are WAY too many awesome ships to restrict to just three. By classification though:

Carriers:
TCS Victory (CV-40), Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger
Open Circle Fleet flagship Resolute, Star Wars Rebels
TCS Concordia (CVS-65), Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi

Battleships and Battlecruisers:
Vor'cha class attack cruiser, Star Trek
Yamato, Uchuu Senkan Yamato
USAF Prometheus (BC-303), Stargate SG-1

Cruisers
Liberty, Return of the Jedi
TCS Gettysburg (CC-8), Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi
USS Enterprise, Star Trek

Destroyers:
Defiant-class "Escort," Star Trek
Southampton-class Destroyer, Wing Commander
Imperial-class Star Destroyer, Star Wars

Frigates:
Mon Calamari MC-40, Star Wars
Saber-class Escort, Star Trek
SSV Normandy SR-2, Mass Effect

Corvettes:
Corellian CR-90 Corvette Tantive IV, Star Wars
Nova-class science vessel, Star Trek
Rocinante (ex-MCRN Tachi), Frigate-class corvette, The Expanse

And last but certainly not least, the workhorses of space, the freighters:
Millennium Falcon
Serenity
Bonnie Heather (Paladin's free-trader/intelligence trawler in Wing Commander II)

[Kittyburger]

Lady Bluehawk wrote:

BV210 wrote:

Millennium Falcon

Star Destroyer
Space Shuttle (I always wished NASA had put a moon lander in the cargo bay, had the pilot point the nose of the shuttle toward the moon and fly it like a friggen spaceship . . . )

Amen! Though I'm not sure if the shuttle had enough fuel to get out to the point where a lander could take over (beyond orbit? definitely beyond the gravity well of Terra), but then again, if the shuttle were just used as a launch device, and didn't use the fuel spending 2 weeks up in orbit ... hmm ...

LB

The shuttle's on-orbit maneuvering engines were two of the same Aerojet AJ10 engines that were used by the Apollo CSM to get to the moon and back. However, the Shuttle couldn't possibly have done the same because it was an order of magnitude more massive than Apollo, but only had double the thrust. The RS-25 main engines were of course fed by the bright orange external fuel tank, and used that entire massive sausage of fuel to get into orbit.

[SmiloDan]

Couldn't the shuttle re-attach to a full sausage of fuel once in orbit?

[Shinigami02]

Then you'd have to launch a full sausage of fuel into orbit, which would take even more sausages of fuel and rockets, because fuel tanks are heavy.

[Ventnor]

I guess the unit we measure fuel in is sausages now.

[Kittyburger]

Ventnor wrote:

I guess the unit we measure fuel in is sausages now.

No reason not to!

[SmiloDan]

It would take, what, 2 or 3 sausages of fuel to lift a sausage of fuel into orbit?

How many peppers and onions to do re-entry?

[Kittyburger]

SmiloDan wrote:

It would take, what, 2 or 3 sausages of fuel to lift a sausage of fuel into orbit?

How many peppers and onions to do re-entry?

More like 6 to 10 sausages of fuel! Weight and throwing weight into orbit adds up in a shocking hurry!

As for the rest, I'll let someone else answer that. ;)

[windnight]

Large Ships:

• NCC-1701-E (Star Trek: First Contact - Star Trek: Nemesis)
• Star Venture (Avatar) - look I know it's only on screen for a few seconds, but it's gorgeous.
• Nebulon B Frigate (Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi)

Smaller Vessels:

• Normandy SR-2 (Mass Effect 2 & 3)
• Ares (The Martian)
• Serenity (Firefly, Serenity)

[Reckless]

Tough call, but

Moya, The Heart of Gold, and the Death Star

[Imbicatus]

Kittyburger wrote:

Destroyers:
Defiant-class "Escort," Star Trek
Southampton-class Destroyer, Wing Commander
Imperial-class Star Destroyer, Star Wars

Sorry, but I just have to quibble here. The Defiant and a Star Destroyer are not even remotely in the same class of ship. A defiant class ship has a crew of 50. An imperial star destroyer has a crew of about 40,000, not including the Stormtrooper garrison of an additional 10,000 troops. The defiant is only barely larger than a Star Destroyers command tower.

[TarkXT]

Moya, The Heart of Gold, and the mothership from Homeworld.

[Torbyne]

Imbicatus wrote:

Kittyburger wrote:

Destroyers:
Defiant-class "Escort," Star Trek
Southampton-class Destroyer, Wing Commander
Imperial-class Star Destroyer, Star Wars

Sorry, but I just have to quibble here. The Defiant and a Star Destroyer are not even remotely in the same class of ship. A defiant class ship has a crew of 50. An imperial star destroyer has a crew of about 40,000, not including the Stormtrooper garrison of an additional 10,000 troops. The defiant is only barely larger than a Star Destroyers command tower.

The Star Destroyer would probably be a dreadnought in any setting other than Star Wars or 40K where they could actually get away with calling them small ships compared to the crazy super weapons flying around.

Though it really doesn't help any that the definition of a destroyer has come to represent something very different from its original meaning that we could all be picturing something very different when we think of one. I suppose a good modern definition would be a moderately sized ship with some armor, strong firepower and speed; a threat to any other class of ship. You could argue though that the Defiant doesnt even meet those requirements since it was so small and lightly armored compared to other ships, i would say its a better comparison to an attack submarine but that is really bending terms to fit in space.

That said, it is one of my favorite ship designs from Star Trek and i applaud your tastes.

[Fardragon]

It's called a Star Destroyer because it destroys stars (metaphorically) not because it is a destroyer-class ship.

"In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group"

[Steelfiredragon]

defiant class is considered to be tactical escort is star trek online.

even in the book end of things it is still a tactical escort.

but then even still she carries some firepower. glass cannon so to speak. she can do the job of a ST equivalent of a detroyer, but her staying power, is not all that.

SW star destroyer/ ST dreadnought type ships. both have armor, weapons and in some cases flight deck. cant turn worth jJack Daniels.

ST escorts( tactical or otherwise)/ SW corvettes. some armor some weapons maybe a flight deck. can turn worth jack daniels.

I too though applaud your taste

[Steelfiredragon]

Fardragon wrote:

It's called a Star Destroyer because it destroys stars (metaphorically) not because it is a destroyer-class ship.

"In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group"

metaphorically you mean as in planetary bombardment??( that is what they are used for)

[Kittyburger]

Fardragon wrote:

It's called a Star Destroyer because it destroys stars (metaphorically) not because it is a destroyer-class ship.

"In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group"

In my considered opinion (and I've been considering this for the better part of two decades), an Imperial-class Star Destroyer is more a light cruiser than a destroyer per se - it's got more staying power in a fight than a traditional destroyer but it is in no way equipped for a sustained slugfest with a peer vessel. Star Destroyer engagements in a ship-to-ship sense tend to be short, sharp, and brutal; one vessel or another is destroyed relatively quickly (in Return of the Jedi we see an ISD get raked by three shots from a Mon Cal and she promptly blows up). Executor, on the other hand, is a battleship or battlecruiser (we've never seen her fighting a peer opponent so it's hard to tell if she holds up or buckles under peer-calibre firepower), but her armament feels more like a predreadnought (lots of relatively light weapons) rather than a dreadnought (a few capital-calibre guns and a few secondaries to ward off lighter ships).

[Kittyburger]

Steelfiredragon wrote:

defiant class is considered to be tactical escort is star trek online.

even in the book end of things it is still a tactical escort.

but then even still she carries some firepower. glass cannon so to speak. she can do the job of a ST equivalent of a detroyer, but her staying power, is not all that.

SW star destroyer/ ST dreadnought type ships. both have armor, weapons and in some cases flight deck. cant turn worth jJack Daniels.

ST escorts( tactical or otherwise)/ SW corvettes. some armor some weapons maybe a flight deck. can turn worth jack daniels.

I too though applaud your taste

Destroyers aren't supposed to have staying power - destroyers are supposed to hit hard and then run like a scared little rabbit because they have all the armor of a tin can.

[Torbyne]

Fardragon wrote:

It's called a Star Destroyer because it destroys stars (metaphorically) not because it is a destroyer-class ship.

"In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group"

i would say even this is an outdated definition, they are used to escort other ships but destroyers for the past 20 or 30 years have had to meet "multi-mission" needs to be considered "modern" They have endurance, some armor, speed but have to be capable of attacking anything, surface, air, subsurface or ground targets in addition to escorting and screening. the best sci-fi definition i could think of is "one of the smallest sized capital ships." you could argue that frigates or corvettes would be the absolute smallest but those terms might be better used for things other than capital ships.

[Torbyne]

Kittyburger wrote:

Fardragon wrote:

It's called a Star Destroyer because it destroys stars (metaphorically) not because it is a destroyer-class ship.

"In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group"

In my considered opinion (and I've been considering this for the better part of two decades), an Imperial-class Star Destroyer is more a light cruiser than a destroyer per se - it's got more staying power in a fight than a traditional destroyer but it is in no way equipped for a sustained slugfest with a peer vessel. Star Destroyer engagements in a ship-to-ship sense tend to be short, sharp, and brutal; one vessel or another is destroyed relatively quickly (in Return of the Jedi we see an ISD get raked by three shots from a Mon Cal and she promptly blows up). Executor, on the other hand, is a battleship or battlecruiser (we've never seen her fighting a peer opponent so it's hard to tell if she holds up or buckles under peer-calibre firepower), but her armament feels more like a predreadnought (lots of relatively light weapons) rather than a dreadnought (a few capital-calibre guns and a few secondaries to ward off lighter ships).

The Imperial I class is a light cruiser? i dont see it. It is 1600M long, 445M longer than the preceding generation of ship of the line. The deign goal was a single ship that could out fight any other ship of its era and be a single staging point for a planetary invasion. The most memorable battles, the ones that the movies highlight featured multiple Imperial I's but the normal operating procedures was to send a single Imperial I with some lighter ships as support to maintain control of an entire system.

Its wonky to think a single ship even as massive as a Star Destroyer could effectively blockade a planet but that was the in setting role.

I would say that they were shown to have a crippling weakness against small craft that could disable their shields and leave them critically vulnerable to other ships but in a stand up fight it would outclass anything other than the one off dreadnought vessels, it is a battlegroup unto itself.

The light cruiser role you suggest would better fit the aptly named Imperial Light Cruiser, also named the Arquitens-class, which goes back to the clone wars era and some of the newer canon has had in service throughout the imperial era as well. It was a fraction of the size of a SD at only 325M and only had between four and six quad laser mounts. As a side note that actually takes us back to Starfinder, it is about the largest sized ship i could conceive a PC group controlling under regular play, it is a dire threat to corvettes, frigates and any civilian or smuggler ship, it out guns them, can outrun them and has the shields and armor to put up with whatever they throw out. But it cant threaten a SD without massive backup. Either way, it would not last longer than a round against the 132 shots of heavy turbolaser cannon that an Imperial I throws out on each volley.

Edit: one last point about the ridiculous scale of an Imperial I, it has consumables and supplies onboard to last 2 years without restocking. Star Wars is crazy like that.

[The Daring Dragoon]

If it's just three I'm gonna have to break it down to at least two types.

Ships
Miranda Class USS Reliant NCC-1864 (Star Trek)
Space Battleship Yamato BBY-01 (Space Battleship Yamato)
Super Dimension Fortress SDF-1 Macross (The Super Dimension Fortress Macross)

Snubfighters
Incom T-65 X-Wing (Star Wars)
Northrom VF-1S Valkyrie (The Super Dimension Fortress Macross)
Colonial Viper Mark II (Original Battlestar Galactica)

[Trace.The.Snake]

1) TOS Romulan Bird of Prey - like a lot of the designs of this ship in Star Trek on-line. But find I like Romulan ships in general.

2) Futurama ship

3) Death Star

------

Special note: Shadow Crab ship from B5, it just screamed alien and danger. But B5 has some of the best designs of ships.

[TiwazBlackhand]

Sol Bianca from Sol Bianca
Sword-Breaker (AKA Canal Volfeld) from Lost Universe
The Voidhawks from The Nights Dawn trilogy by Peter F Hamilton

Anything that falls into the category of "Remnant from an extinct or ascended race that still far surpasses our current tech level"

Any self aware Biotech ships.

[Steelfiredragon]

has anyone ever mentioned the mirage from silver hawks?

[Steelfiredragon]

Torbyne wrote:

Kittyburger wrote:

Fardragon wrote:

It's called a Star Destroyer because it destroys stars (metaphorically) not because it is a destroyer-class ship.

"In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group"

In my considered opinion (and I've been considering this for the better part of two decades), an Imperial-class Star Destroyer is more a light cruiser than a destroyer per se - it's got more staying power in a fight than a traditional destroyer but it is in no way equipped for a sustained slugfest with a peer vessel. Star Destroyer engagements in a ship-to-ship sense tend to be short, sharp, and brutal; one vessel or another is destroyed relatively quickly (in Return of the Jedi we see an ISD get raked by three shots from a Mon Cal and she promptly blows up). Executor, on the other hand, is a battleship or battlecruiser (we've never seen her fighting a peer opponent so it's hard to tell if she holds up or buckles under peer-calibre firepower), but her armament feels more like a predreadnought (lots of relatively light weapons) rather than a dreadnought (a few capital-calibre guns and a few secondaries to ward off lighter ships).

The Imperial I class is a light cruiser? i dont see it. It is 1600M long, 445M longer than the preceding generation of ship of the line. The deign goal was a single ship that could out fight any other ship of its era and be a single staging point for a planetary invasion. The most memorable battles, the ones that the movies highlight featured multiple Imperial I's but the normal operating procedures was to send a single Imperial I with some lighter ships as support to maintain control of an entire system.

Its wonky to think a single ship even as massive as a Star Destroyer could effectively blockade a planet but that was the in setting role.

I would say that they were shown to have a crippling weakness against small craft that could disable their...

this is more how I see them.

planetary bombardment

[Senko]

Mine would probably be ...

1) The TARDIS from doctor who (although preferably a type 89 mark 10 rather than his obsolete type 40)
2) The cabbit class ship Roy-Ohki from tenchi.
3) The millennium falcon (although again a more "modern" model)

[Cyrad]

1. Arwing Fighter (Star Fox)
2. X-Wing Fighter (Star Wars)
3. ZIG Fighter (Zero Wing)

Yep, I like fighters

[Calamari]

LMPjr007 wrote:

Mine: The Defiant, the White Star and Borg Cube

The ship on Killjoys. Its AI has a crush on the tech that maintains the ship. She's practically the fourth member of the crew.

[Karanidia]

USCSS Nostromo.
Sol Bianca.
Milano.
TARDIS.
Galactica.
Kling Bird of Prey.
Voyager.
The Whitestar.
Defiant.

[avr]

Falcon Heavy. The current biggest spaceship.
The Type S Scout/Courier from Traveller. So moddable.
Alternity's Lighthouse. It's half a setting on its own.

[FirstChAoS]

SMALL SHIPS:

A-wing
Tie Bomber
Delta Flyer

MEDIUM SHIPS:

Millenium Falcon
Defiant
White Star

LARGE SHIPS: (Sadly limiting it to three leaves out room for Moya)

Voyager
Enterprise D
Andromeda Ascendant

HUGE SHIPS:

Star Destroyer
Voth City Ship

SIZE INDETERMINATE SHIPS:

Tardis

[Egyptoid]

ACADIA, from Captain Harlock

ENTERPRISE, 1701-A,from Trek

STAR GALLEON, from the Rogue Trader RPG

[CeeJay]

For ships relevant to the "small band of rag-tags" trope:

1. The Serenity from "Firefly." Kind of like the Millennium Falcon but lived-in, with a sense of Home about it.

2. Moya from "Farscape." An organic ship that is very literally a character.

3. The Nostromo from "Alien." A big space-trucker rig crewed by ordinary people who encounter an extraordinary stiuation. (My also-ran for this slot is the Sulaco troop carrier from the same series.)

Honorable Mention: The Liberator from "Blake's 7." Inspirational template for the Andromeda Ascendant from "Andromeda," the Lexx from the titular "Lexx," and other examples. A case for giving the characters a ship waaaayyyy above their Tier about which the suspense element, right from the jump, consists in their learning to control it.

[Ed Reppert]

Dahak, an Utu class planetoid of the Fourth (and later Fifth) Imperium.*
Dora
Gay Deceiver**
Andromeda Ascendant***
Megeara

* "I am not in your moon, Commander. I am your moon."
** "Boss! Why did you lobotomize me?!"
*** "No, Captain Hunt is not a god. But on this ship, I am."

[Tryn]

NX-01 Enterprise
Normandy SR1/2

[Dustin Heaton]

X-wing
Assault gunboat
YT-2000

Unfortunately for me, two of those are fighters and thus difficult to make work well for PCs in the ship combat system that was designed for a group on a single ship.

[Batgirl_III]

‣ Moya / Leviathan-class Transport (Farscape)
‣ U.S.S. Reliant / Miranda-class Cruiser (Star Trek)
‣ J.S.S. Valiant / Valiant-class Strike Carrier (Jovian Chronicles)

I think that the Miranda-class Cruiser and Moya don't really need much explanation. Other people in this thread have mentioned Moya and I'd be shocked if anyone here hadn't see Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, in which the U.S.S. Reliant plays such a prominent role. So let me wax lyrical about the much more obscure Valiant-class from the Jovian Chronicles RPG/Wargame.

The designers of the Jovian Chronicles RPG clearly knew what most military/mecha campaigns need: an awesome ship! The Valiant-class is basically the perfect homebase for most gaming groups in this setting. To begin with, it is just friggin' awesome looking. That is always a good thing! Just look at her. She's an absolute beauty.

But even better, the ship's intended role of long independent patrols at far-flung stations combined with its transport capacity of up to six exo-armors (the name for the setting's spacefaring fighting mecha) makes it perfect for the adventuring gaming group. The Game Master has a built-in reason for the Heroes to be out, on their own, sticking their noses into trouble. But, since the Valiant-class is also strong enough to hold a place in the line of battle, the GM can also have the heroes' home ship play a key role in those awesome set-piece battles that make great capstones to a campaign. The large crew of senior Officers, NCOs, and support staff mean that their are plenty of NPCs around so that the GM can have someone to act as the heroes' boss, one hero's love interest, another hero's antagonistic rival, and another hero's tag-a-long kid sister, etc. Heck, you can even reasonably have some of the heroes playing non-mecha pilots. Bridge officers, engineers, doctors, ground troops, and even civilian specialists somehow attached to the ship's mission can come along and still contribute to the space-combat.

A while back, I converted her for use with the Mutants & Masterminds rules. I don't have enough experience with the rules (or enough free time) to do so into Starfinder. But if anyone out there has a desire to tackle the conversion work, I think that Jovian Chronicles could be made to fit the Starfinder ruleset very well.

[Batgirl_III]

And just a quick rundown of my favorite "snub fighters," most of which are actually more akin to gun boats/torpedo boats/fighter-bombers than to "space superiority fighters."

‣ SA-23E Mitchell-Hyundyne Starfury Medium Fighter (Babylon 5)
‣ VF-4 Stonewell Bellcom Lightning III Variable Fighter (Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Flash Back 2012)
‣ Star League Gunstar Starfighter (The Last Starfighter)
‣ A/SF-01 Slayn & Korpil B-Wing Assault Starfighter (Star Wars)
‣ ARC-170 Incom Corporation Aggressive ReConnaissance Starfighter (Star Wars)

Yes, that's a "top five," not a top three and one of them is a mecha. Sue me.

[Midboss57]

Having to decide which ships are my favourites.. that's like trying to decide my favourite Indian dish... But as life is made of tough choices:

Fighter size:
- VF-25 Messiah (Macross Frontier). Of all the variable fighters, I like this one the best for its customisation options (Heavy Pack, Tornado pack..)
- Thunderhawk Gunship (Warhammer 40k): Multiple heavy bolters, a big gun on the top, full missile and bomb loading and the capacity to transport and drop 40 of the most dangerous supersoldiers in the galaxy.
- Ryoh-Oki: fleet destroying pirate ship and cute pet both in one package.

Capital Ships:
- Macross Quarter: Big wave motion, full fighter complement and the ability to punch other capital ships.
- Hyperion (Starcraft): Cool battleship with many guns including the Yamato Canon. It also acts as the mobile base for a ragtag group of rebels, holding their army and gear.
- Normandy SR-2: A common pick in this thread I notice...

[Bahamut]

Imperial I Class Star Destroyer (Star Wars)
The Sulaco (Aliens)
Klingon Bird of Prey (Star Trek)