Help me with my Defiant debate...
 

I was playing Bridge Commander the other day and was using Nine of Nine's Defiant mod. My friend watched me fight a Galaxy class with it and win. He thought that a Defiant could not defeat a Galaxy, I disagreed. The Defiant is a pure warship with nothing but spartan living conditions onboard. Every system was designed for combat. All the other capital ships like the Galaxy, Nebula, Sovereign, etc, are exploration ships with impressive weapon payloads for self defense. Even though these other ships are very powerful, they are not designed soley for combat like the Defiant is. He watched as I had the Defiant flying circles around the Galaxy targeting key systems and punching holes in the hull. That's how it would really be if these things where for real, I told him. He thought that a large capital ship like the Galaxy would be too powerful for a small warship. I told him to think of it this way, the Defiant was built by engineers from hundreds of star sytems that make up the Federation. Combining the knowledge of weapons and warship of hundreds of races. It would be like the Chinese building a warship and then having the United Nations building one. Which ship would be the superior one? That's why I think it is very plausible that the Defiant is the most powerful warship in the quadrant except for the Negh'Var and possibly the Sovereign. What do you guys think?

Hmm...

There ARE borg in the Alpha Quadrant, if you wanted to know, just not many...

And then Janeway killed 'em all, :)

Now, if you watched the series, the Defiant got taken over within 5 seconds because it was unshielded.

Even with shields, I doubt it'd last long against a continual phaser barrage.

And Nine of Nine tweaked the Defiant and made it too strong.

no no no
 

Kareeser:

You are completly right
The Defiant is a warship...and so - nine of nines Defiant is to weak
-> Thats why I have my own Hardpoint file.
-The pulse-Phasers have double power of normal phasers
-The Defiant can bet 3 dominion warship - A Galaxy had problems with them
-Yes, the Defiant has bugs - many - (...)
...
it is one of the heaviest armed vessels in the alpha Quadrant! (DS9 3x09 - Defiant)

@allan14
Watch more carefully

The defiant itself has many advantages over a galaxy class.

1) newer
2) fast and manuvarable
3) cloak
4) quantums

against a tng era galaxy class, it wouldn't take long to destroy a galaxy class. A dominion war galaxy class, refit with all the latest upgrades, may stand a chance. Remember, in Ds9 a specialy modified excelcior class fought the defiant believe it taken over by shape shifters, and the battle was pretty much a draw. It was stated that neither ship could survive another torpedo hit. So if a specialy modified 70+ year old ship can do the trick, and dominion war galaxy, whos much more powerful than an excelcior to begin with, should be able to beat it. It also boils down to which ship has the better crew. A defiant full of cadets wouldn't beat an experienced galaxy crew like that of picards.

A dominion war galaxy has several advantages over a defiant:

1) sheer size: it's larger, thus more mass to shoot though, systems more spread out, more crew, more parts, more reserve power generators, larger reactor core..ect.
2) near 360 desgree phaser coverage. The defiant has foreward and dorsal I believe.

sure:

Ship full with cadets -> Heavy Bot :P

The Defiant would have several advantages over a Galaxy class. The Defiant would be extremly fast and manuverable, most likely doging quite a few of the Galexy's shots. Also: Defiant has quantem torpedeos, the Galaxy doesn't.

But the Galaxy has a larger energy reserve, is capable of saucer seperation (two targets), and has more damage to give.

The Defiant also has one major (IMO) disadvantage. The bulk of its weapons are facing forward. That means that it has to turn completly around to bring any real firepower to bear. That can be anticipated and planned for, especially by a ship like a Galaxy that has lots of firing arcs and aft facing torpedoes.

But, ultimtely, it comes down to the tactics involved and luck.

For a better match-up, take on Rick Knox's Galaxy with Nine Of Nine's Defiant.:D

I did that...
 

and the Galaxy this time put up a better fight but still lost to the Defiant. I personally believe this to be accurate. I dont believe that a Galaxy could beat a Defiant class warship.

No - It can't - for sure.
The Galaxy may have waepons all around the ship, but the Defiant is more manoeuvrable - and the Galaxy has lag shields.
But I don't think, that a Defiant for itself can beat a Sovereign.
...or it would be an interesting skirmish.

Also, remember in "The Jem'Hadar", how the Oddyssey couldn't even kill one ship, yet the Defiant can blast through one in seconds?