Starship Fight Club: Ambassador Vs. Galor

[StarBlade]

I tried this once before, it was fun. Figure I might as well carry on.

Two designs to emerge in the TNG/DS9 arc and yet really never make it on their own were Starfleet's Ambassador class starship and the Galor class Cardassian warship. Both seemed woefully underpowered in their defenses but with a seemingly tough hull and moderate engine capacity.

I still don't fully understand how Cardassian designs work, but my guess would be that the Galor would rely primarily on slash-and-burn style attacks, while the Ambassador, being designed as a diplomatic / explorer type vessel, would be built more for all-around defense in all directions.

Keep in mind that we saw far more combat with the Galor than we did with the Ambassador. The representatives from the latter (the USS Yamaguchi at Wolf 359, the USS Excalibur in the Klingon Civil War, the USS Enterprise-C at Narendra III) only saw one survivor. Cardassians clearly had more of their ships, and used them in a combination of massed-assault and wolfpack tactics.

This time, though, it's one on one. Same rules as last time: ships meet in open space, no terrain obstacles as far as long-range sensors can see. Full shields, both ships can see each other, each at the other's 12 o'clock, facing the other. Engagement begins. What happens next?

 

[adm_stacks]

The Ambassador would use standard Starfleet Combat Protocals..."Hail the Cardassian ship."
The Galor would then open fire with it's forward high-power phaser cannon.
Completely wreaking the Amabassadors saucer. With the captian and command staff dead, the Galor can finish the crippled Starfleet vessel at it's leasure, all the while, taunting a ship that can't hear it anymore.

 

[SquireJames]

Well...

Officer meeting on the Ambassador

Captain: Conference Room everyone!
Tactical: There is a 23.556% chance of losing 48.2% of all ships systems.
Councillor: I'm detecting aggression captain.
First Officer: I've dealt with the Cardassians before, I suggest....

ad nauseum

meanwhile

Officer metting on the Galor
Tactical: Hey Sir!
Captain: Yeah?
Tactical: Should we fire on them now?
Captain: Hmm, yeah go on, it'll be a laugh.

*boom*

Hence ends the lesson on why spending freaking hours discussing something when there is a heavily armed warship in front of you (or monster, anomaly etc, whatever the TNG episode may be) is a BAD idea.

 

[Knight]

The flying spade wins it.

Though I think its tougher to decide. One on one, it'd be an even fight... I think the Galor is much better suited to wolfpack behaviour.

Ultimately though, I think the Galor would take the win.

 

[Majestic]

I actually read somewhere the Galor was designed as a direct response to intel from the federation cruisers which at the time was the Excelsior class and not longer after the Galor's deployment the Ambassador was launched.

The Cardassians have always been behind the other major powers in tech and starship designs hence why the usually operate in wolf packs so if I was a gambling man my money would be on the Ambassador.

 

[VieVentar]

I'd bet on the Ambassador, the Galor was almost always seen in groups rather than single ships except when taking on vastly smaller adversaries.

From that I'd infer that the Galor is intended to operate with other ships, either in a wolfpack with other Galors, or supporting the Keldon class, or supported by destroyers or Hideki's.

One on one with an Ambassador, the Galor's sole advantage is its large forward phaser bank. The Ambassador's main phasers are relatively small affairs, still showing the old "Three Bank" setup that dates back to the refit Constitution (Or indeed Earlier) rather than the full semicircular arrays seen in later ships.

Cardassian shields are also said to be inferior to those of other races, along with most of there technology apparently, so the Galor would need to rely on speed rather than shields. That means it would need to Joust with the Ambassador to bring its main phaser bank into play, running the risk of the Ambassador bringing its twin torpedo launchers into play head on.

If the captain of the Galor is smart, he will go for the torpedo launchers first. The phasers on an Ambassador would still be a challenge, but without the heavy punch of the torpedo's it would be a lot harder to knock out the Galor.

The Ambassador would be best off launching torpedo's immediately, force the Galor to change its course to take that big phaser bank out of its firing arc. Then go in for a flyby to pepper its ventral, dorsal or rear shields with phaser fire. The Ambassador might not have powerful phasers, but its got quite a few (11 in fact). Then pull away and launch torpedo's from the rear launchers (Assuming you ascribe to the school of thought that believes that the Ambassador HAS them), probably missing that time since I believe the Galor would be far more manovourable.

Ultimately its a question of keeping inside the Galor's secondary weapon arcs rather than its primary, and peppering them with Phasers and torpedo's at every opportunity.

 

[La Patience]

Well even though Cardassians are my faverite race I would say that the Ambassador has the advantage as Cardassian ships are produced cheaply in great numberes (for wolfpacking) instead of one on one confrentations.

Also the galor has to rely on its forward phaser cannon where as the ambassador has its power equaly distributed around the suacer.

I'd like to say that the galor would win but im not sure. with a good captain maybe but with one that has only commanded it into battle in a wolfpack, then its less likely he would be suited for one on one.

but then again as SquireJames said The cardies don't bother with all that formal stuff and are likely to open fire straight away. this is regardless of because they know what federation captains are like (boring and hold many meetings) or that they are just hot haeded and want to prove they are the dominant power.

Im 50-50 on this

 

[StarBlade]

The cardies don't bother with all that formal stuff and are likely to open fire straight away.

That's a moot point-- both ships know they're there to fight. They're not going to conference or ask important questions about "what do they want here?" They're going to do what Starfleet does when Starfleet's attacked: refuse to bow down without a fight.

Besides, Starfleet ships wouldn't just show up and phone it in. Hostile intentions would bring the two ships together. Hostile intentions would make it so that only one makes it home.

 

[Jetfreak]

My money's on the Ambassador on this one. Though the Galor has pretty good weapons on her front. I really doubt that a Galor can take out a fully armed and ready Ambassador in one or a few shots. From what I can see, the Galor has a blindspot on her rear that the Amby can exploit. I believe Galors have few weapon banks on the rear. If lucky, the Amby can quickly maneuver to the Galor's rear and take out her engines and other important systems. Thus winning the battle.

The factor here is weapon arcs. The Ambassador has almost full phaser coverage while the Galor's weapons are concentrated on the ship's front.

 

[Aerilon]

Hmm... tough question.

We must remember two things here though, at least, on the Cardassian side of things. The Galor Class was built as a Battleship (usually classified as one). Cardassians are (to an extent) a warlike species, and whilst not half as bad as the Klingons, I would expect them to build their ships more with weapons, than science labs.

We've then got the Ambassador. Another Federation Diplomatic Cruiser. The second thing to think about, is that the common Galor we saw throughout DS9 was the 'Type 3' Galor. This brings the question, as to what the Type I and Type II were.

Majestic mentioned the Galor was built to rival the Excelsior. I would have said maybe the Type I, maybe II even, but not the Type III. Even though they're about the same size, if it were a T3 Galor vs an Excelsior, I would give the win to the Galor.

Usually, Cardassian ships work in groups of two or three. It is rare that we see them alone, especially when things could get hostile.

I really can't make a choice on this. The Ambassador would probably have the hull, and possibly shield strength, but the Galor was made more to fight than the Ambassador, so I really am unsure...

 

[DarkPhoenix]

my bet is on the ambassador. both are obviously there to fight in the scenario that's been spelled out.

the galor would get 2 or 3 shots out of it's main plasma bank and then assume an attack posture by maneuvering to port/starboard to get off a shot or two again from the main plasma bank.

the ambassador would have already launched a full spread of torpedoes, possible four or five (with 3 or 4 hitting) AND fired off it's first two phaser spreads out of the main forward bank and 1 or 2 again off of the corresponding port/starboard banks. hitting the galor hard and temporarily knocking out sensors. as the galor moves off to the side and around, with the ambassador raking the galor with phaser fire and launches 3 torpedoes out of the aft torp launcher with a strike or two. after the ambassador completes it's turn fires from her forward phaser banks again and disables one of the galor's impulse drives.

after several weakened shots off a secondary plasma bank and damaging one of the warp nacelles, the ambassador closes in and launches forward torpedoes again 2 or 3 out of 4 to 5 hit and cripple the galor, while phaser fire is concentrated on the weakened hull of the galor and blowing her to smithereens!



the end. lol