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When talking about malevolent cosmic realms the Imperial Galactic Empire immediately springs to mind. Led by the evil Emperor Palpatine and his Sith cohorts such as Darth Vader, legions of Stormtroopers swept across the galaxy spreading death, destruction and domination.

But before that there was the Cylon Alliance. A mass of murderous mechanoids intent on the destruction of humanity under the guidance of The Imperious Leader. The Centurions marched their way across many a battle scarred planet delivering a special brand of mayhem.

For the purposes of this VS Battle I am focusing on the outer space arena - specifically ship to ship combat. I am also using the Classic Battlestar Galactica Cylons and not the watered down version that I am pretending never happened.

The backbone of the Imperial Navy is the I-Class Star Destroyer. While usually deployed in pairs or as part of a fleet, a single one of these warships is a formidable opponent indeed. Fast, highly maneuverable and excellent shields complement the massive firepower that this vessel can bring to bear. The ship's hangers also contain several TIE Fighter squadrons available for close defense and quick attacks.



The Basestar is the capital ship deployed by the Cylon Alliance and usually travel in threes but sometimes a lone ship is sent on a special mission. The myriad of weapons present include laser turrets, missiles, pulsar cannons and a swarm of Raiders. It's impressive array of offensive and defensive weaponry makes up for it's relatively slow speed and agility.



Breakdown

Armament

Star Destroyer
6 Dual Heavy Turbolaser Turrets
2 Dual Heavy Ion Cannon Turrets
2 Quad Heavy Turbolasers
3 Triple Medium Turbolasers
2 Medium Turbolasers
60 Taim & Bak XX-9 Heavy Turbolasers
60 Borstel NK-7 Ion Cannons
10 Phylon Q7 tractor beam projectors

Basestar
2 Mega Pulsar Cannons
100 Turbo Lasers
24 Missile Turrets

Offense - The Star Destroyer is outgunned a bit here. The Mega Pulsar Cannons should be able to batter through the SD's shields before launching a barrage of missiles. A savvy Commander would approach the Basestar from an advantageous angle.

Advantage: Cylons

Defense - The Turbo Lasers aboard the Basestar are notoriously erratic and inaccurate and no match for the nimble TIE fighters. On the other hand, everyone knows the odds of successfully surviving an attack on an Imperial Star Destroyer are approximately...oh, never mind.

Advantage: Empire

Complement

Star Destroyer
6 TIE Squadrons (72 Starfighters)
- 3 TIE Fighter Wings (36 craft)
- 2 TIE Interceptor Wings (24 craft)
- 1 TIE/rc (recon) Wing (12 craft)

Basestar
300 Raiders

The Empire is outnumbered 4-1 here but what they lack in quantity they make up in quality. For the purposes of this fight it is assumed that the SD is specifically geared for ship to ship combat and not planet sweeping. Therefore, the TIE Bomber Wing is replaced by an additional Squadron of TIE Interceptors.

The Cylon Raiders are not as intuitive pilots and use brute force strategy rather than finesse. They are also more than likely to kamikaze attack opposing ships.

Advantage: Empire (barely)





Leadership

A Star Destroyer Captain is usually intelligent, ruthless and cunning. He will use tactics and terrain to try and gain every possible advantage. They also tend to be self serving and not willing to sacrifice their own lives for the cause. They have no such compunction regarding their troops.

The command of the Basestar is given to an IL-series Cylon. These beings are all vying to be the next Imperious Leader and have a lust for power at no expense. Loss of troops is of no concern to them - they can always build more.

Advantage - Even

So who do see coming out victorious in this epic clash of Rogue Interstellar Regimes?

SD just saying. If a Battle Star with outdated vipers can whoop their arses then an SD with TIE Fighters is going to pick them apart.

I actually meant to vote for the Cylon Basestar (I know, it's my poll) but somehow it registers as a vote for the Star Destroyer.

I think that a Basestar beats a Star Destroyer at least 6 out of 10 times.

The Mega Pulsar Cannons have an extremely long range and are devastatingly powerful. They have the capability to smash through the Star Destroyer's shields and obliterate it before the SD is even within range to fire its own weapons. Don't forget that there was a reason why almost all of the Battlestars were quickly eliminated - see The Battle of Molecay in which there was only one surviving BS. Plus, Galactica generally avoided any direct confrontation with any Basestar.

I also think that the overwhelming superiority of numbers the Cylons have in spacecraft works to their advantage. Sure, the TIE Interceptors will shoot down scores of drone Raiders but as attrition mounts the advantage shifts in favor of the Cylons. Not to mention their proclivity to dive bomb right into a ship in their way. Think what would happen if five of those saucers whipped right into the bridge of the Star Destroyer. See ya Admiral Piett!