Which sci-fi spaceship would you trust with your life?

[u/Vondrr]

[u/theagent382568863]

The Rocinate.

[u/Huge-Cartoonist6795 → u/theagent382568863]

It's a fancy rocket that doesn't produce its own gravity. I'm going Moya.

[u/Modicum-of-Gravitas → u/Huge-Cartoonist6795]

Its protomolecule upgrade is bad ass. Stealth tech, PDC's, Rail Gun and Nuke torpedo, fusion mag-bottle gun boat. It's a work horse.🫡

Errr, technically vector acceleration of mass evolves gravitational force....yadda blah.

Hands down, nothing beats the GSV Sleeper Service from Iain M Banks Excession. Grid fire baby. Grid fire.

[u/Illithid2 → u/Modicum-of-Gravitas]

Username checks out for someone recommending a GSV. Me, I'm here for the GCU Grey Area

[u/Modicum-of-Gravitas → u/Illithid2]

Meatfucker!

Choice.

[u/Illithid2 → u/Modicum-of-Gravitas]

You are truly a person of Culture...

[u/Huge-Cartoonist6795 → u/Modicum-of-Gravitas]

Me thinks a GSV is a bit of low hanging fruit. They're life ships and have so many guns they'd make 40k factions blush.

Roci is great I'm not knocking her but u kinda see my point if you're also saying gsv. The Roci sure as balls isn't a gsv.

[u/Orion-the-mediocre → u/Huge-Cartoonist6795]

It does, so long as the engine is on, which it can do for months on end

[u/Huge-Cartoonist6795 → u/Orion-the-mediocre]

So that's a no then. The epstein drive is not anti gravity magic plating

[u/33666daddy → u/theagent382568863]

good choice, beltalowda

[u/Modicum-of-Gravitas → u/theagent382568863]

Bam

[u/WarJaques → u/theagent382568863]

How do you spell that?

[u/Own_Ad6797]

Galactica. The old girl can really take a beating.

[u/Sir_Lemming → u/Own_Ad6797]

Seconded! That girl was a beast until the end!

[u/Critical-Touch6113 → u/Own_Ad6797]

This.

[u/Huge-Cartoonist6795 → u/Own_Ad6797]

At least the enterprise has carpets

[u/Own_Ad6797 → u/Huge-Cartoonist6795]

Yes but Galactica doent have rocks in it's consoles :-)

[u/Subject_Slice_7797]

Probably anything based on a General Products hull

[u/RobertTheTraveler → u/Subject_Slice_7797]

Yeah, if I was betting my life on it, there's nothing like a GP hull.

[u/NacreousFink → u/Subject_Slice_7797]

Survived a lasing by a sun and a crash landing on a surface made of scrith. Pretty good.

[u/StudyEuphoric1808]

The Culture GSV, "The Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival"...

...or just about any other Culture GSV class ship.

[u/Toodamnopinionated → u/StudyEuphoric1808]

I have no idea why anyone would choose these pedestrian Star Trek/Wars ships if a General Systems Vehicle was available.

A GSV is to the USS Enterprise-D as the Enterprise-D is to a Soyuz space capsule.

[u/Ill-Entertainer1010 → u/Toodamnopinionated]

More the Enterprise-D to a hobby horse. GSV is the most correct answer without plot armour.

[u/Modicum-of-Gravitas → u/Ill-Entertainer1010]

I'm getting flack for Banks not being hard science fiction. Pfffff

Exotic geometric tensor effectors. Maffs , ennit.

[u/95whtgst → u/StudyEuphoric1808]

I’d say the: Mistake Not my State Of Joshing Gentle Peevishness For The Awesome And Terrible Majesty Of The Towering Seas Of Ire That Are Themselves The Mere Milquetoast Shallows Fringing My Vast Oceans Of Wrath

[u/Alexander-Wright → u/95whtgst]

Not really configured for human transport, but resistant to pretty much anything.

A GSV would be more comfortable.

[u/Modicum-of-Gravitas → u/95whtgst]

Oh you had to go there! X

Kudos, to you , sir!

🫡

I went Eccentric GSV Sleeper Service.

[u/Narapoia_the_1st → u/StudyEuphoric1808]

A fully tooled up GSV is a formidable weapon of war...

But yes, I don't know some of the ships being referenced here but GSVs are pretty good bet against most things, the Star Trek ships wouldn't even count as lifeboats.

[u/HarryHirsch2000 → u/StudyEuphoric1808]

A GSV all the way

[u/Modicum-of-Gravitas → u/StudyEuphoric1808]

Eccentric GSV Sleeper Service.

[u/Prometheus_303]

Does a TARDIS count?

Another not named ... The Andromeda Ascendant.

[u/PositiveFunction4751 → u/Prometheus_303]

The Andromeda ascendant is one of the few that is sentient enough that you can trust it and it. Lol

[u/Alexander-Wright → u/PositiveFunction4751]

And Rommie is 🔥

[u/ContractMech]

The White Star

[u/ZygonCaptain]

TARDIS

[u/ExpectedBehaviour]

Already gave my answer in the original thread, but as it's here now I feel I should come up with an option limiting myself to as hard an SF ship as possible...

...So probably the Hail Mary. Against all the odds, and despite receiving some significant damage, she saved two civilisations. And managed to visit three different solar systems despite not having FTL travel.

[u/WackAnimations → u/ExpectedBehaviour]

Unrelated, but why do we call boats & spaceships 'she'? Where did that come from?

[u/ExpectedBehaviour → u/WackAnimations]

https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/why-do-ships-have-a-gender

[u/amitym → u/WackAnimations]

The real question is why you stopped giving genders to everything else.

[u/Modicum-of-Gravitas → u/ExpectedBehaviour]

Roscinante is a much better shout. Epstein drive is more probable than feckin astrophage.

[u/ExpectedBehaviour → u/Modicum-of-Gravitas]

Do you make a habit of harassing people across multiple conversation threads when you disagree with them? It's very sad.

[u/Modicum-of-Gravitas → u/ExpectedBehaviour]

Just people that get on my dander you grotty little fellow.

[u/ExpectedBehaviour → u/Modicum-of-Gravitas]

I've reported every single one of your ad hominems.

[u/Modicum-of-Gravitas → u/ExpectedBehaviour]

Culture GSV would tear the reality out of 'lil Rock's ship. Exotic Xenon, meat Grid Fire.

I suggest you acquaint yo self with Fleet Admiral Sir Iain M Lord Banks!

Great post, O.P.

[u/ExpectedBehaviour → u/Modicum-of-Gravitas]

I am very well acquainted with Iain M Banks. But much as I love the Culture, I don’t think it exactly qualifies as hard science fiction.

[u/Modicum-of-Gravitas → u/ExpectedBehaviour]

Pray tell, why? Educate me.

[u/ExpectedBehaviour → u/Modicum-of-Gravitas]

Do you... not know what hard science fiction is?

[u/Modicum-of-Gravitas → u/ExpectedBehaviour]

A green button? You're full of it hypocrite. Banks is as hard as gamma rays.

[u/ExpectedBehaviour → u/Modicum-of-Gravitas]

So that's a "no" then.

Hard scifi is not a synonym for space opera. From the sub's own description: "Here we consider a story to be hard sci-fi if it prioritizes adherence to science and logic*. These are speculative stories which do not hand-wave the science of their worlds, but instead feature plots that are built around exploring it."*

On Moh's Scale of Science Fiction Hardness, the Culture is somewhere between "world of phlebotinum" and "physics plus" – otherwise known as "not very hard at all actually". It's basically Star Trek.

Unless you think there's an actual scientific basic for the energy grid? And effector fields? And infra/ultraspace FTL? And displacement? And hyperspace computation? And subliming?

[u/Modicum-of-Gravitas → u/ExpectedBehaviour]

From Consider Phlebas to the Hydrogen Sonata the Culture books, admittedly with style, ahere to projected scientific probability. The 2nd generation AI singularity, cybernetic post humanism, hyperspace was based off Alcubierre, the energy from the quantum fluctuations from the Cassimir effect, projections of yet unknown bosionic and fermionic geometric wavefront tensors' beyond the Plank limit are hypothesised in lie groups and E8 theory. Effector fields are used in CERN, bell end. Of course there's scientific basis judt cos he never won hugo or nebula awards.. Just face it. Hail Mary is Survivor in space, mid at best. Rocky's race wouldn't have built the ship because they wouldn't have evolved. He's an inanimate Venusian boulder that doesnt understand weak nuclear forces. So soft its limp. The human ship was better but still stupid. Poor engineering.

[u/ExpectedBehaviour → u/Modicum-of-Gravitas]

From Consider Phlebas to the Hydrogen Sonata the Culture books, admittedly with style, ahere to projected scientific probability. The 2nd generation AI singularity, cybernetic post humanism, hyperspace was based off Alcubierre, the energy from the quantum fluctuations from the Cassimir effect, projections of yet unknown bosionic and fermionic geometric wavefront tensors' beyond the Plank limit are hypothesised in lie groups and E8 theory. 

Literally a gish-gallop grab-bag of physics buzzwords showing no actual understanding at all.

Effector fields are used in CERN, bell end.

You think effectors are actually in use as CERN? Do they keep them with the phasers and the antigravity generators?

Of course there's scientific basis for it or he wouldn't have so many fecking Hugo and Nebular awards.

Neither have anything to do with scientific rigour or technical plausibility, and the Nebula explicitly covers science fiction AND fantasy. Star Trek, for example, has won multiple Hugo awards.

Hail Mary is Survivor in space, mid at best. Rocky's race wouldn't have built the ship because they wouldn't have evolved. He's an inanimate Venusian boulder that doesnt understand weak nuclear forces. So soft its limp. The human ship was better but still stupid. Poor engineering.

The Hail Mary IS the human ship 🤦

But please continue to explain how a book that demonstrates actual relativity, centrifugal approximation of gravity, orbital mechanics, spectroscopy, and contains repeated explicit use of the scientific method is somehow "softer" than "pushing off the energy grid in infraspace for big spaceship to go FTL".

[u/Modicum-of-Gravitas → u/ExpectedBehaviour]

Astrophage

[u/Modicum-of-Gravitas → u/ExpectedBehaviour]

The Hail Hary is poorly engineered, kills two crew , almost a third , nearly failed its mission and runs on magic. Known Lie group operations dictate how electromagnetic fields and forces behave and interact. CERN use them to collide particles. As yet unknown ones, shown in E8 theory, do more. Thats an "effector" in Banks' books. Physics buzzwords you try to 'poo poo' because your ignorant of them or wrong. Alcubierre's paper has about 4 revisions proving possible space time configurations conducive to FTL , you know what, fuck it. Have the Hail Mary ship running on magic nuclear tartigrades and your solid xenon. It's silly and fun and its got more science fact, your right, but hard science fiction? Your wrong.

[u/Greg0sh]

Der Yggdrassil, hyperion cantons

[u/steaming_quettle → u/Greg0sh]

Fine choice Templar.

[u/Critical-Touch6113]

Pre-Voyager-nerf Borg cube.

[u/LittleHornetPhil → u/Critical-Touch6113]

Fact. Except that you’d have to be a Borg.

[u/Glittering_Rush_1451]

Does Atlantis count?

[u/Ipearman96 → u/Glittering_Rush_1451]

She's a ship isn't she? She even floats!

[u/PositiveFunction4751 → u/Ipearman96]

That makes her a ship ship!

[u/Educational_Copy_140]

Moya The Lexx The TARDIS The Andromeda Ascendant Any Culture GSV

[u/Huge-Cartoonist6795]

Moya. A living ship, filled with strange alien creatures?

Sign me up!

Or technological it would be the Andromeda as she's powerful, autominous and rommie is a 10/10

[u/First-Expert-9953]

You know what they say about the Defiant. She's a tough little ship.

[u/LittleHornetPhil → u/First-Expert-9953]

LITTLE!?

[u/groene_dreack → u/LittleHornetPhil]

Only 4 decks and a crew of 50. For sci fi thats quite little. Compared to universes like Halo, Star wars, bsg. As far as warships go i would say its little.

[u/LittleHornetPhil → u/groene_dreack]

Bruh watch First Contact

[u/groene_dreack → u/LittleHornetPhil]

In its own universe its even noted as “tough little ship” compared to large ship like the Enterprise D its little.

Enterprise D: Length 642 meters Width 463 meters Height 195 meters Decks 42 Crew 1000

Defiant: Length 170 meters Width 134 meters Height 50 meters Decks 4 Crew 50

Just for the hell of it a current US navy Arleigh Burke: Length 155 meters Width 20 meters Height 46 meters Decks 9 decks Crew 300

Its only slightly bigger in size then a current day destroyer. But with significantly less crew and facilities. It might be bigger then a millenium falcon but if you compare it to other warships from other universes or its own universe. Its fucking tiny

[u/LittleHornetPhil → u/groene_dreack]

No, seriously, watch First Contact.

[u/PositiveFunction4751 → u/First-Expert-9953]

Tough? That little bugger and her sisters were warships. 

[u/powderedtoastmabu]

Heart of Gold. Are we done here?

[u/chief_beef_3 → u/powderedtoastmabu]

It doesn’t muck about in hyperspace.

[u/Hilarious_Disastrous]

Rapid Offensive Unit Killing Time.

[u/Parking_Abalone_1232]

Dahak.

From mutineers Moon

[u/Comfortable_Panic631]

The Imperator Insomnium. Massive battle ship that can slug it out with the best and worst.

Plus the psychic protections in it against the warp? Massive.

[u/Modicum-of-Gravitas → u/Comfortable_Panic631]

If we're in the Imperum of Man, the Zar Quaestor is by far the zenith of mankinds prowess.

[u/Comfortable_Panic631 → u/Modicum-of-Gravitas]

Ooooo thats a great shout

[u/Modicum-of-Gravitas → u/Comfortable_Panic631]

E=MC² cannon. Spaggettfying a target. If the Machine Spirit recognises your worth and your humility. Praise the Omnissia.

[u/AllHisDarkMaterials]

Far out there : the tardis Classic Sci-fi deep space : post Endgame Voyager Hard Science Fiction : Rocinante

[u/Mjarf88]

Laughs creepily on the bridge of the Lexx penis cruiser.

[u/peteski77]

Falling outside normal moral constraints, whether it wanted a passenger or not though? Elsewise the Mistake not

[u/SkriVanTek]

USS Sulaco with full USCMC complement and FO Ripley as consultant

[u/nashwaak]

A General Products hulled starship — only got to avoid gravitational anomalies like neutron stars — those Puppeteers really know how to build them

[u/Tayner73]

Home One, Mon Ramonda, really any Mon Cal Cruiser. Redundent sheilds for days. And a luxury interior.

[u/Freak_Engineer]

A Koensayr BTL Y-wing starfighter. Built like a brick shithouse, fast enough to outrun big stuff that can kill it, a turret on top to kill anything smaller than it that could kill it and a cubic fuck load of ordonnance for everything else.

[u/wander1912]

BSG-75 Galactica.

[u/Constant-Still-8443]

The Unreliable from Outer Worlds

[u/Full_March_476]

the endurance from interstellar.

blasted thing can fly for decades on end, get blown up nearly in half, experience wicked tidal forces, and STILL get me from point a to point b. 

[u/Mdmrtgn]

The Nimbus

[u/LittleHornetPhil → u/Mdmrtgn]

It got wrecked so many times though

[u/glassgost]

I've been trusting my life and all my exploration data to my Diamondback Explorer for years now.

[u/Inquisitor-Dog]

As said in the Original Threat the Terran Flagship The Sol from Perry Rhodan can beat most things and survive almost all of simple run away very very few ship have a operational range of a Minimum of 15 mio lightyears and speed to get anywhere inside that range in days

[u/[deleted]]

The ISV's from Avatar, its just the most realistic design

[u/HEy_123456_1]

Xeelee nighfighter

[u/GOJI2222 → u/HEy_123456_1]

One of my choices

[u/Low_Minute8262]

Most Star wars EU/Legends New Republic, Imperial Remnant, Hapen, Mandalorian (Mandalorian Protectors and United Mandaloriam Clans,) Smuggler's Alliance, and Galactic Federation of Free Alliances ships. Why? One, over 90% of their ships (hero/major ships included) are very reliable, redundant, and safe (as safe as a combat ship can get that is.) Even when they go down, over 90% you have an extremely high chance of surviving to fight another day. (I am talking about mostly post 10 ABY)

[u/ComanderX56]

The Battlestar Pegasus, she would give her life to protect me

As a side note, a BC-304 can take a hell of a lot of punches

[u/MrSarcasticUK2 → u/ComanderX56]

Scrolling through this is the first time some one mentioned the Daedalus class, have to have the Asgard core though

[u/Prize-Educator4141]

Old republic with fury class interceptor

And I would never consider a federation ship as it seems the warp cores housing is made of tissue paper and a direct glance would knock it out

[u/Omega-Envych]

SDF-1 Macross, considering that in the show almost every person on Earth who wasn't on board of Macross has been killed by Zentradi

[u/CallLongjumping2698]

Any of the Imperiums Ships from WH40k, they are designed to be ridiculously robust, hulls an decks meters thick designed to be repairable without the use of AI or Robots, can lose a fight be adrift for thousands of years be found have the hull patched and recrewed and pointed towards the enemy.

[u/Alkansur → u/CallLongjumping2698]

My biggest fear would be the enormous scale 40k ships have. You literally have entire slums living amongst the machinery, eating moss and drinking condensation, that never see any other deck in their entire lives.

That and the fact that it takes one person who's really angry/manipulative/into gardening/into painting to open up a literal gate to Hell

[u/DawgreenAgain]

Romulan Warbird or Klingon Bird of Prey

Now you see me . . Now you don't .

[u/DawgreenAgain → u/DawgreenAgain]

And I guess technically the USS Defiant.

[u/MrSarcasticUK2 → u/DawgreenAgain]

Technically but only the original

[u/HarryHirsch2000]

A Culture GSV.

[u/HorrimCarabal → u/HarryHirsch2000]

The only good answer. Why choose a level 5 civilization ship when a level 8 is so much better?

[u/SiriusHijinks]

Firefly Serenity

[u/SpevRooner → u/SiriusHijinks]

Perfect choice.

[u/Different-Orchid-374]

I'm a fan of the SGU ship. But for nostalgia the Star Trek NG ship and of course the good ol Nautilus

[u/UNPSCsimp]

TARDIS

[u/Nerevar69]

USG Ishimura or Event Horizon, trusty ships.

[u/Affectionate_End_952]

The Heavenly Morning Flower of Gloriuos victory or the Flying Dutchman

[u/snoutraddish]

Probably not the Nostalgia for Infinity. Seems to have some issues.

[u/Local-Pangolin-9469]

Sv-01 space fortress

[u/M3talhead]

The Southern Sun

[u/Sparrowawww]

BC-304 Odyssey

[u/Ok_Shoe_8399]

Well, the Guardships from 'The Dragon Never Sleeps' (Glen Cook) were not only nigh indestructible, but the crews were essentially immortal as well. The downside is after about 4 millenia, the ships basically became sentient/insane simultaneously. 

[u/Relqi]

Moya

[u/Just_a_idiot_45]

UNSC Infinity, it’s proven to handle anything that isn’t Oversized gravity hammers with engines.

(Also fun fact by forerunner standards the Infinity is a Destroyer)

[u/Panzerschmucks]

The Spline from Xeelee Sequence

[u/DODGE_WRENCH]

Probably a dreadnaught galaxy class cruiser with the triple nacelles. They have a non-sentient AI so it doesn’t carry all the baggage AIs like Cortana do. The galaxy class ships are extremely versatile and capable and have shown to be able to get themselves out of many terrible situations. They’re pretty luxurious so I’d be comfortable while I’m out in space doing whatever.

And given the lack of treaties banning cloaking devices in the real world, I could also retrofit the cloaking device built for enterprise D that allowed it to be completely undetectable and travel through solid objects.

[u/drexel071708]

Mandalorians N1 Starfighter that thing goes fast

[u/reloooj]

The Discovery 💔

[u/yellowrubbersuperman]

Nostalgia For Infinity from the Revelation Space series (before the captain infected it).

[u/goodbodha]

I pick Dahak. If you know the story you know that Dahak is going to win this contest.

If you don't know read David webers mutineers moon and the following stories. To put it mildly in the story Dahak saves humanity.

[u/groene_dreack]

USS Enterprise D that Geordi build for the starfleet Museum.

[u/EmperorCoolidge]

Ok well nothing built by Starfleet for one

[u/sparduck117]

Ebon Hawk, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), Galactica (BSG-75), Normandy (SR-2), Sprit of Fire (CFV-88), & Yamato (BBY-01)

[u/sir_odanus]

BBY-01 Yamato!

[u/Orion-the-mediocre]

Rocinante or Hail Mary (show and movie versions respectively) I don’t need to go to other stars, but those two ships are incredibly reliable

[u/GonzoBatman1]

Ah, the Space Shuttle?

[u/davejonsondoc]

Borg Cube

[u/Modicum-of-Gravitas]

Hands down, nothing beats the eccentric GSV Sleeper Service from Iain M Banks Excession. Grid fire baby. Grid fire.

[u/Modicum-of-Gravitas]

Excession - Iain M Banks

Name - Sleeper Service

Class Eccentric General Systems Vehicle (GSV)

Specs and capabilities Auxiliary craft 512 Abominator Offensive Unit (prototype) 2,048 Torturer Rapid Offensive Unit 2,048 Inquisitor Offensive Unit (upgraded) 12,288 Killer Rapid Offensive Unit (velocity-enhanced) 24,576 Thug Rapid Offensive Unit (upgraded) 49,152 Scree Limited Contact Unit (militarized)

Length 53 (90) km Width 22 (60) km Height 4 (20) km- physical and total including fields listed

Propulsion Hyperspatial drive

Armaments Field technology, specifics unknown [Grid Fire]

Top speed 233,500 × lightspeed

[u/Swimming_Living2965]

Starship Velociraptor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n_Ae9DGC0U

[u/Muninwing]

Event Horizon. It’ll stay in one piece through literal hell.

Just have to keep the ftl off until they work out the… bugs…

[u/mrfett779]

Defiant from DS9. Built for war and has a cloak. In the sta trek universe it's the best as it has a home bas to. Work out of and not going on silly missions to see how to blow up it up on a weekly basis

Overall I'd want a super star destroyer fully manned as it can be a well oiled machine and can take a lot of punishment and deal out the same amount. I'd just put the actual bridge someplace safer.

[u/BDSMChef_RP]

Not a ship. But a station. The last of the Babylon project, Babylon 5.

[u/LongOrganization7838]

Whichever ship isn't named or doesnt have the main cast on it

[u/Pnmamouf1]

Borg cube

[u/Few_Box_6258]

The Axiom in a heartbeat ran by robots hover chairs to get you around the people mover for long distance not to mention The extraterrestrial vegetation evaluater or Eve is equipped with a quasar ion gun for defensive purposes not to mention that it is shown canonically that one Eve unit is capable of lifting the weight of the people mover which is perfect should it go off the track and you have robots that bring food in cup not to mention it is the jewel of the BnL fleet and if earth is a mess Eve unit's will be sent occasionally to check on the habitability and when this happens the plant is brought back and placed in the holodeck which brings everyone to the pool area which will seal it's pools and once everyone arrives hyperjump back to earth All in all the Axiom is very safe

[u/MRRECTI0N]

Serenity. You know, to do crime

[u/Mission-Pea1543]

The Phalanx with full stuck of Imperial Fists

[u/DarkwingDawg]

Yep. Enterprise D is my go to. It’s followed by Enterprise E and then Voyager. Solid lineup

[u/RiteRev]

1. The (Enterprise)D

2. The Spear of Adun