Star Wars Vs. Star Trek
A Stars Ablaze Behind the Scenes Look
Hello, dedicated readers and curious newcomers. You've probably seen and read a lot of debates around the topic of which these two famous franchises are better. The crossover stories out there usually had the idea that one side is superior because of technology or because one side had the Force. I've looked over these for a very long time, always wondering how I would tackle the idea of Stars Wars/Star Trek crossover story myself. I first tried with Star Trek Online but to my sadness I kind of lost the motivation to continue on.
Then I remembered the movies.
Stars Wars Episodes One through Six, containing the Prequel and Original Trilogies.
And the Star Trek movies, starting with Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
Two movie franchises with six movies and I wondered why no one considered this kind of crossover before. You would not believe the amount of time I spent pouring over how decide how they could interact, outside of 'Enemy ship, open fire/Phasers, fire!' approach that most stories would go with. I've posted at least three movie crossovers now of these franchises, starting with Star Trek: The Motion Picture meeting Star Wars: The Phantom Menace and have just finished with the Wrath of Khan. Now I'd like to share my thoughts and opinions on how each side differ, which might be better, and how things could go in the likely future conflicts.
I don't want to be pulled into a rabid fan debate which is what has kept me from posting these kinds of stories but positive feedback and sharing your own thoughts would be welcome.
Okay, let's dive into it.
Star Wars Vs. Star Trek
Galaxies
We have two galaxies here, the Milky Way and the Star Wars Galaxy which I call the Skyriver Galaxy. The name Skyriver was found when I found in the page belonging to the Star Wars Galaxy that in a book called The Essential Atlas, the Nagai of Firefist called it the Skyriver Galaxy and maybe one day I'll work on out how they started calling it in the Stars Ablaze stories. I had the idea that the name Skyriver was suggested off screen by a historian sharing their culture with Starfleet of ancient people calling the galaxy Skyriver which made it simple. In comparison to the Milky Way Galaxy, the Skyriver Galaxy is estimated to be 120,000 light years wide while the Milky Way Galaxy is estimated to be 100,000 light years wide so that would make the Star Wars Galaxy 10% bigger than the Star Trek Galaxy.
The Skyriver Galaxy is orbited by seven smaller satellite galaxies and approximately 13 billion years old. By the time of the prequel saga in Star Wars, the Skyriver Galaxy had almost been completely mapped out with the exception of the Unknown Regions. The galactic arms consisted of the Bakchou arm, the Ettarue arm, the South arm and the Tingel arm. The regions consisted of the Deep Core, the Core Worlds, the Inner Rim, the Expansion Region, the Mid-Rim, the Outer Rim, Wild Space and the Unknown Regions.
The Milky Way Galaxy on the other hand is divided into four major areas called quadrants: Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta, each composing one quarter of the galaxy and is divided into thousands of sectors. The Galactic Core is the intersection of all four quadrants.
So that's the basics of the two galaxies right there. We have the Skyriver Galaxy representing Star Wars and the Milky Way Galaxy representing Star Trek with the Skyriver being the bigger of the two.
Governments
With the Stars Wars, the Skyriver Galaxy has usually been ruled by an empire or a republic composed of countless races that have interacted mostly through war but sometimes trade, diplomacy, and politics. You have the Old Republic, the Sith Empire which has been destroyed and rebuilt a few times, the Galactic Republic followed by the Galactic Empire and the New Republic.
In the Milky Way Galaxy, you have Earth as part of the United Federation of Planets, encompassing over eight thousand light years and is also one of the founding members alongside Vulcan, Andoria and Tellerite, followed quickly by Denubions, Rigellions, and the Coridanites in the wake of the Earth-Romulan War. By the time of the 23rd century where the stories take place, the Federation has over one hundred member worlds and thousands of colonies. Impressive but smaller and much younger in comparison to the Galactic Republic.
Galactic Republic
By the time of The Phanton Menace, the Galactic Republic has existed for almost a thousand years. In that time, there has been no need for a military army or fleet, leaving the Jedi Order to the task of keeping peace in the galaxy. However, it was pretty clear from the get-go that it wasn't the civilization it had made itself out to be. Whether it be from the evil Sith working on the inside or from the greedy senators, the Republic was found to be ineffectual in the long run.
The Senate was led by a Supreme Chancellor who was elected to lead the Senate for a four-year term, though the Senate was allowed to call for a Vote of No Confidence. While life was mostly good in the Inner and Mid Rims, the Republic did not extend into the Outer Rim territories, allowing for crime lords and other opportunists to go about their daily business. The Jedi answered to the Senate and were more or less content to carry out their orders, with only a handful of Jedi questioning whether or not their orders served the people of the Republic or the senators who were becoming increasingly self-absorbed. Things came to a turn during the Blockade of Naboo when the Senate was too bogged down in procedures, courtesy of Darth Sidious to do anything.
Though the current Chancelor, Finis Valorum secretly dispatched two Jedi Knights to settle the dispute the game had already been set and rigged with Valorum unable to rein in the bureaucracy controlling the Senate and was voted out of office by Naboo's queen, on the advice of Senator Palpatine who was confident their situation would create a strong sympathy vote to have him elected.
Of course, he likely made sure to manipulate and intimidate the right people.
Palpatine would be elected as Supreme Chancellor, placing him in the perfect position of power for when he could carry out his grandmaster plan. When his term was nearly over, the Separatist Crises began, and the Senate demanded he stay in office to handle the crises. With planets now leaving the Republic, the Senate put forth the motion to create an army for the Republic in case of a full-scale war breaking out.
It's interesting that instead of trying to negotiate with the planets leaving the Republic, the Senate opted for voting for the creation of an army. Rather, they demonized these so-called Separatists simply for protesting the taxations of trade routes in the Outer Rim that the Core Worlds benefited from. In their minds, the Separatists were a band of greedy thugs that were so desperate for wealth, that they would resort to lies and extortion to get their way. The majority of Separatist worlds were non-human and thus were subjected to xenophobia or racist behavior.
Despite the opposition led by Senator Amidala, the Senate refused to speak with the systems joining the Separatists, believing it would legitimize them as a separate power from the Republic. Many worlds were victims to abuse and were not treated as most human or inner Rim worlds were which goes against what the Republic was supposed to stand for. The Separatist movement was originally just an idea to secede from the Republic and form their own system of government that would treat them fairly. Unfortunately Palpatine fueled the flames of war between both groups, ensuring no peaceful solution was ever possible.
When the Clone Wars began, the Senate immediately gave emergency powers to Palpatine to grant him the power to bypass the need for a vote and immediately approve the creation of an army. This was because the Senate learned of the Separatist Droid Army on Geonosis and rushed to have their own army ready, despite the fact that they knew virtually nothing about where the Clone army had come from or why it was even created. In fact, the Senate would push for the creation of more clones to be sent out to fight the Separatists as the war dragged on, refusing negotiations or even a cease fire. It's pretty clear that by this point, the Senate is horribly corrupt and while claiming to represent the rights of the people did very little to actually follow the spirit of those beliefs.
They had no issue with accepting an army of mysterious origins, they had no trouble funding the continued production of clone troopers even though the money was being taken away from funding schools, homes and other vital programs to support the lives of the very citizens they were claiming to protect. As the war dragged on, they continued voting more and more powers to the Supreme Chancelor believing that there was no time for debates and needed more action which meant putting more troops on the ground. Right up until finally, when the Chancellor declared the Republic would be reorganized into the Galactic Empire, the Senate cheered and approved this big mistake and would come to regret it in the following years.
The Senate was actually one of two governmental branches, the other being the judiciary, composed of sector-based regional courts with the Supreme Court being at the highest level, a body of twelve justices. The courts stuck to the background on most political debates and ever considered to be even slower and less effective than the Senate. During the Clone Wars, a third branch of government was developed, the Office of the Supreme Chancellor that grow to become its own entity. By the time of the Battle of Naboo, the title of Supreme Chancellor was little more than a figurehead until Palpatine was elected with the Vie Chair actually having more power, despite being meant to serve as a check for the Chancellor's power.
So, while the Senate would be larger than the Federation Council, being composed of over two thousand senatorial delegations, it is clear that the Galactic Senate was ineffective in governing, especially in the final years of the Republic. It didn't help that Palpatine's personal staff, Mas Amedda and Sly More worked with him to build the Empire, often convincing Senators to vote one way or another on key issues or kept Palpatine's executive branch in line and in accordance with his agenda. Senators didn't just represent planets and systems but also mega-corporations. The Galactic Senate was hopelessly corrupt and though Palpatine played a large role, the Senate was in many ways corrupt because of the very Senators it was composed of.
Senators were typically only out to fill their own pockets and their works revolved around an endless cycle of elections, working to keep getting re-elected usually through courting wealthy donors or funding popular causes in their home systems. By the time of the Battle of Naboo, Senators were more in line in advancing the goals of whatever political faction they were aligned with which led to a lot of stonewalling for dealing with such problems. The most powerful factions in the Senate were the Core Faction and the Rim Faction. The Core Faction represented wealthy and human dominated worlds that were at the heart of the Republic that advocated for centralized government power while the Rim Faction represented mostly alien worlds of the Republic, representing deregulation and planetary sovereignty.
Despite their intentions, the Senators that made up these two factions were actually useless. Neither faction ever truly accomplished anything and had been more focused on sabotaging each other. When the Separatist Crises began, the Core and Rim Factions broke apart and the Senate would become divided between new factions with one being the Militarists who lobbied for the creation of an army and the Pacifists who wanted to pursue peaceful negotiations. Both factions were equally useless and as the Clone Wars went on, the Militarists grew more powerful, and their votes only benefitted Palpatine while the Pacifists became increasingly unpopular, and their numbers dwindled. Ironically, they only started making progress after the Republic fell and created the Rebel Alliance.
So, while the Senate was bigger than the Federation Council, it was largely useless, corrupted and wasn't that much of a democracy. It was structured in a similar manner to the European Commission but with no input from the populace at all.
United Federation of Planets
We don't have a lot covered with how the government for the Federation works in Star Trek but we know there is a President along with a Council. The Federation president was the chief executive officer of the Federation. The president was responsible for the day-to-day operation of the government, setting and coordinating foreign policy, and dealing with resource distribution issues. In accordance with the Articles of the Federation, sessions of the full Council of the United Federation of Planets were presided over by the President of the United Federation of Planets (barring special circumstances, such as the President being off-planet), who stood at a podium near the north wall while the councilors sat in seats arranged in rising rows of twenty. The podium determined who could speak to the Council for the record, and recognized speakers could only address the Council from the speaker's floor, located in the center of the room between two sets of seats for the councilors. Councilors had computer terminals at their workstations that they could use to silently contact one another or those outside the chambers, and lights on each terminal to indicate a desire to address the Council. No one could speak who had not been recognized by the podium.
The Federation Council conducted its business during sessions that convened once every six months, with three-week intervals. According to the Articles of the Federation, all Federation Councilors had to be present at the beginning of a session in order to participate in future meetings of the Council; those who were not present had to wait until the next session convened in six months. The Council conducted much of its business by dividing itself into numerous sub-councils with jurisdiction over specific areas of import to the Federation; the Security Council, for instance, had jurisdiction over areas of Federation security. Membership in sub-councils was determined by the President, who nominated a councilor for a sub-council who was then confirmed by the full Council. Some of the sub-councils, such as the Security and Judiciary Councils, were permanent, while others were created on an as-needed basis; the councilors from the five founding Member States were automatically appointed to the permanent sub-councils.
During sub-council sessions, members of the sub-council could speak without having to be recognized by the sub-council chair; sub-council sessions were usually presided over by the chair of the sub-council rather than the President, though the President retained that option. The President was generally expected to solicit the active participation of the appropriate sub-council in determining executive policies; as such, there was far less separation of powers between the Council and the Presidency than in many traditional Earth governments.
What little we know about the Council aside from what we can be read in books or have been gleaned from watching the movies and shows, we can at least agree it is more effective than the Republic Senate. One reason why is that the Federation is a moneyless economy, meaning that baring certain occasions that Federation Councilors cannot be bribed. In fact, there's only been about twenty cases of recorded political corruption in the government but that does not mean there have not been problems. There was the case of the Admiral who tried overthrowing the Federation government in Deep Space 9, convinced that they had been infiltrated by Changelings and a few other admirals who operated with their own agenda in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
In fact, one example would be Admiral Cartwright given how he and few other Starfleet officers conspired to sabotage the peace talks between the Federation and the Klingon Empire in Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country and there is a reason why he's been given such a prominent role in Stars Ablaze. Another plus for the Federation is that its charter states that each member world and colony is entitled to its own autonomy and sovereignty with the only stipulation is that they cannot use Federation resources against another world and must accept that all sentient beings are recognized as equal under Federation law. Of course, in the Undiscovered Country, there was the comment that the Federation was a 'Homo-Sapien's only club', given that humans are not only one of the founding races of the Federation but they make up a large part of it. Kind of similar to how the Galactic Republic was structured but the Federation still worked on supporting everyone that was part of it.
Due to its size and history, the United Federation of Planets gained a reputation among the neighboring populations and beyond. Some of that reputation was based on dissemination of factual information, and some was fabricated or exaggerated for various purposes or simply through negligence.
Basically, between the Galactic Senate and the Federation Council I would say the Federation Council is the better government as while it may not be perfect it is still far less corrupt than the Republic Senate.
Technology
If anyone wasn't anticipating this, I would be shocked, shocked I tell you! The matter of debate between which series is stronger has always boiled down to which side's technology is better. Star Trek has phasers, transporters, and Q while Star Wars has the Death Star, Star Destroyers and the Force.
If I don't get arguments when I post this, I will be surprised and yet relieved. So, let's get into it.
Both series show to be highly advanced, in the movies, the TV shows and in the books and what is hard aside from debating the canonicity of them all is figuring how each side would react to each other, which is what has been done by many crossover stories with the authors having their own ideas or trying to find a way make them seem equal.
Well, I've wanted to try this for a long time, so I'll make my views known and hopefully I don't get embroiled in a fandom fight.
Warp Drive vs Hyperdrive
Both series has their own form of FTL, faster than light drives that allows them to travel through space and across their respective galaxies. With Star Trek, warp drive by generating a warp field, a 'bubble' around the ship that allows them travel faster than light in normal space without violating the laws of physics. It works but still takes a while to travel over long distances. Still it is actually safer than hyperdrive since hyperdrive travel has to use precise calculations or as Han Solo would say 'could fly right through a star or bounce too close to a supernova'.
Warp drive allows one to see what is happening in normal space and can allow for course corrections well in advance.
Hyperdrive on the other hand allows ships to enter hyperspace, an alternate dimension in the space-time continuum. Hyperspace was coterminous with realspace, with a unique point in realspace being associated with a unique point in hyperspace. While a number of aspects of hyperspace remained mysterious to astrophysicists and astrogation experts, it was clear that hyperspace shortened travel times, allowing starships equipped with hyperdrives to cross light-years in a matter of minutes. So unlike warp drive, hyperdrive is more or less entering an alternate space where distance can be traversed much faster.
While faster, hyperdrive is actually much more dangerous than warp drive, as aside from precise calculations needed, ships have to be clear of the gravity well of celestial bodies or they would be pulled out of hyperspace rather quickly. Celestial bodies can range from planets or even to black holes and unlike warp drive, ships can't normally be tracked in hyperspace, and they can't track ships in real space from hyperspace until they have emerged at their destinations. Because of the danger of mass shadows hyperspace courses have to be plotted with great caution.
Very few beings other than powerful Jedi could react while traveling at many times the speed of light, and in any case conventional sensors and communicators could not receive information faster than lightspeed. Even subspace sensors, which operated along an alternate dimension and propagate faster than light, could not keep up with the vast speeds of hyperspace travel.
So, when it comes to speed hyperdrive is superior and offers better communications, but warp drive is safer and allows for sensors and communications outside of hypercomm technology.
Power Generation
Now this can be a little tricky.
For Star Trek, the main source of power is the warp core. It's a reactor that harnesses the energy of a matter/anti-matter reaction. To properly control an anti-matter reaction, they use a porous mineral called Dilithium that acts in almost the same manner as control rods do in a fission reactor. With this method, they can control the speed of the reaction from matter and anti-matter.
It is never specifically said how much energy is produced but one article I found suggested that the warp core of Federation ships in the twenty forth century provided a total output of three thousand two hundred and thirty terrawatts per minute. The dilithium once purified allows the warp core to control and harness the power of matter/anti-matter mutual annihilation by converting the energy released from the reaction into high energy plasma. In addition to that, the gamma and theta radiation released by the reaction is absorbed by Radiometric Converters, transformed into an electrical current which is then fed into the EPS, electro-plasma system. Energy is then transferred around the ship in the form of super-energized plasma.
From all that, it's safe to say that Star Trek ships, at least Federation ships have an immense energy source.
For Star Wars, apparently the output of the reactors of many Capital ships rivaled or eclipsed that of a star, and that the energies needed to make hyperspace travel possible were vast, one could unleash a great deal of destructive power on a target. Their main use is a hypermatter annihilation reactor, a fusion reactor that generates power by destroying hypermatter. We know that hypermatter is a form of tachyonic matter that exists in hyperspace. When constrained by realspace, charged tachyons were annihilated as they accelerated to infinite speed within a reactor.
The hyperdrive adjusted the faster-than-light hypermatter particles to allow a ship to jump to lightspeed without changing its complex mass and energy. The hypermatter annihilation cores were in turn confined by fusion systems. The solar ionization reactor of a Star Destroyer is described as creating a miniature star inside the reaction chamber to draw energy from.
As for which tech is superior is a bit more complicated.
While supposedly creating a miniature star is impressive, if you know enough about Star Trek you should be familiar with the Romulans. Unlike the matter/anti-matter reactors the Federation uses the Romulans uses a forced quantum singularity as their main source of power.
A literal black hole.
And we all know a black hole is the remains of a collapsed star. In fact, it looks like a hypermatter reactor works similar to how Romulans uses singularities as a source of power but like the Federation warp core, they produce said miniature star by annihilating hypermatter like matter and anti-matter. And a hypermatter reactor is essentially a giant fusion reactor, the bigger the reactor the more hypermatter is fed into it to produce power and given that tachyons don't seem to be used as a power source in the Star Trek universe it is likely because they do not produce as much power as a matter/anti-matter reaction would. So, barring certain ships and stations like the Death Star and the Executor that likely have giant reactors as their source of power, it's unlikely a hypermatter reactor produces more power than the warp core.
Add in the fact that Star Wars ships do not use high energy plasma or anything like an EPS but rather rely on something similar to twenty first century power lines to channel electricity. So even if the hypermatter produces more power than a warp core, by Federation standards their method is archaic and wasteful since they cannot channel the power efficiently and actually weakens the power they use for their engines, shields and weapons.
So, when comes to sources of power I would say Star Trek has the edge in both producing a superior source of power and a better of distributing said power while also giving Star Wars a point because they can build bigger ships with bigger reactors that would produce a great deal of power no matter how weakened it might be.
That's my outlook on that, please don't be too harsh with me.
Computers
Computer technology is essential for space travel and that's true for both our beloved franchises. They are essential for navigation, sensors, communications, and operations. By the twenty third century in Star Trek, the Federation relied on a Duotronics computer system that succeeded circuitry that used components such as resistors and transistors. The technology was used aboard the Constitution-class and Sombra-class starships in the mid-23rd century, including the USS Enterprise, in such systems as the ship's sensor array.
According to the novels, the origin of duotronics began in 2229 when Daystrom, aged 10, produced the first practical mathematical study of the relationship between subatomic structure and data processing. Though duotronic hardware itself represented a gigantic leap forward in computing technology, Daystrom's most significant innovation was utilizing a symmetrical subspace field to accelerate time inside the computer core. This resulted in a greater amount of subjective time to run processes within the computer itself, greatly increasing computational speed as observed from the outside.
Now compared to that, I can freely admit that Star Wars computers can actually be seen as mostly basic. This is something I touched in Stars Ablaze – Episode 1 – Destinies Entwined. The computer technology of a Droid Control Ship was able to instantly relay information and orders from unit to unit no matter where they were on the planet. It required a great deal of power and could be draining enough that Droid Control Ships were equipped with two reactor cores — one at the back of each hangar — providing more energy. Unfortunately, there was a fatal flaw in this design: Both reactors were linked; if one core were to be destroyed, the other would go with it, which was exploited by Anakin Skywalker during its attack on Naboo.
Again, it is my opinion that compared to at least the 23rd century computer technology on the Enterprise, the computer technology in the Star Wars galaxy falls behind and is actually rather basic not nearly as complex as what you would find in the Star Trek galaxy. Take the Enterprise and compare it to a Droid Control Ship for example. The Enterprise's computer system was capable of storing vast amounts of data and as we have seen in the shows, not only did it store the basic information such as ship functions, navigations, weapons systems and the usual but also had an entire library holding the histories of Earth and likely all the other Federation worlds along with many famous people and even more as well as being capable of scanning and analyzing almost anything with a very high precision and mathematical processing. A Star Wars ship's data core usually only retained the basics such as navigation, ship schematics and information and in the military sense recordings for communications and security codes for whatever sector the ship is assigned to. And it is shown that Scotty was able to fully automate the Enterprise so that only a bridge crew instead of the needed four hundred crew members were able to operate the ship in The Search for Spock.
A Droid Control ship used a sophisticated antennae array and a central computer to control armies of battle droids whose minds were slaved to the ship. It had over sixteen receiver dishes located around the perimeter of the vessel to pick up transmission from droid units. Each receiver dish had a pair of boost panels to squelch noise or interference. The Central Control Computer was directly connected to the main reactor in the central sphere of the ship and additional reactors were added to compensate for the power drain. A computer that uses a continuous signal to process is called an analog computer which Spock stated when he analyzed the Trade Federation technology, noting how the Droid Control Ship was constantly sending signals to the battle droids down on Naboo and worked out how the Droid Control Ship issued commands to the droids through a rotating frequency.
Basically, the droids would continue carrying out the orders they were given until given new orders from the control ship. That gave them the idea to tap into the frequencies used to control the droid armies, flooding them with music that caused the droids to lose control, due to being completely reliant on the control ship. And because coordinating the entire army was pushing the Droid Control Computer to its limit, the bombardment of music from not just the Enterprise but also the Naboo fighters stressed the computer to its limit, causing it to overheat and overload to the point it literally burnt out.
That's the thing about Star Trek, as unlike Star Wars not every fight was solved with phasers or torpedoes blasting away at the enemy. Kirk along with all the other Starfleet Captains would use what they know on hand and apply it in a way to try solving the problem without a huge loss of casualties and trying to shut down a machine army from massacring a planet full of peaceful people who were fighting for their homes. It's not enough to have superior weapons but it also counts to be smart about how you conduct yourself, especially when you try to avoid being drawn into a conflict.
Now for Star Wars, I will admit given the existence of droids I would say that although Star Trek has them mostly beat in computer technology, the existence of droids is a big advantage over Starfleet at least in the field of AI even if droids are not mostly considered as sentient beings by the majority of the Star Wars galaxy.
Shields
In both universes, deflector shields are meant to act as a field of energy that covers the hull of a ship to protect it from enemy fire and various forms of hazards in space.
In Star Wars, deflector shields, also known as deflector screens, deflectors or simply shields, were translucent or transparent energy fields produced by deflector shield generators. These generators could be placed on planets, droids, starships, space stations and individual buildings. The primary purpose of the shield was to block or deflect projectiles and lasers from hitting the object under protection. They could also provide a significant atmospheric speed boost, in some cases 36 times the speed of sound.
There were two distinct types of deflector shield: ray shields, also known as energy shields, and particle shields. The former protected against energy-based attacks, such as blaster or laser cannon fire, while the latter was developed in response to physical attacks, ranging from projectile missiles and incoming vehicles to asteroids and meteors. Commonly, larger ships and structures were protected by both types of shield, though starfighters often only projected ray shields. Now in this case, I can admit that deflector shielding is more diverse in the Star Wars universe given that not only can it be used to protect ships, cities and even entire planets but also because they make use a personal energy shield which is not seen in Star Trek until the Borg are encountered.
In Star Trek Online, personal shields are used by pretty much everyone but given we're in the 23rd century we're not quite there yet. By the time of the Battle of Naboo, personal shields that covered an entire being existed, but produced radiation and magnetic fields that were dangerous for sustained use. The Gungan Grand Army of Naboo employed hand-held personal energy shields that projected a thin force field around one and a half meters tall. The commando droids which protected the Separatists' vital facilities such as the Citadel were also equipped with hand-held personal shields similar to Gungan's.
The droideka units of the Trade Federation also carried personal energy shields, making them highly effective against clone troopers and Jedi Knights. However, these shields were hazardous to organic lifeforms, generating highly intense electromagnetic fields and large amounts of radiation. A droideka deflector shield was developed by the Galactic Empire to minimize ground casualties. The energy field projected from the device protected its user from blaster bolts, however, it provided no protection against kinetic weapons such as grenades and slugthrowers.
Now as for the ships, Deflector shields worked in a layered defense fashion: A volumetric field effect extended out from the surface of the shield projector, attempting to reduce the coherency of any beam attacks and deflect physical objects. The shield itself behaved in a manner similar to that of a thermally conductive material—energy applied was quickly diffused and re-radiated back into the environment, but the shield itself could also absorb some of the energy. The absorbed energy was shunted into heat sinks and re-radiated at a lesser rate by the shield and neutrino radiators. The use of deflector shields on starfighters and other small craft made them capable of hypersonic speeds in planetary atmospheres.
The strength of a deflector shield was a factor depending on how close the shield was to the projector, the efficiency of the projector, the power applied, and the surface area of the shield. It was common for starship deflectors to project a few molecules underneath the hull plating, and then extended outwards to protect hull integrity. Starship shields could handle massive amounts of energy or punishment, although it was possible to disable a shield by concentrating fire on a specific location.
Star Trek shields on the other hand were a little more complicated. Big surprise, right? Star Trek ships or at least Federation ships had two types of shields. Emitted from the dish that almost every Federation ship had usually at the engineering section were the navigational shields, low-power deflector shields designed to deflect microscopic particles and higher-powered deflector beams and/or tractor beams to deflect larger objects.
Star Wars ships on the other hand used an atmospherically sealed hull to protect themselves from space-borne debris and deflector shields to protect them radiation.
The actual deflector shield of a Star Trek ship typically surrounded the ship in an invisible bubble of energetic distortion with a high concentration of gravitons. The shield on starships was divided into six sections: forward, starboard, port, aft, dorsal, and ventral. Shield energies could be emitted by a localized antenna or 'dish,' such as a ship's navigational deflector, or by a network of 'grid' emitters spread across the surface of an object, such as a starship's hull. Deflector shields have been standard equipment on starships since the 23rd century.
Normally, neither matter nor highly concentrated energy could penetrate a shield. Most matter or energy that came into contact with the shields was harmlessly deflected away when they were 'up,' or energized at a high level. This was significant in starship combat because shields were required for hull protection. Only minor hull damage would be expected during combat with the shields up.
Continuous or extremely powerful energy discharges could gradually erode a shield's integrity to the point of failure. Shield capacities varied depending on a variety of factors, ranging from available power to environmental concerns, making definitive and universal calculations of how much damage they could withstand difficult to estimate. As a result, tactical officers would constantly report on shield strength during combat, usually as a percentage of total effectiveness, with 100% indicating that the shields were fully operational and lower percentage scores indicating weaker shield conditions.
Specific sections of the shield grid could sustain more damage than others and be reinforced with additional power reserves, so tactical officers would report on the shields' health by section if necessary. Federation starships typically used at least two different shield configurations. One type created an ellipsoid shield bubble that encircled the ship and a relatively large region directly adjacent to it. The other shield configuration employed a contour-conforming shield layer that extended a few meters beyond the main hull. Given that we are in the 23rd century, I should note it has been stated that an original Constitution-class starship's shields could take the equivalent of ninety photon torpedoes at once. They could do so a total of five times before shattering completely.
It can be difficult to argue the effectiveness of the shields used by these two universes, but I would argue at least on the Star Trek side you won't see the Enterprise being taken out by an asteroid like an Imperial Star Destroyer was in The Empire Stikes Back. I admit, they never stated their shields were up but I am pretty sure they were. It is clear that in the case of effectiveness both sides would need a large amount of energy diverted to the shields. Given that Star Wars ships operate two different sets of shields for deflecting particle and energy while Star Trek ships have shields that can do both I would put Star Trek shields as the more technologically advanced while Star Wars ships only have enough power to engage one type of shield at a time which is a clear weakness as the use of one type of shield leaves them open to the weapons the other shield is designed against.
So, I would guess that Star Wars shields need more power and are less sophisticated while Star Trek shields require less power but are actually stronger. It helps that the shields of an Imperial Star Destroyer are not spread out given that both shield generators are located above the bridge. That actually is a weakness since the generators being close together on the bridge means that as the shields are activated and spread out to cover the ship the greater the distance from the generators means they are less effective.
Weapons
Well, took us a little while but we're finally at the weapons. With Star Trek, we have phasers, photon torpedoes and disruptors while Star Wars uses blasters and turbolasers. Now in the past, it's been argued that a single turbolaser shot is rated from a hundred to two hundred gigatons of kinetic energy but that has never been seen in any of the shows or the movies. If they were that powerful why would the Empire go through all the trouble of building the Death Star and Han Solo himself said that the entire Imperial fleet couldn't destroy an entire planet and that it would a thousand ships with more firepower than they currently have.
And despite the estimations, a weapon capable of creating an explosion in the gigaton range has never been invented. The Tsar Bomb, the strongest nuke ever made was only fifty megatons which is a mere 0.1 percent of a gigaton. At best, given what has been shown they would be in the sub-kiloton range but that does not mean that they are weak. Turbolasers are form of energized gas, essentially plasma-based weaponry compared to the Romulan plasma torpedo that when first shown destroyed several Federation outposts along the Romulan Neutral Zone.
Those outposts were constructed on asteroids and shield by cast rodinium, a material that Spock claimed in 2266 was the hardest material known to their science. The plasma torpedo even carved through several kilometers of asteroid nickel-iron the outposts were built under. While powerful, between the plasma torpedo and a turbolaser, the plasma torpedo is likely the stronger one because of its destructive power. As for the turbolaser, it would likely take a barrage to achieve the same results.
There is no doubt a turbolaser is capable of nuclear level damage, but I doubt they would be able to blow a Star Trek ship out of the sky. A full barrage would likely bring a Star Trek ship's shields down quickly, that I will admit but turbolasers are essentially giant plasma based lasers that rely on blasting an enemy apart with an endless barrage. Blasters are essentially the same, plasma-based lasers that essentially heat bullets, designed to deliver a heavy punch of heat and kinetic energy to their targets and they only have two settings: Stun or kill.
As for Phasers, they can disintegrate matter at full power. While turbolasers rely on heat and kinetic energy, phasers attack a target on the atomic level and cause the atoms to go out of phase with their neighbors, causing molecules to fatally fall apart, weakening the material. Phasers can do the same to shields, causing individual energy particles to disintegrate, weakening the shield strength substantially. Phasers can also be adjusted from tight beams, widespread or even pulses as shown in the shows and movies. Against a cloaked Romulan ship, the Enterprise adjusted its phasers into proximity blasts, meaning after a certain distance they would detonate, affecting anything within the blast radius, much like a depth charge.
While turbolasers are high energized plasma-based lasers, phasers are particles beams with many settings from simply heating targets to causing targets to lose their molecular cohesion. Phasers have a longer range than turbolasers and while turbolasers rely on a sustained barrage, phasers can emit a continuous beam that can cut through most of their targets like a hot knife through butter or even a drill. Their actual output is dependent on the power available to them so often the phasers on a light explorer would be substantially less powerful than found on a cruiser or dreadnaught because of their difference in power plants. When the Enterprise was refitted, the phasers had been modified to take additional power from the warp core, increasing their power.
However, when Reliant had damaged the Enterprise's engineering section, the phasers lost a great deal of power and only had enough power for a few shots that would not have been enough against Reliant's shields. It's been suggested that at least a single Constitution class ship can devastate the surface of an entire planet and not only are they powerful but they are also precise. From orbit the Enterprise was able to stun an entire street on the planet Iotia II, meaning that even a ship's phasers can be configured for stunning, and they are capable of much greater precision than turbolasers.
So, when it comes to comparing the two, phasers have accuracy, range and because they use a nadion based core, they are more powerful than a laser-based core while turbolasers have size, numbers depending on the war ship and brute force. It should also be noted that Star Wars ships tend to have their weapons pointed forward but are capable of firing on the side, much like how navy ship combat was on Earth during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In ship to ship combat I believe that the nature of phasers easily pierces the ray shields of a capital ship and cut into the hull depending on the power and how much fire power is poured into one spot.
Now we move onto the torpedoes. Compared to Star Trek, the most we see of torpedoes are usually from the fighters and they usually proton torpedoes, ion torpedoes and concussion missiles. Proton torpedoes are a type of nuclear focused explosive that releases clouds of high-velocity proton particles in a focused explosion. Massed proton-torpedo fire from fighters could inflict heavy damage on a capital ship, so as long as the launchers were timed so that the torpedoes impacted roughly simultaneously.
A photon torpedo uses a matter and anti-matter warhead and while the yield is often disputed one gram of anti-matter would result in an explosion about the same size as the atomic bomb codenamed Fat Man that was dropped over Japan by the United States near the end of World War II. Logically a photon torpedo would have much higher yield and likely surpass the Tsar Bomb, so it is likely that a photon torpedo has a higher yield than a proton torpedo. Star Trek ships are likely to use their torpedoes more than Star Wars ships since we've seen in most space battles that Star Wars ships are more reliant on their turbolasers, usually relying on the fighters to deliver damage so the capital ships would finish them off.
They are of course many other weapons both sides have but I think for now we should stick to covering the basics.
Engines
One of the main differences between Star Wars and Star Trek ships is their engines and I'm not talking about the method of FTL. Star Wars ships tend to use ion drives, which actually exists in both franchises. Ion drives in Star Trek are used for many pre-warp civilizations and are commonly used for sublight drive. Ion engines were fueled by power cells, liquid chemical reactants, onboard generators, or virtually any other device capable of providing sufficient power.
The engine utilized internal fusion reactions to produce a stream of highly charged particles that were forced through the engine's exhaust port at nearly the speed of light. Ion engines were sometimes called ion rockets. Ion engines emitted mildly radioactive byproducts, requiring onboard technicians to wear protective gear. Because of this radioactivity, and the disabling effects that ions had on electronics and electrical systems, it was common protocol for most ships to utilize repulsorlifts for propulsion during atmospheric flight and reserve use of the more powerful ion drives for orbital navigation.
Unlike many other starship engines, ion engines had no moving parts and no high-temperature components. Because of this, they required much less maintenance, a time and cost-saving factor that led them to be used expansively in the Imperial Navy.
Star Trek on the other hand uses impulse engines, essentially an augmented fusion rocket, usually consisting of one or more fusion reactors, a driver coil assembly, and a vectored thrust nozzle to direct the plasma exhaust. The fusion reaction generated a highly energized plasma. This plasma could be employed for propulsion or could be diverted through the EPS to the power transfer grid, via EPS conduits, so as to supply other systems.
The accelerated plasma was passed through the driver coils, thereby generating a subspace field that improved the propulsive effect. In addition to that, Star Trek ships, usually Federation along with Romulan and Klingon ships have maneuvering thrusters, low-power reaction control jets that could be used for fine translational and attitudinal control, including station-keeping. They were most typically used in docking or similar maneuvers. All reaction-based technologies operated on the Newtonian principle of the 'Law of Inertia': that an object in motion will stay in motion unless acted upon by an external force.
This is similar in some ways to impulse engine technologies and thrusters are sometimes called impulse thrusters or maneuvering jets. Star Wars ships have secondary and tertiary thrusters to allow for increased speed, but nothing suggests that they are capable of the same level of speed as impulse engines and even if they are they seldom go that fast nor do they have anything similar to maneuvering thrusters seen on Star Trek ships. This suggests that ships in the Star Wars universe are much less maneuverable, relying more on fire power and fighters. Star Trek ships on the other hand are more maneuverable and never stay in one spot for very long, utilizing evasive maneuvers with their weapons and shields against an enemy ship.
In a one-on-one combat, Star Trek ships would have superior range, weapons and speed while Star Wars ships are likely to favor mass and fire power along with numbers from their fighters. In fleet combat, Star Wars ships tend prefer formal battle lines, much like the European armies in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries on Earth while Star Trek ships, while having fleet formations are more fluid and are more capable in three-dimensional thinking than their counterparts.
Cloaking Device
If we were focused on the Klingons and the Romulans solely, I would say that Star Trek wins here. Given what we've seen, cloaking technology in the Star Wars universe is very expensive and energy consuming. While sensor jammers could leave a starship invisible to sensors, cloaking devices generated cloaking fields that completely absorbed all incoming sensor scans while shielding the host ship's emissions and reflected energy, thus rendering the starship invisible to both sensors and the naked eye.
Star Wars ships used either an ore called hibridium or stygium crystals. Hibridium cloaking devices were far less effective than those created from stygium. They required massive amounts of power to operate, more room to house the device, and left the craft on which they were being used double blind. Though the craft was invisible to other ships' sensors, it could not locate other ships with its own sensors. Another drawback of these devices was that they became unstable when entering hyperspace, often resulting in the destruction of the ships on which they were being used.
Stygium cloaking devices used a crystal called stygium which was more effective than hibridium but very rare.
Cloaking devices were mainly used by Klingons and Romulans to a much greater degree in the Star Trek galaxy. Unlike their Star Wars counterparts, cloaking devices did not leave the ships double-blind, most likely because the power sources the cloaking device was superior. The only downside was aside from a single prototype a ship could not fire while cloaked. The Federation even created a phase cloak capable of allowing a ship to travel through solid rock but that's in the far future.
Given what we've seen, I would have to say Star Trek wins simply because if the Empire could equip its entire fleet with cloaking devices, it would have, and chances are that Star Wars cloaking devices stand a much better chance of being detected given the Federation's experience with cloaking devices.
Medical Technology
I would have to go ahead and say Star Trek gets the win here. From what little we've seen of medical technology it usually involved a bacta tank and what little times we've seen medical technologies out of a hospital it was usually on a battlefield applied by a combat medic. Starfleet Medical Science covers a wide verity of strange sicknesses from countless worlds. Star Wars medicine from what we've seen relies primary on bacta and they make use of prosthetic for the case of missing limbs.
While not even seen in the Star Trek verse, prosthetics do exist so we might consider this part equal between the two universes. They also take it a step further through creating synthetic organs such as when Jean-Luc Picard received an artificial art. Star Trek medical technology is seemingly more diverse and not dependent on a single source like how much of Star Wars medical supplies are reliant on bacta.
Transporters
I think we can all agree that transporters give Star Trek the edge, simply because Star Wars doesn't have it. The closest they had were the teleporters used by the Rakata Empire and by the time of the Galactic Civil War, the knowledge of teleportation had all but faded from memory, to the point that Luke Skywalker believed it to be only a fantasy.
Replicators
This was actually a surprise because even though we all know about the replicators used on Star Trek there is actually something similar in Star Wars. Food synthesizers, also known as food processors, were devices that could create edible organic matter from a number of different raw materials (including sugars and carbohydrates). They could be programmed to make a large variety of food items, making them compatible with unique alien tastes. Food synthesizers were commonly found on starships but could often be seen in residences as well.
Even if a ship was equipped with a synthesizer, it would still carry food for emergencies. The Ebon Hawk had a food synthesizer that apparently produced poor-tasting food, prompting Jolee Bindo to ask Revan if he ever cleaned it. The Millennium Falcon also had a food synthesizer, that Allana Solo claimed to be able to use. Given this, even if Star Wars does their own replicators, they do not utilize transporter technology, so they are likely below in quality when it comes to a Star Trek food synthesizer.
Sensors
Depending on the sensor, Star Wars sensors could detect and analyze many forms of data, such as electromagnetic radiation, sound and vibration, gravity, nuclear radiation, magnetic fields, heat, pressure, trace chemicals, or the emissions of other sensors. Sensors were, of course, not perfect. Not only could they fail to detect what they should or present false "ghost" images, they could be interfered with by natural phenomena like solar radiation, hydrogen clouds, asteroid fields, and potent gravity wells; and by artificial phenomena such as sensor jammers, sensor decoys, shield camouflage, stealth technology, and, of course, cloaking devices.
Star Trek sensors were commonly called subspace sensors, was used to refer to any device that was used to scan, record, or otherwise observe any aspect of an environment surrounding a starship, space station, or person. This could be as simple a device as a manual camera or light sensor, or as complicated as the myriad devices designed to scan many aspects of the matter and energies of subspace, space, time, and stellar bodies that make up all of existence. Sensors of various types played roles in almost every aspect of space travel. Every type of sensor, from navigational sensors to ARA sensors, created data to be interpreted by the vessels' computers and operators.
In most situations, the sensor data revealed information that was not apparent through other data-collecting means, such as visual observations. There were two basic types of sensor arrays employed: passive and active. A passive scan was less obtrusive than an active scan and might not be detected by the subject being sensed. Sensors were divided further into short- and long-range types, and low- and high-energy types.
I would have to say the sensors on Star Trek ships are superior, simply because they are focused on exploration while Star Wars ships generally used sensors for detecting enemy movements in battle. I doubt they would sensors as powerful as Starfleet ships, simply because they encountered as many strange things in space, something like a cloud entity that drains blood, a giant space amoeba, a Crystalline entity or anything else that might be half as strange as what the crews on Star Trek regularly encounter.
Communications
One thing that is similar is that both Star Wars and Star Trek both make use of subspace communications. However, Star Wars has an alternate method of communications that is actually faster and longer reaching than subspace called the Holonet. A message was first broadcast from a planet, a vessel in hyperspace, or from another point of origin; from there, it was then routed from the point of origin's transmitter through potentially millions of hyperwave transceivers suspended in hyperspace to a HoloNet relay, where it was sorted, identified and logged by the relay's computer, and then routed further via appropriate transceivers to its destination. The transceivers themselves transferred information across the galaxy through s-threads.
This enabled data to be sent and received at faster-than-light speeds, ensuring near-instantaneous communication from one end of the galaxy to the other, by routing information from origin to transceiver, to HoloNet relay, to transceiver network yet again, and finally to its destination. Many planetary governments, large corporations, and wealthy individuals maintained private subspace transceivers. Because each radio had a range of up to several light years, governments used these units to connect local planets with a sector-wide communications grid. Although much more powerful than standard comlinks, subspace radios were not nearly as advanced or effective as the HoloNet.
Most planets were integrated into local subspace networks that used transceivers aboard deep-space satellites to link dozens of worlds in an instantaneous and continuous flow of data. These networks normally handled news, sports, entertainment, and educational programming. Individuals and corporations purchased broadcast time for private messages, with fees running anywhere from one to twenty credits per ten seconds of transmission time. Hundreds of subspace networks were scattered across the galaxy, so a message could theoretically be sent across the galaxy by bouncing it across multiple networks.
While this process was much more affordable than the HoloNet, messages could be delayed for hours or days as they were routed through different networks. Because each network had different communication protocols, messages could be corrupted or lost, and so it was often cheaper and safer to send long-distance messages by courier ships.
So, when it comes to communications, Star Wars has the win here.
Hull Alloy Material
For Star Trek ships, we know that their ships are constructed with duranium and tritanium with the latter said to be 21.4 times stronger than diamonds while augmented by structural integrity fields. In the Star Wars universe, duranium is considered to be a lightsaber resistant material but there is no reason to believe that they are the same material. Star Wars ships said to be constructed with a form of steel alloy but it's hard to pin down what kind alloy they use. A source even stated that the alloy of an Acclamater class assault ship was neutronium, the very same allow that the Planet Killer was made up.
However, it cannot be the same neutronium because it is considered to only be found in the core of a neutron star. Not even extremely advanced races like the Borg possessed the knowledge to collect or create neutronium and if Star Wars ships ever had it, they would be almost unstoppable to their point their own weapons couldn't damage them no matter how much fire power they might have. And since there has never been any evidence of anyone in the Star Wars verse ever mining from inside a neutron star, we'll have to consider this source to be untrue. Another article suggests that Star Wars ships are said to be made from a material called impervium that is said to be stronger than duranium.
All we can say for sure it is likely a hybridized steel alloy that while possible stronger than duranium and that's only if we consider that Star Wars duranium and the Star Trek duranium are one and the same, that doesn't necessarily mean they are superior to tritanium but given how a single asteroid easily smashed the bridge tower of an Imperial Star Destroyer, it's unlikely to be as durable as most would have you believe.
So given what we've just gone over and the sadly lack of information on Star Wars alloys, I'll have to give this round to Star Trek.
(Please don't hurt me.)
People
Both universes are extremely diverse with many different cultures. One thing that is similar though is that humans played a vital role in the creation of the governments. In Star Trek, the humans brought the Vulcan, Andorians and Tellarites together in the aftermath of the Earth-Romulan war which led to the founding of the United Federation of Planets much like how the United Nations was born out of the Second World War on Earth while in Star Wars Galaxy, humans always played a role in the founding of the Galactic Republic. The Republic had gone without an army for a thousand years simply because it didn't believe it needed one anymore while the Federation, while having enjoyed peace for nearly a hundred years after the Earth-Romulan war, still had its share of conflicts, mostly with the Klingon Empire.
And since unlike the Republic that was spread across its galaxy, the Federation began exploring the Milky Way Galaxy, changing from just an alliance to defend against the Klingons and the Romulans into a unique alliance that incorporated mutual cultural, social, scientific and defense benefits. Like the Republic it was founded on the idea of sentient rights but for different reasons. The Republic was formed in the aftermath of freeing themselves from the Sith Empire, believing that they defeated oppression and no longer needed an army and their newly foundation for galactic peace would ensure they would never have to suffer any form of oppression again.
Even the Jedi believe their fight with the dark side was over, the Sith were seemingly extinct and were skeptical when Qui-Gon Jinn believed the Sith had returned. However, the Republic's problem was that while the Core system, Inner Rim and mostly Mid Rim had enjoyed centuries of peace, the Outer Rim had been neglected for years and most of those worlds in the Outer Rim were inhabited by non-human races. It had reached a point they started looking for an alternative to the Republic. Unlike the Federation, the Republic did not operate on a moneyless economy and even if it was through the manipulations of the Sith, the Republic still heavily taxed trade routes to the Outer Rim and the vast majority of them were fine with status quo. That makes the Republic vastly different from the Federation since the Federation is not static and seemingly changes to try to meet the needs of its people.
While Project Genesis was a failure its ultimate goal was to help better colonize worlds and end problems such as overpopulation and food supplies becoming dangerously low. Replicator technology reaches a point where worlds are no longer by food subsistence and the population would be likely to increase greatly. Federation worlds are granted self-autonomy while enjoying the same rights as even founding member worlds because the Federation is not as centrally organized as the Galactic Republic. It's also what makes them so alien to the Star Wars universe since corporate driven politics have no place among them anymore.
I haven't completely covered a whole lot of interactions between the Federation and the Republic in Star Ablaze but I am working to try and paint a clear image. It's clear that individuals like Nute Gunray fear and detest the Federation for not only humiliating him but also because their non-profit nature ironically makes them, even the Earth humans more alien than any other being they know of. The Federation has no core culture or central dominant race, unlike the Republic given that humans not only helped build the Republic but even helped build and were the dominant race of the Galactic Empire. The outer rim worlds had real problems, but the Republic did little to help them while even believing they were morally superior despite claiming to stand for sentient rights.
Outer Rim worlds barely had the money to secure their own food supply, let alone paying for a defense force to protect them from pirates and crime syndicates. Even with all that, the Outer Rim worlds were still subject to taxes until they final had enough and wanted to form their own governments. Only the Sith manipulate their discontent which lead to the Clone Wars. Trying to establish how both universes feel each other is complex and difficult to get at all at once.
We have people like Padme Amidala and the Naboo who grateful to the Federation, seeing it as an ally and many others are interested in it, possibly even Outer Rim worlds that see them as completely different from the Republic, possibly even better than the Republic but the Federation despite likely being better is not a completely perfect society. Palpatine would only see it as likely a threat to his plans and also an asset to help him continue grasping at power from inside the Republic. The Federation on the other hand would see the Star Wars galaxy as a new place to explore, learn new cultures, seeking out new life and new civilizations but in the 23rd century they would understandably be cautious, given their decades of struggles with the Klingon and Romulan Empires and they would probably be quick to notice the flews of the Republic such as neglecting the outer rim worlds that later form the Confederacy of Independent Systems.
It is clear though that the two governments as well as the two universes are extremely different, and we'll try exploring those differences in the stories.
Resources
Now I can admit, if we are talking about the Galactic Empire, then they have the Federation beat hands down even with the Klingons and the Romulans with them when it comes to resources. They can build bigger fleets and with an almost unlimited number of worlds on their side. Their fleets would be much larger and in a battle of attrition it would be a disaster for the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. However, it would also be a bloody one.
The Federation likely has the technology to match the Empire in ship production and if pushed hard enough could be forced to rely on various weapons that it normally would not use. The Federation has encountered a lot of dangerous superweapons over the years that would allow them to give the Empire a very bloody nose.
Examples would include samples of the Xindi superweapon that all though was destroyed, Earth along with the Andorians and Vulcans had likely taken detailed scans of how the weapon worked.
Others include the Planet-Killer that was stopped by the sacrifice of the USS Constellation. It might be dead, but its hulk was likely taken a secret Starfleet facility.
The Verteron array on Mars.
And of course, Genesis.
And this is not even taking into account that if the Empire does invade the Milky Way Galaxy, they would be up against more than just the Federation, the Klingons and the Romulans.
There would be the First Federation and their massive battleship.
The Tholians and their energy webs.
The Metrons, the Organians who would be appalled by the Empire's barbarism along with the Gorn.
And if you've been reading Star Ablaze, you've probably seen Palpatine's reaction to Genesis. Not only can the Federation create something that not only can create planets, but it could restore life as shown when Spock's own body was regenerated after landing on the planet. Can you imagine Genesis against the Death Star?
The Death Star comes to blow up Earth, fire the Genesis Torpedo and boom!
The Death Star is converted into an entirely new planet.
It's easy to forget that when it comes to Star Wars and Star Trek, we think only the Federation against the Empire and even if they are the primary enemies they would not be the only ones and that's without taking into account of other galactic powers in the Star Wars galaxy that would be as dangerous as the Empire.
In addition to this, we have to consider that one of the reasons Star Wars ships, especially capital ships are so big is because is they need carry food and supplies in cargo bays and for ships that hold over a thousand like an Imperial Star Destroyer. Warships would not only need to be big and heavily armed but capable of operating over long periods before needing to dock and refuel. Starfleet ships have replicators and hydroponics bays to supply food, having been designed to explore over vast distances which means they would also need to be able to operate for a long period of time before needing to reload and refuel. The Constitution class itself was designed to operate for over a period of five years of exploration before having to return.
Conclusion
Okay, we've gone through various subjects and tried to compare them as fairly as possible. When it comes to resources, numbers, and fire power I would give Star Wars the edge, but Star Trek outpaces them in technology, science, creativity and being able to adapt to all the weird things they encounter in space. Even if the Galactic Empire did try to conquer the Milky Way Galaxy it wouldn't be as easy as they'd think. I will give the Galactic Empire would have superiority on the ground thanks to their walkers, but Starfleeters would have their own vehicles, phasers, photon grenades, isomagnetic disintegrators, tricorders to detect enemy life signs and can even modify their phasers into high yield explosives.
It can even be argued that a hand phaser could damage a walker, at least a scout walker severely or an AT-TE if aimed at the cockpit. As for beings like Darth Vader and the Force…Well, there is the possibility that Starfleet can adapt to create an anti-psionic field that can weaken, if not outright negate a Force user's ability with enough time and study and the bio-filters of a transporter can even be used to remove the medichlorians from a Force user.
Just think of the look on Palpatine's face if he is transported into a cell and is shocked when he loses his connection to the Force.
As for ship-to-ship combat, as I have stated before Star Trek ships are actually more maneuverable and faster with their impulse drives over the ion drives Star Wars ships use. Their weapons have longer range and having weapons both forward and aft give them a 360-degree angle while Star Wars ships usually have their weapons facing forward or the port and starboard sides but almost never the aft.
In general, neither side is completely superior, but we must remember Star Trek is a series about humanity exploring the universe, advancing heavily in many things through advanced science, and interacting heavily with different races while trying to find a common ground that in many ways mirror the difficulties and hard subjects we deal with in real life while Star Wars is more or less a space opera. Trying to say which side is better is a headache as both have their good and bad points but at the end of the day it's about trying to remember why we love these franchises so much.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and hopefully this won't boil down into fandom fight and will also show my stance on the two universes as I continue writing Stars Ablaze.