If you prefer the Viper and chose it as winner because of preference, that is of course your choice, but saying the Viper is scientifically a better fighter - whether space or atmospheric - is just ignorant!
First, the Vipers had no shields, balistic weapons (like .50 Cal bullets) that were fired from magnetic rail type launchers, eight 50 megaton Nukes (optional), and used regular chemical propulsion. Their targeting systems were based on current human radar technology and they utilized computer systems not unlike our own. They used radio like we do for communications. I never saw anything in either series to insinuate shields and no specs available anywhere online says they have shields.
Second, they have no inertial compensators so the maximum acceleration they can handle is (according to lines from the series) 6 to 7 Gs for most maneuvers.
The fastes movements the Viper can make would make it seem to move like a snail compared to a X-Wing.
In contrast, if you've ever read the specs (or any of the EU books, which none of you has apparently) an X-Wing can travel at nearly 3/4 the speed of light with assistance from a gravity-well slingshot - or roughly 1000x the fastest speed a Viper can reach. It has inertial compensators that allow it to pull THOUSANDS of G-forces - 3500 to be exact. It has chemical attitude thrusters just like a Viper so it CAN flip 180s just like the Vipers do, The difference is, at anything more than a few thousand miles per HOUR, the pilots of X-Wings would actually survive it. Even though there is no gravity in deep space, you still have the laws of physics to deal with and momentum is a B* to the human body.
Manueverability: X-Wing wins
It has four TurboLaser canons putting out Gigawatts of energy each. It has 6 Proton torpedos, each assumed to be anywhere from 100 megatons to 10 GIGAtons payload based on EU applications. It has particle and energy shields capable of absorbing Gigawatts of energy and 2 kilogram plasma-hot rock balls traveling 1/4 the speed of light (Read New Jedi Order against the Yuhzhan Vong).
Offensive and Defensive capabilities: X-Wing Wins
It has advanced computer systems with holographic sensors beyond anything humans have even conceived of (the SW EU considered binary code - what we use for computer code - to be ANCIENT technology, not having been used in thousands of years). On top of all that, they also have a sophisticated Astromech droid with its own computers (its brain) to aid in tracking the sensor data and prioritizing infromation for the pilot, repairing the fighter mid-flight, and even controlling the fighter if the pilot loses control for some reason.
Sensors and communications: X-Wing Wins
The Viper pilot would never know she was in a fight before it was destroyed. It is laughable that you people think the Viper would even be in the same skys with a X-Wing.
ALSO, someone mentioned the X-Wing wasn't good in atmosphere... Degobah wasn't an indication of its Air-worthiness. Yoda brought it down. If you actually watched the movie, you'd have seen that all his instruments flipped out on him. That didn't happen when he left OR when he returned again. I guess you forget they took off from a GROUND base at Yavin 4 in ANH, leaving Hoth and ariving at CLoud City in ESB, Flying over Luke, Leia, Han and company on Endor in ROTJ. REALLY? The X-Wing isn't atmospheric? I guess the wings are for space combat right? Since there is so much a wing's aerodynamic lift could help with in a vacuum.
Atmospheric Flight: X-Wing Wins.
One of you said that the Cylon/Colonies battle had been going on for a millenium and because of that, Darwinism survival of the fittest makes them winners. Um, the Civilizations that developed the technology leading to the X-Wing fighter had been around for over ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND years. Civilizations older than that, with even more advanced technology - the Gree, the Celestials - had been extinct for more than a quarter million years. If evolution of technology is your argument, the colonies and cylons are single celled organisms compared to the SWU technology.
Some comparisons of technology have come to the conclusion that, based on known and inferred technology capabilitiies, a single SWU X-Wing could take out a Star Trek Capital ship in the right conditions. How does any of you think a DOZEN Vipers, shooting ballistic projectiles could even handle an X-Wing?
