Originally posted by Gryn Jabar
By that logic the Tsar tank should have been the greatest tank of WW1. Instead it was an obsolete POS that was a walking target. What makes having so many lasers a good thing? Simply means greater size, greater size means greater target. Mandalorians are good, but simply obsolete by this point.
I don't neccessarily think that 20th century technology changes are comparable to a society that has had beamswords and blaster pistols (The difference being in shot capacity and look, not function) for thousands of years. As unrealistic as it may seem, apparently the SW universe is capped for technological innovations. At least, until the Empire starts pouring money and slave labor into making superweapons.
In any case, kolto and bacta aren't readily comparable, but bacta wasn't discovered yet.
A single Star Destroyer can execute a Base Delta Zero on a planet and punch craters into it about a meter across, effectively glassing it. However, such firepower is extensive, and the Imperials prefer to use an entire fleet to do so (Battle of Nar Shadaa) because it still takes some time. Anyways, this doesn't neccessarily give us an accurate guage of a Republic type ship, since the only Republic ship in the OT was the Blockade Runner (Leia's ship in ANH intro) and it was both dwarfed by, outrun, and outgunned by a regular Star Destroyer.
It would seem reasonable that technology has neccessarily gotten much better, but if anything the Mandalorians have shown the ability to defeat almost all comers, despite having number inferiority and possible (though I doubt this) technological inferiority. In any case, the Galactic Empire would wipe its collective ass with the Mandalorians, but the Republic itself would probably have a rougher time. Pre-Clone Wars Republic (TPM, AOTC) didn't have a navy outside of the Clone troopers and perhaps a small centralized defense fleet. During the Clone Wars, conscripting became standard fare, and non-clones began to enter the navy in large numbers. Enter Sidious, the Republic is reformed under the Galactic Empire and conscription and naval buildup continues for twenty years. You have a near-invincible fleet.