If Captain Piccard faced off in battle against Captian Kirk, with each
captain in command of their respective starships, who would win and
why? (a few brief reasons will suffice for the "why" part of the
question)

Thank You.

My money's on Picard.

Picard keeps his head. Kirk is too emotional and impetuous. If I had
to choose which crew to join I'd go with Picard.

Perhaps the strongest advantage on Picard's side is that his Galaxy
Class starhip has eighty years' worth of technical advances absent
from Kirk's ship, plus an equal number of decades' worth of collective
military tactics studied by Picard in his academic career.

   On the other hand, Picard is a company man, while Kirk is more than
able to break the rules for the greater good. This, plus the fact that
he has both Spock and Scotty at his disposal, means that he & his
entourage out-talent anything passing for Starfleet material on
Picard's ship.

   I'd say that they are approximately evenly matched in resources,
and that the outcome of such a battle will be determined mainly by
unexpected fortunes, and not primarily by the skills of the captains
themselves.

It's entirely up to Q...


...or is it???

I think picard would win most times so long as he does not involve the Ships's
Shrink (i.e. Marina Sirtis)
DPRK007

This should not be in Science / Physics...

"This should not be in Science / Physics..."

   You got that right.

Depends on who writes the script.

Spud

Picard has a more advanced ship since he came along a couple centuries
after Kirk.  So he would win.

I should think the final solution rather simple :)

Picard would start off with "Let's talk about this, and figure out a
rational solution that gives both parties exactly what they need in an
emotionally satisfying manner...."

And Kirk would shoot him.

:)

Kirk would win both the battle AND the adoring affections of Picard's shrink.