re: Could Colonials still beat Cylons w/out sneak attack in BSG? Newer series.

Without a doubt. The Cylons did not have that many basestars to begin with. what they had was infinite respawn thanks to their resurrections hub.

Had Baltar not let them in the back door to the Colonial defense, someone would have put 2+2 together with facial recognition matches for all the human models.

In the show, the 50 year old Battlestar Galatica in the intro movie held off 3 base star long enough for their fleet to escape. The Pegasus with a skeleton crew destroyed two base star before it died.

The Colonial ships were made to take everything a Cyclon could throw at it and counter attack. The Basestars is made to be a carrier and overwhelmed with superior numbers.

While I don't doubt they would get nuked or be able to nuke some target, it would not be on the scale as the initial attack have been. The vipers could and would intercept since they had closing speed.

TLDR: The second cylon war, had they been fought straight up, without the internet crippling, would have ended in a bloody Colonial Victory.

Also here is a montage of the Battlestar series of Colonials vs Cyclons. Cylons constantly got their ship pushed in in one v one situation.

LINK