posted
When Mojo and I were writing up the Wolf 359 chapter of "The Unseen Frontier" (RIP), we bascially concluded that places like Utopia Planitia would have been basically emptied of anything that could move at warp - he was planning these fantastic shots of ships with pieces missing, damaged or still under assembly. This ties in to "Endgame", where 27 ships could get to where the transwarp conduit was forming (less than a light year from Earth). Given that they had at least a couple days to assemble the Wolf 359 fleet, it makes sense that if they did it again with only an hour or two's notice, they could assemble a comparable force like that. I think it seems to indicate that the fleet strength, at least in the core Federation sectors, is back to some semblance of pre-war normality.
And I further don't think we can factor in the VFX decisions into the equations - we *always* have to work with what's onscreen. The presence of the Prometheus, for example, had nothing to do with the script; that was a decision on the part of Foundation to give a little candy to the fans. Same reason why Harry Kim was in a beefed up Nova-class - they just thought it looked cool and wanted to get a little more mileage out of the model.
Mark <--- Kim woulda kicked ASS in a Prometheus...
posted
The problem is that the time between the opening of the transwarp aperture and the ships arriving is minimal - in the region of 1-2 minutes. There is no way that ships in spacedock under repear could be crewed up and launched in 2 minutes, especially with no warning.
The impression I got with Wolf 359 was that the ships were in sectors around 001 and that Wolf 359 was the place where they could all get to the quickest that was in the path of the cube. If they were all around Earth, they wouldn't have bothered moving to Wolf 359, would they?
So BoBW has 40 ships within a day or so's travel of a system near Sol, and EG has 27 within 2 minutes of Earth. I really don't see how these situations are similar.
Registered: Jan 2003
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posted
Not to mention that the Wolf 359 fleet was made up of seemingly 'less important' ships of older classes or even one-off ships (the Excelsior/Phase II ships?). The "Endgame" fleet was made up of top of the line ships.
OTOH, it seems unlikely that Starfleet has powerful multi-purpose ships sitting around the Sol Sector for no other reason than waiting for Borg cubes. Perhaps it was just a coincidence that all those ships were near Earth?
a) it was an absolutely massive one (I think there were only about 12 Galaxies made, and at least 3 are dead, so 2 turning up together by accident seems unlikely) b) surely one of the Admirals in the Command Centre would have commented on it when a Borg invasion looked imminent ("thank god its the 124th Annual Captain of the Year Awards this week")
Also, the Prometheus at least is a battleship, and it seems likely that the Bonchune is fitted with a weapons pod, considering it was sent against the Prometheus, presumably with at least some hope of success. Perhaps some of the Excelsiors were Lakota-types?
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Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
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posted
quote:OTOH, it seems unlikely that Starfleet has powerful multi-purpose ships sitting around the Sol Sector for no other reason than waiting for Borg cubes.
After Wolf 359, that'd be VERY likely. As to why there were three large explorers present in Endgame... those could have been bare-bones refits stripped of everything minus weapons (eggs & basket, y'know), or on fleet rotation to guarantee captain B. Oring of the USS Yawn would not fall behind captain S. Timulating of the USS Excited in combat/patrol experience, or near Earth simply for some well-deserved R 'n R.
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted
I believe I said something along these lines, yet I am the first to get lambasted and suddenly the sake of coincidences is accepted or considered???
-------------------- Hey, it only took 13 years for me to figure out my password...
Registered: Jan 2003
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posted
First off we probably have to consider the state of the fleet following the Dominion war. There would be a significant number of small dedicated scientific/diplomatic vessels in storage. We all know the average life expectancy of an Oberth in combat, I would imagine that in a protracted, heavy conflict like the DW Starfleet would prefer to stick them in storage and distribute the crews to new combat ships and starbases where they can act as replacements for casualties on other ships. As for the remaining ships i suspect many of the casualties would have been among the smaller multipurpose ships; Miranda, Sabre, Steamrunner, etc. Also smaller combat oriented vessels similar to the Defiant class would also have heavy casualties, especially those classes assigned to perimeter patrols. Larger vessels, with heavier shields and weapons would also have been hit, but not as hard.
So what are the main threats to the Federation? the Borg, obviously, rogue Cardies and other Dominion ships, possibly the Romulans if they decide to take advantage of the Federation when it's relatively weak. I would agree with the splitting up of Starfleet into defence and exploration sections; smaller specialised vessels on permanent assignment to one or the other (Oberths to exploratory, Defiants to Defence, etc) and larger more capeable vessels on rotating assignment.
At the end of the war my first priority would be to secure Federation space; build up light and medium combat forces in the vicinity of Cardassia to guard against rogue forces (likely to be relatively light). I would also begin recommissioning the small scientific vessels and reactivate the exploration programs, partly as a demonstration that things are back to normal. Heavier combattants would be pulled back to central nodes that can respond easily to any heavy threat. Some would also be pulled back to the core worlds in case any Dominion nutter decides to land a final blow against the Federation (would explain the ships in Endgame). Building programs would be aimed at restoring the pre war balence of ship types for the larger vessels and the production of smaller, faster combat vessels. Probably not too many though partly for political reasons; after a war a build up of military strength may not be popular.
In the Gamma Quadrant I'd probably send through a small number of larger vessels, probably Ambassadors and Nebulas at first to begin to explore and make diplomatic advances etc.
-------------------- "I am an almost extinct breed, an old-fashioned gentleman, which means I can be a cast-iron son-of-a-bitch when it suits me." --Jubal Harshaw
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Shik
Starship database: completed; History of Starfleet: done; website: probably never
Member # 343
I haven't seen Nemesis yet, so I don't know the exact position of post-war Romulus, but it seems they could have taken advantage of the captured/liberated worlds in Federation and Cardassian space. A few post-war points I came up with:
- The new Ferengi Alliance has great potential for funding and helping the Federation (and Cardassia) to rebuild. - Improved relations with the new, vulnerable Cardassia. Especially solving the Maquis problems by removing the DMZ. - Rogue Cardassian/Dominion forces would probably present some small problems here and there, but nothing serious. Although perhaps some planets try to liberate themselves from Cardassian rule. - It seems no-one likes the Breen, so I think they are one of the worst losers of this war. The Romulans might decide to wage war on the Breen. - Martok's Empire would probably have a relationship with the UFP as good as, or even better than during early TNG. Expanded Beta Quadrant exploration through Klingon space sounds like a possibility - I believe Odo's (and perhaps other returned Founder 'explorers'?) influence on the Great Link will help to better relations with the Dominion. If you're really optimistic, you might even speculate the deconstruction of the Dominion itself.
At any rate, I believe the future of the Federation and the ST universe at large after the war should be optimistic.
Right.. that's enough rambling for me. I'll be here all night.
quote: Especially solving the Maquis problems by removing the DMZ.
The Dominion seems to have already solved this problem by removing the Maquis.
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Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
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posted
Reading that sweetass fanfic got me thinking how a post-DW series V might have fared in the current climate of Trekathy... what if, what if?
Registered: Nov 1999
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