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To Boldly Go... (a Starfleet quest)

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To Boldly Go... (a Starfleet quest) Starfleet Ship Design Bureau, Refit ("To Boldly Go...")
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Our saving grace is that not all of their clients are going to be eager to fight on Cardassia's behalf. The Dylaarians and Konnen don't seem to be warlike peoples, and have nothing against us besides "Boss Spoonhead says they're bad."

The Yrillians are a troubling counterexample, being a not-especially-warlike race on the periphery of the Cardassian empire who we know will nonetheless fight us if war breaks out. However, the Yrillians also 1) have close relations with their volatile Sydraxian neighbors who they're probably afraid of provoking and 2) have significant elements of their population who engage in piracy against us, and are probably opposing Yrillian/Federation peace because it would make business harder for them. The Dylaarans and Konnen don't have either of those issues.

On the other hand, they have the Cardassians themselves breathing down their necks from much closer. So, yeah.
 
Thinking about it more...

Some of the Cardassians' clients would probably rather not fight, except that they fear punishment from their masters for refusal. Thus, in order to convince them to NOT fight, we will need to both 1) promise them a better affiliate benefits package than the Cardassians are giving them, AND 2) convince them that we can protect them from Cardassian punishment.

The first one is probably easy. We know that the Cardassians are harsh, secretive, and resource-hungry, so we can easily offer more science and trade for less tribute. In order to come through on the second one though, we will need to defeat the Cardassians so thoroughly that they are no longer able to threaten their former clients.

So. If we are going to fight the cardies, and we don't want to have to fight all of their allies as well, we will need to basically flatten the CDF in order to protect turncoat clients. That means a much longer war.
 
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We could always try to wipe out some of their ships with Flares from a nearby sun like the Enterprise did.
 

Maybe I should use just one color for the Cardassian clients? Not sure which one though, Lecarre yellow-green is probably too hard to tell apart from the Cardassian yellow for those clients that border them directly.
 
The Cardassians are strong but brittle.

I expect they are worried about war because if they suffer a big defeat their "clients" will begin pulling away and start asking us to protect them. And they'd probably drag their heels too. And for the more eager clients (The Sydraxians) the Cardassians aren't likely to be able to coordinate well with them.

Like the Cardassians go "Oh we need our fleets here and here" and the Dylaarians, the Konen, and the Bajorans go "Oh sure, it'll be a while because reasons" forcing hte Cardassians to keep fleet elements on those borders just in case. And even after those fleets show up the Cardassians can't trust client fleets fully in battle because there is a good chance that, say, a Konnen or Bajoran Admiral goes "Wait. If we defect right now the Cardassian fleet is utterly defeated and we're free in a single stroke". And at the same time the Cardassians ask the Sydraxians to show up for a battle and they go "Sorry, we just ran off half cocked face first into three member fleets and then fell back into a swarm of Bees. Please send help or we give up." The Cardassians have entire extra dimensions of strategy to keep track of and obsess over that we really don't.

One of the advantages of freedom is that people really really like having it and resent not having it.
 
Nix said:

Maybe I should use just one color for the Cardassian clients? Not sure which one though, Lecarre yellow-green is probably too hard to tell apart from the Cardassian yellow for those clients that border them directly.
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Dawiar-brown perhaps? I think yellow-brown is a good combination if a bit... nauseating. But hey, doesn't that fit the Cardassians? Sydraxian-orange is also good.
 
Looking at the map above, why we not expanding beyond down Risa?
Wish we could send at least one Explorer down there.
 
There's also very large unclaimed chunks of space above Rigel.

If we let the Cardassians expand uncontrolled we're kinda funked unless we find some major ally on the other side of Cardassia or someth.
 
Jrin said:
Looking at the map above, why we not expanding beyond down Risa?
Wish we could send at least one Explorer down there.
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Shard said:
There's also very large unclaimed chunks of space above Rigel.

If we let the Cardassians expand uncontrolled we're kinda funked unless we find some major ally on the other side of Cardassia or someth.
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"Why haven't we expanded to X yet?!?"

I invite you to take a look at the maps threadmark.

hahahaha. We're expanding as fast as we can. Like, you do remember that we're getting two new members within 5 years with options on a third? And the ever expanding list of science and mining stations. And the constant exploration? Like, don't ask "Why haven't we expanded to X" as "How long will it take to expand to X"
 
Starfleet + Members = 529, Add Apiata and Indorians for another 144 (673), Seyek and Qloathi would be another 96 (796) so we have an edge.


The biggest thing is getting one or more of their clients to a neutral stance, for example getting the Sydraxians as neutral would also keep the Yrillians out which would drop them quite a bit, also if the Sydraxians stay home the Dawiar may chose to do the same thanks to their positive relations with us and being surrounded by the Federation and some growing mistrust of Cardassians on their part.
 
Void Stalker said:
Starfleet + Members = 529, Add Apiata and Indorians for another 144 (673), Seyek and Qloathi would be another 96 (796) so we have an edge.


The biggest thing is getting one or more of their clients to a neutral stance, for example getting the Sydraxians as neutral would also keep the Yrillians out which would drop them quite a bit, also if the Sydraxians stay home the Dawiar may chose to do the same thanks to their positive relations with us and being surrounded by the Federation and some growing mistrust of Cardassians on their part.
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Assuming we can't talk the Sydraxians down, we might still be able to turn the Yrillians if we open the war with an alpha strike on the Sydraxian fleet. Not only will the Yrillian government no longer be afraid of them, but the pirate factions might come to see the weakened Sydraxians as a better target than the Federation.
 
Nix said:
Maybe I should use just one color for the Cardassian clients? Not sure which one though, Lecarre yellow-green is probably too hard to tell apart from the Cardassian yellow for those clients that border them directly.
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I'd say use Sydraxian orange for all of them. Except maybe the Dawiar cus their status as clients currently seems pretty rocky.
 
Inb4 our diplomats sign off on Celos' independence in addition to all the original demands
 
aeqnai said:
I'd say use Sydraxian orange for all of them. Except maybe the Dawiar cus their status as clients currently seems pretty rocky.
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I'd recommend two colors. One for Cardassia's close affiliates (Sydraxians, Lecarre) and one for the resisters and fence sitters (Yrillians, Bajorans, Dawiar).

The Dylaarians, Gowshawnar, and Konnen should be considered "close" until we can get more info. Better safe than sorry.
 
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