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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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Oh for fuck's sake.

Simon, people are just being contrarian. They felt like you were challenging them to come up with alternate explanations. I doubt anyone is seriously against it having been boarders, and if they are then they're stupid because that's a thing that happens with some regularity in Trek.

I'm not sure why anyone would actually prefer those alternatives, considering how much more interesting a hand to hand battle against psychotic alien birdmen would be to read about than "lol plasma fires."
 
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I know is not your marines Simon, but I was just not going to type something like that in the phone
 
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I said:
A suitable omake for the "perfectly ordinary lucky enemy hit" version of how the Emdurance took such heavy crew losses. As opposed to the "Sydraxian marines rampaging through the corridors" version.
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Leila Hann said:
Oh for fuck's sake.

Simon, people are just being contrarian. They felt like you were challenging them to come up with alternate explanations. I doubt anyone is seriously against it having been boarders, and if they are then they're stupid because that's a thing that happens with some regularity in Trek.
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Goat said:
I know is not your marines Simon, but I was just going to type something like that in the phone
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I apologize for the confusion; my comment was not intended as either a criticism or a complaint. I wrote it as a short comment when I realized precisely what Goat had written, and stuck it on the top of my existing post about blah blah statistics blah blah mechanics.

Goat's vignette is a good writeup for "how the hell did THAT happen," in the context of a purely normal naval action. It would have had to be something along the lines of what Goat describes.

EDIT ADDENDUM:

To clarify, the shuttle bay almost certainly is a key vulnerability in the engineering hull of any Starfleet vessel, being as it is a tremendous void space. Even if the bay door is protected by armored blast doors (possible) and auxiliary force fields (certain), it's still a weak point, and if you line up your shot right through the shuttle bay you could more or less core the engineering hull.

In the process you'd probably cripple the ship, not just kill lots of people.

This requires absolutely no contrivance, is totally logical, and honestly I much prefer it to an explanation that involves technobabble.
 
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Leila Hann said:
I'm not sure why anyone would actually prefer those alternatives, considering how much more interesting a hand to hand battle against psychotic alien birdmen would be to read about than "lol plasma fires."
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I'm thinking you could combine both ideas -- Birdmen holding off damage control parties as a fire rages through the crew (and the Sydraxians, of course, adding to the body count). That was an Excelsior doesn't have to be a death trap AND Starfleet Security isn't so incompetent that 200 died people solely as a result of a running gunbattle.

YEARS LATER, ON THE GALAXY CLASS USS GALACTIC:

"The Sydraxian Marines, they're moving--"

"Aft."

"Yes sir."

"I've seen this before, on the Endurance. These are their objectives -- Secondary damage control and auxiliary fire control. If they're successful, they will override decompression safeties and vent us all into space. And once we're all dead, they'll turn the ship's torpedos on the rest of the fleet and wipe it out."
 
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I've got my own notions about how things go badly on the Endurance, but that's a good one.

My take is this: a typical Excelsior, positing a crew of 800 (generous) probably only actually has something like 100 security personnel aboard. 200, tops. Starfleet being Starfleet, a lot of the rest aren't particularly well combat trained. Maybe they have the basics down, but they'd be equipped with sidearms and trying desperately to remember a basic training course they took years ago and didn't really expect to need.

By contrast... If they really wanted to, how many boarding marines could a Sydraxian cruiser carry? Those are some big damn ships, from what I remember, and despite their Excelsior-grade durability and shielding.

It's not the redshirts being incompetent, it's that they're outnumbered, outgunned, and dealing with exasperating transporter hijinks.
 
Iron Wolf said:
I would not be surprised if it's entirely possible to have specialized torpedos that do additional crew damage with a special payload.

A payload of sydRAXIAN MARINES
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Reminds me of a post I saw in anticipation of Mass Effect 3.

"Me, I'm hoping that the paragon ending involves overpowering the reapers through sheer strength of unity. I want a fleet of Quarian-designed dreadnoughts being pumped out by Rachni workers, piloted by Geth AI consciousnesses, and armed with Krogan Cannons.

Guess what Krogan Cannons do?"
 
I don't know how many security personnel would be on an excelsior normally, but I would assume they probably increase the number of them when going into battle, assuming there's reserves.

Well, they certainly will be once the AARs about the Sydraxians roll in.
 
Iron Wolf said:
I don't know how many security personnel would be on an excelsior normally, but I would assume they probably increase the number of them when going into battle, assuming there's reserves.

Well, they certainly will be once the AARs about the Sydraxians roll in.
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In a 'normal' naval action, more security personnel doesn't actually help much because there probably won't be anything for them to do.

The problem comes in the unlikely event that you wind up fighting Proud Warrior Race guys in the corridors of your own starship...
 
Just have them keep up their training so that they're ready in case of enemy boarders.
 
Maybe not more security, but get them some personal shields and advanced training in recalibrating phasers for different foes. Or just more variety in personal weapons.
We should talk to the Yan-Ros about that.
 
@Simon_Jester - While I like the Suddenly Sydraxian Soldiers idea I do have an alternate proposal for explaining away the massive crew loss; that attack was the hair that broke the camel's back. When the Endurance took the hit that did killed O2/E1/T1 it was down to 26.55/40 Hull.

Considering that the hull was down to 66% it's entirely possible that the critical hit wasn't some ungodly lucky hit but that instead it just happened to overtax an already damaged section of the ship beyond the breaking point. Something like it causing a large chunk of, already weakened, section of hull to shatter exposing the decks behind it to vacuum or taking out the final safety system keeping the local EPS grid from blowing out.
 
Vote Tally : Sci-Fi - To Boldly Go... (a Starfleet quest) | Page 1279 | Sufficient Velocity
##### NetTally 1.7.3.2

[X] Plan: Open force is broken, concentrate on burning the roots.
No. of Votes: 14
Plan: ◈Open force is broken, concentrate on burning the roots.
AlphaDelta
DarknessSmiles
Derek58
fasquardon
Forgothrax
Goat
JesseJ
Jrin
kyuden
lbmaian
Muer'ci
PauliExklusor
pheonix89
random_npc

[X] Plan Maximum Detectives, Maximum Impact
No. of Votes: 9
Plan: ◈Maximum Detectives, Maximum Impact
aeqnai
Briefvoice
Gadjo
Joshrand1982
Kyushiro
Neptune
pbluekan
Simon_Jester
UberJJK

[X] PLAN ALL THE DETECTIVES but slightly different.
No. of Votes: 3
Plan: ◈ALL THE DETECTIVES but slightly different.
Gingganz
Kaze
Vehrec

[X] Plan Rigellians
No. of Votes: 0
Plan: ◈Rigellians

Total No. of Voters: 26
 
OneirosTheWriter said:
OKAY, vote is CLOSED.

Can I have a tally, please?
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@UbeOne 's tally is incorrect. It only has votes from the last threadmark not since the vote started. Here is the correct tally:
Vote Tally : Sci-Fi - To Boldly Go... (a Starfleet quest) | Page 1276 | Sufficient Velocity
##### NetTally 1.7.4

[X] Plan: Open force is broken, concentrate on burning the roots.
[X][COPS] No changes (may not be taken with any other COPS options).
[X][DETECTIVES] Vulcan Central Inspectorate could be called on. Capable of working through vast conspiracies and webs of deduction. (1 Influence, +3 Impact, apply penalty to Syndicate financial/shipbuilding operations)
[X][DETECTIVES] Detectives from the Indorian Argyle Bench, the center of their serious crimes investigations group can come into play, their natural instinct for pattern matching and recognition could unknot conspiracies. (1 Influence, +2 Impact, bonus to tracking down perpetrators of attacks)
[X][DEVICES] Leave as is
[X][SIG] Leave as is
[X][SHIP] None
[X][COMP] Allow Amash Hagan to proceed. (2 Influence, -2 Syndicate Resilience, +4 Impact)
[X][ENG] Send out Tellarite Engineers (1 Influence, improve bomb resistance to bombs)
No. of Votes: 22
Plan: ◈Open force is broken, concentrate on burning the roots.
Alastor Mobius Toth
AlphaDelta
Artemis1992
Chaos Blade
DarknessSmiles
Derek58
fasquardon
Forgothrax
Goat
JesseJ
Jrin
kyuden
lbmaian
Mr Tebbs
Muer'ci
NHO
PauliExklusor
pheonix89
random_npc
Thebigpieman
Torgamous
Void Stalker

[X] Plan Maximum Detectives, Maximum Impact
[X][COPS] No changes (may not be taken with any other COPS options).
[X][DETECTIVES] Vulcan Central Inspectorate could be called on. Capable of working through vast conspiracies and webs of deduction. (1 Influence, +3 Impact, apply penalty to Syndicate financial/shipbuilding operations)
[X][DETECTIVES] Detectives from the Indorian Argyle Bench, the center of their serious crimes investigations group can come into play, their natural instinct for pattern matching and recognition could unknot conspiracies. (1 Influence, +2 Impact, bonus to tracking down perpetrators of attacks)
[X][DEVICES] Leave as is
[X][SIG] Leave as is
[X][COMP] Allow Amash Hagan to proceed. (2 Influence, -2 Syndicate Resilience, +4 Impact)
[x][SHIP] A Rigellian Contingent, with a Turtleship and a Cutter (1 Influence, +4 Impact)
[X][ENG] No thanks
No. of Votes: 18
Plan: ◈Maximum Detectives, Maximum Impact
Plan: ◈ALL THE DETECTIVES but slightly different.
Aeondrac
aeqnai
Briefvoice
Gadjo
Gingganz
Happerry
Joshrand1982
Kaze
Kyushiro
Neptune
Night
pbluekan
Pyro Hawk
Shard
Simon_Jester
SynchronizedWritersBlock
UberJJK
Vehrec

[X] Plan Rigellians
[X][COPS] No changes (may not be taken with any other COPS options).
[X][DETECTIVES] Vulcan Central Inspectorate could be called on. Capable of working through vast conspiracies and webs of deduction. (1 Influence, +3 Impact, apply penalty to Syndicate financial/shipbuilding operations)
[X][DEVICES] Leave as is
[X][SIG] Leave as is
[X][SHIP] A Rigellian Contingent, with a Turtleship and a Cutter (1 Influence, +4 Impact)
[X][COMP] Allow Amash Hagan to proceed. (2 Influence, -2 Syndicate Resilience, +4 Impact)
[X][ENG] Send out Tellarite Engineers (1 Influence, improve bomb resistance to bombs)
No. of Votes: 3
Plan: ◈Rigellians
Alonsis2
Nix
Random Member

[X] Plan Ships, Ships, Amash Hagan and Vulcans
[X][COPS] No changes (may not be taken with any other COPS options).
[X][DETECTIVES] Vulcan Central Inspectorate could be called on. Capable of working through vast conspiracies and webs of deduction. (1 Influence, +3 Impact, apply penalty to Syndicate financial/shipbuilding operations)
[X][DEVICES] Leave as is
[X][SIG] Leave as is
[X][COMP] Allow Amash Hagan to proceed. (2 Influence, -2 Syndicate Resilience, +4 Impact)
[X][SHIP] A Tellarite Contingent, with a Constitution-B, a Centaur, and an Oberth (1 Influence, +4 Impact)
[X][SHIP] A Rigellian Contingent, with a Turtleship and a Cutter (1 Influence, +4 Impact)
[X][ENG] No thanks
No. of Votes: 1
Plan: ◈Ships, Ships, Amash Hagan and Vulcans
anon_user

[x] steal the secret of nonlethal computer screens from the Sydraxians
No. of Votes: 1
Leila Hann

——————————————————————————————————————————————
Task: ENG

[X][ENG] No thanks
No. of Votes: 1
Happerry

——————————————————————————————————————————————
Task: SHIP

[X][SHIP] A Tellarite Contingent, with a Constitution-B, a Centaur, and an Oberth (1 Influence, +4 Impact)
No. of Votes: 1
Happerry

Total No. of Voters: 45
 
I think Happerry (copied SWB's original vote) and Leila Hann (delegated to Night before clobbering with joke vote) actually voted for "Maximum Detectives, Maximum Impact", but "Open force is broken, concentrate on burning the roots" still wins.
 
lbmaian said:
I think Happerry (copied SWB's original vote) and Leila Hann (delegated to Night before clobbering with joke vote) actually voted for "Maximum Detectives, Maximum Impact", but "Open force is broken, concentrate on burning the roots" still wins.
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The reason I didn't bother changing my vote again is because I was equally happy with the two leading plans.

Also, do we know what the Yan-Ros look like, or am I stuck with whatever google image search brings me for "RWBY characters?"
 
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