I think we should consider refitting Explorer Corp Excelsiors one at a time to fill some of the open berths. More so in years when we would need to select multiple Captains.
Yeah, there's been a good deal of support for doing that.

Sulu was once identified by Sousa as being one of her "best political operators" among the Vice Admrials alongside Shey ch'Tharvasse.
Good point. From Sousa's POV, what Sulu does looks like and probably is excellent politics.
Hm. I think maybe Sulu is actually the kind of guy who does his best work when he has a boss to tell him "no, this is going one step too far, you'll break the system if you try this."

Notice that of the Enterprise command team, he was the only one of the established officers to completely lose the plot when the polywater infection knocked out their inhibitions in The Naked Time. Spock was cracking up, Kirk was cracking up, but Sulu? Brandishing a sword and storming the bridge.

Fast forward to his TBG days, and it's clear from the dialogue that he vetted his idea about seeking Klingon reinforcements for Kadesh with Starfleet Command ahead of time. Those wild and wooly Explorer Corps operations he got up to in collaboration with Starfleet Intelligence? He was pushing it; he could have got in serious trouble had they been revealed to the public, or if something had happened to Enterprise like what happened to Courageous a few years later. He was at least a little lucky there. And his idea about assembling a Sixth Fleet out of the anti-Syndicate task force during the Kadak-Tor incident? That was an example of him going a bit too far, and Kahurangi had to yank on his chain.

However, Sulu is extremely creative, talented, and effective, as well as being kind of erratic. That combination makes him a marvelous subordinate when he's being tasked with carrying out some specific duty, because he'll use all his brilliance to achieve the duty as well as could be expected. Since he's got buckets of charisma, that includes tasks like "Persuade Councilor Smith of the wisdom of getting a starbase built in the Zabriska system" or whatever.

Thing is... that's actually more like Diplomacy than it is like Politics. It's more about Sulu using his personal charisma to persuade an independent entity of something, and less about Sulu working well within a power structure.

Briefvoice said:
Well the Atuin was there hosting negotiations....
We will counter mad science with Vol Chad's broforce?

Given that we didn't take any real penalties and how extreme the situation was that might have been a basic success.
The penalty is that one of our affiliates is now at war, a war that could trigger major collateral damage. Maybe a 'success' on that event would have been something like 'Licori peacefully accede to a reasonable set of demands by the Gaeni, and we have a foundation for negotiating an end to the war with the Ked Paddah too because the Licori are now at least open to the idea of restraining their mentats from causing any more cosmic catastrophes."
 
Estimated Cardassian Forces (could be out of date as it is from an Intel report close to a year old - and could have been wrong in the first place):

2 Kaldar (Combat Cruiser)
6~7 Jaldun (General Cruiser)
7~9 Escort Grade (No break down on what types present)

Estimate for Fed-friendly forces (totalling a BriefVoice post):

1 Excelsior (Avandar)
1 Riala (Abhriec)
2 Light Queenships (Telzziadriz, Pollizazza)
3 Constitution-Bs(Korolev, Defiant, Valiant)
2 Brieca (Atorfroil, Icafroil)
6 Miranda-As (T'Kumbra, Agile, Bantam, Shield, Bon Vivant, Clarion)
4 Stingers (Gerzzi, Triada, Grizzi, Fozarri)

Hull numbers favour us but only just - 19 vs 18.
Our Capitals are statistically superior to their Kaldars
Connie-Bs trade roughly 50-50 with Jalduns, hopefully the support from the Queens/Briecas will help with their numbers.
Our Escort wing is strong - and Stingers are particually nasty.

Just eye-balling it, in a general all-in fur ball, statistically we should win - but it is not guaranteed and I fear our repair crews are going to reach 'Blooded' status ;)
On that subject, anybody tracking how any fights some of our ships have been present at here, because I'm wondering if some of Miranda-As/Connie-Bs might reach 'Blooded' status by the time this is all over?
 
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Hull numbers favour us but only just - 19 vs 18.
Our Capitals are statistically superior to their Kaldars
Connie-Bs trade roughly 50-50 with Jalduns, hopefully the support from the Briecas will even that out.
Our Escort wing is strong - and Stingers are particually nasty.
Since bleedthrough is now a thing that happens occasionally, the Stingers may be partially defanged by even small amounts of bleedthrough damage. They have excellent firepower and shields, but if they take even one point of hull damage, they abruptly lose a big chunk of their firepower advantage.

The Briecas are lightly armed, heavily armored escorts: C2 H3 L3. I'm not sure they'll be contributing much to this fight except to soak up fire that would otherwise hit something that will suffer greater reduction of our overall firepower if it takes hull damage (like the Stingers and Constitution-Bs, which actually have pretty similar firepower/HP ratios).

Just eye-balling it, in a general all-in fur ball, statistically we should win - but it is not guaranteed and I fear our repair crews are going to reach 'Blooded' status ;)
On that subject, anybody tracking how any fights some of our ships have been present at here, because I'm wondering if some of Miranda-As/Connie-Bs might reach 'Blooded' status by the time this is all over?
Well, omakes are usually a good way to bring that about. The catch is that ships in intense combat tend to also be ships that take crew casualties, and levelling up usually doesn't play well with crew casualties. Kumari may be an exception given how she weathered the Biophage crisis.
 
The penalty is that one of our affiliates is now at war, a war that could trigger major collateral damage. Maybe a 'success' on that event would have been something like 'Licori peacefully accede to a reasonable set of demands by the Gaeni, and we have a foundation for negotiating an end to the war with the Ked Paddah too because the Licori are now at least open to the idea of restraining their mentats from causing any more cosmic catastrophes."

Given what we know and what we suspect about the Licori, though, was that ever a reasonable outcome? The Licori may not be able to control the Mentats at core; that's always a risk when you're dealing with people who are an order of magnitude smarter than you. They also appear to be closely tied to subordinate governments that the central Licori government has limited control of; if the Arcadian Emperor cannot actually guarantee the compliance of the houses then it's possible no demands can be met. Add in the fact the Lelia has presented a good case that the Mentats have either usurped real power (LIcori society is starfaring, they need number-crunchers for practically everything, they'd be utterly dependent on the Mentats for keeping their economy going among other things) or are themselves running an alternate power structure like they're the Mad Science Orion Syndicate.

I'm not sure a positive outcome was possible.
 
I wonder if we could chuck about EC ship into the GBZ at this critical time. I know of one pretty lady on that side of the Federation that has the biggest stat block we've seen...

We really need to look into having Enterprise arrive on the scene.

"New ship entering the battlezone!"

"Cardassian?"

*boggles in wonder*

"No Sir... it's the Enterprise!" *airhorns*
 
Just a note for those playing the numbers game in the expanse. We may have a guess on Cardassian numbers, but their client races have ships too, and the ones who are not cut off may have also been asked for ships to add to the Cardassian fleet.
 
The penalty is that one of our affiliates is now at war, a war that could trigger major collateral damage. Maybe a 'success' on that event would have been something like 'Licori peacefully accede to a reasonable set of demands by the Gaeni, and we have a foundation for negotiating an end to the war with the Ked Paddah too because the Licori are now at least open to the idea of restraining their mentats from causing any more cosmic catastrophes."
And given the situation you'd need a serious critical for that to happen.

And as various people have pointed it's unclear if the Licori government actually has the ABILITY to meet the demands made.
 
Just a note for those playing the numbers game in the expanse. We may have a guess on Cardassian numbers, but their client races have ships too, and the ones who are not cut off may have also been asked for ships to add to the Cardassian fleet.

The problem is largely cultural for the Cardassians. Their culture does not lend itself towards letting the client races have a lot of power of their own. Unless the Cardies decide to feed their clients to Starfleet for one reason or another they'll be left to guard their own territories. They might just throw the client races' fleets at Starfleet to get their clients invested in the whole 'you need the Cardassian Union to protect you' though.
 
The problem is largely cultural for the Cardassians. Their culture does not lend itself towards letting the client races have a lot of power of their own. Unless the Cardies decide to feed their clients to Starfleet for one reason or another they'll be left to guard their own territories. They might just throw the client races' fleets at Starfleet to get their clients invested in the whole 'you need the Cardassian Union to protect you' though.
Yes. Plus, of the known clients we know they could call on...

The Sydraxians are already involved and have taken so many casualties I doubt they'll be sending any ships to support this offensive.

The Dylaarians are already involved and are unlikely to fight very hard just because the Cardassians ask them to; they'd be better used guarding the Cardassian rear areas and civilian ships to free up more Union ships for the fight.

The Goshawnar are already being used as deniable raiders against the Seyek.

The Bajorans probably don't even have a navy anymore. I'm not sure the Lecarre ever did.

The Kennan (those empaths the Cardassians conquered) may have a navy, but given that Cardassia has fought repeated wars with them and is mostly keeping them suppressed through overwhelming force, they probably can't afford to 'borrow' any Kennan ships still operational.

If the Dawiar had sent any ships to the region we'd have noticed.

I wonder if we could chuck about EC ship into the GBZ at this critical time. I know of one pretty lady on that side of the Federation that has the biggest stat block we've seen...

We really need to look into having Enterprise arrive on the scene.

"New ship entering the battlezone!"

"Cardassian?"

*boggles in wonder*

"No Sir... it's the Enterprise!" *airhorns*
Enterprise:

"Ooh can I can I can I please?"

[spacetime shakes a little as 2.28-megaton explorer bounces up and down at cruising warp speed]
 
@Nix
@OneirosTheWriter
I just noticed that the winning research plan appears to be technically invalid - Generic Team 3 is assigned to 2310s Escort - Engineering, but the master sheet says that tech is already complete.
 
@Nix
@OneirosTheWriter
I just noticed that the winning research plan appears to be technically invalid - Generic Team 3 is assigned to 2310s Escort - Engineering, but the master sheet says that tech is already complete.

Generic Team 3 was reassigned from 2310s Escort - Engineering to the Hospital Ship project. Oneiros mistakenly completed Escort - Engineering anyway. The plan putting Gen Team 3 back there is just correcting that mistake.
 
So... a real clusterfuck is developing. Or rather, has continued to develop and is reaching crisis level.

I have a lot of hopes, and lots of possibilities to achieve them (that's optimistic me speaking, ignore the devil on shoulder):

a) The Gaeni don't drag us into this war this year. You'd think Gaeni + Ked Paddah would be sufficient to pressure the Licori without any Starfleet help. However, I'm also worried that Starfleet will get dragged into providing some escort for a major diplomatic convoy. Which I hope can be done by the EC ships instead of our garrison ships.
b) Apiata or Amarki can send reinforcements to GBZ.
c) Any Federation member fleets can send reinforcements.
d) Any EC ships in the GBZ area can reinforce in case of an imminent pivotal battle.
e) We can do a fleet redeployment, absorbing the ASTF to free up another Connie-B and Cent-A to the GBZ.
f) All the repairs scheduled to be completed next month can participate in a battle next month.
g) Or the Cardassians don't engage until next quarter.

[X][REPAIR] "We can bump NCC-1665, a Miranda, from San Fran Berth A."

Honestly, we wouldn't have been able to crew this Miranda-A anyway given the officer losses.

The repair costs are threatening to push SR into projected deficits again too, although we unfortunately can't recoup the cost of the just-started Miranda-A build even if it were bumped.

Earlier in this year, I was wondering if the 3 Miranda-A build plan was a mistake (instead of 3 Centaur-A or +2 Renaissances). Now, boy am I glad we went with the conservative approach.
 
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Well, omakes are usually a good way to bring that about. The catch is that ships in intense combat tend to also be ships that take crew casualties, and levelling up usually doesn't play well with crew casualties. Kumari may be an exception given how she weathered the Biophage crisis.

Kumari was a player vote. I just did a thread search, and Oneiros's exact comment on the result was:

T'Mir and Kumari ... T'Mir is a great choice, but Kumari... *eyes thread*

Just a note for those playing the numbers game in the expanse. We may have a guess on Cardassian numbers, but their client races have ships too, and the ones who are not cut off may have also been asked for ships to add to the Cardassian fleet.

Well maybe, but other than the Bajorans their clients aren't completely subjugated. The Cardassians can't just order them to enter the war unless they're prepared to offer up something in return.
 
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Think the problem with the -A subfix names for ships is that the Star Trek was nonsensical about that. Enterprise-A was not the Enterprise refitted from TMP, but a new ship named Enterprise, after the original was lost/self-destructed over the Genesis planet. It was still a refit Constitution class, Having an Excelsior Enterprise being Enterprise-B *AND* keeping the original's registry number struck me as incredibly odd and nonsensical, no vessel ever, no matter the navy, has a repeat hull number, Case and Point the USN Enterprises, which has been CV-6, CVN-65 and shortly CVN-80.
Never quite got why Roddenberry decided all Enterprises on Star Trek should be NCC-1701

As a short form for a refit, kinda makes sense, but it does run into certain problems once we switch to a new class. so, we really should tie the A/B subfix to the Class names not the ship's names, and represent it between Brackets after the name?
so, for instance: USS Courageous (Excelsior-A)
 
Think the problem with the -A subfix names for ships is that the Star Trek was nonsensical about that. Enterprise-A was not the Enterprise refitted from TMP, but a new ship named Enterprise, after the original was lost/self-destructed over the Genesis planet. It was still a refit Constitution class, Having an Excelsior Enterprise being Enterprise-B *AND* keeping the original's registry number struck me as incredibly odd and nonsensical, no vessel ever, no matter the navy, has a repeat hull number, Case and Point the USN Enterprises, which has been CV-6, CVN-65 and shortly CVN-80.
Never quite got why Roddenberry decided all Enterprises on Star Trek should be NCC-1701
Because plot and mainship status?
 
Think the problem with the -A subfix names for ships is that the Star Trek was nonsensical about that. Enterprise-A was not the Enterprise refitted from TMP, but a new ship named Enterprise, after the original was lost/self-destructed over the Genesis planet. It was still a refit Constitution class, Having an Excelsior Enterprise being Enterprise-B *AND* keeping the original's registry number struck me as incredibly odd and nonsensical, no vessel ever, no matter the navy, has a repeat hull number, Case and Point the USN Enterprises, which has been CV-6, CVN-65 and shortly CVN-80.
Never quite got why Roddenberry decided all Enterprises on Star Trek should be NCC-1701

As a short form for a refit, kinda makes sense, but it does run into certain problems once we switch to a new class. so, we really should tie the A/B subfix to the Class names not the ship's names, and represent it between Brackets after the name?
so, for instance: USS Courageous (Excelsior-A)
The thing that isn't actually canonical is labelling refits or normal successor ships -A, -B, etc. In canon the only things with a letter suffix were Starships Enterprise.
 
So... a real clusterfuck is developing. Or rather, has continued to develop and is reaching crisis level.

I have a lot of hopes, and lots of possibilities to achieve them (that's optimistic me speaking, ignore the devil on shoulder):

a) The Gaeni don't drag us into this war this year. You'd think Gaeni + Ked Paddah would be sufficient to pressure the Licori without any Starfleet help. However, I'm also worried that Starfleet will get dragged into providing some escort for a major diplomatic convoy. Which I hope can be done by the EC ships instead of our garrison ships.
b) Apiata or Amarki can send reinforcements to GBZ.
c) Any Federation member fleets can send reinforcements.
d) Any EC ships in the GBZ area can reinforce in case of an imminent pivotal battle.
e) We can do a fleet redeployment, absorbing the ASTF to free up another Connie-B and Cent-A to the GBZ.
f) All the repairs scheduled to be completed next month can participate in a battle next month.
g) Or the Cardassians don't engage until next quarter.
I don't think any Explorer Corps ships are operating anywhere near the Gabriel Expanse right now. Probably because we've already concentrated a large fraction of the entire Federation's scouting, surveying, and prospecting assets in that region, and because we have two or three major enemy fleets operating in the area, in squadron strength that could knock out even an Explorer Corps ship if that ship were operating alone the way the Explorer Corps usually does.

Think the problem with the -A subfix names for ships is that the Star Trek was nonsensical about that. Enterprise-A was not the Enterprise refitted from TMP, but a new ship named Enterprise, after the original was lost/self-destructed over the Genesis planet. It was still a refit Constitution class, Having an Excelsior Enterprise being Enterprise-B *AND* keeping the original's registry number struck me as incredibly odd and nonsensical, no vessel ever, no matter the navy, has a repeat hull number, Case and Point the USN Enterprises, which has been CV-6, CVN-65 and shortly CVN-80.

Never quite got why Roddenberry decided all Enterprises on Star Trek should be NCC-1701
My interpretation of it, which is sort of a weird hybrid of IC and OOC reasoning...

Is basically that the Enterprise became a ship of truly extreme symbolic importance over the course of the 2260s and '70s (what with saving the Earth once, other planets multiple times, arguably the whole galaxy once or twice in TOS episodes). When they built a new ship, someone (possibly civilian politicians) wanted to keep the hull number, in defiance of normal procedure. It was a way of saying "This isn't just a ship NAMED FOR the legendary Enterprise. This STILL IS the legendary Enterprise, reincarnated." And that became a naval tradition within Starfleet, which is what makes that ship Starfleet's 'flagship.'

As a short form for a refit, kinda makes sense, but it does run into certain problems once we switch to a new class. so, we really should tie the A/B subfix to the Class names not the ship's names, and represent it between Brackets after the name?
so, for instance: USS Courageous (Excelsior-A)
Uh... that's pretty much what literally everyone was already planning to do anyway.
 
Think the problem with the -A subfix names for ships is that the Star Trek was nonsensical about that. Enterprise-A was not the Enterprise refitted from TMP, but a new ship named Enterprise, after the original was lost/self-destructed over the Genesis planet. It was still a refit Constitution class, Having an Excelsior Enterprise being Enterprise-B *AND* keeping the original's registry number struck me as incredibly odd and nonsensical, no vessel ever, no matter the navy, has a repeat hull number, Case and Point the USN Enterprises, which has been CV-6, CVN-65 and shortly CVN-80.
Never quite got why Roddenberry decided all Enterprises on Star Trek should be NCC-1701

As a short form for a refit, kinda makes sense, but it does run into certain problems once we switch to a new class. so, we really should tie the A/B subfix to the Class names not the ship's names, and represent it between Brackets after the name?
so, for instance: USS Courageous (Excelsior-A)
There are no letter subfixes as parts of ship names.
Enterprise-B is a completely unofficial shorthand for USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-B), and the suffix for the registry number doesn't happen for any other ships either.
 
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We've had a few other ships with worthy careers. If the next Sarek or Courageous carries the same registration with a -B I don't think that will be a terrible issue.

EDIT: Also, if Stargazer makes it home, I will fight anyone who says that the next Stargazer we build is not allowed to be Stargazer-A.
 
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The Yamato had -E IIRC
http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/USS_Yamato said:
The Yamato's registry was identified by dialogue in "Where Silence Has Lease" by Riker who visually identified it from the hull of Nagilum's reproduction and stated it to be "NCC-1305-E". When the Yamato was listed on a Starship Deploy Status in "The Measure Of A Man", the starship had the registry "NCC-24383". However, with its later appearance in "Contagion", several computer screens, schematics and captain's logs identified the registry as "NCC-71807". In the exploding saucer section model from "Contagion" the registry was "NCC-71806" instead of "NCC-71807". While "NCC-71806" and "NCC-24383" can be clearly seen in the remastered high-definition versions of the episodes, they are not as prominent as the registries mentioned in dialogue and the computer screen graphics from "Contagion".

According to Star Trek Encyclopedia (3ed. p.569), the initial NCC-1305-E registry number was a production mistake. It was given to the Yamato by the episode writer Jack B. Sowards who was unaware of the registry numbering scheme developed for Star Trek: The Next Generation. Michael Okuda had intended to correct the number, as he had already finished the decals for the saucer section of the model for "Contagion", but as the scene was removed from an intermediate draft, he dropped the issue, only to find out the scene had been re-added later on to the final draft, which Okuda realized after the episode had aired.
I'd personally count admitted production mistakes as noncanon.

Unrelated, have charts for our shipbuilding and deployment plans for next quarter, assuming the Cardies don't roll us:


e: Just realized the addition is borked on the deployment chart
e2: fixed now
 
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It actually doesn't work like that.

If the next USS Excelsior had the same registry number than yes it would be USS Excelsior-A however only the Enterprise is said to retain it's service number through ships.

Yeah, but it has never been explained why and, from a cursory search, seems to be no real reason to, except some sort of cult of the Enterprise, but that would be silly because such ideas would go against the ideals of the in show Federation

The thing that isn't actually canonical is labelling refits or normal successor ships -A, -B, etc. In canon the only things with a letter suffix were Starships Enterprise.

A cruious thing, that

My interpretation of it, which is sort of a weird hybrid of IC and OOC reasoning...

Is basically that the Enterprise became a ship of truly extreme symbolic importance over the course of the 2260s and '70s (what with saving the Earth once, other planets multiple times, arguably the whole galaxy once or twice in TOS episodes). When they built a new ship, someone (possibly civilian politicians) wanted to keep the hull number, in defiance of normal procedure. It was a way of saying "This isn't just a ship NAMED FOR the legendary Enterprise. This STILL IS the legendary Enterprise, reincarnated." And that became a naval tradition within Starfleet, which is what makes that ship Starfleet's 'flagship.'

Uh... that's pretty much what literally everyone was already planning to do anyway.

Yeah, but naming the ship for the ship, while a common custom in naval circles, does not mean they use the same hull numbers, worse, this is a Cult of the Enterprise, what you are suggesting and such a thing would be at odds with what has been portrayed of the Federation.

Honestly I'd rather avoid that, I want to think that weird shit happened all over the federation and while the Enterprise crew was above average, they were just that, above average. That there were other Captains and crews in weird situations, saving the day though skill, knowledge and gumption.
That way we end up with a larger universe than one that seems anchored around ships named Enterprise.

There are no letter subfixes as parts of ship names.
Enterprise-B is a completely unofficial shorthand for USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-B), and the suffix for the registration number doesn't happen for any other ships either.

And makes no sense as to why, that is more or less my point. the Same with the NX/NCC numbers (interestingly in Memory Alpha, Excelsior is both NX-2000 and NCC-2000).
But if we are going to make rules, they need to apply to all
 
I get the sentimentality about names, but I'm baffled at the idea we should be sentimental about registry numbers.

I mean, really, it's supposed to be informative about a ship's class and build number. It's not a second name!
 
(The Time ship Relativity also carries a -G)

I think that part of the dash letter thing is that with perhaps a half dozen ships of the same name over the course of centuries you'really going to want to figure out a way to keep from confusing them with each other.

I mean you either have to know your history very well or you'll start getting very confused "Kirk died on the Enterprise in '93" could easily get conflate with the battle of Khitomer and lead someone to assume he died there.

I am in favour reusing prefixes with -letter on it to preserve a sense of history and continuity.
 
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