I'm definitely in favour of building more Oberths. I'd prefer an Oberth in place of the Centaur-A and possibly in place of one set of Miranda refits, if affordable. With the 1 finishing now that would give us 2-3 new Oberths. If we can assign them all to Starfleet Intelligence (don't know if there is a limit to how many they'll take) I'd like to have one each on the major powers (Cardassians, Romulans and Klingons) and then 1 for either our Syndicate ops or on the Sydraxians.
Not quite getting why people love Oberths so much. They only have +2 Science compared to Centaurs and they're completely crap in every other way. They are not very good ships, and they haven't really returned all that many great results. Most of the time a Centaur can do everything an Oberth can do and do it better and faster.
Yes, yes. the T'Mir on intelligence duty... but I think we're going to get diminishing returns there. If you expect a free Intelligence report for every Oberth assigned, I think that's a fantasy that will not come true.
So just to get the ball rolling on another big decision....
In 2312 we're going to have a lot of berths open up. You all should start thinking about what ships we will build in those berths. See image below from my spreadsheet:
Specifically:
1. One Excelsior berth opens up in 2312Q1 in the 40 Eridani A shipyard.
2. One Excelsior berth opens up in 2312Q2 in the UP shipyard when the United Earth Excelsior is completed and launches.
3. One Excelsior berth opens up in 2312Q2 in the UP shipyard when the Constitution-B there is completed and launches.
4. One 1mt berth opens up in 2312Q2 in the UP shipyard when the Constitution-B there is completed and launches.
5. One 1mt berths open up in 2312Q2 in the UP shipyard when the Oberth there is completed and launches.
6. One 1mt berth opens up in 2312Q2 in the Lor'Vela OCF when the Constitution-B there is completed and launches.
7. One 1mt berth opens up in 2312Q4 in the SF Shipyard when the Constitution-B there is completed and launches.
8. One 1mt berth opens up in 2312Q4 in the SF Shipyard when the Constitution-B there is completed and launches.
Things to keep in mind:
1. The Renaissance prototype completes in 2314Q2 (two years and one quarter from start of 2312) meaning that we will then be able to build Renaissances, so we might want to make sure there are berths open then to do so.
2. Miranda refits will be available and we can start refitting our 11 Mirandas for one year of berth time each. Doing refits is a good way of doing somethign useful with the berths while allowing us to save up br/sr and crew for later builds.
3. We might want to keep UP 3mt berth open to use for the Ambassador prototype, though even optimistically we can't start building it earlier than 2315.
In the image below I propose starting two Excelsiors, five Miranda refits, and a Centaur-A. However there is room to build more and do less refits if people think that's a good idea.
I can get behind UP berth A going to an Excelsior, wrapping up in time for an Ambassador in 2316. Alternatively, a 3 year build is possible. UP C should probably go to a member world Excelsior, if anyone wants one.
I'm against building more Oberths. As more Excelsiors come online, the need for Oberths for their role as sensor ships diminishes. In 2314, we will have 14 Excelsiors.
@Leila Hann:
We probably do have the techs for a few more Oberths. Our tech income is good for a bit more room, I think. Especially since the upcoming Rennaissance-class cruisers are going to demand five enlisted but only three techs apiece. That could eat up our 'glut' of enlisted personnel rather quickly, I think, while being relatively merciful to our supply of techs.
@AlphaDelta: Oberths are also useful as fleet intelligence ships (and appear to have a marvelous gift for evading patrols and detection in enemy space). Furthermore, even with fourteen Excelsiors in 2314, bear in mind that about six of those are busy running around in the Explorer Corps, and we'll now have eight home sectors plus four border zones. Which means we STILL won't have nearly enough Excelsiors to provide flagships for all our sector garrison fleets.
We'll hit that milestone some time in the late 23-teens... Assuming we don't gain any MORE new sectors as we bring in the Indorions, the Gaeni, Caldonians, very possibly Risans, and maybe even the Seyek or Qloath or who knows who else.
@Briefvoice: Centaurs make better general-purpose garrison ships. This is not (or should not be) in dispute.
Oberths serve the following useful roles.
1) They can serve Starfleet Intelligence as SIGINT ships, which as far as we know a Centaur cannot do. We have gotten a lot of benefit out of T'Mir's activity for the past several years. Among other things, that ship gave us about a week's more advance warning in the Grey October crisis. And were it not for Gul Miran's defection going well, almost everything we now know about Cardassian military infrastructure and territory would be in some way derived from that ship's activities.
2) In a sector that already has a large, well-established garrison fleet, the Oberth is a likely candidate to respond to Defense+Science event checks, which it will then ace if science rolls are involved. This is advantageous; we could get even better results with an explorer in the same sector. But since explorers are very, very much more expensive, we can have "explorer plus science vessel plus odds and ends" in a sector garrison, whereas being able to allocate two explorers to the same sector is a LONG way in our future.
3) Oberths assigned to the Klingon and Romulan border zones significantly increase our mobile, flexible assets capable of spotting cloaked starships. Which is going to be handy if we're worried about either side using our space for flanking maneuvers in a Romulan-Klingon war. I'd feel a lot more comfortable, in the event of war, knowing that there were Excelsior flagships in those sectors, backed by an Oberth each, PLUS the fixed outpost and starbase sensors. That gives us good mobile AND fixed counter-cloak capabilities, and gives us extra redundancy and depth if bad luck strikes.
This is especially true since a random accident can put an Excelsior flagship out of action for months at a time, even if we don't actually get into a fight with ships of the warring powers. Having only one ship that can do a very important job (like spot Romulan warbirds ghosting through our space to hit a Klingon target far from the front lines of the war) is not a good place to be in. It's a single point of failure.
___________________________
EDIT:
Basically, when it comes to building ships smaller than an explorer the roles break down as follows:
Constitution-B (or when available, Renaissance):
Good generalist. High-cost in crew. Strong fleet combatant in the event of war.
Centaur-A:
Adequate generalist. Medium-cost in resources, low-cost in crew. Not very cost-effective in the event of war.
Miranda-A:
Poor generalist, low-cost. Very cost-effective in the event of war.
Constellation-A (notional):
Adequate generalist, low-cost in resources, medium-cost in crew. Mediocre in the event of war.
Oberth:
Terrible generalist, good support ship for an existing fleet, unique intel role. Low-cost except in special resources and techs.
Nobody's seriously proposing a mass rollout of Oberths. The question is whether to squeeze one or two more into the gaps in our building program that aren't occupied by cruisers or explorers.
At that point, it's basically a tradeoff between getting our Mirandas and Constellations refitted faster, versus getting one or two more Oberths and having a few ships have to wait a year or two longer for their refits.
I'd like a single Oberth to add to the SBZ and/or give to Starfleet Intelligence, depending on whether the Syds are still a pressing concern when it finishes. If it goes to Intelligence it should be assigned to monitoring the Romulan-Klingon conflict, I think.
Thinking about how to use research boosts in the future. One boost would be sufficient to complete 2330s Colony Cores a year early so that's a definite, even if we have end up having to deactivate two teams for it (either around 20pp or around 24 rp, and an extra year of output from our most valuable tech team). It doesn't matter in which of the three years we use the boost in, so we can wait until the last year to see if we can do it without deactivations, but the answer is very likely to be yes anyway. If it looks like we will be able to afford 5 boosts regularly it might make sense to do the boost early in a year where there are less than 5 other urgent targets.
For projects with uncertain completion time a single boost will often allow finishing in the earlier of the possible years even if we get unlucky, but not always, particularly for skilled teams (missed overrun from a tech finishing early can be a lot more than 5 points). There are occasionally going to be opportunities for finishing early with a boost like this year with the Vulcan Science Academy And 40 Eridani A, and we should obviously continue to take those.
I'd also still like to occasionally boost generic team 4, because Production Isolinear Computers gates all of the higher tier computing techs, including 2340s Colony Cores. A single boost would be enough to finish Primitive Isolinear a year early, but would make production isolinear take a year longer unless also boosted. A total of 4 boosts (either 1 primitive 3 production, 3 primitive 1 production or 0 primitive 4 production) would allow Production Isoliniear to finish 2 years early. A total of 6 boosts would allow finishing 3 years early, a total of 8 boosts finishing 4 years early, a total of 10 boosts finishing 5 years early, and a total of 13 boosts finishing 6 years early, so that's not possible anymore due to an insufficient number of years remaining now that we voted not to boost this year.
I'd like a single Oberth to add to the SBZ and/or give to Starfleet Intelligence, depending on whether the Syds are still a pressing concern when it finishes. If it goes to Intelligence it should be assigned to monitoring the Romulan-Klingon conflict, I think.
I think full explorers are probably a better option when it comes to manning the borderzones - even in regards to intelligence activities. Where I would like to see a few more Oberths are our "open" sectors like Ferasa and Rigel where there is a lot of space to explored which after all the initial job of the ship.
The Yrillians were beginning to fortify their borders. They didn't trust the Sydraxians enough to let their fleet-building and empire-growing go unnoticed, and with the Orion Syndicate unhappy with them the Yrillian central government was having an easier time getting the various factions to cooperate. Another strong power in the making, but one that didn't trust the Cardassians too implicitly; there was no telling if they'd favor the Sydraxians in a potential conflict. For now, of course, they'd keep letting Sydraxian raiders pass through their space to harass the Federation. Some threats were simply more important than others. Success.
Of course, if the Yrillians ever did decide to stop letting the raiders through, that would confirm the most hawkish of the Sydraxian Heirarchs' worst suspicions about Yrillian/Federation cooperation. Interesting. Possibly useful.
Finishing the latest intel brief, Lelur looked down at the pulsing, watery blue creature that slithered lazily across her desk. She held her hand over it and extended her hackles. The amorphous thing stopped in place, constricting into a tight knot and changing its color and texture to match the desk beneath itself. She smiled to herself. Tens of thousands of years ago, this species had been the bane of her own. A shape-shifting ambush predator that lured intelligent animals to be its prey. Most of her world's scientists agreed that it was to outwit these monsters that the Lecarre had evolved sentience, which made their descendents' predicament an amusing irony. Hunted to extinction in the wild. Genetically engineered into small, harmless living decorations; a mark of pride for the Lecarre, and a constant reminder of what dangers might still lurk. Even the body-modification technology that had allowed her species to rise to importance in the Cardassian sphere had been derived from the biology these once-terrifying beasts.
After sending a laconic response back to her informants, Lelur got up from her cushioned seat and surveyed the holographic map of known space with its web of locations, connections, causal relationships. She was improving things, slow but sure. When Lelur had assumed office as the seventeenth President and Protector of the Lecarre Commonwealth, she had stood upon the Open Scaffold beneath the falling snow and announced that the species would be safer under her than they had been since discovering warp travel. It was a promise she intended to keep.
"The Cardassians will be curious to know how the Sydraxians learned the truth, once it goes public," her foreign policy advisor murmured from across the table.
Lelur shook her head. "Not for many years yet. The Heirarchs know what would happen to them if they lost control while their people are in a war frenzy. The information is safe where it is. As long as the Cardassians leave well enough alone."
The man spread his hackles slightly. "I know what the field agencies have been saying," he said softly, reaching across the table to stroke the shapeshifter again, "but too much tension could compromise the alliance. When the Dawiar leave, we will need something to remind the others why they shouldn't follow."
"Of course we will. The Apiata are already helping with that, but it won't be enough. The Federation itself must remain unpalatable, even to simple minds that lack proper suspicion of its promises. The Cardassians know this as well as we. I expect we'll be hearing from them soon. The Federation's failure to retaliate against the Sydraxians is already sending a good message to the Yrillians about who can and can't protect them, but the Cardassians are about to ask us for something else."
The best kind of friendship, as everyone knew, was the kind enforced by a knife held to one another's throats. Orions and Yrillians, Yrillians and Sydraxians, Sydraxians and Cardassians, Cardassians and Lecarre. And of course, everyone must fear the Federation even more than each other. The Lecarre Commonwealth and Cardassian Union were probably the best example of a good working relationship that she could readily think of. Kaldars and Jalduns kept in check by secrets and blackmail, and the reverse. The Lecarre were too useful to not entrust with covert missions, and using them gave the Cardassians plausible deniability in the event that things went wrong. But in return, the Commonwealth had every dirty trick on record, and if it all went public the Cardassians knew that at least some of it would have to stick.
"I've learned better than to second guess these prophecies of yours, Madam President."
"Quite so."
The Cardassians thought that they could rule the galaxy through fear, but they had only adopted fear. The Lecarre had been born in it. Molded by it. They hadn't known safety until their agricultural revolution, and by then it was nothing but a false crutch. For how many decades would the Cardassian empire remain the Cardassian empire in anything more than name? It was amazing how many cracks the Kadak-Tor incident alone had exposed.
The best solution to danger was to immerse oneself in it, and the known galaxy was becoming very, very dangerous.
For keeping a berth open for the Ambassador prototype I do not think we need to do that. For one thing we have excelsior finishing each year, so we will always have a berth or two opening each year. As it is how many Renissances do you predict us being able to do if we go to the two excelsior per year? I think that make a difference on Connie B vs Oberth vs Centaur-A.
The Yrillians were beginning to fortify their borders. They didn't trust the Sydraxians enough to let their fleet-building and empire-growing go unnoticed, and with the Orion Syndicate unhappy with them the Yrillian central government was having an easier time getting the various factions to cooperate. Another strong power in the making, but one that didn't trust the Cardassians too implicitly; there was no telling if they'd favor the Sydraxians in a potential conflict. For now, of course, they'd keep letting Sydraxian raiders pass through their space to harass the Federation. Some threats were simply more important than others. Success.
Of course, if the Yrillians ever did decide to stop letting the raiders through, that would confirm the most hawkish of the Sydraxian Heirarchs' worst suspicions about Yrillian/Federation cooperation. Interesting. Possibly useful.
Finishing the latest intel brief, Lelur looked down at the pulsing, watery blue creature that slithered lazily across her desk. She held her hand over it and extended her hackles. The amorphous thing stopped in place, constricting into a tight knot and changing its color and texture to match the desk beneath itself. She smiled to herself. Tens of thousands of years ago, this species had been the bane of her own. A shape-shifting ambush predator that lured intelligent animals to be its prey. Most of her world's scientists agreed that it was to outwit these monsters that the Lecarre had evolved sentience, which made their descendents' predicament an amusing irony. Hunted to extinction in the wild. Genetically engineered into small, harmless living decorations; a mark of pride for the Lecarre, and a constant reminder of what dangers might still lurk. Even the body-modification technology that had allowed her species to rise to importance in the Cardassian sphere had been derived from the biology these once-terrifying beasts.
After sending a laconic response back to her informants, Lelur got up from her cushioned seat and surveyed the holographic map of known space with its web of locations, connections, causal relationships. She was improving things, slow but sure. When Lelur had assumed office as the seventeenth President and Protector of the Lecarre Commonwealth, she had stood upon the Open Scaffold beneath the falling snow and announced that the species would be safer under her than they had been since discovering warp travel. It was a promise she intended to keep.
"The Cardassians will be curious to know how the Sydraxians learned the truth, once it goes public," her foreign policy advisor murmured from across the table.
Lelur shook her head. "Not for many years yet. The Heirarchs know what would happen to them if they lost control while their people are in a war frenzy. The information is safe where it is. As long as the Cardassians leave well enough alone."
The man spread his hackles slightly. "I know what the field agencies have been saying," he said softly, reaching across the table to stroke the shapeshifter again, "but too much tension could compromise the alliance. When the Dawiar leave, we will need something to remind the others why they shouldn't follow."
"Of course we will. The Apiata are already helping with that, but it won't be enough. The Federation itself must remain unpalatable, even to simple minds that lack proper suspicion of its promises. The Cardassians know this as well as we. I expect we'll be hearing from them soon. The Federation's failure to retaliate against the Sydraxians is already sending a good message to the Yrillians about who can and can't protect them, but the Cardassians are about to ask us for something else."
The best kind of friendship, as everyone knew, was the kind enforced by a knife held to one another's throats. Orions and Yrillians, Yrillians and Sydraxians, Sydraxians and Cardassians, Cardassians and Lecarre. And of course, everyone must fear the Federation even more than each other. The Lecarre Commonwealth and Cardassian Union were probably the best example of a good working relationship that she could readily think of. Kaldars and Jalduns kept in check by secrets and blackmail, and the reverse. The Lecarre were too useful to not entrust with covert missions, and using them gave the Cardassians plausible deniability in the event that things went wrong. But in return, the Commonwealth had every dirty trick on record, and if it all went public the Cardassians knew that at least some of it would have to stick.
"I've learned better than to second guess these prophecies of yours, Madam President."
"Quite so."
The Cardassians thought that they could rule the galaxy through fear, but the Cardassian Union had only adopted fear. The Lecarre had been born in it. Molded by it. They hadn't known safety until their agricultural revolution, and by then it was nothing but a false crutch. For how many decades would the Cardassian empire remain the Cardassian empire in anything more than name? It was amazing how many cracks the Kadak-Tor incident alone had exposed.
The best solution to danger was to immerse oneself in it. And how very, very dangerous the known galaxy was becoming.
I really love this series and the insights into the Lecarre, though seeing this makes me appreciate Linderly's counter intel bonuses more as if we thought the cardassians were bad... I do hope you do another one once 2312 ends so that we can see their reaction to 5 Connie B's and 2 Exelcsiors finishing (yes one is for UE and one is Explorer corp but I doubt they see it that way other than explorer corp being an elite unit). Plus if we can keep Yrillian and Dawiar neutral at worst then any showdown is not going to be fun for them. We can leave small garrisons facing the Klingons and Romulans and rely on the member fleets of Tellar, UE, Vulcan, Andor, Rigel and Betazoid to guard the rear. Caitian can move to neutralize Lecarre with some Fed backup, Amarkia and some feds neutralize Sydraxian while the rest of our fleet works with the Apiata to counter the Cardassian fleet. More so once we concentrate the Explorer Corp and use them as a striking force.
I think that is one of the scary things about the Federation to outsiders. Starfleet is about the same size or bigger than the fleets of the other three great powers and then we have all those member fleets to draw on, and even if they stay and safeguard their sectors that frees Starfleet up to carry out operations while the other great powers need to task ships to guard key locations and protect convoys. And with all the growth we have down we can likely draw on some of the member fleets (say half of the Amarkia and Caitans) to reinforce Starfleet while the rest protect the Federation. Of course it is a very good thing we are not war mongering as we will not be starting wars. I think that in part keeps the Klingons and Romulans somewhat calm, they know the Feds don't start wars.
I really love this series and the insights into the Lecarre, though seeing this makes me appreciate Linderly's counter intel bonuses more as if we thought the cardassians were bad... I do hope you do another one once 2312 ends so that we can see their reaction to 5 Connie B's and 2 Exelcsiors finishing (yes one is for UE and one is Explorer corp but I doubt they see it that way other than explorer corp being an elite unit). Plus if we can keep Yrillian and Dawiar neutral at worst then any showdown is not going to be fun for them. We can leave small garrisons facing the Klingons and Romulans and rely on the member fleets of Tellar, UE, Vulcan, Andor, Rigel and Betazoid to guard the rear. Caitian can move to neutralize Lecarre with some Fed backup, Amarkia and some feds neutralize Sydraxian while the rest of our fleet works with the Apiata to counter the Cardassian fleet. More so once we concentrate the Explorer Corp and use them as a striking force.
I think that is one of the scary things about the Federation to outsiders. Starfleet is about the same size or bigger than the fleets of the other three great powers and then we have all those member fleets to draw on, and even if they stay and safeguard their sectors that frees Starfleet up to carry out operations while the other great powers need to task ships to guard key locations and protect convoys. And with all the growth we have down we can likely draw on some of the member fleets (say half of the Amarkia and Caitans) to reinforce Starfleet while the rest protect the Federation. Of course it is a very good thing we are not war mongering as we will not be starting wars. I think that in part keeps the Klingons and Romulans somewhat calm, they know the Feds don't start wars.
I'd be surprised if they didn't already know about the Conniebee program. We're devoting significant shipyard space to them, and Starfleet shipyards tend to not be in top secret locations. They're probably just glad those aren't more Excelsiors.
Lecarre definitely don't want a showdown with the Federation, or anyone else for that matter. They want everyone to be too paranoid about provoking each other for war to happen.
I'd be surprised if they didn't already know about the Conniebee program. We're devoted significant shipyard space to them, and Starfleet shipyards tend to not be in top secret locations. They're probably just glad those aren't more Excelsiors.
I have not the slightest doubt that whatever the old internet evolved into on earth is still running and there is still a forum where Connie enthusiasts have a 43,000 page thread dedicated to the Connie-B project.
I have not the slightest doubt that whatever the old internet evolved into on earth is still running and there is still a forum where Connie enthusiasts have a 43,000 page thread dedicated to the Connie-B project.
Pre-Launch
Cardassian: This is an obvious attempt at propaganda, no way could they recycle a design nor have the resources to build so many ships at once.
Post-Launch
Cardassian:Obviously fake ships with eggshell hulls, they will die in droves, that or they must have been saving for a long time to amass the resources for this, or seize their member and affiliate resources.
Then they see our construction and member construction continues.....
I think full explorers are probably a better option when it comes to manning the borderzones - even in regards to intelligence activities. Where I would like to see a few more Oberths are our "open" sectors like Ferasa and Rigel where there is a lot of space to explored which after all the initial job of the ship.
Oberths are more acceptable to the Council, being small and not offensively useful, and easier to hide, being small with small crew requirements relatively, and if we gave an Explorer to Starfleet Intelligence people would be tempted to do Direct Action things with it only an Explorer could do that we really should probably avoid.
Oberths are more acceptable to the Council, being small and not offensively useful, and easier to hide, being small with small crew requirements relatively, and if we gave an Explorer to Starfleet Intelligence people would be tempted to do Direct Action things with it only an Explorer could do that we really should probably avoid.
We really should be building the next generation of Oberth style ship sooner rather than later.
Even something that's just 2's across the board and science 7 or 8 would be a huge boost as we could use them for intelligence service activities and science gathering in the sector fleets.
So just to get the ball rolling on another big decision....
In 2312 we're going to have a lot of berths open up. You all should start thinking about what ships we will build in those berths. See image below from my spreadsheet:
Since no one is seriously suggesting replacing any Excelsior builds, the decision boils down to a combination of:
1) how many more Connie-Bs do we want?
2) how soon to get the Constellation-A refit?
3) whether to get a Centaur-A or an Oberth?
Since your spreadsheet is pretty conservative when it comes to income (which generally is a good thing), if we increase crew income estimates a bit (yet still remain conservative overall), we can fit up to two more Connie-Bs. However, that would force a delay of the Constellation-A refit. I posted a plan with the upper limit of two Connie-Bs last week:
Here's what I came up with for fitting in another 2 Connie-Bs that delays the Constellation-A refits until a year after those first Renaissance builds start (with some changes to income):
That delayed Renaissance may not need to be delayed as the income is still pretty conservative, and selling a Constellation remains an option.
The lack of further refitability of the Connie-B is far outweighed by the benefits of quicker defense increases in this period where we're scrambling for every ship to keep abreast of new garrisoning requirements and supporting the anti-Syndicate campaign (and whatever next long-term PITA we'll have after that). edit: Furthermore, assuming a max of +1 per stat on refits, a Centaur-B will never be as good at combat, survivability (likely), or defense/response as a Connie-B - it can only be better in science or presence.
I am also in favor of delaying the Constellation-A refit until the revamped ship design spreadsheet is ready, so that we can design a better refit. Even if a "+1 across all stats" refit ends up costing nearly the same as a new Constellation (which is 70br, 40sr), that would still be worth it over a new Centaur-A because of the crew savings. It would also substantially improve much of our member world fleets, since not only do they have a decent amount of Constellations, they are also heavily constrained by crew income.
As for Centaur-A vs Oberth, I wouldn't mind getting another Oberth earlier if it's assigned to Starfleet Intelligence. That's more appealing to me than another Centaur-A.
With that said, if not for the mass Miranda-A refits, it looks like we're "slacking" off on escort production in general, and that will only be amplified once we start getting into full Renaissance production and Constellation-A refits. Lone Ranger doctrine actually supports having more cruisers than escorts, but it still leaves me uncomfortable to eventually get to a situation with less escorts than cruisers by the end of the 2310s. I suppose that around 2317, when we start doing Excelsior-A refits and thus save some crew that way, along with further crew income increases, we can have another berth or two building Centaur-As and the occasional Oberth. We only need half the amount of explorer berths for escort berths (that aren't building Renaissances) to reach the same number of escort vs explorer ships produced over time.
We probably do have the techs for a few more Oberths. Our tech income is good for a bit more room, I think. Especially since the upcoming Rennaissance-class cruisers are going to demand five enlisted but only three techs apiece. That could eat up our 'glut' of enlisted personnel rather quickly, I think, while being relatively merciful to our supply of techs.
We're going to get into a status quo by the latter half of this decade where if we DON'T start building ships that require more tech than officers and enlisted, AND we continue to have higher tech crew income than even enlisted crew income, we're going to have a comparative surplus of tech crew versus both officer and enlisted crew.
Lecarre definitely don't want a showdown with the Federation, or anyone else for that matter. They want everyone to be too paranoid about provoking each other for war to happen.
I actually hadn't noticed the parallels, but you're right. A more prosperous, cosmopolitan lecarre civilization would probably look a lot like the salarians.
[X] Plan Continuity
-[X] Amash Hagan Research Office: 2320s Research Centers
-[X] Yoyodyne: 2320s EPS Safety
-[X] Andorian Academy: Shield Regeneration Project
-[X] Cdr Kuznetsova's Tiger Team: The Mission Unending
-[X] Generic Team 5: Klingon Research
[X] [PERSONAL] Caitian Frontier Police R&D: 2310s Equipment
[x] [DOCTRINE] Admiral Lathriss: Forward Defence
[X][BOOST] Vulcan Science Academy
On the CAS Odala, the closely knit bridge is bathed in a pale red, casting weird shadows on the blues of the Amarkian officers. The combat alert sirens have been muted, but they still play in the mind of every crew member.
A woman stands at the back, tugging down on her navy blue uniform hem. "Squire! Open a channel to the crew."
A young man at a console to her left, within arm's reach, turns back towards her and salutes. "Channel open, Captain!"
The captain flicks her hair back and lifts her chin, drawing her inner strength and projecting it through her voice. "Crew of the Odala! This is your captain. We fly into battle as a family united. With Orion slavers before us and innocents behind us, we shall be ceaseless, we shall be perfect. Fight like hellions, my darlings!" She made a quick hand gesture to cut the channel and got a quick affirmative gesture. "Shields up, full power to phasers. Let's show this scum what happens when you mess with the Amarki!"
-
Union Interstellar Press Agency
An Orion-flagged ship named the SS Whisper has been destroyed by the Confederacy of Amarkia Fleet. The CAS Odala intercepted and destroyed the ship as it approached the Tyrhus colony world, tailward of Tales Har. The owning corporation has protested strenuously that the ship was a humble cargo vessel with armaments only for self-defence in dangerous space. They have lodged a demand for compensation, declaring the provided proof presented by the Amarkians to be unsatisfactory. The Orion Union government has likewise protested, though political observers are suggesting that they believe it was a Syndicate vessel as well, but are constrained by domestic pressures and the inability of the Amarkians to provide definitive evidence. Unfortunately, as all hands went up in the destruction of the Whisper, no testimony could be gained, and most of the proof was lost as well.
[+2 Impact, +1 Cost, Slave Taking Team eliminated]
-
Anti-Slavery Task Force Progress Report
Rear Admiral Nyota Uhura is shifting her operations, leaving behind a skeleton staff of reserve Starfleet Security personnel to hold down the base. A convoy consisting of the four Starfleet vessels of the task force, reinforced by USS Grace from Starfleet Medical Command; USS Atlas from Starfleet Engineering; and freighters USS Shri sh'Kannath, and USS Sidok from Starfleet Logistics, has left Bradia en route to New Rigel. There they will attempt to take out a major Syndicate hotspot. As a result of this move, there are few of our own operations to report on. [1 Impact from aggressive action]
The CAS Odala of the Amarkian member world fleet successfully intercepted and destroyed a slave-raiding expedition, though the Syndicate's sympathetic journalists have done a considerable job of muddying the waters further. It was suggested that some of the listening post intercepts that helped direct the Odala could be released, but Rear Admiral Linderley pointed out the problems of explaining how we got those intercepts. [Nil Impact]
Violence on Duaba and Alukk has been surprisingly restrained given the recent bombings and attempted bombings. Our liaisons tell us that there are UCSS Investigations currently going full-bore to trace those responsible for the various crimes. Despite this, a number of ISSU officers have fallen in the line of duty on both worlds, taking on frontline operations. In the Duaba case, a number of traitorous PPU officers resulted in two dozen ISSU officers disappearing, presumably into Syndicate capture. However, on brighter news, one of the lieutenants of the Syndicate operation on Duaba was arrested. [+3 Impact, +3 Cost]
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1hp of ISSU lost on Duaba
2hp of PPU lost on Duaba
1 Alasho captured on Duaba
Syndicate Slave Taking Team destroyed in Amarkian Sector
