Okay......

Here's the idea: I'm looking for ideas and long-range thinking from the point of view of the "Bad Guys".

Its the Abrams-universe version of STAR TREK.

The Klingons have lost or had destroyed at least 47 ships because of a Romulan ship from the future.

The Federation has lost the homeworld of one of their founding major races and they've lost at least 7 combat-capable ships.

1) You are the Romulan High command - what are your long-term and short-term military strategic and tactical plans in light of the above facts?


2) You are the Klingon High Council or Klingon mIlitary Command - What are your long-term and short-term military strategic and tactical plans with the above facts in mind?


- Ed C.

Quote from: Koltar;363450Okay......

Okay.

I'm going to take this one at face value.  No ranting about the movie itself.  Or the crappy portrayal of Kirk.

Okay, so just that one dig.

Quote1) You are the Romulan High command - what are your long-term and short-term military strategic and tactical plans in light of the above facts?

Assuming that the Romulans in this timeline are as expansionistic as they were portrayed in the original series, the moment is clearly ripe to expand the Empire's borders.  The Klingons are the first, most obvious target, being the most significantly weakened.  Provided the Romulans don't have a docket of pre-existing targets that are more tempting and/or more profitable, expanding a buffer zone well into Klingon territory would seem prudent.  Meanwhile, a series of minor border stand-offs with the slightly weakened UFP would be prudent to keep them from intervening, maybe broadening the Neutral Zone to include a couple more planets for good measure.  Basically, expand, secure, and enjoy being the biggest dog on the block.

Quote2) You are the Klingon High Council or Klingon mIlitary Command - What are your long-term and short-term military strategic and tactical plans with the above facts in mind?

It's time to hunker down, because Abrams & Co. have sold you short shrift.  In the broader sense, make nicey-nice with the UFP, because the Klingon Empire is almost surely going to have to divert every resource to the Romulan border for years to come.  The UFP is definitely expansionistic, but not aggressively or militarily so, so it may be high time to give the more diplomatic and legalistic families of the Empire take a greater role in tying the hands of the UFP with formal protests and injunctions.  It ain't a proud warrior's way of doing things, but it's  almost a given that recent events are going to alter the character of the Empire for a long time to come.  The possibility of entering a mutually protective treaty with the UFP seems premature, and far too uncharacteristic of the Klingon way.  Rather, I see them trying to manipulate the UFP into direct conflict with the Romulans in order to draw fire from the Klingon-Romulan border.  Maybe this is the nobler route that the diplomatic families can take to preserve their honor.

How does that float your boat?

!i!

However, in the original series, the Romulans had not been seen for some time before the first encounter with the Enterprise. For all intents and purposes, they remained in their own space, away from the Federation. Given how they were portrayed as being unfamiliar with the Federation's capabilities, it is possible that they don't even know about this situation. We don't know what their intelligence is like, so it may be some time before they learn about it. By that time, Star Fleet could have made a mad-dash to build new ships. There's also a faint chance that the Enterprise was able to scan the Romulan ship and unlock the secrets to its technology.

True, in the original series, the Romulans were more xenophobic than anything, and rigid about protecting their borders.  I think it wasn't so much until the Next Generation era that they were portrayed as increasingly expansionist.  Maybe this event from the most recent movie moves that timetable forward by simply virtue of opportunity?

It's always constraining to invoke analogy, but Roddenberry cast the Klingons as stand-ins for the Soviet Union, and the Romulans for Communist China.  By analogy, the Klingons/Soviets were aggressively expansionist in order to create a wide swath of buffer states, while the Romulans/Chinese were reclusive, xenophobic, and bellicose about their fixed borders.  Given the sudden shift in fortunes that Ed is citing, perhaps those two analogies can be turned on their heads, or at least switched about.  Seeing how neither party has been portrayed in the new scenario yet, they're essentially a blank slate as they stand.

Quote from: brettmb;363630There's also a faint chance that the Enterprise was able to scan the Romulan ship and unlock the secrets to its technology.

I like this a lot.  But only hints and promises -- no give-aways.  Stuff that'll keep the UFP R&D departments up nights for years to come.  And, of course, there's the possibility that the Klingons may have similarly secured significant scans, too.  I see the opportunity for some real cloak & dagger stuff between the two.

!i!

Quote from: Ian Absentia;363626Okay.



How does that float your boat?

!i!

That floats it pretty well actually.
 
Yours was a very good estimate and analysis of things. As far as Role-play gaming in general goes - I'm from more of a roleplaying & 'plot' background. Plus, I like hamming it up as NPCs.

 The big picture of military strategy and the more 'wargaming' side of things I always have a little trouble with.

My mini-campaign will be coming to its planned pause-point soon and I was thinking of leaving it on a pseudo-cliffhanger involving one of the major Interstellar powers.

You gave me some good ideas there, Ian A.

- Ed C.

I'm glad you liked them.  You can perhaps tell that I have a preference for the greaseball, devious, Soviet-styled Klingon plotters of the original series, as opposed to the viking-styled warrior poets -- no disrespect intended.  I think a scenario where the Klingon Empire has been significantly weakened militarily, but is still not amenable to UFP overtures of peace and harmony, gives the sleazeballs a real opportunity to shine.

The idea that the UFP could be tempted into some serious skullduggery to retrieve intercepted future-tech from the Klingons really turns my crank. (À la Balance of Terror, only with different players).

!i!

You have to decide what Nero and his Romulan ship was doing for 25 years.  If they were indeed captured by the Klingons, then what were the Klingons doing with the ship during that time?

Maybe the Klingons are about to unleash 25 years worth of reverse engineering upon both their neighbors.

Quote from: Spinachcat;364972You have to decide what Nero and his Romulan ship was doing for 25 years.  If they were indeed captured by the Klingons, then what were the Klingons doing with the ship during that time?

Maybe the Klingons are about to unleash 25 years worth of reverse engineering upon both their neighbors.

I don't have to decide - thats mostly covered in the 2nd disc of the the Two DVD packaging version of the movie.
 Its part of the deleted scenes section.


- Ed C.

Quote from: Koltar;364988I don't have to decide - thats mostly covered in the 2nd disc of the the Two DVD packaging version of the movie.

I realise that I may regret this, but just what did happen during those 25 years?  Somehow that whole business slipped past me when I watched the movie.

!i!

Quote from: Ian Absentia;365085I realise that I may regret this, but just what did happen during those 25 years?  Somehow that whole business slipped past me when I watched the movie.

!i!

For awhile, Nero was on the Klingon prison planet Rura Penthe.

In the deleted scenes, the character actor Victor Garber plays an interrogator or Klingon prison commandant who figures out that Nero is from the future.
At one point, Nero murders several Klingon guards and then he and his fellow Ronulans escape back to his ship, the Narada.

One of the comics from IDW covers some of the same turf and used the cut scenes as a reference point.


- Ed c.

Oh, well, then the Klingons have all manner of technology to reverse-engineer...and for the UFP to steal.  Heck, even the Romulans are going to want to steal it.

!i!

(P.S. Hey, look!  Mark Lenard on Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.)

(P.P.S. I found a video online of the deleted prison scene with Nero.  I really liked the Klingon greatcoats and helmets -- very pre-WWII Soviet.  And the helmets seemed to suggest a very minimal forehead crest, as in Star Trek: the Motion Picture.  I definitely like that.)