I for one all that much delighted in the scene. I found that the absence of pointless battle and the strong measure of dialog felt like an awesome takeoff from the standard scenes we are given. Nice and enjoyed.
One thing especially about this episode REALLY bugs me... How exactly are they getting the data to make these simulations everyone is relying on anything even remotely rsembling accurate? I mean, how much do they not know about things that might affect the timeline once they make their change.
the first option of erasing the iconians completely.. How can they even simulate that as No-one seems to have acurtate records of the entire Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies in order to show as specific a catastrophic result as the one Nog talks about. A simulation can only take into account information known to the simulations creators...
if the Federation, Klingons and Romulans know that much, then WHY are we bothering with exploration in season 11? To do these simulatiosn with any hope of them prividing any useful data means we already KNOW what is out there.
Probably over a year ago, actually. From what I understand, it is far cheaper to get voice actors to go over all the lines at once rather than bring them in every few months to give a few lines.
Consider Broken Circle had Seven giving us one little line, and the last we see her is sometime in the Delta arc I think. They didn't bring her back for one line, so I would lean on her having said that line back when she did the other stuff for Delta.
She could have just sent them the recorded line for a small fee. Happens all the time.
****
As to the writing, better than many Trek episodes, books, etc that is (or is not) canon, across all the series Also worse than many.
Years ago a fellow employee at a bookstore, asked me why I thought H.P. Lovecraft was such a great writer. I told her I don't, but his ideas are great and the collective works of all the mythos made me think he was.
Star Trek works like that. We swim in Star Trek TRIBBLE, but live in a ocean of beauty.
Regarding the capabilities of the holodeck...
The timeline simulation was not created by the holodeck, the timeline monitoring tech of the Krenim did that.
They just took advantage of the holodeck as a visual interface, the krenim computer feeding sim data, getting feedback from the holodeck interactions of our character to finetune the information and adjusting the simulation simultaneously.
The spherebuilders were not erased from the timeline, they fled into that subspace realm when the Borg attacked them, ending up trapped.
In that state they became immune to any changes in the timeline in our reality existing outside of it.
That part actually works really well.
The timeline changes back in Enterprise did not destroy or erase them either, just having them retreat into their realm again.
The only part I missed was when they got trapped there.
I can only assume that they retroactively converted the Delphic Expanse back in time to be ready by the time history had caught up with them becoming trapped in the first place, meaning now.
But the Delphic Expanse plan and the Time War... excuse me, the Temporal Cold War. was thwarted, so they probably will have to come up with a new plan.
it all works surprisingly well.
Of course the problem is that there are infinite alternate realities. At best, you might scan a few hundred or thousand for "universes where that asteroid didn't impact" but the problem is always going to be whether your matches up with most of those once you remove the asteroid. In a lot of ways, the Krenim approach probably poses less risk of paradoxes but greater risk of unintended outcomes.
You know what would have been interesting? If we just went back and warned ourselves 30 years ago. Much is made of how the Iconians are stagnant and we're advancing faster. We could warn Chancellor Martok and Admiral Ross after Nemesis and 30 years would give us a significant edge, allow Cryptic to retune the game's lore, and not mess with canon at all. And, naturally, our first move is going to be something like consulting with Donatra. Donatra, Ross, and Martok all seem likely to ally (which is why we'd pick 30 years ago for in-universe reasons).
You could maintain that Romulus is destroyed directly by the Heralds in the revised timeline so our best efforts fail there but succeed in producing an allied response as a joint KFG-Rom-Fed fleet emerges from The Vault, 30 years in the making, with Martok leading it into battle.
That would have been fun.
You could even have Martok die (again) in the final confrontation but J'mpok, moved by Martok and now respecting him, takes up the chancellorship. We could have ended up back where we are but with a different trajectory by averting the wars. Of course, the old missions would still be there but I can either see text changes easing most of it or no changes at all since the new timeline would start at level 60.
One thing especially about this episode REALLY bugs me... How exactly are they getting the data to make these simulations everyone is relying on anything even remotely rsembling accurate? I mean, how much do they not know about things that might affect the timeline once they make their change.
the first option of erasing the iconians completely.. How can they even simulate that as No-one seems to have acurtate records of the entire Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies in order to show as specific a catastrophic result as the one Nog talks about. A simulation can only take into account information known to the simulations creators...
if the Federation, Klingons and Romulans know that much, then WHY are we bothering with exploration in season 11? To do these simulatiosn with any hope of them prividing any useful data means we already KNOW what is out there.
They are presumably viewing alternate timelines where similar things happened and then planting us into a simulation of a slice of that alternate timeline. So they "view timeline 32578 where that meteor never struck" and hone in on a ship's bridge. They take the data from that scan and create a holoprogram. Maybe they view 50 or 100 alternate timelines where the meteor never struck and create a composite simulation, weighted for the probability of outcomes from the observation. Of course, the problem is that you'll never get a truly representative sample of infinite possibilities.
Think the movie "Wargames", then think that all the TRIBBLE we think about future tech, then add the fact we don't know TRIBBLE. Basically they can do it because they have all these great computers we've seen throughout the series. Then with a simulation like this, why not use that times version of a super-computer, link them, not need to "request time" to use them, and run....
How can a holo deck do this? Because a Holo deck is run by what ever computing power can be thrown at it in the desperation of this war..
Anyone made a post about the fact that Starfleet atleast should know that Clauda looks like the Spherebuilders at the missions start already, or am i the first?
The Sphere builders only showed themselves to like what? 20 humans in the WHOLE of Enterprise? And that was what? over 100 years ago?
That's not exactly something that would be on anyone's minds.
I would disagree. Given what they tried to do, it's easy to imagine they would be in the Federation and SF Academy's history class's.
The episode wasn't as badly' written as those preceeding it. It was okay for STO, albeit very constructed. For isntance, the whole Krenim weapon thing lasted three episodes to justify the name dropping and lockbox ship - that's something I am used to already. But the whole "holodeck simulations" to determine the effects make no sense - those simulations do not offer anything the computer couldn't have showed us by itself. They claim someone has to "interact" with the simulation, but all we do is talk to the characters - we don't do anything that would require us to run a holodeck simulation at all. At least this is lampshaded by the episode itself as the holodeck simulations
turn out to be completelyuseless
.
I see however a lot of wasted potential for detail work.
Most Star Trek fans love details - why not use the AGT uniforms for the simulated alternate timeline Starfleet personnel? Speaking of uniforms, why do NPCs always wear the 'Excursion' Starfleet unifrom regardless of where they are? Isn't it supposed to be a ground uniform? Why is the timeline rectified by removing the transwarp gate? The gate would have been constructed after the Borg get there (it cannot go there by itself, can it?). Why do the Borg keep the Romulan computers in their original configuration more than 20 years after the assimilation? And the Krenim being confronted with the removal of his wife caused by the incursion, probably to illustrate how big of a mistake it was, delivered the most indifferent (non) emotional reaction I have seen.
All in all the episode was okay in principle but the execution was lacking.
^ Memory Alpha.org is not canon. It's a open wiki with arbitrary rules. Only what can be cited from an episode is. ^
"No. Men do not roar. Women roar. Then they hurl heavy objects... and claw at you." -Worf, son of Mogh
"A filthy, mangy beast, but in its bony breast beat the heart of a warrior" - "faithful" (...) "but ever-ready to follow the call of the wild." - Martok, about a Targ
"That pig smelled horrid. A sweet-sour, extremely pungent odor. I showered and showered, and it took me a week to get rid of it!" - Robert Justman, appreciating Emmy-Lou
I've got yet another problem I've been thinking about.
Why the hell is Nog in charge of a galactic weapon of mass destruction? NOG?
Why not... oh I don't know... US?
I guess Cryptic don't want us taking control of a lotto ship.. though you'd think that'd just advertise it more.
Don't even get me started on them going YOLO and using the weapon 10 seconds after getting the scenario data. You know what the irony of it is? The scenario wasn't wrong, it flat out stated that Romulan colony worlds were being assimilated and the Star Navy was losing ground.
When you account for the inherent variance of a simulation created by a calculation, it pretty much predicted what would happen.
So I can only guess that the writer intended for everyone involved to be a collosal idiot.
This doesn't even prove the weapon unviable at all no matter what Kagran says (then again we know he's an idiot) it only proves that you shouldn't let morons be in charge of it.
Anyone made a post about the fact that Starfleet atleast should know that Clauda looks like the Spherebuilders at the missions start already, or am i the first?
The Sphere builders only showed themselves to like what? 20 humans in the WHOLE of Enterprise? And that was what? over 100 years ago?
That's not exactly something that would be on anyone's minds.
It would certainly be on Section 31's mind.
And Franklin Drake is RIGHT THERE. So yes, this is another fail.
Anyone made a post about the fact that Starfleet atleast should know that Clauda looks like the Spherebuilders at the missions start already, or am i the first?
The Sphere builders only showed themselves to like what? 20 humans in the WHOLE of Enterprise? And that was what? over 100 years ago?
That's not exactly something that would be on anyone's minds.
Yeah, many races look similar to other races. A few blurry photos might make people wonder, but that's it.
It would certainly be on Section 31's mind.
And Franklin Drake is RIGHT THERE. So yes, this is another fail.
No it wouldn't.
Section 31 would know that
A. The Sphere Builders dont show themselves for another hundred years or so
B. They got defeated over a hundred years ago
It wouldn't be on their minds at all...... where the hell are you getting these sort of absurdist assumptions from?
Yes because Section 31 are not crazy prepared, super paranoid and constantly looking for threats like it was their job or anything.
They won't show themselves for another hundred years? Yeah, and the Enterprise-D is still in service under Admiral Riker, right?
I've got yet another problem I've been thinking about.
Why the hell is Nog in charge of a galactic weapon of mass destruction? NOG?
Nog is a highly respected and competent Starfleet officer and an expert engineer, which the player may or may not be. And the player is about 18 months out of Starfleet Academy, admiral or not.
I also think Cryptic got feedback about taking over temp ships (which people found idsorienting) and wanted the player to experience a pivotal moment of the game's history in their own ship.
I've got yet another problem I've been thinking about.
Why the hell is Nog in charge of a galactic weapon of mass destruction? NOG?
Nog is a highly respected and competent Starfleet officer and an expert engineer, which the player may or may not be. And the player is about 18 months out of Starfleet Academy, admiral or not.
I also think Cryptic got feedback about taking over temp ships (which people found idsorienting) and wanted the player to experience a pivotal moment of the game's history in their own ship.
A highly respected Starfleet officer who still gets things done by waving his daddy's Nagus staff around.
You can take a Ferengi out of Ferenginar but you can't take Ferenginar out of a Ferengi..
Regardless of Nog's informed abilities (yeah I never bought his ridiculous DS9 "arc" for a second), we the player characters have far more experience in handling alien yech and commandeering vessels.
And if not us, then why not the Krenim themselves? Are we really, REALLY trusting them with the building of the ship, the maintenance of the weapon and the calculations to use it but not trusting them to command it? Even though it's a Krenim navy ship? What?
Oh and Cryptic listening to feedback? When does that happen?
I've got yet another problem I've been thinking about.
Why the hell is Nog in charge of a galactic weapon of mass destruction? NOG?
Nog is a highly respected and competent Starfleet officer and an expert engineer, which the player may or may not be. And the player is about 18 months out of Starfleet Academy, admiral or not.
I also think Cryptic got feedback about taking over temp ships (which people found idsorienting) and wanted the player to experience a pivotal moment of the game's history in their own ship.
A highly respected Starfleet officer who still gets things done by waving his daddy's Nagus staff around.
You can take a Ferengi out of Ferenginar but you can't take Ferenginar out of a Ferengi..
I believe even the Sisko once waved that staff around to get something done...
Regardless of Nog's informed abilities (yeah I never bought his ridiculous DS9 "arc" for a second)
You mean you didn't believe what was shown on the screen? Well, that kinda makes sense, since it's all just a TV show. Still, for the purpose of the game it's real enough.
, we the player characters have far more experience in handling alien tech and commandeering vessels.
Certain of that? Have you read Nog's file and what he did in the last decades?
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
Anyone made a post about the fact that Starfleet atleast should know that Clauda looks like the Spherebuilders at the missions start already, or am i the first?
The Sphere builders only showed themselves to like what? 20 humans in the WHOLE of Enterprise? And that was what? over 100 years ago?
That's not exactly something that would be on anyone's minds.
I would disagree. Given what they tried to do, it's easy to imagine they would be in the Federation and SF Academy's history class's.
Well...unless it got classified at the highest levels, in which case Section 31 and DTI might be the only people really aware of it.
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-) Proudly F2P.Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
Anyone made a post about the fact that Starfleet atleast should know that Clauda looks like the Spherebuilders at the missions start already, or am i the first?
The Sphere builders only showed themselves to like what? 20 humans in the WHOLE of Enterprise? And that was what? over 100 years ago?
That's not exactly something that would be on anyone's minds.
I would disagree. Given what they tried to do, it's easy to imagine they would be in the Federation and SF Academy's history class's.
Well...unless it got classified at the highest levels, in which case Section 31 and DTI might be the only people really aware of it.
Regardless of whether it was classified or not - I am not sure if there are any recordings of the species. Just going by a description would be a little thin.
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
There would have been one occasion to record the species: the Sphere Builder test subject found by Archer, who subsequently degenerated after being brought into our reality. Given the destructive decision to classify the Borg at levels too high to allow Starfleet to do serious advance planning for that threat, sadly it would be in character for them.
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-) Proudly F2P.Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
I've got yet another problem I've been thinking about.
Why the hell is Nog in charge of a galactic weapon of mass destruction? NOG?
Nog is a highly respected and competent Starfleet officer and an expert engineer, which the player may or may not be. And the player is about 18 months out of Starfleet Academy, admiral or not.
I also think Cryptic got feedback about taking over temp ships (which people found idsorienting) and wanted the player to experience a pivotal moment of the game's history in their own ship.
A highly respected Starfleet officer who still gets things done by waving his daddy's Nagus staff around.
You can take a Ferengi out of Ferenginar but you can't take Ferenginar out of a Ferengi..
I believe even the Sisko once waved that staff around to get something done...
I don't recall, but if he did then that was stupid too.
Regardless of Nog's informed abilities (yeah I never bought his ridiculous DS9 "arc" for a second)
You mean you didn't believe what was shown on the screen? Well, that kinda makes sense, since it's all just a TV show. Still, for the purpose of the game it's real enough.
We don't see it. Nog is a typical Ferengi goblin until around the time the writers suddenly decided to make Rom a savant after previously establishing him as a moron.
Then auddenly he decides to go off to Starfleet Academy and returns a model officer mary sue character that'd make Wesley blush.
There was no development there, which is why I hate the character.
, we the player characters have far more experience in handling alien tech and commandeering vessels.
Certain of that? Have you read Nog's file and what he did in the last decades?
None of what he is claimed to have done grants him the right to command a galactic weapon of mass destruction.
Sure, what we've done doesn't give us the right either, but at least we're the protagonist, and this is another example of guest characters hogging the central spotlight and role of most responsibility when previously characters like Tuvok and Harry would defer to us while giving advice. It's irritating. Especially when Nog is clearly out of his depth and basically pulled a Kagran this episode.
To be honest I thought that after the Romulan simulation, Adrianna would hijack the ship and use it to restore Romulus with us fixing the resulting mess. Would've been predictable and cliche, sure, but far better than Nog declaring YOLO and us following along with his ridiculous impatience like idiots.
Anyone made a post about the fact that Starfleet atleast should know that Clauda looks like the Spherebuilders at the missions start already, or am i the first?
The Sphere builders only showed themselves to like what? 20 humans in the WHOLE of Enterprise? And that was what? over 100 years ago?
That's not exactly something that would be on anyone's minds.
I would disagree. Given what they tried to do, it's easy to imagine they would be in the Federation and SF Academy's history class's.
Well...unless it got classified at the highest levels, in which case Section 31 and DTI might be the only people really aware of it.
Given the Xindi ambassador openly blabs about what the Sphere Builders did, I don't think it's that top secret.
I must be in the minority here but my impression was the the episode had the same ending as Endgame, namely that none of the events happened. That would avoid the issue of the Borg losing the transwarp network (again). Drake would of course be prime suspect for any sabotage* and there are no prizes for guessing which NPC is going to do a face heel turn.
Any mention of increased Borg activity I would ascribe to them having time travel technology already and the same being related to one of Q's comments: "Don't provoke the Borg". Somewhere out there the Queen has felt a tingle down her proverbial spine and really doesn't like it when people futz around in her light cone.
There would have been one occasion to record the species: the Sphere Builder test subject found by Archer, who subsequently degenerated after being brought into our reality. Given the destructive decision to classify the Borg at levels too high to allow Starfleet to do serious advance planning for that threat, sadly it would be in character for them.
I tend to side with the idea that almost all of Archer's career and most of Kirk's is classified. I imagine Project Genesis is about like our Star Wars program in the U.S. To this day, what we had is uncertain. Kirk frequently engaged in espionage. And I doubt they have a picture of Archer torturing a Suliban on his personnel profile.
I actually think this is WHY they planed Drake and Crey in the mission (and for that matter why it's them instead of the Klingon or Romulan ops). They're going to say something like, "Oh. There's this group called the Sphere Builders that we neglected to tell you about. You may know the name but we redacted the pictures of them. That's because we suspected that you helped create them. They're a new threat. And by the way, part of why we redacted them was to make sure you'd create them."
We don't see it. Nog is a typical Ferengi goblin until around the time the writers suddenly decided to make Rom a savant after previously establishing him as a moron..
Are you confusing him with his father, Rom?
Rom was never displayed as dumb. He was poorly educated (at least by Federation norms), because he couldn't really read and write until the school on DS9 was established.
His Ferengi Culture that he tried to maintain often failed him - like when he tried to have a double date and completely alienated the females with his sexist Ferengi attitudes.
But already early in the show, he showed his intellect, for example when he managed to help a young Bajoran leader negotiate a treaty for her people. He managed to utilize his Ferengi upbringing but also the social skills he learned with Jake to help someone.
The first task that was given to him by Sisko and O'Brien was taking an inventory - Probably a task ideally suited for a motivated Ferengi - what other culture would you think would be so primed for making thorough and precise inventories than the Ferengi culture.
He wasn't like Wesley with his quasi-magical warp powers and his brilliant scores and knowledge of everything. I believe he didn't even get into Red Squad or whatever the Elite acedemy group was at the time. On the Valiant he failed to realize that he was betting on the wrong horse.
And when he lost his leg, he had almost given up on himself, and it took quite an effort to get him out of it. He wasn't perfect, but he grew from his mistakes and he learned how to use the talents he possessed.
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
Comments
the first option of erasing the iconians completely.. How can they even simulate that as No-one seems to have acurtate records of the entire Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies in order to show as specific a catastrophic result as the one Nog talks about. A simulation can only take into account information known to the simulations creators...
if the Federation, Klingons and Romulans know that much, then WHY are we bothering with exploration in season 11? To do these simulatiosn with any hope of them prividing any useful data means we already KNOW what is out there.
She could have just sent them the recorded line for a small fee. Happens all the time.
****
As to the writing, better than many Trek episodes, books, etc that is (or is not) canon, across all the series Also worse than many.
Years ago a fellow employee at a bookstore, asked me why I thought H.P. Lovecraft was such a great writer. I told her I don't, but his ideas are great and the collective works of all the mythos made me think he was.
Star Trek works like that. We swim in Star Trek TRIBBLE, but live in a ocean of beauty.
Of course the problem is that there are infinite alternate realities. At best, you might scan a few hundred or thousand for "universes where that asteroid didn't impact" but the problem is always going to be whether your matches up with most of those once you remove the asteroid. In a lot of ways, the Krenim approach probably poses less risk of paradoxes but greater risk of unintended outcomes.
You know what would have been interesting? If we just went back and warned ourselves 30 years ago. Much is made of how the Iconians are stagnant and we're advancing faster. We could warn Chancellor Martok and Admiral Ross after Nemesis and 30 years would give us a significant edge, allow Cryptic to retune the game's lore, and not mess with canon at all. And, naturally, our first move is going to be something like consulting with Donatra. Donatra, Ross, and Martok all seem likely to ally (which is why we'd pick 30 years ago for in-universe reasons).
You could maintain that Romulus is destroyed directly by the Heralds in the revised timeline so our best efforts fail there but succeed in producing an allied response as a joint KFG-Rom-Fed fleet emerges from The Vault, 30 years in the making, with Martok leading it into battle.
That would have been fun.
You could even have Martok die (again) in the final confrontation but J'mpok, moved by Martok and now respecting him, takes up the chancellorship. We could have ended up back where we are but with a different trajectory by averting the wars. Of course, the old missions would still be there but I can either see text changes easing most of it or no changes at all since the new timeline would start at level 60.
They are presumably viewing alternate timelines where similar things happened and then planting us into a simulation of a slice of that alternate timeline. So they "view timeline 32578 where that meteor never struck" and hone in on a ship's bridge. They take the data from that scan and create a holoprogram. Maybe they view 50 or 100 alternate timelines where the meteor never struck and create a composite simulation, weighted for the probability of outcomes from the observation. Of course, the problem is that you'll never get a truly representative sample of infinite possibilities.
How can a holo deck do this? Because a Holo deck is run by what ever computing power can be thrown at it in the desperation of this war..
I would disagree. Given what they tried to do, it's easy to imagine they would be in the Federation and SF Academy's history class's.
Well done.
I see however a lot of wasted potential for detail work.
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Why the hell is Nog in charge of a galactic weapon of mass destruction? NOG?
Why not... oh I don't know... US?
I guess Cryptic don't want us taking control of a lotto ship.. though you'd think that'd just advertise it more.
Don't even get me started on them going YOLO and using the weapon 10 seconds after getting the scenario data. You know what the irony of it is? The scenario wasn't wrong, it flat out stated that Romulan colony worlds were being assimilated and the Star Navy was losing ground.
When you account for the inherent variance of a simulation created by a calculation, it pretty much predicted what would happen.
So I can only guess that the writer intended for everyone involved to be a collosal idiot.
This doesn't even prove the weapon unviable at all no matter what Kagran says (then again we know he's an idiot) it only proves that you shouldn't let morons be in charge of it.
It would certainly be on Section 31's mind.
And Franklin Drake is RIGHT THERE. So yes, this is another fail.
My character Tsin'xing
Yes because Section 31 are not crazy prepared, super paranoid and constantly looking for threats like it was their job or anything.
They won't show themselves for another hundred years? Yeah, and the Enterprise-D is still in service under Admiral Riker, right?
I'd rather not have more war crimes on my record. Divide et Imperia was bad enough.
Nog is a highly respected and competent Starfleet officer and an expert engineer, which the player may or may not be. And the player is about 18 months out of Starfleet Academy, admiral or not.
I also think Cryptic got feedback about taking over temp ships (which people found idsorienting) and wanted the player to experience a pivotal moment of the game's history in their own ship.
You um do realise that aiding and abetting a war crime is still a war crime right?
A highly respected Starfleet officer who still gets things done by waving his daddy's Nagus staff around.
You can take a Ferengi out of Ferenginar but you can't take Ferenginar out of a Ferengi..
Regardless of Nog's informed abilities (yeah I never bought his ridiculous DS9 "arc" for a second), we the player characters have far more experience in handling alien yech and commandeering vessels.
And if not us, then why not the Krenim themselves? Are we really, REALLY trusting them with the building of the ship, the maintenance of the weapon and the calculations to use it but not trusting them to command it? Even though it's a Krenim navy ship? What?
Oh and Cryptic listening to feedback? When does that happen?
You mean you didn't believe what was shown on the screen? Well, that kinda makes sense, since it's all just a TV show. Still, for the purpose of the game it's real enough. Certain of that? Have you read Nog's file and what he did in the last decades?
Well...unless it got classified at the highest levels, in which case Section 31 and DTI might be the only people really aware of it.
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Regardless of whether it was classified or not - I am not sure if there are any recordings of the species. Just going by a description would be a little thin.
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I don't recall, but if he did then that was stupid too.
We don't see it. Nog is a typical Ferengi goblin until around the time the writers suddenly decided to make Rom a savant after previously establishing him as a moron.
Then auddenly he decides to go off to Starfleet Academy and returns a model officer mary sue character that'd make Wesley blush.
There was no development there, which is why I hate the character.
None of what he is claimed to have done grants him the right to command a galactic weapon of mass destruction.
Sure, what we've done doesn't give us the right either, but at least we're the protagonist, and this is another example of guest characters hogging the central spotlight and role of most responsibility when previously characters like Tuvok and Harry would defer to us while giving advice. It's irritating. Especially when Nog is clearly out of his depth and basically pulled a Kagran this episode.
To be honest I thought that after the Romulan simulation, Adrianna would hijack the ship and use it to restore Romulus with us fixing the resulting mess. Would've been predictable and cliche, sure, but far better than Nog declaring YOLO and us following along with his ridiculous impatience like idiots.
Given the Xindi ambassador openly blabs about what the Sphere Builders did, I don't think it's that top secret.
Any mention of increased Borg activity I would ascribe to them having time travel technology already and the same being related to one of Q's comments: "Don't provoke the Borg". Somewhere out there the Queen has felt a tingle down her proverbial spine and really doesn't like it when people futz around in her light cone.
*But gets nil points for discretion.
I tend to side with the idea that almost all of Archer's career and most of Kirk's is classified. I imagine Project Genesis is about like our Star Wars program in the U.S. To this day, what we had is uncertain. Kirk frequently engaged in espionage. And I doubt they have a picture of Archer torturing a Suliban on his personnel profile.
I actually think this is WHY they planed Drake and Crey in the mission (and for that matter why it's them instead of the Klingon or Romulan ops). They're going to say something like, "Oh. There's this group called the Sphere Builders that we neglected to tell you about. You may know the name but we redacted the pictures of them. That's because we suspected that you helped create them. They're a new threat. And by the way, part of why we redacted them was to make sure you'd create them."
Rom was never displayed as dumb. He was poorly educated (at least by Federation norms), because he couldn't really read and write until the school on DS9 was established.
His Ferengi Culture that he tried to maintain often failed him - like when he tried to have a double date and completely alienated the females with his sexist Ferengi attitudes.
But already early in the show, he showed his intellect, for example when he managed to help a young Bajoran leader negotiate a treaty for her people. He managed to utilize his Ferengi upbringing but also the social skills he learned with Jake to help someone.
The first task that was given to him by Sisko and O'Brien was taking an inventory - Probably a task ideally suited for a motivated Ferengi - what other culture would you think would be so primed for making thorough and precise inventories than the Ferengi culture.
He wasn't like Wesley with his quasi-magical warp powers and his brilliant scores and knowledge of everything. I believe he didn't even get into Red Squad or whatever the Elite acedemy group was at the time. On the Valiant he failed to realize that he was betting on the wrong horse.
And when he lost his leg, he had almost given up on himself, and it took quite an effort to get him out of it. He wasn't perfect, but he grew from his mistakes and he learned how to use the talents he possessed.