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What would ST had been, if First contact was with the Romulans?

kikskenkiksken Member Posts: 664 Arc User
I mean, think it over, just how amazing is it that just the Vulcans of all races, noticed Ephram's warp trail...
What if it were, indeed, the Romulans?
I mean, they ARE basically Vulcans, they just love their emotions, where the Vulcans prefer pure logic...

Where would we have ended up then?
Klingons don't get drunk.
They just get less sober.
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Comments

  • legendarylycan#5411 legendarylycan Member Posts: 37,282 Arc User
    you know what the remans were used for? that's where we would've ended up​​
    Like special weapons from other Star Trek games? Wondering if they can be replicated in STO even a little bit? Check this out: https://forum.arcgames.com/startrekonline/discussion/1262277/a-mostly-comprehensive-guide-to-star-trek-videogame-special-weapons-and-their-sto-equivalents

    #LegalizeAwoo

    A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
    An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
    A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
    A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"


    "It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch."
    "We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
    Passion and Serenity are one.
    I gain power by understanding both.
    In the chaos of their battle, I bring order.
    I am a shadow, darkness born from light.
    The Force is united within me.
  • questeriusquesterius Member Posts: 8,481 Arc User
    you know what the remans were used for? that's where we would've ended up​​

    This.

    What would have been interesting if first contact had been with the Andorians.
    This program, though reasonably normal at times, seems to have a strong affinity to classes belonging to the Cat 2.0 program. Questerius 2.7 will break down on occasion, resulting in garbage and nonsense messages whenever it occurs. Usually a hard reboot or pulling the plug solves the problem when that happens.
  • observatorrobservatorr Member Posts: 30 Arc User
    kiksken wrote: »
    Where would we have ended up then?
    See for yourself.

    https://graphicpolicy.com/2017/03/16/preview-star-trek-deviations/
  • kikskenkiksken Member Posts: 664 Arc User
    I mean, what is the chance, to have just the Vulcans approaching us?
    There are quite a few species out there.
    Aren't we lucky TRIBBLE... *grins*
    Klingons don't get drunk.
    They just get less sober.
  • markhawkmanmarkhawkman Member Posts: 35,236 Arc User
    Well, one I've really wondered about was the Orions.
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  • risian4risian4 Member Posts: 3,711 Arc User
    questerius wrote: »
    you know what the remans were used for? that's where we would've ended up​​

    This.

    What would have been interesting if first contact had been with the Andorians.

    I don't think it would have made that much of a difference. In Enterprise, we get into regular contact with both species, partly as a result of relations between the two.

    The role of Enterprise in canon is more important btw. They basically made the Vulcans into Romulan agents, or at least the Vulcans of this time were heavily influenced by them.
  • brian334brian334 Member Posts: 2,216 Arc User
    edited June 2017
    Well, originally humanity went to the stars in sublight vessels and began a colonial empire that ran head-first into the RSE, resulting in a decade-long war fought with atomic weapons and laser cannons.

    Later writers, not being scientists and having missed out on Heinlein's essays on slower than light space travel, could not conceive of sublight travel as anything better than what we have now, and so they excised the entire period from Trek history.

    Originally Earth met Vulcans in Vulcan space, and had a dozen or more colony worlds already going by the time they did, among which were the Orion Colonies.
  • markhawkmanmarkhawkman Member Posts: 35,236 Arc User
    brian334 wrote: »
    Well, originally humanity went to the stars in sublight vessels and began a colonial empire that ran head-first into the RSE, resulting in a decade-long war fought with atomic weapons and laser cannons.

    Later writers, not being scientists and having missed out on Heinlein's essays on slower than light space travel, could not conceive of sublight travel as anything better than what we have now, and so they excised the entire period from Trek history.

    Originally Earth met Vulcans in Vulcan space, and had a dozen or more colony worlds already going by the time they did, among which were the Orion Colonies.
    that's a bit of an exaggeration. that sort of thing was more hinted at than actually stated. It also didn't make much sense in-universe either since it assumed that the area around Earth was mostly empty. That and even in TOS they showed that the Romulans had been in space far longer than Humans. The idea of them as technological equals made no sense. Then again, half of what was said in TOS might as well be non-canon.
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  • brian334brian334 Member Posts: 2,216 Arc User
    That was kind of my point, Hawk. But in TOS the first Romulan we encounter is in a sublight vessel while the Enterprise is kicking it with warp drive. In fact, the first warp capable vessel we see Romulans using is the Klingon D7, which was supposedly an indicator of trade between Romulans and Klingons. Romulans having been in space longer is irrevelant because technological development is not spurred by time.

    Egypt, 50 BC: A young Hero embarks on creating wonderous steam engines for multiple purposes, including the world's first coin operated machine. Steam engines are recreated 1700 years later and change the face of the world. It's a safe bet Jim Watt never heard of an aeolipile.

    China, 400 BC: Chinese people already use oil and natural gas, for which they drill several hundred feet. By the first century AD they have reached depths of 800 feet or more. In the early/mid 1800s America experienced an oil boom as 'rock oil' begins to displace whale oil as fuel for lighting and for lubrication. In less than half a century whale oil, along with most non-food, non-petroleum oils, becomes a niche industry with an ever dwindling customer base.

    If elapsed time were sufficient to spur technical progress, the Industrial Revolution should have happened by at least 1AD, when all the necessary ingredients, (sufficiently advanced metallurgy, abundant and easily handled fuel, large available labor pool,) were on hand.

    By the time humanity reached the stars they were advanced enough to stalemate the Romulans, who negotiated their treaty over subspace radio because the distances involved were too great, one presumes, to get diplomats to a meeting place in time.
  • rattler2rattler2 Member, Star Trek Online Moderator Posts: 58,561 Community Moderator
    I have to agree... the Romulan BoP being sublight only just doesn't make sense.

    And we saw in Enterprise that Starfleet was NOT a technological equal to most races they encountered. The original cruise missile style Torpedoes were WOEFULLY slow and underwhelming, and Enterprise didn't even have shields. Hell... they still had a grappling hook style device instead of a tractor beam. What Enterprise DID show was development of tech we were familiar with. We saw the Phase Cannons and Photonic Torpedoes. And even though the NX was still an underdog, tactics and good old human stubbornness sometimes made up the difference.
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  • salazarrazesalazarraze Member Posts: 3,794 Arc User
    kiksken wrote: »
    I mean, what is the chance, to have just the Vulcans approaching us?
    There are quite a few species out there.
    Aren't we lucky ****... *grins*
    Romulus is a lot further from Earth than Vulcan is. Only Andoria is closer if you believe the game map.
    When you see "TRIBBLE" in my posts, it's because I manually typed "TRIBBLE" and censored myself.
  • markhawkmanmarkhawkman Member Posts: 35,236 Arc User
    rattler2 wrote: »
    I have to agree... the Romulan BoP being sublight only just doesn't make sense.
    Among other things, it's shown moving several light years over the course of the episode.
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  • darakossdarakoss Member Posts: 850 Arc User
    rattler2 wrote: »
    I have to agree... the Romulan BoP being sublight only just doesn't make sense.
    Among other things, it's shown moving several light years over the course of the episode.

    More than likely it was stripped down to accomodate the plasma weapon. It only had to make the journey across the Neutral Zone. It could even have had a hidden base in the Zone or on the Romulan side closest to the zone.
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  • k20vteck20vtec Member Posts: 535 Arc User
    Guys. It had impulse power=/= sublight only, impulse power is basically, most of the tome, fusion power. Dy500 ships had mere impulse fusion, type-6/type-8 had only microfusion power.

    Is it a good substitute for warp drive or singularity? Hell no, but can it ftl? Sure.
    Hast thou not gone against sincerity
    Hast thou not felt ashamed of thy words and deeds
    Hast thou not lacked vigor
    Hast thou exerted all possible efforts
    Hast thou not become slothful
  • tyler002tyler002 Member Posts: 1,586 Arc User
    edited June 2017
    darakoss wrote: »
    rattler2 wrote: »
    I have to agree... the Romulan BoP being sublight only just doesn't make sense.
    Among other things, it's shown moving several light years over the course of the episode.

    More than likely it was stripped down to accomodate the plasma weapon. It only had to make the journey across the Neutral Zone. It could even have had a hidden base in the Zone or on the Romulan side closest to the zone.
    Wasn't the Romulan BoP mentioned as being low on fuel? At least, I think that was the Commander's excuse to not attack Enterprise at some point. Could support the idea of it not having the supplies to run at its best.
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  • k20vteck20vtec Member Posts: 535 Arc User
    Ehh... i dont think first vending machine had much to do with steam power. Isnt aeopile mostly.... well... had no known practical function.
    Hast thou not gone against sincerity
    Hast thou not felt ashamed of thy words and deeds
    Hast thou not lacked vigor
    Hast thou exerted all possible efforts
    Hast thou not become slothful
  • brian334brian334 Member Posts: 2,216 Arc User
    Sublight speed does not mean slow. .99% lightspeed is very fast, in fact. From here Alpha Centauri, the homeworld of Zephram Cochran according to Kirk, is about four years away at that speed. Even if we only have engines capable of 1G continuous boost, that's only 5 years away. At 1G the other side of the galaxy is only a century away. The technical problem currently is our total dependence upon reaction mass, (something to throw away to get an equal and opposite reaction.) Several theorists are working on various aspects of this problem, but reactionless propulsion seems to be on its way to our world already. Or it may be another hoax, we'll find out soon enough.

    Either way, even with current tech we could get there in 12 years at .1g, assuming over 99% of the ship is fuel and reaction mass. It would be a one way trip until the ship could be refueled.There are certainly many technical hurdles to overcome, and beyond that billions of dollars to invest in actually constructing such a vessel, but it is currently within thought experiment range if not actually in preliminary development even now.
  • ltminnsltminns Member Posts: 12,572 Arc User
    40 Eridani, which is the sun(s) of Vulcan, is 16.5 Light Years from Earth. Procyon, the sun of Andoria, is 11 Light Years from Earth. The closest stars in Trianguli or Trianguli Australe, where Romulus is supposedly based, is about 40 Light Years from Earth.

    Who do you think would find us first?
    'But to be logical is not to be right', and 'nothing' on God's earth could ever 'make it' right!'
    Judge Dan Haywood
    'As l speak now, the words are forming in my head.
    l don't know.
    l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
    That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
    Lt. Philip J. Minns
  • brian334brian334 Member Posts: 2,216 Arc User
    Since none of those facts were established in TOS, it seems irrelevant. But, in TOS, neither the Vulcanians nor the Andorians were more technologically advanced than Humans, and at the time of the Human diaspora post WW3 neither had much in the way of colonies.

    Humanity was the center of the Federation because of a quality no other species encountered up to that time posessed: growth. Humans, given the room to breed, did so unashamedly and with great gusto. In Kirks words to Zephram Cochrane, "We're on a thousand worlds and spreading out." Only the Romulans were in any position to obstruct that growth early on, and they only temporarily disrupted the diaspora in one direction by stalemating the Earth Federation. The same thing would bring them into conflict with the Klingon Empire only a couple generations later.
  • jrdobbsjr#3264 jrdobbsjr Member Posts: 431 Arc User
    > @brian334 said:
    > Since none of those facts were established in TOS, it seems irrelevant. But, in TOS, neither the Vulcanians nor the Andorians were more technologically advanced than Humans, and at the time of the Human diaspora post WW3 neither had much in the way of colonies.
    >
    > Humanity was the center of the Federation because of a quality no other species encountered up to that time posessed: growth. Humans, given the room ation's to breed, did so unashamedly and with great gusto. In Kirks words to Zephram Cochrane, "We're on a thousand worlds and spreading out." Only the Romulans were in any position to obstruct that growth early on, and they only temporarily disrupted the diaspora in one direction by stalemating the Earth Federation. The same thing would bring them into conflict with the Klingon Empire only a couple generations later.



    Really, the TOS's history of the early Federation was better than what they retconned it with. But it didn't go with the Star Trek meme that humans basically are not a aggressive species. It's nonsense, but it's been a thing since TNG, right up to the KT movies.
  • skullblits#4627 skullblits Member Posts: 1,273 Arc User
    question is. why hasn't the terran empire tried to travel back. and advance humanity hugely????

    also where was Daniel during 1st contact??
  • questeriusquesterius Member Posts: 8,481 Arc User
    risian4 wrote: »
    questerius wrote: »
    you know what the remans were used for? that's where we would've ended up​​

    This.

    What would have been interesting if first contact had been with the Andorians.

    I don't think it would have made that much of a difference. In Enterprise, we get into regular contact with both species, partly as a result of relations between the two.

    The role of Enterprise in canon is more important btw. They basically made the Vulcans into Romulan agents, or at least the Vulcans of this time were heavily influenced by them.

    Judging from Andoria when Enterprise went to the stars it is likely that the Andorians would not have held back humanity traveling to the stars like the Vulcans did.

    Weapon wise earth vessels will probably be armed with plasma cannons as seen on merchant vessels in Enterprise or if the Andorians shared their weapon technology early disruptors.

    It is difficult to judge how the universe was during first contact since there was simply no info available on the Andorians and Orions during that time.

    This program, though reasonably normal at times, seems to have a strong affinity to classes belonging to the Cat 2.0 program. Questerius 2.7 will break down on occasion, resulting in garbage and nonsense messages whenever it occurs. Usually a hard reboot or pulling the plug solves the problem when that happens.
  • This content has been removed.
  • ltminnsltminns Member Posts: 12,572 Arc User
    And the foreheads. For some reason the franchise loves to scr*w around with foreheads to indicate a different 'species'. Look at Voyager. They made many 'species' in the Delta Quadrant by just adjusting the nose bridge.

    And the ears.

    Trying to conquer an 'inconsequential' planet so near the Vulcans and the Andorrians wouldn't be smart at all, with them between the Romulans and the Earth.
    'But to be logical is not to be right', and 'nothing' on God's earth could ever 'make it' right!'
    Judge Dan Haywood
    'As l speak now, the words are forming in my head.
    l don't know.
    l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
    That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
    Lt. Philip J. Minns
  • legendarylycan#5411 legendarylycan Member Posts: 37,282 Arc User
    reyan01 wrote: »
    kiksken wrote: »
    I mean, think it over, just how amazing is it that just the Vulcans of all races, noticed Ephram's warp trail...
    What if it were, indeed, the Romulans?
    I mean, they ARE basically Vulcans, they just love their emotions, where the Vulcans prefer pure logic...

    Where would we have ended up then?
    Pretty fair to assume that it wouldn't have been a pleasant experience.

    Although, to counter that, this scenario requires us to assign Earth an importance that just wasn't there at the time. I'm not sure why the Romulans would be interested in a civilisation who had literally just discovered warp drive and managed a short warp jump within their own solar system.

    simple - slaves and stamping out competition before it manages to become a threat​​
    Like special weapons from other Star Trek games? Wondering if they can be replicated in STO even a little bit? Check this out: https://forum.arcgames.com/startrekonline/discussion/1262277/a-mostly-comprehensive-guide-to-star-trek-videogame-special-weapons-and-their-sto-equivalents

    #LegalizeAwoo

    A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
    An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
    A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
    A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"


    "It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch."
    "We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
    Passion and Serenity are one.
    I gain power by understanding both.
    In the chaos of their battle, I bring order.
    I am a shadow, darkness born from light.
    The Force is united within me.
  • kikskenkiksken Member Posts: 664 Arc User
    But why Vulcans?
    Plenty of races that could be interested.
    Slavery, planetary riches, I mean...
    Plenty of reasons to have us been visited for not that fun reasons.

    But noooo... VULCANS....
    The ONLY peaceful species out there.
    What's the mathematical chance of that?
    Klingons don't get drunk.
    They just get less sober.
  • legendarylycan#5411 legendarylycan Member Posts: 37,282 Arc User
    reyan01 wrote: »
    reyan01 wrote: »
    kiksken wrote: »
    I mean, think it over, just how amazing is it that just the Vulcans of all races, noticed Ephram's warp trail...
    What if it were, indeed, the Romulans?
    I mean, they ARE basically Vulcans, they just love their emotions, where the Vulcans prefer pure logic...

    Where would we have ended up then?
    Pretty fair to assume that it wouldn't have been a pleasant experience.

    Although, to counter that, this scenario requires us to assign Earth an importance that just wasn't there at the time. I'm not sure why the Romulans would be interested in a civilisation who had literally just discovered warp drive and managed a short warp jump within their own solar system.

    simple - slaves and stamping out competition before it manages to become a threat

    That's true - but would it really be worth it with the Vulcans and Andorians on the proverbial doorstep?

    how would they know? they seemingly had cloaks even back then if Minefield is any indication​​
    Like special weapons from other Star Trek games? Wondering if they can be replicated in STO even a little bit? Check this out: https://forum.arcgames.com/startrekonline/discussion/1262277/a-mostly-comprehensive-guide-to-star-trek-videogame-special-weapons-and-their-sto-equivalents

    #LegalizeAwoo

    A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
    An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
    A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
    A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"


    "It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch."
    "We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
    Passion and Serenity are one.
    I gain power by understanding both.
    In the chaos of their battle, I bring order.
    I am a shadow, darkness born from light.
    The Force is united within me.
  • brian334brian334 Member Posts: 2,216 Arc User
    Planetary riches. Huh.

    Were I a space explorer the last place I'd look for riches is on a planet. Asteroids for rocky and metallic materials and comets and Oort Cloud bodies for volatiles are both far greater sources, (a single asteroid recently discovered contains more nickle and iron than has been mined on Earth since caveman days,) and far easier to access, (zero g.)

    In fact, the only thing I'd even look for in the inner system is habitable worlds, which may be rare in our universe, but which orbit nearly every star in the Trekverse. When there's lots of something it loses value, so even in that respect Earth is just another ock with air.
  • kikskenkiksken Member Posts: 664 Arc User
    brian334 wrote: »
    Planetary riches. Huh.

    Were I a space explorer the last place I'd look for riches is on a planet. Asteroids for rocky and metallic materials and comets and Oort Cloud bodies for volatiles are both far greater sources, (a single asteroid recently discovered contains more nickle and iron than has been mined on Earth since caveman days,) and far easier to access, (zero g.)

    In fact, the only thing I'd even look for in the inner system is habitable worlds, which may be rare in our universe, but which orbit nearly every star in the Trekverse. When there's lots of something it loses value, so even in that respect Earth is just another ock with air.
    I do not think, that your asteroids give the same amount of ores and what not that you can find on Earth...
    Klingons don't get drunk.
    They just get less sober.
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