test content
Logo
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc
Options
My thoughts on Romulans
asardetemplari
Member Posts: 447 Arc User
I barely played my Romulan before but I decided to take another crack at it and start anew.
Back on my old Romulan, I couldn't get rid of or customize Tovan. Now, I can customize him. Great. However, I still can't get rid of him even after I find his sister. Normally, I'd keep him, but good lord. He is so annoying. "Good for you, Tovan. Shut up, Tovan."
Now don't get me wrong. A purple Tac officer is nice (I have an Orion, Trill Andorian and Caitian purple Tacs on my Federation character), but he is taking up a permanent spot. Most times, you HAVE to use him because of that or pay money or turn your hard earned dilithium into bridge officer slots just so you can avoid him.
Another thing... picking a side. I'm not pure Fed, I'm not pure Klingon. Sometimes I fight, and sometimes I use diplomacy to solve problems. But I, like some others are Romulan. We will always be Romulan and we won't stop being Romulan until we die or are assimilated. Therefore, I would like to stay a Romulan. Not allied with the other two powers. I'd rather be Tal Shiar than be an ally. My home was obliterated and when that happened, I gave up on the other two powers of the Alpha Quadrant.
On the subject of the Tal Shiar and the Romulan Star Empire... I disagree with D'Tan. While his heart is in the right place, he's going about this the wrong way. Donatra's a Borg and Sela's MIA. He should merge the Republic and what's left of the Empire for one strong force. We are already splintered, we don't need further splintering. We could also use Donatra back. Yes she's a Borg, but what if we could recapture her and turn her back to a Romulan? We could use her as a leader. The Romulans need someone stronger but not so tyrannical that they bring about the near end of the universe.
Back on my old Romulan, I couldn't get rid of or customize Tovan. Now, I can customize him. Great. However, I still can't get rid of him even after I find his sister. Normally, I'd keep him, but good lord. He is so annoying. "Good for you, Tovan. Shut up, Tovan."
Now don't get me wrong. A purple Tac officer is nice (I have an Orion, Trill Andorian and Caitian purple Tacs on my Federation character), but he is taking up a permanent spot. Most times, you HAVE to use him because of that or pay money or turn your hard earned dilithium into bridge officer slots just so you can avoid him.
Another thing... picking a side. I'm not pure Fed, I'm not pure Klingon. Sometimes I fight, and sometimes I use diplomacy to solve problems. But I, like some others are Romulan. We will always be Romulan and we won't stop being Romulan until we die or are assimilated. Therefore, I would like to stay a Romulan. Not allied with the other two powers. I'd rather be Tal Shiar than be an ally. My home was obliterated and when that happened, I gave up on the other two powers of the Alpha Quadrant.
On the subject of the Tal Shiar and the Romulan Star Empire... I disagree with D'Tan. While his heart is in the right place, he's going about this the wrong way. Donatra's a Borg and Sela's MIA. He should merge the Republic and what's left of the Empire for one strong force. We are already splintered, we don't need further splintering. We could also use Donatra back. Yes she's a Borg, but what if we could recapture her and turn her back to a Romulan? We could use her as a leader. The Romulans need someone stronger but not so tyrannical that they bring about the near end of the universe.
Dreadnought class. Two times the size, three times the speed. Advanced weaponry. Modified for a minimal crew. Unlike most Federation vessels, it's built solely for combat.
Post edited by asardetemplari on
0
Comments
Totally agree, that Rihannsu need to be their own faction, but it will NEVER happen ... Cryptic have got their liitle heats set on a Red vs Blue game, and sadly Green doesn't fit their equation. Also they'll never have a Tal Shiar Faction, because the Tal Shiar are the goto bad guys, and you can't have a bad guy faction (apparently)
The last thing we need is some has been former leaders, who's interest were never abouut the people to start with, they may "claim" what they are doing is for "The good of the Empire" but ultimately it's been proven time and time again, that it's self interest and nothing more that drives them ...
D'Tan may not be a saint (far from it in fact) I would label him as a "True" Romulan, cunning, yet wise, ambitious, yet loyal, circumspect, yet courageous, devious yet honorable and he IS trying to build a new home, a new 'people', a new Republic, with Romulans, Remans and I think Reunificationist Vulcans, and for that, at least, I think he and the Rihannsu deserve his trust and faith.
I would like to see a new STF where in the Romulan Republic send the characters out to rescue Donatra from the Borg. That mission would give either Borg or Romualn Marks (much like some of the missions give either Romulan or Nukara marks). Heck, maybe even make it into an all star Romulan cast with Cameos by Tomalak and Tebok.
Although I really like the KDF-allegiance uniforms, I picked Fed side when the choice was offered to me. There were two reasons for that: the first was that I felt it made it easier to obtain good endgame gear via the usually more favored Federation-side player fleet holdings.
The second was more one roleplaying flavor. From my testing on Tribble, I was appaled at how - overnight - my bridge officers suddenly got all overly concerned with 'klingon' honor and tossed around the occasional klingon word. By contrast, Fed-side just got a bit more concerned with the Prime Directive and Omega Molecules.
So, I built a story in my head. My romulan character, Mhae, was well versed scientifically. The Federation respected such pursuits more, and were more liable to allow for subtle problem resolution than klingons. So, she's consented to being loaned to Starfleet and doing joint operations with them. However, she does occasionally eyeroll at her first officer, a rom female engineer, whom has attended a lot of SCE seminars and takes what Starfleet likes a lot more seriously than Mhae does. That's however as far as she leans toward Starfleet - in Special Task Forces, she chose to align herself with Omega Force.
Mhae thinks D'tan is a bit too soft, a bit too enamored with the idea of Reunification. Recently, though, he's shown more spine as the Republic itself is better able to stand by itself, and she's glad to see him politically elbow nudge the Republic into maintaining its relevancy, despite not feeling that maintaining such a posture is a priority over facing the Undine/Elachi/Iconians (the latter which are to blame for destroying Romulus/ch'Rihan). However, she's not as loyal to D'Tan as she is to Temer's memory and the cause Temer died for. That, she feels, gives her a clearer - more "what-matters-the-most" - perspective which better empowers her to do what needs to be done.
Dreadnought class. Two times the size, three times the speed. Advanced weaponry. Modified for a minimal crew. Unlike most Federation vessels, it's built solely for combat.
They're probably cheaper for the Republic to get their hands on plasma weapons than disruptors. Plus, it gives us a faction identity separate from the Empire and the Klingons.
Also: Why don't we have a Sword of the Raptor Star replica? The Klingons get a replica of Khaless' bat'leth . . . I want a replica of S'harien's blade.
It just makes no sense thematically to include an ancient sword for you to find, if you never get to stab anyone with it. It's Chekov's Gun (not that Chekov).
Funnily enough I started a thread, with just that suggestion, making it part of an Omega or Rihannsu Ground Set ... It seemed nobody else thought it was a good idea though
So did I, coincidentally almost one year ago today.
As for why they use plasma ? Because they used plasma torp from canon, and each faction in game needed a distinctive damage type. Phaser for fed, disruptor for KDF, and plasma for Romulan. Otherwise we would have 2 factions using disruptor.
That's not 100% accurate from canon, but it's one of those time were gameplay comes first. And it's not entirely inaccurate either, as they still do the disruptor proc, and they use green weapons
As to why plasma: well, plasma used to be the Vulkan energy weapon of choice. Guess the Vulkan unifictionists may have supplied weapons to the young republik.
. . .
The first time Romulans appeared in Star Trek in "Balance of Terror", they used a big scary Plasma torpedo. You know the Romulan Hyper Torpedo, or Plasma torpedoes on High Yield? Big, slow, tracking and dealing a lot of damage? Yeah, that was their iconic weapon in TOS. It has nothing to do with the Vulcans aside from the idea that Vulcans and Romulans shared a history and technology base.
In many, many other Star Trek computer games Romulans use plasma weaponry. STO's space combat is heavily influenced by the Starfleet Command series, in which the Romulan heavy weapon is Plasma. The Starfleet Command series was based on the tabletop boardgame, Starfleet Battles... in which the Romulans use Plasma. And Starfleet Battles was based on... TOS, and we come full circle back to the television show.
It's not Unificationists or anything. Romulans using plasma weapons is a LONG tradition in Star Trek gaming dating back to BEFORE TNG AIRED.
Romulans used disruptors in Starfleet Command 3, and phasers I think in the first one, so your comment doesn't make much sense.
Come on...
Like someone already said - and to me it makes perfect sense - it's also a way of making the faction "different". The same way as fed is blue, kdf red, romulan green.
Lockbox ships come with the faction's weapon type?
What do lockbox ships have to do with anything? They aren't Romulan after all, with the exception of the adapted romulan ships, which come with plasma.
But from a lore point of view?
Despite having minimal resources and scrounging for every ship they can get their hands so, the Republic has apparently had time to retrofit all these old disruptor vessels with plasma weaponry.
Meanwhile, the Tal Shiar, who are experimenting heavily with Borg tech (Borg being the guys who use plasma weaponry), still have a fleet equipped with disruptors.
Doesn't really make a whole lot of sense...
It has to do with the fact that you get ships that are considered of the faction but they have more differences than similarities. And that's ok. It's a game! There are a lot of things that are not "standard" fed, kdf or romulan that people accept very well and engage for themselves. So, I don't see what is the fuss of the romulans using plasma instead of disruptor.
^This.
Also the reputation weapons have the disruptor proc. Nothing wrong here.
(TOS Romulans were better anyways before they were flip-flopped with Klingons in ST3.)
Romulan Institute
D'Galan - Engineer
The fuss is quite easy to explain, and I have done so several times despite your lack of reading comprehension. Cryptic is really pushing the plasma=romulans angle with the Republic-heck the whole Romulan rep is full of nothing but plasma weapons. It doesn't help that Romulans have the 'plasma weapons specialist' traits which strongly pidgeonholes romulans into using plasma on the ground. Sure, you can use other energy types, but you know that you are handicapping yourself by doing so. Heck, prior to the trait revamp you had to use a respect just to get rid of it or you'd be having a wasted trait slot to boot if you came with it by default. And of course many bridge officers come with it as well, where it cannot be swapped out for another trait
at all.
To each his own. I am not overly fond of the TOS Romulans and think the switch after the first two episodes to the sneaky arrogant militarists we had in TNG/DS9/VOY to be a good one. If I wanted to watch faux Romans, I'd watch Babylon 5, the Centauri were executed much better.
Aside from the fact the Centauri were not modeled after the Romans. Romans had elected senators and the Centauri's Body of Ministers were made up of houses sort of like the Klingon Empire.
"The Centauri Republic reflects many imperial cultures of Earth, though J. Michael Straczynski specifically makes the comparison with "the British Empire once upon a time... It was a great military power."
Romulan Institute
D'Galan - Engineer
IMO Klingons are great at being Klingons, no need to have them switch places with the Romulans. They were both great in their own ways.
Which is why I choose Remans over Romulan BOFFs when given the choice. And Alien over Romulan when I know for sure that the Alien is a Republic BOFF rather than an ally "loaner". Also, I choose to use non-Romulan BOFFs when planet side. And with the exception of ONE Romulan character, I mostly use Reman, Alien, or Borg Republic characters.
If you listen closely, you can hear Tovan crying.
Romulan Institute
D'Galan - Engineer
The whole idea behind Nanite Disruptors is a bit ridiculous.
Yeah, tiny machines that ride a disruptor but somehow manage not to be harmed.
Romulan Institute
D'Galan - Engineer
Incorrect!
In season 7 of DS9, the Romulans open a field hospital on Dera in the Bajor system, and begin fortifying it with 7,000 plasma torpedoes. DS9 had some wonderful continuity; TNG had them suddenly mutate into Vulcan cavemen who have clearly forgotten to take the hanger out before putting on their jackets.
Plasma weapons that they still never used on screen. And it's still plasma torps you are talking about- they still didn't use plasma beam or pulse weaponry in TNG/DS9- they used disruptors for that, which is the point I was making in the quoted post. So what was your post supposed to prove exactly? Your reply doesn't exactly address the topic of my post, it's just splitting hairs. No amount of exclamation points will make this anything more than tangentially related. Not to mention the blatant cherry picking going on there:
Seriously, it was in the first sentence of the post you quoted.
I have no idea what your point is with TNG/DS9 Romulans, considering that DS9 used the same 'mutated Vulcan cavemen' as TNG...the only thing that changed was the uniforms. Not sure what this has to do with continuity, unless your point was to point out that the DS9 Romulans had continuity with the TNG Romulans.