Good analysis, If I was in charge of Starfleet I would need more ground assets for world defence which means conscription of able bodied men and women who are not in key war industries like ship building.
Give them infantry training to MACO standard and issue them with a rifle and side arm and create planetary defence forces, if the Iconians try invading with their gate network, they'll have to fight their way through the planet's garrison which would slow them down long enough for a relief force to get to the planet's aid.
If a world is invaded, the garrison would be ordered to fight to the last soldier, no surrender and no retreat.
In real life, my hobby is the study of military history with more emphasis on tactics and strategy.
Good idea, so the Iconians can just open a gateway in your garrison and break your defenses.
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
I touched upon this briefly in a recent post elsewhere (can't remember where now) but I feel the question needs to be asked more precisely. How is the Galaxy going to defeat the Iconian threat? Their quest for dominance seemingly doesn't just mean the Alpha/Beta Quadrants; they've information on the Dominion (re: Sphere of Influence) and they were seemingly involved in retrofitting the Vaudwaar Fleet - so we know that Iconian interest lies in the Delta and Gamma sectors too.
All current factions are at a similar technological level (even though they kind of shouldn't be) - the Voth for example were shown (in VOY) to far surpass us by technological standards, yet we're seemingly able to equal their technology now, same with the Tholians (in the sense that they've always appeared that little-bit more of a threat than we'd like). Then you've got the Borg, who by very definition, should be the biggest threat the Galaxy has known, but we can pretty much take them out with ease (shame on your Cryptic) :P
The Iconian though, they truly are the bigger threat. A single Iconian [female?] can (with a wave of her hand) vaporize six Klingon soldiers. How many Klingon Warriors can a single Iconian take out if they were battle-ready? How about a regiment of Iconian soldiers? How much damage can an Iconian ship to do a fleet? How about a fleet of Iconian ships?
Our Alliance (Federation, Klingon and Romulan) should not be anywhere near capable of taking the fight to the Iconian; not with the power they have. We shouldn't even make a dent. Even with the Voth, Undine, Borg and Dominion aiding us, we shouldn't be able to make a difference. Sure, we might win a battle here and there, but it would (or should) be at great cost to ourselves, and then there's still a war to win.
This leads me to believe that we're going to get help from someone; likely another ancient species. It's the only logical conclusion that would make any sort of sense. The question though, is who? I hardly think the Vorlons are going to drop by on this one.
Gee.....[scrathces head] the Obex? You know the race that one shot a cube? You know the one that had a generic freighter skin.... Oh yeah that mission got removed by the Devs because they decided it did not fit thier storyline.
The Iconian threat is really exaggerated IMO. Everybody seems to think they are some uber god-like beings, but forget that they were actually beaten(very badly) thousands of years ago. The people who beat them(nearly to extinction) were not uber god-like beings, they were merely the slaves rebelling against their masters. So no, the Iconians are not as uber as people seem to think. They were beaten(very badly) before, and can be beaten just as badly again.
And to respond in advance to a point I've seen some people make in a similar discussion: yes, I know that a lot of time has passed since they were defeated, and that the Iconians are a far older civilization than the Feds/KDF/Roms. But guess what? So are the Voth. The Voth had space tech and were able to leave Earth before humans evolved! But they aren't very uber; we can still beat them on the ground and in our ships. The same goes for the Borg; a far far older civilization than humans, and have assimilated thousands of civilizations with technology far older than anything the Alpha powers have, but look how weak they are now compared to the main factions in game.
Good idea, so the Iconians can just open a gateway in your garrison and break your defenses.
That's why every able bodied adult needs to be conscripted and a laired ground defence with strong points linked by trenches with sensor arrays as a early warning in case a gate is opened.
There is a chance the garrison could be overwhelmed but they would make the Iconian attackers pay dearly for their victory.
"The meaning of victory is not to merely defeat your enemy but to destroy him, to completely eradicate him from living memory, to leave no remnant of his endeavours, to crush utterly his achievement and remove from all record his every trace of existence. From that defeat no enemy can ever recover. That is the meaning of victory."
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
I'm in full agreement with the "Iconians are making a smoke and mirrors show" argument.
Also, Plot armor.
We don't need to worry. :cool:
"He shall be my finest warrior, this generic man who was forced upon me.
Like a badass I shall make him look, and in the furnace of war I shall forge him.
he shall be of iron will and steely sinew.
In great armour I shall clad him and with the mightiest weapons he shall be armed.
He will be untouched by plague or disease; no sickness shall blight him.
He shall have such tactics, strategies and machines that no foe will best him in battle.
He is my answer to cryptic logic, he is the Defender of my Romulan Crew.
He is Tovan Khev... and he shall know no fear."
Agree... they're "pulling an Ardra". The gateways are certainly powerful but beyond that, nothing we've seen them do is beyond the realms of regular Starfleet/Klingon/Romulan tech... a simple transporter set on "dispersal" could vaporise those Klingons...
If they were that powerful, why use patsies like the Tal Shiar, the Elachi or the Solanae at all? It didn't really work at keeping us distracted (brought us together, in fact) and sure didn't hide their involvement (as Hakeev blabbed about them at every opportunity).
They were having better luck with the Undine keeping Starfleet and the Klingons at war, but again - I don't see why they had to bother UNLESS they aren't as strong as they present themselves.
At least the Iconians seem to be hell bound on _conquering_ us instead of destroying us.
If they would wage a true genocidial war, the new Quo'nos queue would be rather short.
Instead of Herald ground troopers, WMDs would fall out of the Gateways and detonate to render the planet a lifeless husk.
I don't say the Iconians are not ready to destroy some worlds along the way, but they seem to try to minimize that. For some reason. Maybe it is their moral imperialism, the idea that they _should_ rule others for the better.
Or they need the galaxy more or less intact after victory for... something.
Comments
Good idea, so the Iconians can just open a gateway in your garrison and break your defenses.
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
Gee.....[scrathces head] the Obex? You know the race that one shot a cube? You know the one that had a generic freighter skin.... Oh yeah that mission got removed by the Devs because they decided it did not fit thier storyline.
And to respond in advance to a point I've seen some people make in a similar discussion: yes, I know that a lot of time has passed since they were defeated, and that the Iconians are a far older civilization than the Feds/KDF/Roms. But guess what? So are the Voth. The Voth had space tech and were able to leave Earth before humans evolved! But they aren't very uber; we can still beat them on the ground and in our ships. The same goes for the Borg; a far far older civilization than humans, and have assimilated thousands of civilizations with technology far older than anything the Alpha powers have, but look how weak they are now compared to the main factions in game.
The-Grand-Nagus
Join Date: Sep 2008
That's why every able bodied adult needs to be conscripted and a laired ground defence with strong points linked by trenches with sensor arrays as a early warning in case a gate is opened.
There is a chance the garrison could be overwhelmed but they would make the Iconian attackers pay dearly for their victory.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Also, Plot armor.
We don't need to worry. :cool:
"He shall be my finest warrior, this generic man who was forced upon me.
Like a badass I shall make him look, and in the furnace of war I shall forge him.
he shall be of iron will and steely sinew.
In great armour I shall clad him and with the mightiest weapons he shall be armed.
He will be untouched by plague or disease; no sickness shall blight him.
He shall have such tactics, strategies and machines that no foe will best him in battle.
He is my answer to cryptic logic, he is the Defender of my Romulan Crew.
He is Tovan Khev... and he shall know no fear."
If they were that powerful, why use patsies like the Tal Shiar, the Elachi or the Solanae at all? It didn't really work at keeping us distracted (brought us together, in fact) and sure didn't hide their involvement (as Hakeev blabbed about them at every opportunity).
They were having better luck with the Undine keeping Starfleet and the Klingons at war, but again - I don't see why they had to bother UNLESS they aren't as strong as they present themselves.
If they would wage a true genocidial war, the new Quo'nos queue would be rather short.
Instead of Herald ground troopers, WMDs would fall out of the Gateways and detonate to render the planet a lifeless husk.
I don't say the Iconians are not ready to destroy some worlds along the way, but they seem to try to minimize that. For some reason. Maybe it is their moral imperialism, the idea that they _should_ rule others for the better.
Or they need the galaxy more or less intact after victory for... something.