The General War, if I understand my fiction, roughly speaking started with decisive battles and the large movement of ships, capture of territory, and the possibility of early victory for the Coalition. Then the Alliance took back their territory and launched a series of deep pushes into Coalition territory, but ultimately failed to achieve most of their strategic goals, and the war became a long, grinding stalemate focused on attrition.

There is something missing from that attrition period in the timeline of the General War. That is, the political consequences of attrition.

The Gorn seem like a fundamentally stable empire to me, and possibly also the Hydrans and Tholians, but every other empire has a real world model for why attrition should bring them to the brink of collapse. Obviously the General War is based in many ways on WWI, and the political situation in Europe at the outbreak of the war. Let's look to WWI to see what happens when a generation of the devastation of war puts the thumbscrews to a society. WWI lasted only four years. The General War lasted seventeen. The internal pressure on every society should be immense.

During the Great War itself the internal instability within the great powers was minimal until the end, but to summarise:

In 1916 Supported by the British, the Arab Revolt is declared against the Ottoman Empire.
In 1917 Russia collapsed into civil war, and the USSR was formed out of its ashes.
In 1918 Austria-Hungary disintegrated extremely rapidly as leftist and liberal opposition parties sided against the monarchy, and were supported by the local national minority separatist parities and the Entente.
In 1918 the German Navy is ordered to go on a suicide death-ride to provoke the British into a decisive battle in the Channel. The sailors mutiny instead, sparking the Sparticist uprising, and the German Revolution of 1918. They fail to overthrow the government, but the revolution spreads across the entire German Empire.

Most of the results of the instability caused by this prolonged war happened in its immediate aftermath, however. Rather than list the 30 or so revolts in the former belligerents that occurred from Canada to Australia, just look at this map:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1917-1923_Revolutions.png

Those are the revolutions between 1917 and 1923 caused, at least in part by, the Great War. Many are leftist/Marxist/Anti-Monarchical, but a decent chunk of them are nationalist. The later fascist movements could not have existed without the Great War either.

The point of all of this is to say that protracted wars of attrition have a tremendous consequence on the internal political situation within the nations that they occur. There is nothing like that (that I am aware of) within the SFU (possible exception: Kzinti).

To change gears somewhat, I might be the only person who plays SFB that doesn't have a giant stack of custom races saved up waiting to be submitted to ADB. I like the canonical races, including things like C6. I am also aware that one of the big problems with creating a new race (though I'm sure it isn't the only one) is figuring out where to put it on the F&E map. What I'm proposing is a solution to that specific problem. New empires do not need a place on the F&E map, and do not need to be space-faring gypsies like the Jindarians.

In strategy games that simulate the political situation as well as the military one (Europa Universalis for instance), there are nations that do not exist, but are written into the game. They are there for when a country fails to maintain control and a part of its territory breaks away due to an internal rebellion. For instance, if you play badly as England, Wales might secede. If you play badly as France, you may lose Normandy.

What these new empires (which I have no proposals for, but I know ADB has a stack of them that probably goes from the ceiling to the floor) would be are probabalistic entities. If an F&E player is playing terribly for long enough, they might find that a province or two declare independence and neutrality. The historical timeline need not change, these revolts might not have had canonical success, but like the Sparticists that helped end the German Empire, they present a very plausible "what if" that hinges not on improbable or impossible events, but on the outcome of a historical coin flip.

What would these empires look like? The specific SSD-and-R-section of it isn't something that I have an answer for. ADB probably have their favourite not-in-the-game-yet proposals, and they should pick from them. I think there should be stages though.

In the first stage nobody recognises their independence, and their ships would be like WYN++. Captured (or turned) local defense forces, desperation ships (maybe up-armed freighters with no rear-facing shields since no retreat is possible, and the forward shields/space for weapons is more needed), and other things that are the spaceship version of a Toyota pickup with a machinegun on the back.

In the second stage the empire's enemies recognise their independence, and their ships are supplied/supported by the empire's enemies. The amount of technology sloshing can be to ADB's taste (I know it's verboten, but we have Tholians with photons for this exact reason). A Klingon revolt would be supported by the Fed or the Hydrans depending on proximity, and that means they would likely be given the weapons that those empires could supply.

The third stage would be the universal (if begrudging and temporary) de facto recognition of the breakaway territory's independence and neutrality. They would design their own ships, probably based on reverse-engineering their home empire's technology, and being given gifts by their enemies.

What would the specific character of this instability look like across empires?

The Lyrans are a feudal state with their duchies and counties. A Lyran collapse would likely result in the government that was currently in place at the ducal level retaining control, and seceding (or joining the LDR).

The Hydrans are a monarchy resisting partition and fighting for its life. To me, they seem like the Poles. The constant threat of destruction by their powerful neighbours provides them with a strong, unifying nationalism. If anything, they would suffer from instability as the result of a pretender to the throne supported by their guilds.

The Kzinti are a basketcase country already. Civil wars exist in the canonical timeline, and they are a multiethnic empire with subject peoples living under their boot. Anything goes with the Kzinti. Maybe another civil war between royal factions? Maybe someone starts running guns to their oppressed subjects?

The Klingons are a multiethnic empire with dozens of national minorities. The Klingons are the most ripe for instability and separatist revolt. They are almost Austria-Hungary, in that they arm the people who don't like Austrian/Klingon domination, and then ask them to fight for them. I think there's a reason that in the Frax playtest pack they offer a canonical place for the Frax as being a breakaway Klingon territory, and that's because ADB already recognises the precarious situation that the Klingons are in with their panoply of national minorities that are already integrated into their armed forces.

The Fed are a voluntary association of worlds. Orion left. There could be many worlds that declare their independence (less legally) and neutrality following the Orion model. It would be up to the Fed to enforce unity with a battle fleet against Vulcan or Andoria. Would they do it?

The Tholians are, like the Hydrans, stable. They are a besieged people with a strong, unifying identity. They are almost like Israel in many ways. I don't see there being any breakaway territories, but maybe an anti-war, re-isolationist, political movement? Civil war? The Seltorians complicate things further. Maybe the Tholians are just too beset by enemies to have internal instability in this way.

The Gorn seem stable. I don't see secessionist movements having any purchase here. Space-Marxism, maybe? Doubtful though.

The Romulans, like the Kzinti, are already a factional basketcase. They have republicans, and competing imperial factions. Maybe some would favour secession, after all they're based on the Romans and the Romans split into three empires for a hundred years (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crisis_of_the_Third_Century#/media/File:Map_of_Ancient_Rome_271_AD.svg), but most likely the Romulan factions are all competing for the throne.

Everyone else was not involved in the general war and isn't part of the scope of this proposal, which, in summary is:

The internal political situation in the face of the attrition war that was the latter half of the General War could be simulated in the SFU.

It would be possible to introduce new races (or new space-countries of existing races ie: LDR, WYN) as probable, but ahistoric outcomes of the political situation within the nations involved in the General War.

By Norman Dizon (Ichaborn) on Saturday, February 01, 2020 - 11:06 am: Edit

Intriguing.

By Jeff Anderson (Jga) on Saturday, February 01, 2020 - 01:26 pm: Edit

Very interesting, Shawn. You've put a lot of thought into this.

Might I recommend you also check out Module F2? It's about a subject race, the Vudar, rising up against the Klingon Empire, one of the many things you brought up.

As far as "Stacks of new races" goes, every one I've personally tried to do has ended up being VERY bad "Munchkinizations," and VERY rightly ended up in the circular filebox.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Saturday, February 01, 2020 - 01:40 pm: Edit

Thoughts

I designed the General War to be WWII not WWI but he makes a good case that WWI also fits.

The existing stack of new empire proposals is only 4 feet two inches high. None could be used for this as such a splinter empire would not invent all new technology nor would it have the production capacity for a fleet.

I think the result of attrition is more likely to be entire planets going on strike, not breaking away.

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Saturday, February 01, 2020 - 03:21 pm: Edit

For what it's worth, the Romulans *did* wind up with internal strife in the aftermath of the General War; the Republicans came out on top, restoring (for a time) the Romulan Republic.

By Kosta Michalopoulos (Kosmic) on Saturday, February 01, 2020 - 03:22 pm: Edit

I've long thought that something like this would be the situation in the post-Andromedan invasion / X2 era. After decades of nearly continuous war, the empires would have cracked into multiple pieces. And then another Big Baddie (Xorkalians!) shows up on the scene, and the pieces have to reassemble to deal with it.

By wayne douglas power (Wayne) on Saturday, February 01, 2020 - 08:43 pm: Edit

There is a write up in one of the Captains Logs talking about the General War and the Empires being based on WWII.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Thursday, February 06, 2020 - 09:41 pm: Edit

For what it's worth, the concept of war leading to internal collapse in the Alpha Octant is a prominent aspect of the "dark future" timeline encountered (or perhaps inadvertently created) by the Star Fleet Galactic Survey Cruiser/Light Carrier NCC-1802 USS Darwin, as introduced in SFB Module X1 and as further outlined in SFB Module C3A.

One key difference between the General War and the Andromedan War was in scope.

For the most part, the advances and retreats of the Coalition and Alliance belligerents were along recognizable axes, such as from Klinshai to Earth. While long-range raids would strike behind enemy lines (as happened during the Romulan raid on Rigel IV), there would be a relatively clear distinction between the front lines and the rear areas - particularly for those empires able to lean on expansive off-map areas. Or, for that matter, for those which could rely on relatively secure lines of communication between them and at least one of their allies - see the stability along the Klingon/Lyran and Federation/Gorn borders.

The Andromedans, in contrast, had done their homework and established the Rapid Transit Network while the Coalition and Alliance were busy fighting each other, and while neutral powers such as the ISC were fully occupied keeping tabs on the to and fro between the same. While the full depth of Andromedan operations in the Alpha Octant remains to be laid out in F&E terms, the relative lack of a "front line" during the height of the invasion and the ability of the Andros to capitalize on the prior success of the ISC in dividing the General War belligerents behind a set of Pacification cordons (and thus making it harder for these empires to co-ordinate their actions against the invaders once the cordons themselves were driven to collapse) made each empire's capacity to catch their breath and muster an effective response that much more constrained.

While the timely revelation regarding the nature of the Rapid Transit Network in Y195 allowed most of the Alpha Octant empires in the "standard" timeline to eventually turn the tide on the invaders, and then go on to mount a decisive campaign in the form of Operation Unity against the Andromedan holdings in the Lesser Magellanic Cloud, the "dark future" timeline led to enough cracks in the edifice to ensue that by the time the RTN was uncovered in alt-Y200, it was too late to stem the tide of Andromedan conquest.

Which might make the "dark future" timeline a useful place to explore the political consequences of military failure in the Alpha Octant.

-----

All that said, I might argue that a far more viable area of the galaxy for this kind of discussion would be over in the Omega Octant. This galaxy map shows where both octants, as well as more distant realms such as the Xorkaelian Tyranny, may be found.

To use one Omega empire as a case in point: the rise, collapse, and renaissance of the Mæsron Alliance is one of the key driving forces of Omega history. The three main Mæsron member species - the humanoid Tazol, the bat-like Wallimi, and the wolf-like Vulpa - worked together to win the First Great War. Yet this very success led to further military expansion, which in turn led the militaristic Vulpa to dominate the other Mæsron member species, to the point of declaring a Vulpa-led Mæsron Empire.

This "Pax Mæsra" would not last forever: when the first Mæsron Emperor died, the Vulpa squabbled over who would succeed him, while the Tazol and Wallimi would seek to re-establish the Grand Council and to denounce the Empire. One assassinated Vulpa Emperor and one blown-up Council building later, the Mæsrons found themselves locked in Civil War - leading the rival species they had defeated in the First Great War to seize the opportunity to rise to Superpower status at the Mæsrons' expense.

Which made things very troubling for the lost Federation colony of Aurora, which found itself trying to preserve its sovereignty in the face of a turbulent course of events.

Eventually, the Tazol and Wallimi founded the "New Alliance", which aligned with the Aurorans to defeat the Vulpa faction in the Civil War, and later to put down two waves of Vulpa insurgency. Yet while the Mæsrons and the Federal Republic of Aurora later faced existential threats in the form of the Andromedans and Souldra, the Vulpa would take advantage of the chaos to establish an indepedent Vulpa Confederacy.

And that is only a sample of the kind of turmoil facing the empires of the Omega Octant - even those which have thus far managed to survive through to the end of the Seventh Cycle of Omega history.

To put a long story short, if you are looking for an arena in which the relative degree of political stability to be found in most of Alpha Octant history can by no means be taken for granted, perhaps it might be worth following the Aurorans - and, later on, the visiting Star Fleet advanced technology Galactic Survey Cruiser NCC-1821 USS Sakharov - beyond the Alpha/Omega Void.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Friday, February 07, 2020 - 04:32 pm: Edit

When talking about "attrition" in the General War, do not make the mistake of seeing it in the same light as "World War I" or "World War II."

Simply put, attrition is not as significant.

You are talking about empires in Star Fleet Battles with populations in the TRILLIONS, no mere tens of millions (the standard for most of the waring powers in the two earth bound wars you are measuring against).

A division could be 10,000 to 20,000 people.

A Star Fleet Battles battle fleet led by a dreadnought and consisting of three heavy cruisers, three light cruisers, three war destroyers, a light cruiser scout, and a heavy battlecruiser is less than 5,000 people.

Core worlds were mostly (mostly) not involved in the casualties and destruction (Remus being a notable exception, but we cannot forget the Hydran and Kzinti home and core worlds came under assault (and sort of occupation in the former case).

Even so, mass civilian death and infrastructure destruction in the Alpha Octant was relatively rare because its value was too great to both sides. You needed the already existing civilian populations to provide the resources from occupied worlds to fuel the war machines to defeat the enemy war machine.

While there were what could be called "front lines" where the fleets opposed each other, there was not really a front line in the sense of World War I and World War Ii where thousands died every day even when there were no significant offensive actions taking place. Indeed, during the General War there could be entire weeks, if not months, when the only combatants who died on either side were simply accidents.

But given the size of the fleets and their manning needs, even including infrastructure losses (a starbase here, a battle station there, convoys every where) the vast majority of the families on Earth, Vulcan, Andor, etc. had no direct knowledge or even tertiary knowledge of someone who had "died" as a result of the war.

By Mike West (Mjwest) on Friday, February 07, 2020 - 07:07 pm: Edit

Let's take the simplest example I can think of: the Tholians.

Going by the Order of Battle published on the main website and looking only at the warships only, they have fewer than 10,000 people on those ships. Assuming 10 times that for the whole thing, you get to 100,000. Push it up farther and you get, what, maybe 250,000 people in the entire Tholian defense force. Their Dyson sphere has a population of a few billion, but let's assume it is a single billion. They would have to lose their entire military forces four times over every year for an entire decade before they lost 1% of their starting population.

For larger empires like the Federation who likely have 10s or 100s of billions of citizens/subjects, the amount of destruction required is even more amazing. Making a dent in those numbers would require the outright sterilization of major worlds.

In other words, the entire navy of an empire could be lost multiple times a year for years before any empire's population base would even be affected. (Which couldn't happen because their production facilities couldn't make enough ships fast enough to get that many people killed.)

By Mike West (Mjwest) on Friday, February 07, 2020 - 07:10 pm: Edit

An interesting corollary of this is: why do the Klingons use subject races on their ships? Ever? Using them for ground forces? Sure. I get that. But why would they ever be allowed on any of their warships? Given what the population of Klingons has to be, there can't be any kind of need for them. So why add the risk and pretend they don't have enough people when they obviously do?

Or are Klingon Warriors effectively a sub-species of the Klingon race and super-super scarce? Oooo. May be Klingon Warriors are a sub-species that is a tremendously small percentage of the overall Klingon population and they have to use subject races on their warships because they are more trustworthy than the non-Warrior Klingons? Maybe they are more afraid of the non-Warrior Klingons than they are of the warriors from the subject races. That'd be a great secret that's been hidden out in the open this entire time ...

Anyway, sorry for the sidetrack. Just kinda occurred to be because of this discussion.

By Douglas Saldana (Dsal) on Friday, February 07, 2020 - 09:04 pm: Edit

I had the impression that the Klingons inherited this practice from the Old Kings. So it's not something they "need" to do, it's just part of their culture (as it developed when they themselves were a subject race).

By wayne douglas power (Wayne) on Friday, February 07, 2020 - 09:14 pm: Edit

Across the vastness of empires, even among the billions, there are only a few that have the skills to be in the space force.

By Mike West (Mjwest) on Friday, February 07, 2020 - 10:14 pm: Edit

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Quote:

Across the vastness of empires, even among the billions, there are only a few that have the skills to be in the space force.

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By Douglas Lampert (Dlampert) on Friday, February 07, 2020 - 11:25 pm: Edit

Or maybe Klingons want to conquer the galaxy so they can boss lesser races around, and the space force is a picked elite made of volunteers and among those most dedicated to this ideal.

What's the point of living your life to dominate lesser races, if your chosen profession never even SEES any of the lesser races close enough to give them orders?

There may well be subject races on Klingon ships specifically to give the ethnic Klingon crew someone to look down on and boss around.

By MarkSHoyle (Bolo) on Friday, February 07, 2020 - 11:36 pm: Edit

---

Quote:

Across the vastness of empires, even among the billions, there are only a few that have the skills to be in the space force.

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By Mike Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Saturday, February 08, 2020 - 10:56 am: Edit

IIRC

Subject races are indeed a hold over from the Old Kings.

The Klingons apparently never even considered not using them. Presumably they thought they'd eventually be uplifted. The Vudar were (read the history) but then they realized they had an opportunity that was only going to be open for a while..., the Slidarians presumably are kinda close, the Vegarians thought they were...

Klingon Warrior Caste is a voluntary thing. you can join it, or leave it, IIRC, but it may be closer to the modern (Western) tradition of military families. I used to work with a Brit that came from such a family. He told me that as far as he can tell, his family has had someone serving in the British forces since to 1600s. I suppose Prussians were the German speaking equivalent.

By Jeff Anderson (Jga) on Saturday, February 08, 2020 - 11:35 am: Edit

I think we've managed to address the (excellent) question of the populace in revolt over losses of family, but there's another aspect of unrest which, unfortunately, descends into `Gator food territory; the question, "Why are we being taxed into the poorhouse for these (expletive deleted) warmongers?!?"

As has been established in SFU Canon, there are some folks, notably the Federation Unionist Party and pretty much the entire Gorn bureaucracy, who see financing a star fleet, even in times of peace when it's just maintaining what they have already, as an expense they hate. Add to that the costs involved in new construction to replace wartime losses, and the centicredit pinchers can easily start howling for "Peace at all costs!!"

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Saturday, February 08, 2020 - 04:29 pm: Edit

The Tholian material from various issues of Captain's Log which are presented in Away Team Log, plus the Tholian data in the various Early Years SFB modules, notes how the Holdfast military is affected not just by population, but also by the unique constraints which the Holdfast sphere found itself upon its arrival in the Alpha Octant.

Notably, while the Holdfast succeeded in averting the imminent collapse of the Sphere in the earliest months and years upon arrival, there remained a century's worth of additional work to do in order to prevent eventual collapse. Indeed, it's stated that the reason why Tholian ships may not have Legendary Engineers prior to Y180 is that anyone showing such talents were immediately drafted into the ongoing Sphere stabilization project.

Also, while the "tribute" claimed from the occupied Klingon colonies in the region may have helped matters somewhat, the Holdfast - having been burned by the experience of letting carbon-based subjects do the hard work of resource extraction on their behalf back in the home galaxy - essentially had to "learn" how to be a self-sufficient star-faring species all over again. Which, combined with the need to operate ships, bases, and other forms of military infrastructure across Holdfast-claimed space, is a lot of pressure to place on a relatively small population of exiles and refugees.

And as they learned the hard way when they tried (and catastrophically failed) to gain access to the files needed to (re-)learn how to build new particle cannons, even the loss of a handful of key personnel with the right expertise and/or the right level of security clearances can be disproportionately fateful for the Holdfast Tholians relative to other empires.

-----

On a broader issue, it is worth considering the various population levels in empires across the Alpha Octant.

In both Gorn and Romulan space, there are relatively few viable (Class-K/L/M/N/O) planets suitable for colonization by oxy-nitrogen breathers, relative to what is found over in Federation or Klingon space. Plus, of those worlds which are habitable for "life as we know it", there are almost no other sapient species which can be readily co-opted for use as member or subject species. (Even the Romulans aren't sure what to do with the "Suppressed Species" out near the Galactic Rim.) So, it's up to the Romulans and Gorns themselves to plant colonies and - if they are lucky - to nurse more than a handful of them to major or minor industrial planet status. An that is while also raising each of their "home worlds" to the same level technologically and socially. Which in the case of the Romulans, who have a habit of burning the candle from both ends economically-speaking, makes it more difficult for them to stay in the fight after the first few rounds have been fought - as tragically demonstrated in the course of Operation Remus.

The Kzintis and Lyrans are in a somewhat better position. Both species are able to increase their numbers quite quickly by human or Klingon standards, making it somewhat easier for them to build up a suitable colony into a major industrial world. Which might help explain why both empires feel comfortable keeping their respective subject planets under wraps - and perhaps, helped fuel their deep-seated hatred towards the Carnivons, in that they were willing to commit mass xenocide on the Carnivon planets rather than keep them alive as sources of tribute. (The Paravians were also capable of increasing their numbers rapidly, though they were mostly restrained during their time in the Alpha Octant by their disposition not to "leave the nest", Marengo Firecloud Wildfeather's efforts to convince his people otherwise notwithstanding.)

While the Federation and ISC benefit from a collaborative union of species (though the ISC has far fewer prospective member worlds to work with), it should be noted that the Klingon use of their own subject planets extends beyond their use as starship crews. While the Vudar provide perhaps the most far-ranging example of this, even more "traditional" subject species like the Dunkars and Hillidarians are integrated into the Klingon imperial system. For example, the hereditary King of Dunkaria also serves as the Count of his province, whereas the ruler of Hillidaria also serves as the Baron of his Imperial district. While not quite as rewarding as Federation or ISC membership, a Dunkar looking across the border to the Lyran Foremost Duchy might consider himself to be relatively fortunate that it is Klingon, not Lyran, ships which orbit his home world. And, from the perspective of the Klingons themselves, gives the Emperor a broader source of colonists with which to settle new worlds, as well as recruits in order to fill out his armed forces.

And while the Hydrans are more generous towards the Borak and the various "exile species" in their territory, they do not go as far as the Klingons in terms of integrating them into the Kingdom's military. But it remains an open question as to exactly how many class-S worlds are to be found in Hydran space, and - given how large they are relative to your typical class-M planet - how large a population of Hydrans it takes to fully establish themselves upon them.

-----

There is one other thing, though. In the published fiction, it's noted that Arcturia, which was occupied by the Klingons for much of the General War, surrendered more or less peacefully once the Klingons unveiled Kezlok: a Klingon officer who had once served on an exchange program with Star Fleet, and who earned fame among Arcturians during the victory over Juggernaut Beta. Yet in Federation and Empire terms, a Klingon player would have to devastate the planet, no differently than they would with any other major or minor planet on the F&E hex map, prior to occupation. (Even more remarkably, the Feds would themselves have to re-devastate the planet in order to recapture it.)

So, depending on which version of events is more "correct", the scale of death and destruction in the General War at large may be orders of magnitude higher or lower, not least if the Feds were historically obliged to bombard their own planets in order to retrieve them from the Coalition.

By wayne douglas power (Wayne) on Saturday, February 08, 2020 - 05:51 pm: Edit

"there are only a few that have the skills to be in the space force"

That is to say, most other people/species among the billions are not involved/employed in the military, they are busy with business, and running the economy.

All good

By Lawrence Bergen (Lar) on Sunday, February 09, 2020 - 10:42 am: Edit

Maybe it is there are only a few that have the money or personal network to be in the space force. At least those who are the button pushers.

Haha...that’s Mr Legendary Button Pusher to you.

———
There has to be a different level of economics in regards to space forces and support systems needed. This is supported simply enough by the F&E game in that a planet considered devastated can still produce enough surplus Economy Points that it contributes to the military. The planetary infrastructure is still intact. My opinion here is it’s not really the farms or business that were destroyed but that the reduced income from these planets is resetting the systems in place to rejoin the military network and contribute its full capacity. It’s simply the military defenses / military supply capacity that were devastated.

Otherwise you could end a war by unleashing a super weapon on every planet the enemy has. I am not talking a Death Star type weapon though. There are plenty of examples in trek where one ship could alter the atmosphere to ‘save the planet’ at risk of something going terribly wrong. They would just have to plan for something to go terribly wrong in order to eliminate each population and walk away. (So many examples, A modified torpedo, a phased array beam, or specific targeted explosions into the planets geological support structure.)

By Mike West (Mjwest) on Sunday, February 09, 2020 - 01:28 pm: Edit

... or the warp core of a ship the size of a Federation CVA ...

(It is interesting to me that the greatest war atrocity was committed by the Federation.)

By Gregory S Flusche (Vandar) on Sunday, February 09, 2020 - 04:42 pm: Edit

The warmongering FEDS. Puppets of the Vulcans. The Vulcans are the ones running the Federation. Code vs Killing not by any Logic I know. Logic some times says kill that thing are it will kill us.

By Lawrence Bergen (Lar) on Sunday, February 09, 2020 - 07:29 pm: Edit

I always thought the ‘militant fed’ scenario was run by the alternate universe science officer with a goatee

By Mike Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Sunday, February 09, 2020 - 08:12 pm: Edit

"there are only a few that have the skills to be in the space force"

Well, you have to figure that the prospective recruit would have to be

1) Totally non claustrophobic
2) In a fairly high decile of intelligence
3) Be about as perfectly stable mentally as you can measure
4) Have a good background education
5) Have a suitable (clean) background when they get evaluated for a security clearance
6) Be willing to go somewhere far away and risk their life
7) Not be a xenophobe
8) Volunteer
9) etc