RPG Set in Earth-Romulan War, Feedback?

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S12RPG
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RPG Set in Earth-Romulan War, Feedback?

Post by S12RPG »

Hey Star Trek fans! I'm running an RPG with some friends set in the Earth-Romulan war, building off the themes in Season 4 of ENT. I had some fun putting together a campaign brief that I spent way too much time on, and thought you guys might get a kick out of it. Let me know if you have any feedback or suggestions for some fun game-play!

I'm hoping to be as accurate with on-screen canon as possible, as my friends are huge ENT fans. I don't really care if I contradict the books, but am taking some inspiration from the books in developing the setting. I'm a fan of the main site's description of ST tech level that doesn't contradict canon, so I'm hoping to use that for this campaign.

===

Starbase 12 Campaign
This campaign is based in the ST:ENT universe in March 2156, during the beginning of what is being called the Earth-Romulan war. Playable characters are Starfleet officers stationed at Starbase 12 in the Deneva system, attempting to maintain the peace in an important United Earth colony while preparing for the war effort. Character options:
  • Engineer leading first Coalition research project, goal: coordinate team of engineers from Starfleet, Vulcan, Tellar, and Andoria to develop countermeasures to Romulan cloaking technology. Coalition partners are not always willing to share technology.
  • Tactical officer to secure the Deneva system amidst domestic disturbance and mount a counter-attack on the conquered system of Beta-Aquilae. United Earth’s control over Deneva colony has been shaken by citizen uncertainty about whether United Earth can keep them safe from the Romulan threat.
  • Diplomat to encourage Coalition partners to commit forces to the front line, even through unofficial means. While Earth colonies have taken the major brunt of attack, the Vulcans, Andorians, and Tellarites have been unaffected and have remained distant from the front-lines. United Earth needs the support of its allies to survive.
Setting
United Earth’s remote colonies have been under surprise attacks by hostile fleets from the Romulan Star Empire. Generally, the Romulans have used their cloaking device to conduct hit and run bombardments of the planets and orbital infrastructure of distant United Earth colonies. However, four months ago (December 2155), the Romulans attacked Beta Aquilae colony and seized the system in a decisive blow to Starfleet. Ten Daedalus class starships were lost in the attempt to retake the system as the Romulans have begun fortifying the system and laying cloaked minefields. At this time United Earth has formed a loose alliance with Tellar (the Tellarites), Andoria, and Vulcan called the "Coalition of Planets". United Earth has called upon its coalition allies to assist in retaking its colony, but so far no joint fleet action against the Romulans has taken place. United Earth has been particularly vulnerable to Romulan cloaking technology, which gives Romulan ships a decisive combat advantage and makes them impossible to detect while at warp.

Location
Starbase 12 is located in the Deneva star system, home to some of United Earth's first colonies: the M class world of Santosha (Deneva II, 100 million ppl), the D class Mitra (Deneva IV, 10 million ppl), and a thriving asteroid belt economy centered around asteroid Shan (distributed 50 million). Starbase 12 is a research outpost that has been retrofitted to be a military research installation and shipyard for prototype technologies in orbit around gas giant Deneva VI. The Deneva star system is not a remote colony, but is closer to the Romulan front than Earth is, and so efforts are being made to install defensive measures in the unlikely event of an attack. Deneva is closest to Earth, then Tellar, then Vulcan, with Andoria relatively far away. Starfleet has deployed an early warning subspace detection satellite network in the system’s Oort cloud. Currently Starbase 12 is defended by 3 Daedalus class starships, but reinforcements are en route from Earth.

Systems of Interest:
Coalition of Planets
United Earth: Sol (homeworld Earth), Alpha-Centauri, Sirius, Deneva, Vega, Beta-Aquilae, Berengaria, Cygnia Minor
Vulcan Confederacy: Omicron Eridani (homeworld Vulcan), P’Jem, Chara
Andorian Empire: Procyon (homeworld Andor), Weytahn, Zalvijava
Tellarite: Tellar (homeworld), Altair, Duroc
Other members: Denobula Triaxa

Romulan: Cheron, Draken, Galordon Core, Algeron, (?)
Klingon: Qo’Nos (homeworld), Raatoras, Bre’el, Qu’vat, Xarantine
Non-Aligned: Nova, Coridan, Draylax, Nausicaa, Mazar, Tandar, Kretassa, Risa

The Romulans
The Romulans are a mysterious race to Starfleet. No human has ever spoken to a Romulan in person, or heard even reports of what they look like. In 2152, the Enterprise ran into a cloaked Romulan minefield surrounding an uncharted planet that nearly disabled the ship. Romulan starships decloaked and demanded they leave the system. Starfleet intelligence has little information about Romulan culture or politics, but suspects that the Romulans are a xenophobic and fiercely territorial race and have been provoked by United Earth expansion into their territorial claims.
Covert hostilities against human colonies began in October 2155. Unconfirmed reports of raids on warp freighters servicing outlying colonies were later confirmed to be the first wave of Romulan raiding parties. In November, Romulans began cloaked raiding operations on outlying United Earth colonies in Berengaria and Beta-Aquilae. The Romulans targeted infrastructure assets distributed throughout the system, cloaking and escaping before direct engagement with Starfleet ships. The Romulan attackers refused to communicate other than demanding Starfleet retreat from these systems. In December 2155, Romulan forces outmaneuvered Starfleet and occupied the Beta-Aquilae star system. Since the occupation, no subspace signal has been received from that system. Ten Daedalus class starships were lost in the attempt to retake the system as the Romulans have begun fortifying the system and laying cloaked minefields.
Starfleet intelligence is concerned that the Romulan cloaking device may be an insurmountable tactical advantage. In Beta Aquilae, the Romulans were able to use their cloak to both hide their numbers and to take advantage of vulnerable locations on the Starfleet starships. Developing countermeasures to the cloak is thus a top priority and may even be required for successfully retaking Beta Aquilae.

United Earth History and Current Standing
In the late 21st century, the major nation-states of Earth attacked one another with thermonuclear weapons, resulting in massive depopulation of the planet. In the aftermath of the war, a fascist regime overtook a majority of the world promising purity and ordering the death of those suffering from radiation poisoning. Ultimately this regime splintered into geographic bodies in a state of Cold War with one another. The world was shocked by Zephram Cochrane’s warp flight and humanity’s introduction to sentient life outside their planet by meeting the Vulcans. After this revelation, leaders from war-weary nations mutually agreed to form a strong unified central government to allow humanity to rebuild from the ashes and have a potential future as a space-faring society. These governments thus formed United Earth.
United Earth is not only a political organization, but an ideology and philosophy that firmly states that humanity has “grown beyond its infancy”. Key to the philosophy of United Earth is that each human’s purpose is to seek to improve themselves and all of humanity. United Earth prioritizes technological advancement, discovery, exploration, and expansion. Citizens are highly motivated to take jobs as scientists, engineers, explorers, and colonists. Cultural pursuits and the arts are also encouraged, but generally not of central focus. These priorities and the systems to achieve them were encoded into the United Earth charter.
Centralized planning of the economy provides a comfortable standard of living for all citizens using technological innovation and resource rationing. While United Earth credits are used as currency, housing and most services of living are provided by the government, and citizens are given a guaranteed income of credits. United Earth philosophy explicitly states that citizens do not work for the purpose of making money, but for the purpose of bettering humanity. Excessive personal interest in accumulating wealth is considered taboo and accumulated personal wealth can be re-allocated by the government. United Earth ministers and commissioners coordinate resources and capital for meritorious enterprises that are conducted within United Earth under their supervision, thus negating the need for private investment.
This system is maintained through the centralized coordination of the social structure of United Earth. Government influenced cultural forces and mandatory education throughout a citizen’s life emphasizes service to humanity and self-improvement as goals and encourages citizens to find meaning and purpose through their work. Citizens who exhibit “un-evolved” traits of greed or sloth are committed for re-education. While freedom of thought and expression are pro-forma protected under the United Earth charter, the centralized social coordination thought to be essential in maintaining the enlightened attitudes for building a free society necessitated that these rights be limited in practice. Freedom of religion and cultural practices are tolerated, but clearly de-emphasized for citizens compared to United Earth priorities.
United Earth strongly prioritizes egalitarianism and is opposed to inequality or discrimination both within its society and in other societies. United Earth is generally friendly to outsiders, with a key precept of bettering humanity by sharing technology and knowledge with other civilizations. A number of non-humans have applied and been accepted for citizenship, but the process requires complete assimilation and acceptance of United Earth principles. United Earth citizens generally report a very high life satisfaction, particularly in the core worlds.
While the United Earth charter strictly defines many features of the government, United Earth is a representative republic. United Earth citizens are represented by a single elected president with executive powers and a legislative council with a senator from every region within United Earth, with voting power proportional to population. The number of senators and their scope of their constituencies vary, with senators representing a specific region on a planet to representing entire star systems. Judges are appointed by the president, and ratified by the council to interpret the United Earth charter.
By the 22nd century, nearly all humans were part of United Earth, with major pre-existing government bodies federalized beneath its governing authority. People who objected to living in United Earth territory were free to leave and renounce their citizenship. As United Earth began colonizing the planets and moons of the Sol system, mild skirmishes between United Earth forces and rebels were common. Ultimately, the rebels retreated to the Oort cloud, where they conducted intermittent piracy. The rebellion with the most lasting significance occurred in the first United Earth colony out of the solar system, Terra Nova. The colony declared independence over disagreements regarding colonization plans at a time when United Earth did not have sufficiently fast starships to enforce its authority. Future United Earth colonization efforts were more coordinated, with early colonists carefully selected for allegiance to United Earth principles. Terra Nova remains an independent colony on good terms with United Earth. United Earth colonies have local representative governments which are given limited governing authority, but are mandated to maintain United Earth social and economic ideals in operation.
In the 2250s, United Earth is viewed by its interstellar neighbors as a surprisingly ambitious and rapidly developing upstart interstellar civilization. Their rapid rate of progress have caused some civilizations, particularly the Vulcans, to become concerned that they are acting recklessly. However, in general, humans are generally considered as empathetic, if somewhat foolish, with a strong sense of moral justice. They have earned a trust-worthy reputation as an honest broker, and were thus instrumental in achieving peace among the local spacefaring civilizations.

The Coalition
Alliances between the Coalition members have been strained. Andor and Vulcan have had a long history of conflict with border skirmishes. Tellarites have been quarrelsome and are generally considered untrustworthy. And while Administrator T’Pau has reversed the High Command’s policy of aggressive expansionism, her new policy of pacifist isolationism is inflaming tensions further, especially in the context of an external threat. The saving grace for the Coalition has always been that humans have independently maintained positive relationships with all parties involved.
Vulcan starships are individually the most technologically advanced with sophisticated weaponry and warp engines unsurpassed by any other race able to achieve Warp 7. However, after the Cyranite reformation, many of their ships were disarmed or unmanned. Vulcan has not participated in any forward actions in the conflict between Earth and Romulans.
Andorian starships are more well armed and armored than Earth vessels, but Vulcan ships are still more powerful. The Andorians lack transporter technology and have less sophisticated scientific and sensor instrumentation compared to Earth vessels. The imperial guard is currently at peak strength and while certain military leaders have expressed interest in front-line operations against the Romulans, the Imperial Guard has currently been maintaining defensive operations.
Tellarites do not have a unified military force, but instead operate as a group of independent factions. Their vessels are greatly varied in their functionality and armaments compared to other empires. There is mixed consensus, but generally very few Tellarites have shown willingness to be involved in what is considered Earth’s problem.

Starships
United Earth
NX class (4 in operation: Enterprise, Columbia, Challenger, Atlantis)
Warp 5, phase cannons, photonic torpedoes, 250 m length, 83 crew, CR 3
Daedalus class (40 in operation)
Warp 3, plasma weapons, spatial torpedoes, 140 m length, 120 crew, CR 1
Vulcan
D’Kyr class (~5 in operation: Seleeya-B)
Warp 7, disruptors, 147 crew, 600 m length, CR 6
Suurok class (~25 in operation: Ti’Mur
Warp 7.5, disruptors, 120 crew, 350 m length, CR 4
Andoria
Battle cruiser (~50 in operation: Kumari-II)
Warp 6, 5 particle cannons, 86 crew, 360 m length, CR 5
Romulan
??? Bird of Prey (?? in operation)
Warp ???, 2+ plasma cannons, ?? crew, 130 m length, cloaking device

Important Historical Context
2154: Joint fleet operations first started between the United Earth starfleet, the Vulcan High Command, the Andorian Imperial Guard, and the Tellarite Armada to track down a marauding alien spacecraft that impersonated other starships and attempted to start a war between these local powers. The Starfleet flagship Enterprise was instrumental in coordinating these joint fleet activities that ended up destroying the marauding chameleon ships. The origin and intentions of this alien ship was never revealed. However, limited joint fleet operations have sporadically continued since this point.
2155: The Earth embassy on Vulcan was bombed by forces loyal to administrator V’Las from the Vulcan High command as part of a plan to attack Andoria on the pretext that they were using Xindi weaponry. This prompted the Vulcan Cyrranite reformation that led to the dissolution of the High Command and the introduction of administrator T’Pau, who instituted a pacifist, isolationist foreign policy. Starfleet is still unsure why V’Las believed Andoria was planning a pre-emptive attack on Vulcan with Xindi weaponry.
2156: A ceremony at Starfleet headquarters on Earth where ambassadors from Tellar, Vulcan, and Andoria were convening to formally form the Coalition of planets alliance was nearly disrupted. Xenophobic tensions among United Earth citizens following the Xindi incident lead to a group of lunar miners seizing the Verteron array on Mars and threatening to destroy Starfleet Headquarters. The group attempted to inflame tensions by creating a Human-Vulcan hybrid created from crewmembers of the Starfleet ship Enterprise. Their attempt was foiled and the Coalition of Planets treaty was ultimately signed.

Technology Notes
Warp Drive: an advanced technology outfitted on a relatively small number of ships that uses a dilithium-moderated M/AM reaction to generate warp plasma that is run through warp coils in nacelles to generate a warp bubble. The warp bubble is a subspace displacement field that can be shaped to some extent based on the configuration of the coils and the alignment of the warp plasma. When an intact bubble is created around the ship, the warp drive can accelerate the bubble and the ship within it to FTL speeds relative to the outside universe without violating causality.
Warp 1
1c
0.002 ly/day
Warp 2
10c
0.02 ly/day
Warp 3
39c
0.11 ly/day
Warp 4
102c
0.28 ly/day
Warp 5
214c
0.59 ly/day
Warp 6
392c
1.1 ly/day
Warp 7
656c
1.8 ly/day

Subspace Sensors: subspace particles (tetryons) can be detected using specialized sensors without the need of a warp bubble. Active subspace sensors operate by emitting tetryon particles that travel at very high speeds (Warp 9+) and are scattered when interacting with objects that have subspace signatures. Massive objects, moons/planets/etc have a subspace shadow, this allows for navigation. Starships using warp drive have a significant subspace shadow, and can be detected using subspace sensors

News bulletin #1
Starfleet Command again promises “overwhelming force” to liberate Beta Aquilae
DNN (Deneva News Network)
February 4, 2156
Tian Peizhi reporting

It has now been four months since the Romulan Star Empire has seized Beta Aquilae, a star-system 12 light years from Deneva with a United Earth colony of 3 million humans. Since the invasion, the system has been under communication blackout, and the fate of the citizens under Romulan control is unknown. In a press conference on Starbase 12, Starfleet media officer Ishwar Kamal was asked by DNN correspondent Tian Peizhi about whether there was a plan to drive the Romulan Star Empire out of Beta-Aquilae. Kamal stated, “Starfleet will not allow any United Earth citizens to live under the despotic rule of the Romulans. I can reveal that numerous Starfleet admirals have been in direct communication with President Samuels. While we cannot reveal specifics, we can say that we plan to deploy overwhelming force, in conjunction with our Coalition allies, to free our citizens.” Kamal did not take further questions.

United Earth has long been promising a decisive response to the Romulan attacks on its colonies, but many critics have voiced concerns that the authorities have not done enough to protect its citizens. Denevan representative Josefina Prado (Independent-23) stated, “Earth needs to commit to defending its citizens and must be transparent about the Romulan threat. Bluster from Starfleet admirals isn’t enough anymore!”. The Terra Prime party has a massive growth of support in Deneva, in response to the perceived inadequacy of Coalition allies in supporting Earth during its attacks. Representative Arthur Weschler (Terra Prime-35, “Humanity is under attack. Now Samuels is saying that Earth can only defend itself with the help of more untrustworthy aliens? God help us.” Even long-time Earth loyalists have become wary of perceived hesitation of Starfleet to respond to Romulan aggression. Representative Yang Ning (Unity-3), “I believe that Samuels can get us through this, but I hear from a lot of frightened constituents who are worried who will be attacked next. It’s time to go on the offensive!”

DNN sources in Starbase 12, who wish to remain anonymous, have revealed to us that Starfleet has no strategy to retake Beta-Aquilae, and that in fact an attempt was already launched to retake the system, with all vessels destroyed. When asked to comment on this source, Starfleet media officer stated that these stories were untrue and likely Romulan propaganda intended to demoralize.


News bulletin #2
Starfleet Corps of Engineers unveils first-of-its kind orbital ring system around Mitra (Deneva IV)
UEN (United Earth News)
February 25, 2156
Ishwar Kamal

Starfleet Corps of Engineers have just completed a technological marvel, an artificial ring system that surrounds the dilithium mining colony of Mitra, the fourth planet in the Deneva system. While such a system has been imagined by futurists in the early 21st century, this is the first time it has been implemented by United Earth. This system will greatly enhance the efficiency of mining operations to produce the essential dilithium for Stafleet’s growing fleet of exploratory and defensive starships.

(cool diagrams of orbital rings)
>>>Click here to learn more about this technological marvel!

This success is the fruits of nearly twenty years of work of the Denevan colonists, who celebrated this massive achievement. Senator Mishina Nikolayevna (Unity-Deneva) praised the accomplishment, “In just 100 years, our civilization has evolved from near extinction to a people that reach out to the stars, claim them, and remake the very planets for the prosperity of all. I am proud to be a citizen of United Earth and to represent the Deneva system in its esteemed Council!”

These efforts would not have been possible without the assistance of Earth’s strongest allies, the Vulcans, who contributed key engineering insights that will lead to the stability of the ring system. Ambassador T’Mpek, stationed on Starbase 12 in the Deneva system, remarked, “It was an efficient enterprise. I’m told the Vulcan advisors found the work fulfilling.”

As we journey forward into a bold new future for humanity and for all sentient beings in the galaxy, let’s remember that our quest to improve ourselves depends on each of us doing our part! Contact your United Earth recruiter today and fulfill your destiny!

(recruiting photos of smiling human engineers working in orbit)
>>> Build a Better Tomorrow! Join the Starfleet Corps of Engineers

(photos of Captain Archer and friends on exploratory missions)
>>> Seek out New Lives and New Civilizations! Apply for Starfleet Academy

(photos of MACO forces cooperating with Vulcan and Andorian commandos)
>>> Boldly Go where No Man Has Gone Before! Sign up to be a MACO
S12RPG
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Re: RPG Set in Earth-Romulan War, Feedback?

Post by S12RPG »

A buddy of mine reminded that the atomic horror court shown in Encounter at Farpoint was in 2079, after First Contact! So it seems the transition into United Earth took some time even after that first warp flight in 2063 and meeting the Vulcans. It's a very interesting time period, and I want to get it right, since one of the villains of the campaign is motivated by his contempt for UE as an organization. Let me know if anything here is non-canon or doesn't feel like Star Trek, see update:

==

United Earth History and Current Standing
In 2026, the major nation-states of Earth attacked one another with nuclear weapons in a conflict called World War III which resulted in massive depopulation of the planet. In the aftermath of the war, a fascist regime overtook the world promising purity and ordering the death of those suffering from radiation poisoning. Ultimately this regime splintered into geographic bodies in a state of Cold War with one another. The world was shocked by Zephram Cochrane’s warp flight in 2063 and humanity’s introduction to sentient life outside their planet by meeting the Vulcans. After this revelation, leaders from several war-weary nations mutually agreed to form a strong unified central government to allow humanity to rebuild from the ashes and have a potential future as a space-faring society. Previous attempts at unified humanity, such as the United Nations, were reincarnated by these sponsor nations in the new super-national organization United Earth.
Despite the efforts of several large nation states, there was strong resistance and backlash to the plans for centralization of power under United Earth. Rebels objected to the political conformity and loss of local autonomy required under United Earth rule, and suspected that the new organization was a puppet of the Vulcans. This precipitated a bloody and protracted conflict spanning the entire planet and the early solar system colonies, including acts of nuclear terrorism. In fact, by 2079, United Earth was still a minor governing power on the planet in open conflict with other factions. Ultimately, however, with the assistance of Vulcans, United Earth prevailed and consolidated power by 2083.
United Earth is not only a political organization, but an ideology and philosophy that firmly states that humanity has “grown beyond its infancy”. Key to the philosophy of United Earth is that each human’s purpose is to seek to improve themselves and all of humanity. United Earth prioritizes technological advancement, discovery, exploration, and expansion. Citizens are highly motivated to take jobs as scientists, engineers, explorers, and colonists. Cultural pursuits and the arts are also encouraged, but generally not of central focus. These priorities and the systems to achieve them were encoded into the United Earth charter.
Centralized planning of the economy provides a comfortable standard of living for all citizens using technological innovation and resource rationing. While United Earth credits are used as currency, housing and most services of living are provided by the government, and citizens are given a guaranteed income of credits. United Earth philosophy explicitly states that citizens do not work for the purpose of making money, but for the purpose of bettering humanity. Excessive personal interest in accumulating wealth is considered taboo and accumulated personal wealth can be re-allocated by the government. United Earth ministers and commissioners coordinate resources and capital for meritorious enterprises that are conducted within United Earth under their supervision, thus negating the need for private investment.
This system is maintained through the centralized coordination of the social structure of United Earth. Government influenced cultural forces and mandatory education throughout a citizen’s life emphasizes service to humanity and self-improvement as goals and encourages citizens to find meaning and purpose through their work. Citizens who exhibit “un-evolved” traits of greed or sloth are committed for re-education. While freedom of thought and expression are pro-forma protected under the United Earth charter, the centralized social coordination thought to be essential in maintaining the enlightened attitudes for building a free society necessitated that these rights be limited in practice. Freedom of religion and cultural practices are tolerated, but clearly de-emphasized for citizens compared to United Earth priorities.
United Earth strongly prioritizes egalitarianism and is opposed to inequality or discrimination both within its society and in other societies. United Earth is generally friendly to outsiders, with a key precept of bettering humanity by sharing technology and knowledge with other civilizations. A number of non-humans have applied and been accepted for citizenship, but the process requires complete assimilation and acceptance of United Earth principles. United Earth citizens generally report a very high life satisfaction, particularly in the core worlds.
While the United Earth charter strictly defines many features of the government, United Earth is a representative republic. United Earth citizens are represented by a single elected president with executive powers and a legislative council with a senator from every region within United Earth, with voting power proportional to population. The number of senators and their scope of their constituencies vary, with senators representing a specific region on a planet to representing entire star systems. Judges are appointed by the president, and ratified by the council to interpret the United Earth charter.
By the end of the 21st century, nearly all humans were part of United Earth, with major pre-existing government bodies federalized beneath its governing authority. People who objected to living in United Earth territory were required to leave and renounce their citizenship. As United Earth began colonizing the planets and moons of the Sol system, mild skirmishes between United Earth forces and rebels were common. Ultimately, the rebels retreated to the Oort cloud, where they conducted intermittent piracy. The rebellion with the most lasting significance occurred in the first United Earth colony out of the solar system, Terra Nova (colonized 2078). In 2083, the colony declared independence over disagreements regarding colonization plans at a time when United Earth did not have sufficiently fast starships to enforce its authority. Future United Earth colonization efforts were more coordinated, with early colonists carefully selected for allegiance to United Earth principles. Terra Nova remains an independent colony on good terms with United Earth. United Earth colonies have local representative governments which are given limited governing authority, but are mandated to maintain United Earth social and economic ideals in operation.
In the 2250s, United Earth is viewed by its interstellar neighbors as a surprisingly ambitious and rapidly developing upstart interstellar civilization. Their rapid rate of progress have caused some civilizations, particularly the Vulcans, to become concerned that they are acting recklessly. However, in general, humans are generally considered as empathetic, if somewhat foolish, with a strong sense of moral justice. They have earned a trust-worthy reputation as an honest broker, and were thus instrumental in achieving peace among the local spacefaring civilizations.
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Re: RPG Set in Earth-Romulan War, Feedback?

Post by Solauren »

Suggestion for ships -
https://www.starfleet-museum.org/
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Re: RPG Set in Earth-Romulan War, Feedback?

Post by S12RPG »

Thanks Solauren! Definitely some cool ideas there. I do want to stay pretty similar to the ST:ENT on-screen canon though. So I'm thinking the 2156 Starfleet has got to have a fleet of antimatter-powered warp ships. Perhaps some of these designs could be the older ships that Starfleet need to bring out of mothballs to face the Romulan threat though!

Also, I had a question for you all! One thing that came up in the campaign is whether United Earth relied on a fleet of sub-light ships. We were thinking that intra-system mining operations, trade/distribution, and colonization efforts could be done with sub-light fusion torch ships. This might explain why in canon we see so few Starfleet ships. All the action and drama happens on the relatively rare (expensive?) warp capable starships, but behind the scenes the majority of United Earth / Starfleet ships are sub-light. What do you think?
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Re: RPG Set in Earth-Romulan War, Feedback?

Post by Lord Revan »

Honestly I'd go mostly fusion (or "simple impulse") powered ships with the few specials classes with M/AM power as the Warpcore of the NX was seen as big deal, I'd also have most of the fleet with Cyclonic torps and lasers with photon torps being super rare and only the NX being armed with phase cannons.

This would make agree with both what we saw in ENT and what Spock said about the war later (cyclonic torps are fusion warheads).

EDIT:After all having something isn't the same as having unlimited number of something.
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Re: RPG Set in Earth-Romulan War, Feedback?

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Very nice, I think that makes a lot of sense. Yeah the way we've been playing there are 4 NX class ships (warp 5), and maybe 20 Daedalus class ships (warp 2) in all of UE space. So at a given time, there may only be 1 or 2 warp capable ships in the Deneva system at a time.

Agreed about the weaponry, so far I've made fusion weapons to be an important part of the campaign. Clearly outmatched by antimatter weapons (photonic) carried by the NX class, but still the weapon of choice of most Starfleet ships, and of any pirates/rebels in the Deneva system. Phase cannons are new tech, most ships outfitted with lasers/railguns with tracers (Children of a Dead Earth style). Haven't had direct conflict with Romulans yet, but I was considering making them using nukes also, to respect canon. Also, is there canon support for the Romulans using black holes in the 2150s, or is that just in the 2360s?

To balance the numerical and cloak advantage of the Romulans, I was considering that maybe the Romulans haven't broken warp 5 yet. So if UE is able to get a tactical advantage on them, some of the NX classes could go on a joint fleet actions with some Andorians and Vulcans and out-maneuver them by attacking their core systems.
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Re: RPG Set in Earth-Romulan War, Feedback?

Post by Solauren »

Use the Starfleet Museum ships as 'older designs that were updated to modern warp and combat standards', and built because they could be built faster then NX and Daedelous class ships.

I mean, which makes more sense, building an NX class, or 10 lesser cruisers that together, pack more firepower and shields, for the same price?
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Re: RPG Set in Earth-Romulan War, Feedback?

Post by Lord Revan »

S12RPG wrote: 2021-01-28 06:49am Very nice, I think that makes a lot of sense. Yeah the way we've been playing there are 4 NX class ships (warp 5), and maybe 20 Daedalus class ships (warp 2) in all of UE space. So at a given time, there may only be 1 or 2 warp capable ships in the Deneva system at a time.

Agreed about the weaponry, so far I've made fusion weapons to be an important part of the campaign. Clearly outmatched by antimatter weapons (photonic) carried by the NX class, but still the weapon of choice of most Starfleet ships, and of any pirates/rebels in the Deneva system. Phase cannons are new tech, most ships outfitted with lasers/railguns with tracers (Children of a Dead Earth style). Haven't had direct conflict with Romulans yet, but I was considering making them using nukes also, to respect canon. Also, is there canon support for the Romulans using black holes in the 2150s, or is that just in the 2360s?

To balance the numerical and cloak advantage of the Romulans, I was considering that maybe the Romulans haven't broken warp 5 yet. So if UE is able to get a tactical advantage on them, some of the NX classes could go on a joint fleet actions with some Andorians and Vulcans and out-maneuver them by attacking their core systems.
Romulans were "simple impulse power" (read:fusion) until 2260s (or more specific until their alliance with the Klingons in mid 23th Century), this is what gave the Constitution class an edge over the Bird of Prey in "Balance of Terror".

What I would do is give Starfleet and allies (aka Vulcans, Andorians, Tellarites) an edge in power and speed, while Romulans would have an edge in Stealth and other covert methods. Remember that this wasn't strictly Earth/Romulan conflict though they were the main powers involved.

EDIT:In the ENT relaunch novels set in this era Vulcans, Andorians Tellarites had limited involvement in the war (main thanks to their ships being more susceptible to electronic hijack by Romulans). You might want to look into that too.
EDIT:23rd Century=2200s, I wish I didn't have point this out but I've seen for too many cases where people have mixed it with 2300s (aka the 24th century).
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Re: RPG Set in Earth-Romulan War, Feedback?

Post by S12RPG »

Great balance suggestions all, thank you!

I'm definitely taking some stuff from the ENT relaunch. But to be honest I found the electronic hijack system to be a bit bizarre. Also, in those books the Romulans made some very tactically unsound decisions: attacking Andoria, genocidal attacks on civilians, etc. that made it way to easy for United Earth to recruit allies.

The way I see it, the main goal of the Romulans at this era is to sabotage the Coalition of Planets, which is clearly barely staying together because of United Earth refereeing. So, the Romulans are performing direct attacks against outlying United Earth colonies focusing on Starfleet assets accusing UE of reckless expansion into Romulan territorial claims. They haven't posed any direct risk to Andoria, Vulcan, or Tellar, so they're all hesitant to get involved.

At the same time, the Romulans are stirring up a Vulcan civil war using their deep cover agents (e.g. people like administrator V'Las) who are encouraging former High Command military officers to resist the demilitarization and re-education measures that the new administrator T'Pau is implementing. T'Pau has expressly stated she does not intend to get involved in the Earth-Romulan conflict.

They keep calling Andoria an "empire" in canon, so I imagine there are some subject races/planets in Andorian space. I'm thinking that the Romulans would arm/galvanize a rebellion in some of these colonies, perhaps placing some evidence that the Vulcans were behind it, just to keep them paranoid and not willing to work with Vulcans/humans. To prevent this from being a total curb-stomp for UE, I'm leaving open the possibility for a few Andorian captains (e.g. Shran) to go rogue and assist UE, but we're not getting the full fleet.

Tellarites never seemed to me to be much of a military force. In canon they are quarrelsome, I considered they would be to fractionated on their own anyway to make a significant impact.

The endgame for the Romulans is to balkanize United Earth by supporting independence movements in their colonies, including the Deneva system that the RPG is set in :). This would prevent UE from being able to maintain the Coalition. Then they can capture some of the weakened outlying UE colonies, and use the delay and distraction that all of the major powers in the area are dealing with to strengthen themselves to conquer Vulcan (through hard or soft power means) to become the dominant force in the region. Seems reasonable?
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Re: RPG Set in Earth-Romulan War, Feedback?

Post by Lord Revan »

The thing to remember that the Romulans are Prideful, secretive and paranoid and also have issues of the right hand not always knowing what the left hand if doing (or worse the left hand is actively plotting against the right hand).

The Romulan Star Empire has enough resources that should it be able to shatter the coalition UE has no chance against them alone, the RSE was one of the big 3 of the AQ/BQ with UFP and the Klingon Empire.

While the main goal of the Romulans is to break coalition so they can conquer (or at least defeat) it piecemeal, you got remember that every significant Romulan leader would have also their own agendas which include making sure their political opponents don't get credit for the victories but they do.

I so think of the RSE less as well oiled machine dead set on a specific goal and more like Nazi Germany where they managed to sabotage their own war effort by backstabbing and playing politics instead of focusing on the war.

Thus the strategically unsound actions aren't actually out of character for RSE, those unsound calls were made by some admiral/senator either wanting more power or trying to sabotage a political opponent by making them have embarrassing failure.

EDIT:I suspect RSE might be the reason (or at least part of it) why the Klingon Empire became isolationist and fractured for a century around this time (until the mid 23th century), with Romulan agents using the inbuilt aggression between the Great Houses to fracture the Empire so that they wouldn't ally with United Earth.
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Re: RPG Set in Earth-Romulan War, Feedback?

Post by Solauren »

Romulan activity, followed by the Klingon/UFP war that happened shortly after the Federation was founded (perhaps at Romulan instigation), and the Klingons not winning, that makes alot of sense....
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Re: RPG Set in Earth-Romulan War, Feedback?

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Hmm, that makes some sense. I'd definitely agree with Romulans being prideful and ambitious. In canon though, I'm not sure we see examples of the Romulan leaders undermining each other as you suggest. Correct me if I'm wrong though! We see them the most consistently in TNG and DS9.

During TNG, the Romulans handle the cold war and brinksmanship with the Federation extremely well. They incite a Klingon civil war without any real consequences to them. They employ a few gambits to get Starfleet to make a mistake, which are either successful or have a neutral result. Much of the Romulan spycraft employed is very deniable and covert. The most questionable thing they tried was the invasion of Vulcan using those captured Vulcan transports, but they aborted the attack when the chance of a swift decisive victory was lost. It doesn't seem like they would have tried something analogous to the attack of Andoria in the ENT novels.

In DS9, I'd say they were again calculating and scheming without being foolhardy. The most aggressive thing they tried against civilians was the attack against DS9 that O'Brien stopped with his time travelling, and there was a strategic objective there to close the wormhole. The pre-emptive attack on the Founders is the most genocidal action they attempted, but if successful it would have toppled the Dominion. And during the Dominion war, I didn't get any sense that their politics was interfering in their strategy. It's harder to justify the Romulan's planetary depopulation attacks in the ENT relaunch books that made the Romulans seem like a regional threat.

Personally, I think the Romulan covert approach to consolidating power by turning species that they feel are inferior against each other makes a really great story. But I see your point about how the Romulans should curb-stomp UE if they were fighting perfectly. I could have an in built balance mechanism in the RPG that if the players are heading toward a major defeat that wouldn't be fun, a Romulan politician make a selfish tactical decision for glory that blunders the tactical strategy that the front-line admirals (e.g. Valdore) are pushing for. I'm just trying to think of a good canon precedent, short of in ST Nemesis which seemed to be a... special case.

===

I do like the idea of the Romulans stirring up Klingon civil war to keep them from being a major power, I think that makes a lot of sense too. Do we know the canon date of the UFP/Klingon war? I suppose it would have to be after the founding of the UFP in 2160. All memory alpha is giving me is "cold and hot war in the 22nd century".
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Re: RPG Set in Earth-Romulan War, Feedback?

Post by Lord Revan »

S12RPG wrote: 2021-01-30 08:35am Hmm, that makes some sense. I'd definitely agree with Romulans being prideful and ambitious. In canon though, I'm not sure we see examples of the Romulan leaders undermining each other as you suggest. Correct me if I'm wrong though! We see them the most consistently in TNG and DS9.

During TNG, the Romulans handle the cold war and brinksmanship with the Federation extremely well. They incite a Klingon civil war without any real consequences to them. They employ a few gambits to get Starfleet to make a mistake, which are either successful or have a neutral result. Much of the Romulan spycraft employed is very deniable and covert. The most questionable thing they tried was the invasion of Vulcan using those captured Vulcan transports, but they aborted the attack when the chance of a swift decisive victory was lost. It doesn't seem like they would have tried something analogous to the attack of Andoria in the ENT novels.

In DS9, I'd say they were again calculating and scheming without being foolhardy. The most aggressive thing they tried against civilians was the attack against DS9 that O'Brien stopped with his time travelling, and there was a strategic objective there to close the wormhole. The pre-emptive attack on the Founders is the most genocidal action they attempted, but if successful it would have toppled the Dominion. And during the Dominion war, I didn't get any sense that their politics was interfering in their strategy. It's harder to justify the Romulan's planetary depopulation attacks in the ENT relaunch books that made the Romulans seem like a regional threat.

Personally, I think the Romulan covert approach to consolidating power by turning species that they feel are inferior against each other makes a really great story. But I see your point about how the Romulans should curb-stomp UE if they were fighting perfectly. I could have an in built balance mechanism in the RPG that if the players are heading toward a major defeat that wouldn't be fun, a Romulan politician make a selfish tactical decision for glory that blunders the tactical strategy that the front-line admirals (e.g. Valdore) are pushing for. I'm just trying to think of a good canon precedent, short of in ST Nemesis which seemed to be a... special case.

===

I do like the idea of the Romulans stirring up Klingon civil war to keep them from being a major power, I think that makes a lot of sense too. Do we know the canon date of the UFP/Klingon war? I suppose it would have to be after the founding of the UFP in 2160. All memory alpha is giving me is "cold and hot war in the 22nd century".
There's also the Drone ship from ENT, sure it's not as big of a blunder as Shinzon but it could (and did) blow up in te romulan's face and caused the very thing they were trying to prevent.

There's also the attack that Enterprise-C was lost, it too ended up causing the very thing it was meant to prevent by re-enforcing the UFP/Klingon Alliance instead of breaking it.

A lot if not all of the Romulan blunders are less of "this will fail no matter what" and more "if things work out the way we want them to it'll be a crippling blow to the enemy but if they don't this will be a massive failure", essentially Romulan leaders take huge risks to get more glory to themselves.

Also it's possible that RSE learned to be more focused and less genocidal due to their failure in the Earth/Romulan war.

As for the UFP/KE war it has to have been quite soon after the founding of UFP since Battle of the Binary Stars was in 2256 and Klingons had not been seen for a century prior to it (roughly, 96 years is "close enough").
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Re: RPG Set in Earth-Romulan War, Feedback?

Post by Solauren »

Also remember, ST: Enterprise might be an alternative timeline caused by the Borg time travelling. (If so, the Enterprise was protected from being erased from the timeline by the vortex, but was changed to meet the new timeline).

From what I recall in the original timeline (pre Enterprise being produced), the Klingons were not encountered AT ALL under after the Federation was founded. First contact with them went very badly (UFP ship arrived during the Klingons celebrating something, and the Starfleet captain basically threatened them into allowing Federation traders into their space).
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