Romulan War Series
I am moving my ICON post-Enterprise Series into the Earth-Romulan War phase next weekend. Before I do that, I would like to compile some resources to help me make better effective use of the Romulans as well as Starfleet during the Series.
I have the Romulan Boxed Set. Indeed, I have ALL of the ICON Trek books (except the original Star Trek RPG book, much to my dismay). However, I am lacking some relevant ICON statistics for such things as mid-22nd century Romulan warships.
There is a whole lot of stuff hereabouts regarding the whole "the Romulans had no warp drive until the mid-23rd century," but that is not the case in my Series. I wrote some stuff here YEARS ago regarding how the Romulan warp drive systems perform in this era in my Star Trek universe, but I am a lousy starship designer.
I plan to operate as though the Romulans have only two or three different classes of starships at this point in their history. The first is the cloak-capable vessel we saw in "Minefield." The second is a smaller version of that ship, which is used for forward scouting and other stealthy operations. The final vessel is their troop carrier (which won't see much play in this Series as there are no ground battles between Starfleet and the Romulans). I realize that they probably have more types of starships, but this is what I'm going with.
In my mind, the Romulans have pretty much overpowered their enemies with their warbirds (like the one from "Minefield"), so there is really no need to produce anything else. Certainly these vessels are periodically improved and upgraded, but they serve their purpose admirably otherwise, so why mess with [what they believe to be] perfection? Apart from their main combat vessel, they would likely have need of a sneaky ship (primarily because they are Romulans) as well as ships to carry their soldiers for the inevitable invasion and pacification.
Oh... the holo-ships were prototypes. While one may show up during the war, I consider it likely that what the Senate considered a "failure" would surely cease production.
Starfleet has produced several more of the NX-class (now Enterprise-class) vessels as well as the Intrepid- and Neptune-class ships. I've also considered the production of the Icarus-class, which combines human designs with aspects of Tellarite, Andorian and Vulcan engineering. It has improved phase cannons, photon torpedo launchers, and human-designed deflector shield systems.
This class of starship is in the prototype stage as the war with Romulus heats up, and I am seriously considering having my PCs reassigned from their space station to crew the Icarus prototype. By this time (after several subjective years), they are all seasoned veterans and are certainly deserving of their places aboard the jewel of Starfleet.
Now, I know that "history" indicates that the war was fought with nuclear missiles and so forth, but that just doesn't wash for me. The Romulans demonstrated pulse disruptors and cloaking technology, so I'm making the leap and assuming that they also have energy-based torpedoes and deflector shields as well. Indeed, the Romulans are certainly tactically superior to Starfleet, both in terms of combat experience and vessel design (they are warships, after all).
While my players are all fans of ST:TNG and DS9, they are thankfully ignorant regarding early Starfleet history. This will most certainly allow me to keep the specter of defeat at the hands of the Romulan Space Navy a very real possibility. The only saving grace for mankind is that they have faster ships. That certainly changes as the war goes on. They would forge closer bonds with their allies, expand their resource base, produce more and better ships, and so on. However, at first the outcome will certainly seem dark.
I anticipate that the NX-01 Enterprise will serve as Starfleet's flagship, and that Archer and crew will be around for the entire affair. (Incidentally, Trip dies on the way to the Federation founding ceremonies and the planned decomissioning of Enterprise, right?) That said, the PCs will certainly have ample opportunity to meet and interact with them, so I am spending plenty of time reviewing my collection of Enterprise episodes in order to get them right.
I have several other ideas that I plan to interject into this Series, but the overarching theme is the war between Earth and Romulus. I plan to use elements of the Suliban Cabal, the Malurians, the Valakians, the Xyrillians, and the Vissians as well as the Klingons and [obviously] the Romulans. There will certainly be plenty of Vulcans, Andorians and Tellarites around, too, and the Xindi will probably be around as well.
If you have anything to offer for my Series, please post your ideas here. If you have ICON ship statistics, characters, battle Episode ideas, and so on, please put them up. I've had a lot of fantastic stuff provided over the years by the men and [few] women that frequent the boards, so I'm hoping to renew that bond.
Thanks in advance.
mactavish out.
Last edited by mactavish; 04-28-2008 at 04:42 PM.
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