Making the Romulan War not like the Dominion War

[McAvoy]

In what way could they do this. One rule is that the Romulans cannot be seen. So how would a on screen Romulan War would have looked like without actual contact with Romulans and not be like the Dominion War battles.

[Tsukiyumi]

Long range nuke barrages, if I interpreted that right. I haven't seen BoT in a while.

[Teaos]

You would have to retroactivly nerf Enterprises weapons, since they are the same as the ones used latter, just with a different name.

I'd have much larger number of small craft, something like the liberty ship, quickly, cheaply built ships with minimal crew. A lot of civilian ships commandeered and mercenaries hired.

[Coalition]

Think of a sub hunt going on. The Romulans placed cloaked depots within what will be Federation bases, so their ships can resupply without having to return to their bases. With this advantage, Romulan strikes are done what seems like everywhere.

To keep the bases going, the Romulans have to use cloaked transports. This cuts down the amount of cargo being carried, as well as the Romulan slower speed. You'd have to have survivors charting ship signatures, and realizing that certain ships have certain hunting grounds, and seeing where they attack the most. When the planners realize the Romulans are in a fixed location for their hunting grounds, the ships begin a search towards the center of the region, and worknig outwards. Finding the first of the cloaked cargo stations (which self-destructs) tells others what to look for.

But while the rear area raiders are having fun, you have the main Romulan ships advancing from their region, taking over worlds. You eventually have to have a fleet try to retake the worlds. Advances into Romulan space are attempted, but decades of preparations means cloaked depots exist everywhere, sensors allow the Romulans to track invaders easily, and short-range ships strike from concealed bases. This stalls any offensive campaign, and the Federation eventually has to retreat.

Cue the first diplomatic probes (not sure who would talk first). On the Federation side, you have a lot of people who are looking for a reason to end the war, but willing to conquer Romulan territory if that is what it takes. On the Romulan side, you have lots of supplies used up, for no benefit (and actually revealing several Romulan strategies, so technically Romulus is weaker as a result). This sets up both sides slowly talking.

[Teaos]

Isnt cloaking a new thing a hundred years after this?

[Sonic Glitch]

Isnt cloaking a new thing a hundred years after this?

I believe the Romulan ships in Ent. Had cloaks but its been a long time since I've seen that episode.

As for the original question I think the "Romulan War" novels did a pretty good job if you have been able to check those out.

[Captain Seafort]

I believe the Romulan ships in Ent. Had cloaks but its been a long time since I've seen that episode.

They did, as did the Suliban ships.

It's also true that the BoP in Balance of Terror was the first evidence the Federation encountered to have a cloak - before that invisibility was only a theoretic possibility.

[SomosFuga]

I believe the Romulan ships in Ent. Had cloaks but its been a long time since I've seen that episode.

They did, as did the Suliban ships.

It's also true that the BoP in Balance of Terror was the first evidence the Federation encountered to have a cloak - before that invisibility was only a theoretic possibility.

They had cloaks but the Enterprise had that thing to look through the cloak, at least at short range.

This war would be very different from dominion war. I don't know about the RSE but United Earth has very few ships in Enterprise days AFAIK, so every single one of them is a very valuable asset, that means a very different strategy and tactics.

[Captain Seafort]

They had cloaks but the Enterprise had that thing to look through the cloak, at least at short range.

They could see through the early Romulan cloak to a degree. The point wasn't about the effectiveness of the cloak, but that Spock explicitly stated that invisibility was only a theoretical possibility, not something that had been encountered repeatedly a century earlier.

[SomosFuga]

They had cloaks but the Enterprise had that thing to look through the cloak, at least at short range.

They could see through the early Romulan cloak to a degree. The point wasn't about the effectiveness of the cloak, but that Spock explicitly stated that invisibility was only a theoretical possibility, not something that had been encountered repeatedly a century earlier.

I agree. Those guys in Ent did a mess with the continuity so before we can theorize on how was the war we need to state some points like the cloak issue and the type of weapons they had.

[McAvoy]

My whole point is that this war could have been well written with the idea that the behind the scenes of the war with the development of the Federation would have been more interesting than the war itself.

They could have easily made a three or more episode arc where Archer and crew tries to get the support of alien race maybe familiar or maybe one in the background that could help the war effort with the Romulus through a different species to let then bypass or use the planet as a base of operations. Stuff like that.

[Black Jesus]

By far the most interesting aspect of that war in that time period would be examining the beginnings of either the Coalition or the Federation. Seeing alliances formed (and maybe broken, and reforged), the political aspect of it would be more interesting than space battles. (Not that I have anything against space battles, that is.) Watching the diplomacy it would take to get the species to fight along side United Earth would good. They could depict who took what role. Which UFP founding member species were active along side UE in combat (if any), what support they provided and to what extent.

Some of this was touched on in DS9, but it felt secondary. The issue of whether the Klingons would fight to retake DS9 took 10 mins to clear up. The only real extended alliance episode I can think of was "Pale Moonlight."

A deeper focus on political machinations.

[McAvoy]

It is certainly also true that there wouldn't be such large battles are we saw in DS9. Probably only a dozen or so at most at any one time.

The lead up would have been interesting as well.

[Black Jesus]

It is certainly also true that there wouldn't be such large battles are we saw in DS9. Probably only a dozen or so at most at any one time.

The lead up would have been interesting as well.

Do you mean in terms of the size of the opposing fleets? as in the number of ships involved in the battles? Or do you mean the number of battles fought?

The fleets would probably be smaller and use more antiquated ships like the Sarajevo and Intrepid type starships, as well as the NX. But there's no reason they couldn't have larger fleets of smaller, limited-ability ships. Not the 300+ or 500+ ships we saw in DS9, but maybe 50-100 starships. During the Romulan drone ship event, Archer was able to cobble together a fleet of around 130 ships in a matter of days.

The lead up and the aftermath would probably be the most interesting aspects of the entire story. A three-episode arc for a lead up would be good.

That's were ENT really began to shine, in its 4th season with those larger story arcs. The 3rd season was something of a waste, however they did need a huge event to propel Earth into being established as a regional power.

[McAvoy]

Actually I meant both. Smaller fleets and smaller territories would mean less of a chance of big fleet actions. Each fleet would be smaller as well.

I don't remember 130 ship figure.