Why uber ships fail

[Granitehewer]

unlike the much earlier introduced D'kora then..............or the later used romulan scout/science vessels

[Tsukiyumi]

unlike the much earlier introduced D'kora then..............or the later used romulan scout/science vessels

Don't forget Cardassian ships, and BoP's.

GK does have a point, though. That may actually be the reasoning for it.

[Granitehewer]

possibly, but why not the others?

[Graham Kennedy]

Perhaps they just didn't put as much thought into those? And some of them came after Gene was gone anyway, didn't they?

[Tsukiyumi]

The Cardassians did, I think.

[Sionnach Glic]

GR was definitely alive for the D'Deridex design.

As for why it's that shape, probably for the intimidation factor. It looks a lot bigger than it really is, and is probably quite good at scaring more primitive races.

[kostmayer]

Going back to the giant BOP's in The Defector for a moment. The Klingon ships would most likely be on a par with the Romulan ships power wise, if not size wise. It would be a bit pointless of the Klingons to send Birds of Prey to defend the Enterprise against Romulan Warbirds.

I'm curious as to what Picard would have done in the event of a full on attack by the Romulans.

The Defector is one of my favourite episodes, I might post a review soon.

[Captain Picard's Hair]

Going back to the giant BOP's in The Defector for a moment. The Klingon ships would most likely be on a par with the Romulan ships power wise, if not size wise. It would be a bit pointless of the Klingons to send Birds of Prey to defend the Enterprise against Romulan Warbirds.

I'm curious as to what Picard would have done in the event of a full on attack by the Romulans.

The Defector is one of my favourite episodes, I might post a review soon.

Mine too. Coinkydentilly, it'll be on in about 40 minutes here (on sci-fi channel).

[Granitehewer]

GR was definately alive for the introduction of the D'kora too,which considerably predated the D'deridex (ou)...

[Duskofdead]

In my opinion, the D'Deridex was as much a weapon of fear and terror as it was a battleship. And, as an auxiliary purpose, it was also somewhat a symbol of Romulan power and prowess. The D'Deridex was the pinnacle of the Romulan empire's might, a huge and powerful warship designed to strike fear into the hearts of the enemy. I mean come on, if i'm sitting at the helm of a border patrol Miranda, and i See a Big D decloak, i'm gonna s**t myself. Unfortunately, the D'Deridex is actually not a good ship as a tactical propesition. Average firepower, stupidly thin shields and armour and a wallowy, massive shape that kinda lollup (i like that word, i decided to use it for the fun of it ) around the battlefield.

Yup, look at all of TNG and how many times we actually saw a Romulan Warbird FIGHT, when it wasn't a dream sequence, a simulation, an alien deception, etc.

The Romulans wanted to keep enemies and threats in fear and questioning about how strong those huge ships actually were and for years and years, they did a very good job of it. Which may have been the express purpose of the design as far as alien empires were concerned.

[Deepcrush]

That is the common thought. The RSE had to keep everyone afraid since they knew that they wouldn't be able to win any wars against the UFP or KE.

[Captain Seafort]

Yup, look at all of TNG and how many times we actually saw a Romulan Warbird FIGHT, when it wasn't a dream sequence, a simulation, an alien deception, etc.

IIRC, once - in "Tin Man", when a single volley knocked the E-D's shields down to 30%. That's a pretty impressive punch.

[Duskofdead]

Yup, look at all of TNG and how many times we actually saw a Romulan Warbird FIGHT, when it wasn't a dream sequence, a simulation, an alien deception, etc.

IIRC, once - in "Tin Man", when a single volley knocked the E-D's shields down to 30%. That's a pretty impressive punch.

*Nods* They were certainly very formidable ships of their generation, regardless of criticisms of the inefficiency of the design. But even if they enjoyed an extremely healthy firepower advantage over ANY single ship design the Federation or Klingons had at the time the D'Deridex was rolling off the shipyards, the Romulans apparently didn't build them to start wars with, but rather to convince everyone around them that it would be unwise to fight them at all.

[Graham Kennedy]

Two of them fired on the E-D in The Defector as well, before the BoPs decloaked. IIRC Picard noted that they were just "taps on the shoulder".

In both cases the E-D just sat there and took it, mind. We know it's faster than a Warbird at warp, it's likely more agile since it's so much smaller... and we have no idea how a Warbird would stand up to return fire, what the relative range of the weapons are, etc.

[Reliant121]

Two of them fired on the E-D in The Defector as well, before the BoPs decloaked. IIRC Picard noted that they were just "taps on the shoulder".

I believe he theorized that they were weakened blasts to try and scare E-D off, although I cant remember to be sure.