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I've noticed in several threads we have somehow got onto the topic several times of who would beat who in a war.

So I thought I would give a scenario of a possible war which happens at some point and we discuss the possible out comes based on what we know of the warring species.

For week one we'll have:-

The alliance of Cardassians and Breen Vs Klingons

This is with everyones at pre war power so it would happen just before the Klingons invaded Cardassia before the Dominion war started. I paired the Caradssians and Breen up since they are too small by themselves. Assume neither side gets any aid from any other species.

My bet is on the Breen Cardassians alliance. Even if the Klingons made the first move again the initial devastation cuased by the energy dampening weapon would halt the advance and cause massive loses. Undoubtedly it would be countered by the Klingons pretty fast again but not before heavy loses and a minor retreat. From then on I imagine the Caradassians and Breen could win the war so long as it didn't drag on to long since Cardassians with their poor resources could probably not hold on for a war of attrition.

(This is in the Voyager thread so the active topics are spread around the a bit)

I'd go for the Klingons - they we wiping the floor with the Cardies in Way of the Warrior, and Breen ships aren't that powerful, given that the Defiant could rip them apart with a single volley. Their only advantage is the energy damper, and it was the Klingon ships that could be most easilly adapted to counter the weapon. The only real question is whether the Klingons would discover the key to neutralising the weapon in time, since it was a freak occurance.

As for the placemet of the thread, what does it matter whether some fora are dead and others active? The whole point of them is to be able to find threads related to the series in question, and spreading them around like this defeats the whole point of the individual fora existing.

I believe that the energy dampening weapon would turn the initial tide of the war and depending on how quick it was countered could be the deciding factor. Even if it only lasted for a week so long as the alliance stay on offencive and the war doesnt drag out I think they could win.

As for the placemet of the thread, what does it matter whether some fora are dead and others active? The whole point of them is to be able to find threads related to the series in question, and spreading them around like this defeats the whole point of the individual fora existing.

This thread is totally hypotheitical. Were would you have it placed? TNG were the Klingons and Cardassians were developed? DS9 were the time line is. Maybe TOS were the Klingons first showed up. I like having several of the sections active as I find it easier to find the active threads when I see the yellow marker next to the section and can press the "To last post" button taking me right to the debate. I hardly matters where it is.

Teaos wrote:This thread is totally hypotheitical. Were would you have it placed? TNG were the Klingons and Cardassians were developed? DS9 were the time line is. Maybe TOS were the Klingons first showed up. I like having several of the sections active as I find it easier to find the active threads when I see the yellow marker next to the section and can press the "To last post" button taking me right to the debate. I hardly matters where it is.

It belongs in DS9 - it's basically a versus scenario based on an alliance of the Breen and the Cardassians shortly before "The Way of the Warrior.

You may look at every single new post (as do I), but that isn't to say that everyone does - those who utterly despise Voyager may ignore this fora on principle, and therefore miss this post, whereas if it were put in DS9 where it belongs they might see it.

Captain Seafort wrote:...those who utterly despise Voyager may ignore this fora on principle...

Is that the plural for forum? I've never seen that before, though it makes sense as much as the English language can. I'll have to remember that.

I vote Klingon. Sheer spite will bring glory and victory!!!

Oh, yeah. The topic. I vote Klingon unless the Cardassians pulled some sneaky Obsidian Order operation to start the war. Like poisoning Kronos' atmosphere, or planting some pesky virus that makes their forehead ridges disappear...

We dont have a great idea on what the nubers each side has are but I think they would be even enough to not give one side a big advantage.

Both sides have a large number of small ships and few big ones. The Klingons may be more powerful but the Breen and Cardassians are shwon to be very tactical. So long as the Klingons didnt get the jump on them again I think the Breen/Cardassians will have it won.

Okay, I believe the Klingons will win this battle, for the reasons below. I haven't seen DS9 in quite a while, so my memory may be iffy on some points.

Power:
Evidence seems to point to Klingon ships being more powerful than a Cardasian ship of equivelant size. I'm not too sure about the Breen, but I doubt they're much more powerful than Klingon ships.

Numbers:
Again, I have no idea about the Breen. Klingon territory is a good deal larger than Cardasian territory, though, so it stands to reason that the Klingons will be able to support a larger fleet than the Cardasians.
Also, the Alliance may simply not have enough troops to hold large numbers of Klingon planets, while the Klingons should have more troops at hand.

Industrial base:
Klingon territory, being larger, would likely be able to support more industry, such as ship building, weapons manufacturing, etc. This is a major factor, as even if their ships are less powerful than the Breen's they may be able to get enough ships out there to even the difference.

One of the most important things though is tactics. Which the Cardassians and Breen would have a natural advantage of over the Klingons.

Tactics can only help so much in the face of a vastly superior enemy. While they'd be able to cause serious losses on the Klingons side, and maybe force the Klingons into a Phyricc victory, they'd still end up defeated.
It's been shown in canon that the Cardasians were getting an asswhooping from the Klingons, and the Breen don't exactly seem to be magnitudes more powerful than them.

Teaos wrote:One of the most important things though is tactics. Which the Cardassians and Breen would have a natural advantage of over the Klingons.

Klingon ship-to-ship combat tactics aren't that bad - they've used hit-and-run strikes to keep the enemy off-balance strategically ("Once More Unto the Breach"), triggering coronal ejections as a combat tactic ("Redemption Pt 2", "Shadows and Symbols") and coordinated attacks by multiplt cloaked ships to unbalance individual ships tactically ("Rules of Engagement"). It's in ground combat when they loose the plot.

I'll vote for the Klingons hands down. The cardassians have some well placed tactics and the breen have a nice weapon. But! The klingons beat the cardassians with only a third of their whole fleet. That would mean that just for a draw the breen would have to out number the cardassians 2 to 1. That and the cloaking ablity would hamper the breen weapon. Its rare that a whole klingon fleet be in one place at a time. They like to spread out and cause hell with small strike groups.

I have to go for the Klingons as well. Their ship-toship superiority would mean heavy losses for the C-B alliance, and while the Breen energy dampener would mean the same for the Klingons two things would follow that up:

1) The loss of brave lives in battle would only bolster the Klingons, not cause civil disturbances and demoralizations like we saw among the Cardassians.

2) The Klingons seem to be able to absorb and replace ship losses much more quickly and easily than the Cardassians, who would be the moajority of fleet numbers in the alliance. Breen numbers seemed fairly small to begin with, and the Cardassian industrial base appears to be nowhere near on a par with the Klingons.

Wow, looks like by vote the klingons win.

LONG LIVE THE EMPIRE!