Could Humanity take on the Romulans?

[Graham Kennedy]

Here's a question. We know that the Earth-Romulan war takes place at most a few years after Enterprise finished. So how realistic is it that the Humans could come close to winning this war?

On the Romulan side... we don't know much. We know they had warbirds in service, we know they had cloaking technology (I want to yell about it, but the fact is that they shouldn't but they do). That cloaking technology was good enough that it could cloak small things like mines, six feet or so across.

Ship numbers are unknown; all we know is that they had two ships together in that one system.

They were able to build drone ships that were small, fast, agile, and packed a punch as well as some exotic tech.

They clearly have a decent knowledge of the major species out there; they know way more about the space around Earth than Humans do.

On the Human side... there's also things we don't know. We have no idea how many Intrepid and Neptune classes there are around, nor do we really know what their capabilities are. They seemed to be fitted with phase cannon, for sure. Their usefulness in a war would depend critically on how good a warp drive they have, and they don't seem to have a warp 5 engine. Certainly in The Expanse Archer neither took reinforcements with him nor expected any to show up.

If the NX class remain the big dogs of Starfleet... then it's worrying. The time between Enterprise and Columbia launching was three years! And Columbia only got into space because they brought Trip aboard; at this point Starfleet doesn't seem to have another engineer capable of reliably running a Warp 5 engine. Even Kelby, who worked alongside Trip for years on the NX-01, seemed incapable of any but routine operations.

In short, Starfleet would be lucky to have three NX ships in service by the time of the war with the Romulans.

Of course, Humans DO win the war... or at least achieve a draw. To me, this says that the Earth-Romulan war must have been a far smaller, shorter, less impressive event than people have generally assumed.

The model I have in mind is something like the Falklands or first Gulf war; the Romulans invade some Earth colony and fortify it. In response Earth sends three NX class ships, perhaps with a two or three newly upgraded Neptune and Intrepid classes. One or two battles actual, along the lines of what we saw in Balance of Terror; the Earth forces find some way of beating the Romulan cloaking devices. Maybe T'Pol helped out with some Vulcan sensor magic? Anyway, realising they can't compete with Earth ships the Romulans are forced back... and whatever ground forces are left on the planet are pummeled into oblivion from orbit.

End of war.

I'm kinda disappointed, actually. In the early days of Enterprise they seemed to be implying that many more NX class ships were on the way; I was hoping we'd see the NX-02 and 03 within the year, and a couple more each year after that. I think they decided they wanted the 01 to keep it's "hero" status for longer though. But it pretty much relegates the Romulan war to a pretty dismal affair.

Thoughts?

[Sionnach Glic]

Personaly I see the war as a bunch of small skirmishes against each side. The two powers were, officialy, at war but never really engaged in full scale space warfare and planetary invasions. Given that the Romulans should have been much more powerful than Earth, it's the only way I see the war going without Earth getting an asswhooping. Also, there's the fact that no human ever saw a Romulan face to face during the war, which would support the idea of small scale skirmishes along their respective borders.

[Mikey]

The slow, sputtering type of war seems to make the most sense to me as well. Obviously the presence of large fleet battles would tip the scales well away from the culture with only one warp 5-capable ship. Small scale a/o in-system battles partially remove the disadvantage the humans have due to ship's speed (or lack thereof.)

As far as that advanced drone ship, I feel much the same about it as I do the Scimitar. Great tech, comparatively to its contemporaries, but I can't see mass production being very feasible.

And knowing what we do of the Romulan psyche, it's no stretch to say that once the humans presented their (our?) resolve and willingness to stand up for ourselves, the Rommies really had no stomach for pursuing an all-out, attritive war.

[Blackstar the Chakat]

well, I'm not sure if the time between the NX-01 and the 02 is anything to judge by. I'd say maybe five NX-class ships by the time of the war. I also am willing to bet that the cloaking devices weren't that useful, maybe being too primitive to be used for anything more then an ambush, tactics wise.

The war probably had only a handful of full scale battles. Earth may have also allied with future founding members of the federation. This may have given Earth an advantage even if there was only a technology exchange. The federation may have been born officially after the war, much like the UN and their predecessors.

[Mikey]

One would think that at least the Vulcans a/o Andorians would have allied with Earth, but the war has been specifically described as "EARTH v. Romulan."

And for reasons mentioned, I agree with Rochey - I think even a handful of full-scale battles is pushing it.

[Deepcrush]

There may have been far more then just the 2 NX class ships. They were just the only two that were counted as Warp 5 ships. Also after the whole Xindi afair I'd bet starfleet would have begun a rather large build up. Plus as was said before that the Romulans most likely were hoping for a quick win and the humans instead stood up and fought back. Also the romulans most likely wouldn't have launched an all out invasion as that would have drawn the vulcans in.

[Monroe]

More than likely Earth would have had support from the Telerites, Vulcans, and Andorians. The French-Indian War (Seven Years War) is called the French Indian but they weren't the only groups involved and hell were even on the same side.

More than likely if they had gone ahead and had this plotline- which I bet they had planned, it would have been a group of several races destroying a few Romulan armadas and threatening to invade the Empire when the Romulans say uncle.

[Deepcrush]

It would still seem like a skirmish war to me. Small shot outs between ships. Here and there they might even know what they were shooting at.

[Jordanis]

I know the old, pre-enterprise visions of the war were small-scale in a way. It was supposed to have been an intensely fought but sort of quiet war. Communication lags and travel lags make effectively fighting a coherent war very impractical. That gives Earth the advantage, as the defenders, since they don't have to try to coordinate an attacking fleet from afar.

There would be some guerrilla raiding, some vicious small battles, and some nukings from orbit. Eventually, the Romulans back off because Romulans don't like protracted war.

[Mikey]

Exactly, but I still can't see Earth having substantial assistnace - at least not on the battlefield - from any other species.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

Exactly, but I still can't see Earth having substantial assistnace - at least not on the battlefield - from any other species.

Why not? It'd be the prefect lead-in to the Federation. The former enemies banding together, realizing that they're stronger together than apart.

[Reliant121]

And hopefully the Vulcans, Tellarites and the Andorians would feel that they owe Earth something for saving each other from all out war.

[Blackstar the Chakat]

Exactly, but I still can't see Earth having substantial assistnace - at least not on the battlefield - from any other species.

Why not? It'd be the prefect lead-in to the Federation. The former enemies banding together, realizing that they're stronger together than apart.

Then the Romulans realizing that they're risking a full scale war with multiple species, offer a truce. The peace loving allies(humans and vulcans, maybe Tellerites at least) agree. The allies then form the Federation to make sure that they're always allies and will defend each other. Eventually leading to the 150+ planet federation we know and mock today.

[Reliant121]

Ah the good old days...

[Deepcrush]

And then all the allies decide that they are tired of fighting and leave the human to suffer the wars for the next 400 years.