Captain Jean-Luc Picard to Return?

[bladela]

It would be a similar percentage to the American armed forces in 1942, not a huge number but still similar to the phase of mobilization for a conflict.

The American forces in 1945 reached a peak of 8.7%, a percentage that I would expect for example in the UFP at the end of the Dominion war.

[Graham Kennedy]

To enlish peoples you have:

1) to find volunteer
2) Volunteers must fit the criteria of choice
3) Volunteers must finish the training with satisfying result.

It's still huge to get 3% of 200 000 000 peoples and humans clearly are the main source of officers in Starfleet, no matter which show we are talking about...

To repeat, Earth is not the single source of all the officers in Starfleet.

And 3%, whilst more than we put in our military, is certainly achievable. The fraction of 3% that would be the actual figure is even more so.

[AlexMcpherson79]

I've always thought that the san francisco academy isn't the only one, just the 'main' one, being to the other campuses like, Oxford, Cambridge, and in the US, Harvard and Yale, to, well, all other colleges. there's loads, but most try to apply at those first, as they're the prestigious ones.

[bladela]

To repeat, Earth is not the single source of all the officers in Starfleet.

And 3%, whilst more than we put in our military, is certainly achievable. The fraction of 3% that would be the actual figure is even more so.

it would be interesting to know what the starfleet's share of the gpd of the federation could be


Of course it is noteworthy that the federation, with a "military" commitment comparable to the current one in peacetime, is able to be competitive with the Klingons who imagine devote far more resources (both national and for any single-ship) to warfare.

[DarkMoineau]

Well everything is shown like San Francisco is the only Academy of Officer in the Federation (Like Westpoint in the USA).

and most of the characters are humans even if not from Earth.

But the Federation does not have to keep invaded territories under control and members don't fight each other for power, Klingons have to subdue their victims and the House are prone to go to Civil War.

[bladela]

Well everything is shown like San Francisco is the only Academy of Officer in the Federation (Like Westpoint in the USA).

We know wesley attempted access to starfleet academy at Relva VII, it is not clear to me if he would have completed the academy there or he would have gone to earth.

Certainly only one academy for an entity 8,000 light-years wide seems a bit 'little (especially if the star fleet must have millions of effective)

But the Federation does not have to keep invaded territories under control and members don't fight each other for power, Klingons have to subdue their victims and the House are prone to go to Civil War.

The Romulans don't have the same issues (civil war at least) but still seem to be evenly matched by the Federation.

Cardassians are a different matter, they do not seem to be on the same level with others.

My idea is that the Cardassians Wars have been a bit like a child who starts beating up against an adult ... the Federation has not really engaged in the struggle and yet has forced them to a standstill.

[DarkMoineau]

Well to me it seems Romulans and Cardassian are weaker power next to the Federation and the Klingon. Cardassia fit your description: matched by a Federation who didn't engaged in the war, smashed with ease by the Klingon.

Romulans seem able to defend themselves but not able to win against both Klingon and Federation.

In fact Klingon and romulans even allied didn't try to fight the Federation and the stopped being allies when Klingons started going closer to the Federation.

I am not sure which XXth century analogies we could use but I would be surprise if there is none.

[bladela]

start of the 20th century :

UFP : UK
Klingon empire : Germany
Romulan Empire : France
Cardassian Empire : Italy

Borg : USA?

[DarkMoineau]

Before 1940, USA were weaker than any of the European countries. During WW1 they fought using British and French weapons and the role of the USA was great for moral but tactically less significant than the use of light tank Renault FT17.


EDIT:

I now have a cold war analogy.

UFP would be USA or NATO (maybe a better illustration of the way it work on political side and would illustrate why TOS would speak about UESPA and not Starfleet, UFP looking more like NATO than USA during 23rd century.)

Klingon Empire would be URSS.
Romulan Empire would be China (who just like Romulan came from Allies to ennemies during the end of 60/begining of 70's)
Cardassian Union would be a weaker country but a lot of situations could be Cardassian like without being perfect: Egypt who was unable to win a war during the Cold War no matter if Suez incident or war against Israël or North Korea who was unable to fight against USA until China came to the rescue, just like the Dominion saved the Cardassian against the Klingon.

[bladela]

Before 1940, USA were weaker than any of the European countries. During WW1 they fought using British and French weapons and the role of the USA was great for moral but tactically less significant than the use of light tank Renault FT17

The US navy at the end of WW1 was almost in par with the royal navy in number (and more technically advanced with their "standard battleship" design) and it could have easily outbuilded them if they wanted.

[DarkMoineau]

I have edited my post with a better analogy... and ships are useful if you are fighting Japan but useless against Germany.

So USA was better prepared in WW2 thanks to that standard battleship design and other programs during the 20's and 30's but that

[bladela]

i agree about the USSR (power on an equal footing, but only thanks to very high military spending in relation to GDP), i don't agree totally about the NATO.

China in the cold war was never a real match for the USSR or NATO in my opinion, even just for their very small GDP.

In star trek romulans appears (in my opinion) almost at the level of the klingons (in TNG it is never said clearly, but from the various speeches I seem to understand that a Klingon - Romulan alliance could overturn the balance of power and perhaps even allow the Romulans to avenge Cheron).

It is also true that in the Q's alternative future the Klingons have managed to conquer them, but this imho would bind well enough with a natural disaster that strikes them, like the Hobus's supernova.

[DarkMoineau]

Well, based on TOS you see Klingon and Romulan being allied but no attack on the Federation happen. So the picture maybe is not the same during the 24th century (Shinzon seems pretty confident he can win a war against the Federation alone) but in the 23rd century Romulus clearly is Space China.

[bladela]

Well, based on TOS you see Klingon and Romulan being allied but no attack on the Federation happen. So the picture maybe is not the same during the 24th century (Shinzon seems pretty confident he can win a war against the Federation alone) but in the 23rd century Romulus clearly is Space China.

maybe you are right.

About Shinzon, he is confident with the Scimitar, the new cloaking technology and the Talaron generator, In fact he does not seem to think he can defeat the federation in the military sense, he thinks he can make a decapitating blow and force the other planets to surrender.

Without the new cloaking tech i would Imagine a battle with the enterprise much less unbalanced (albeit unequal) and that with the Omega task force a no-contest.

[DarkMoineau]

And as you say that, it just make me think that they could have made a good Star Trek adaptation of The Hunt for Red October.