McAvoy wrote:Well a resource rich area of space which technically would be smaller than the much larger but resource poor area of space would be at a greater advantage because it would be covering a smaller area of space. Higher concentration of ships and such.
Yes. But again, this is nothing to do with this power being smaller, it's to do with this power having a higher concentration of good planets. If the question were "is a higher concentration of good planets better" then absolutely it is.
Though it seems that a huge area that the Federation would be a great disadvantage over a much smaller empire but having a higher proportion of ships in comparison.
So while technically the Federation has a larger fleet but it would take a much longer time to mobilize.
Stars are around 5 light years apart. One star per 125 cubic light years.
If the Cardassians measure 12500 cly then they have 100 systems. If the resources in each system can build 10 ships then they have a 1000 ship fleet - and any given ship has, on average, to patrol 12.5 cly. Ships will be 2.3 light years apart on average.
If the Federation measures 50000 cly then they have 400 systems. If the resources in each system can build 10 ships then they have a 4000 ship fleet - and any given ship has, on average, to patrol 12.5 cly. Ships will be 2.3 light years apart on average.
If all else is equal then the strength of the sides scales exactly in proportion to volume and everything else remains the same. Distance between systems is the same, number of ships per system is the same, average separation between ships is the same, so response times are the same. You have exactly as many ships to defend each system as the smaller power does, and exactly the same distances to cover to do it in the same strength.
Yes, we can say that the Cardassians 100 systems contain 50 really fantastic resource rich systems whilst the Federation's 400 only contain 25 and 375 crappy ones. And that would indeed tilt the numbers. But that's not a question of smaller being better, it's a question of having a high proportion of nice systems being better. Certainly that's true, but it's nothing to do with the question of the thread. And actually, if anything, the larger power would likely have the advantage here because they would be more likely to have that lucky one in a million planet that has vast deposits of dilithium or whatever.
As a related aside, in the TOS era Trek novels it's often stated that the Federation covers an area of space very densely populated by resource rich planets, whilst the Romulans cover an area far less so. One character sums the Romulan hostility to the Federation as "the hatred that the poor feel as the rich go by, not even realising the difference is there."
Give a man a fire, and you keep him warm for a day. SET a man on fire, and you will keep him warm for the rest of his life...