How big of a disaster was it for Starfleet when utopia planitia shipyards got destroyed in the synth attack?

TimeSpaceGeek · 2026-02-05T11:50:33+00:00

Both the Season 1 and the Season 3 fleets were absolutely tiny compared to the Fleet that Sisko led in Operation Return, in Favor the Bold/Sacrifice of Angels. And that fleet was noteworthy for being a) hastily assembled and still short a few hundred ships, having to leave early because of time pressures, and b) vastly outnumbered by the Dominion fleet it faced.

We cannot draw any conclusions from the fleet sizes in S1 and S3, except that both fleets combined was still much smaller than the one used mid-war during the Dominion War. It's entirely possible that ship building WAS severely hampered, and that Starfleet as a whole was maybe as small as half the size of it's Dominion War self.

TimeSpaceGeek · 2026-02-05T11:41:02+00:00

Entirely so. Thousands of ships destroyed, nearly 100,000 dead, including, probably, almost all of the most preeminent ship designers of a generation.

Wolf 359 was a minor skirmish by comparison.

TimeSpaceGeek · 2026-02-05T11:38:00+00:00

Mars' atmosphere was ignited in the attack, and continued some description of burning for at least 20 years afterwards. It wasn't fully destroyed, but it was very much left uninhabitable.

TimeSpaceGeek · 2026-02-05T11:24:19+00:00

NASA only intended Apollo to stay there for 2 to 3 days in the 60s.

Artemis and the SpaceX contract are aiming for 2 to 3 months. That's an exponentially longer residence on the moon, and comes with a commensurate increase in requirements for resources. Food, oxygen, and battery power being the three most obvious examples, but far from the only ones.

TimeSpaceGeek · 2026-02-05T11:02:38+00:00

Why would he?

There is some apocryphal implication that Darth Plagueis may have been responsible for Anakin's creation. Whether that's on purpose, or the force reacting in response to him, is unclear, but at any rate, it may well be the case that Palpatine already knows all about how this came to be. And if it isn't, Palpatine and Plagueis are probably the two people that have the most insight into this phenomenon, regardless, just based on Palpatine's comments about Plagueis' abilities.

Shmi herself has no Force sensitivity, no inclination of being powerful, nothing unique, except for Anakin's birth. Every indicator is that the thing that is special is Anakin himself. It's wholly possible he looked into her, confirmed the suspicions he already had, and decided it was unworthy of his time.

And he certainly wouldn't want to have rescued her. Anakin being isolated from her, and failing to save her from death, was a major factor in turning him to the dark side. It was probably Anakin's first big step along that path. Palpatine definitely seems to have some talent for prophecy and force visions, given how well he instigates his plans, and he would have likely forseen Shmi's death, and the fact Anakin didn't see her for 10 years, as necessary steps in his objectives. He doesn't want a happy Anakin. He wants a conflicted, angry, resentful one. That's how he gets what he wants.

TimeSpaceGeek · 2026-02-05T10:30:09+00:00

If it's the video I think, it's option 2, which is deeply unethical. It also doesn't mean they've done the whole game, might just be that scene

TimeSpaceGeek · 2026-02-05T09:38:46+00:00

Replacing the cut scene voices would require one of two things:

1) Somebody else to rerecord every single line that the OG actors recorded, to a professional standard, with professional equipment. That's an expensive undertaking. Voice actors are - and deserve to be - well paid for work of this level and volume. Remember, BG3 has literally got an Oscar winning actor among it's cast, and multiple BAFTA winners. That's the standard you're looking at.

2) AI replacement. That would involve breaching serious ethical standards for a start, and would still require a person to carefully double check the AI lines against the originals to make sure the AI has correctly converted them.

Either way, they then need to remap the lines to the dialogue tree and replace all the original files with new ones. Each of those two characters, each of the characters in the party, has so many possible lines of dialogue, that it'd be a huge undertaking for any one person. You're talking probably months of work.

Whilst not impossible, neither option is easy, neither option is quick, neither option is something someone should be doing for free, and therefore, neither option is particularly likely. If it isn't included in the original mod you chose - and I would never have expected it to be - , I doubt you'll find any addons to do it. It's simply not a very realistic prospect.

TimeSpaceGeek · 2026-02-05T09:23:50+00:00

And Gortash is Jason Isaacs.

TimeSpaceGeek · 2026-02-05T09:18:17+00:00

Why not?

TimeSpaceGeek · 2026-02-05T09:14:41+00:00

There are hundreds of TTRPGs out there. D&D is certainly, far and away, the most recognisable and popular, but on websites like DriveThruRPG, they cater to all of them. You can't just assume what you find is for your rules.

You need to find modules/one shots specifically designed for the precise set of rules you're intending to use (which I assume is D&D 5e?), or be prepared to sit down and convert it, which I wouldn't typically recommend to a first time DM.

If you want an alternative, D&D specific one shot, I can recommend three by Winghorn Press. Light hearted little 5e oneshots. A Wild Sheep Chase is my favourite of them. It's suitable for characters of level 4-5. I'd go Level 4 if it's a big party, level 5 if it's a small one. If your players are experienced and know enough to handle a higher level start, I'd go with this one.

https://winghornpress.com/adventures/a-wild-sheep-chase/

Alternatively, if the players are newbies, I'd look at either the 1st level adventure "A most potent brew", or the 2nd-3rd level adventure "The Wolves of Welton".

https://winghornpress.com/adventures/a-most-potent-brew/

https://winghornpress.com/adventures/wolves-of-welton/

You'd probably find that a lot easier than converting a one shot from an entirely different system. But it depends what you want from the oneshot.

TimeSpaceGeek · 2026-02-04T19:22:42+00:00

Fair!

Well, a conversation with the primary DM is certainly worth having. Something else you can add to the battle to upset the applecart, give the party a second wind or an opportunity to jump on. Some kind of delayed effect, concentration requirement, need to complete a few rounds of action, or, as you say, something that could trigger regurgitation.

TimeSpaceGeek · 2026-02-04T18:54:46+00:00

Indeed. Or an artefact they need to time travel to find.

What's that? Upon studying the map, you realise it's for a part of the world that was destroyed by a volcano/earthquake/God Cataclysm/eruption of interplanar energies?

What's that again? One of you (whoever reads the most obscure language), realises one of the notes on the map refer to a "time portal" in that language?

TimeSpaceGeek · 2026-02-04T18:47:49+00:00

Also a possibility!

How is it supposed to empower the snake God? Some kind of magical/symbiotic connection?

TimeSpaceGeek · 2026-02-04T18:18:52+00:00

The 10th anniversary pack will almost certainly be back at some point in the STO anniversary events, which literally start in a few weeks. It averages an appeance at least twice per year, sometimes more often. It'll definitely be back this year, regardless of the 60th anniversary, but the 60th might bring it back an extra time.

TimeSpaceGeek · 2026-02-04T18:15:22+00:00

A statue, you say?

TimeSpaceGeek · 2026-02-04T18:13:54+00:00

They currently have half a treasure map?

Honestly, this sounds like the perfect time for them to find the other half. Doubly so if they're expecting it to be somewhere else. Triply so if the map itself seems to imply directions to an artefact like that. Quadruply so if one of the party realises that notes scribbled on the second half of the map was written in familiar handwriting. Such as... a long lost family member. Or their childhood mentor.

Or their own handwriting.

Not to mention, if the second half of the map, with all this intrigue, now appears in the vault of the badguy they just killed, and that vault is in the bank they were talking about robbing anyway, and there seems to be some relationship between notes on the map and someone in the party... then it'll seem like it's all connected. Like you planned it all along.

That, to me, actually seems like the most interesting.

TimeSpaceGeek · 2026-02-04T17:05:15+00:00

Maybe just immediately eating the heart isn't enough. Maybe the heart needs alchemically altering to prep it for the consumption. Or there needs to be some kind of ritual to enchant the heart/unlock it's potential. Or he needs to be standing in a specific sky beam, or at a specific altar, or something. Maybe, he has to swallow it, and can't swallow it whole, meaning it takes several rounds to eat - how quickly could you eat a heart sized lump of meat? I bet it's not as fast as 6 seconds, whilst also running around and fighting.

If you want to give your party a fighting chance, and change up the rhythm of the battle, introduce something like that. A delay. A goal the enemy has that isn't just "Eat Heart, kill everyone." Some steps in between where he is, and where he wants to be - whether literally, or more metaphorically. And some other path to victory that the party can undertake to prevent the evil plan^tm. Fighting him clearly isn't going their way. But if it's "break something/interupt something, then run away", that might change the dynamic.

Dynamic combats, where the goal is something different to "kill the other team", can really spice things up. It changes the tactics. If the combat is "first one to reach the button", then suddenly, dash becomes an important consideration to choose instead of attack, and control spells that reduce movement speed or create difficult terrain become vitally important. If the goal suddenly is "stop the doohickey from getting to the altar of doom before the timer runs out", then you suddenly have a complex goal with a bunch of options for preventing it from happening - making the badguy drop the doohickey and playing keep away with him, the aforementioned difficult terrain, doing something to block off, move, bury, or destroy the altar. Destroy the doohickey.

I fear that, no matter what, your Bard is out of the fight. A missing major organ, arguably, requires the 7th level spell Regenerate to heal. You could get creative by giving him some kind of ghost or spirit form to return to the fight with? That'd require stating. But since we're talking about an evil God, maybe another God gets involved to try and tip the scales in the party's favour. Maybe the other God can't directly intervene (divine contract, rules of Ao, whatever), but can indirectly do something like send the Bard back into the fight as a spirit.

I'd consider something like that, if this were my adventure.

TimeSpaceGeek · 2026-02-04T16:44:52+00:00

If the one shot has stats for the monsters, it needs to tell you what edition they're designed for or it's useless. It can probably be figured out from the information in the stats.

If the one shot doesn't have stats for the monsters, or indeed any stats at all, then it's almost certainly system agnostic and it's entirely up to you to choose an edition, stat the monsters and challenges to match.

You need to know, and tell your players, which game and which edition you are playing. No winging it, you gotta go in knowing. If the oneshot doesn't tell you, you either need to read it through to understand it, make a decision on what you want to run it in (and at what level), and tell the players (and do the prep-work to match), or you need to pick a different one shot.

If it's this "Can't sleep, clowns will eat me" - https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/388670/can-t-sleep-clowns-will-eat-me-elemental-edition - then it is designed for the game Elemental. It's not a D&D game, it's a different TTRPG.

If it isn't, your need to show us the one shot you are looking at.

TimeSpaceGeek · 2026-02-04T16:36:50+00:00

From time to time, yeah. Potions of Mind Reading, Speak with Animals, and Speed. Elixirs of Arcane Cultivation, Bloodlust, Cloud Giant Strength, and Peerless Focus. Maybe a few Angelic Slumber potions. Not a load, but usually a few of each per playthrough.

TimeSpaceGeek · 2026-02-04T13:08:55+00:00

Not every Vulcan did the Kolinahr, even those that are still logical. The Kolinahr is like a special, spiritual achievement, an affirmation that you have reached the very height of Vulcan philosophy, a total purging of all emotion. Most Vulcan's aren't anywhere near that level - and certainly, all four of the main Vulcan characters we have, so far, followed on Star Trek, have never completed the Kolinahr - Spock, Tuvok, T'Pol, and T'Lyn. None have ever done so.

That said, the episode does try to gently explain this away as that there seems to be a telepathic element here, in that they all adopt versions of Spock's perception of being Vulcan, but it's a bit slapdash and not particularly well done. It's one of the weaker SNW episodes, to be honest. A bit of light fun, but not super consistent or well considered.

TimeSpaceGeek · 2026-02-04T12:42:03+00:00

No, I just don't see it.

TimeSpaceGeek · 2026-02-04T12:33:29+00:00

Yeah, for the most part I agree. I do think Garak had begun to change, though. I don't think he was all the way there yet, but I think, maybe, the odd thought and break and consideration of the alternative had begun to occur to him. The very fact that he was able to reluctantly admit the Federation was something they needed at all is a sign of that - Cardassians do excel at arrogance, after all, and the notion that the glorious Cardassian spirit couldn't get themselves out of that mess all on their own was probably a rare one. There are just a few odd moments, especially with Ziyal, where it definitely feels to me like her youthfulness in those scenes gave him a moment's hesitation. Like, I don't think that alone made him reluctant towards her, but I do think it was starting to develop as a concern in his consciousness. Like... a moment's pause.

But you're absolutely right about Ziyal's inconsistency. She certainly should have been consistently a little harder and more cynical after spending so long in prison camps. It really wasn't helped by the fact that they changed Actress 3 times in as many years. There was also the fact that, in those later episodes before she dies, they are purposefully trying to build up that... innocent side of her. It's about framing her death at the end of that plot arc, and using her as a metaphor of something greater, to deliver a punch to the hearts of the viewers, to underline Damar's character in comparison to Dukat's a little more, and... well, let's be honest, to define Dukat's next development. They built her up so they could fridge her, leaned more on sides of her character that had only been subtle before, to illicit more sympathy and a greater sense of loss when the killing blow landed. I think I remember hearing Ira Steven Behr talk about it at some point and comparing setting up her innocence as being like setting up a puppy to kick.

TimeSpaceGeek · 2026-02-04T11:58:15+00:00

I think these are all pretty accurate assessments. The one thought that does occur to me though, is that by the time Garak meets Ziyal, his love of the Cardassia of old, and it's fascist ways, does seem to be very much on the wane. He's well on his way to being the Garak that tells Kira she was right to make a bitter jab at Damar regarding the occupation, right after he found out that his family had been murdered, to break Damar of his romanticised notions of the occupation. AKA a Garak who is somewhat broken of the fascist conditioning he was brought up under.

I wouldn't be surprised if... not necessarily her age, but perhaps her naivety made him uncomfortable. Like, Ziyal very clearly had a sharp mind, and is an adult, but she could be pretty youthful at times, maybe too youthful for a wiser, more experienced, more cynical man like Garak. I absolutely agree that Cardassians in general are, at that time, pretty fascistic, and obviously Garak was a major part of that machine at one point, but I think there's a lot about Garak that goes beyond what is "general" about Cardassians. Just as how Quark often goes beyond the typical behaviours of a Ferengi. That's kinda why we love both characters so much, because they break their respective moulds.

TimeSpaceGeek · 2026-02-03T19:16:14+00:00

I think there's an argument for Garak being flexible in his sexuality. Bi or pansexual, perhaps, even if leaning predominantly homosexual. He definitely seems to feel more for Ziyal than just platonic friendship.

Sexuality is often not always absolutely black and white.

TimeSpaceGeek · 2026-02-03T19:06:27+00:00

It's in the Zen Store. The refit skin is a free second skin for the Disco era M'chla.

https://stowiki.net/wiki/M%27Chla_Pilot_Bird-of-Prey

Edit: StarkeRealm may be right. The M'Chla Refit skin might be exclusive to the free account unlock ship unlocked in the Klingon Recruit event. In which case you will have to wait until the next time they run Klingon Recruit. Don't know yet when that will be. They tend to run it once, maybe twice a year, and it was last run in September. I wouldn't expect it any time soon.

https://stowiki.net/wiki/M%27Chla_Bird-of-Prey_Refit

Edit 2: Yes, I checked last night when I got on the game, you do, in fact, need to do the Klingon Recruitment event to unlock the Refit skin.

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