Son'a Ideas
posted on April 22nd, 2010, 12:09 am
Last edited by Dominus_Noctis on April 22nd, 2010, 12:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
So, Son'a' will probably become an important ally of the Dominion down the road, so why don't we try to come up with some ideas that might make them an interesting new avatar?
Unlike most factions in Star Trek, we have a surprising four canon vessels, as well as known information about weaponry, ideology, and political connections:
'Son'a Shuttle' - replaces the A-4 as a scout perhaps, or maybe is an enhanced scout of some sort
'Son'a Battleship' - equipped with Isolytic subspace weaponry. As a researchable weapon, this unstable weapon would deploy a burst at medium range and proceed to deal a really high amount of damage to anything nearby. Really not so interesting if you think about it - but perhaps this special weapon has a chance to outright destroy a vessel (or 2) depending on the chassis, which depends on the warp-core of course sealing the subspace tear (perhaps only destroyers get annihilated)! Larger vessels wouldn't get blown up we presume, but once the subspace tear is over (read: at the end of the animation) a large shockwave would occur, disabling a subsystem or two of several nearby vessels, with perhaps also a moderate amount of damage to shields and/or hull. It would effect friendly and enemy vessels alike to represent the weapon's unpredictability. Otherwise, a pretty standard vessel, armed with torpedoes and disruptors. Replaces the B-5 battlecruiser, as the Son'a' prefer to support their own forces.
'Ru'af'o's vessel' - armed solely with torpedoes, as well as an Isolytic subspace weapon. Probably less powerful than the 'battleship' (heck, it looks like a cruiser) - so why not a relatively fast attack vessel? Perhaps replaces the C-11.
'Collector' - a massive vessel designed to collect nebulous particles. Why not adapt it similarly to the old 8472 weapon? Have it trigger an enormous blast in nebulae as perhaps either a replacement for the Hyperspace Artillery, or an additional super weapon alongside it. Requires a fairly long preparation time to charge up, but few resources to build. Perhaps also built by some sort of constructor as it is so big.
Likewise, we know that the Son'a specialized in Ketracel White manufacture. Perhaps replace the Ketracel White facility with several outposts which warp in ships that carry the White at regular intervals. Son'a vessels would be buildable out of their own yard, and would have access to fewer pure Dominion ships. Son'a vessels would cost much more dilithium/tritanium than supply, as they presumably do not use many Jem'Hadar. To represent the fact that the Son'a are mostly in charge here, normal Dominion ships would cost a fair bit more dilithium and tritanium than normal - the Son'a don't have full access to the mass production facilities that the Founders use
Slave races - the Son'a also use a number of other races as their unpaid laborers. For this reason, perhaps Son'a vessels are less capable of defending themselves from being boarded. On the other hand, the Son'a shipyard and Dominion Construction Yard (not the large one) are somewhat cheaper.
Feel free to add your own ideas
Unlike most factions in Star Trek, we have a surprising four canon vessels, as well as known information about weaponry, ideology, and political connections:
'Son'a Shuttle' - replaces the A-4 as a scout perhaps, or maybe is an enhanced scout of some sort
'Son'a Battleship' - equipped with Isolytic subspace weaponry. As a researchable weapon, this unstable weapon would deploy a burst at medium range and proceed to deal a really high amount of damage to anything nearby. Really not so interesting if you think about it - but perhaps this special weapon has a chance to outright destroy a vessel (or 2) depending on the chassis, which depends on the warp-core of course sealing the subspace tear (perhaps only destroyers get annihilated)! Larger vessels wouldn't get blown up we presume, but once the subspace tear is over (read: at the end of the animation) a large shockwave would occur, disabling a subsystem or two of several nearby vessels, with perhaps also a moderate amount of damage to shields and/or hull. It would effect friendly and enemy vessels alike to represent the weapon's unpredictability. Otherwise, a pretty standard vessel, armed with torpedoes and disruptors. Replaces the B-5 battlecruiser, as the Son'a' prefer to support their own forces.
'Ru'af'o's vessel' - armed solely with torpedoes, as well as an Isolytic subspace weapon. Probably less powerful than the 'battleship' (heck, it looks like a cruiser) - so why not a relatively fast attack vessel? Perhaps replaces the C-11.
'Collector' - a massive vessel designed to collect nebulous particles. Why not adapt it similarly to the old 8472 weapon? Have it trigger an enormous blast in nebulae as perhaps either a replacement for the Hyperspace Artillery, or an additional super weapon alongside it. Requires a fairly long preparation time to charge up, but few resources to build. Perhaps also built by some sort of constructor as it is so big.
Likewise, we know that the Son'a specialized in Ketracel White manufacture. Perhaps replace the Ketracel White facility with several outposts which warp in ships that carry the White at regular intervals. Son'a vessels would be buildable out of their own yard, and would have access to fewer pure Dominion ships. Son'a vessels would cost much more dilithium/tritanium than supply, as they presumably do not use many Jem'Hadar. To represent the fact that the Son'a are mostly in charge here, normal Dominion ships would cost a fair bit more dilithium and tritanium than normal - the Son'a don't have full access to the mass production facilities that the Founders use
Slave races - the Son'a also use a number of other races as their unpaid laborers. For this reason, perhaps Son'a vessels are less capable of defending themselves from being boarded. On the other hand, the Son'a shipyard and Dominion Construction Yard (not the large one) are somewhat cheaper.
Feel free to add your own ideas
posted on April 22nd, 2010, 12:15 am
posted on April 22nd, 2010, 12:21 am
Well, the way I saw it was that it was going to sterilize the planet, and we knew that Ketracel White production was produced partly by some bacterial stuff too, right? 
posted on April 22nd, 2010, 12:30 am
posted on April 22nd, 2010, 3:44 am
Alliance: Son'a
Units granted
- Son'a Marauder
- Son'a Battleship
Specials granted
- Decreases Supply cost of all ships by 10 percent
- Alpha Quadrant Jem'hadar- Increased crew boarding strength for all Dominion vessels
- Allows Son'a scientists to process Ketracel White at the Ketracel White Facility
I didn't want to call Ruafo's vessel "Son'a Cruiser", so I figured I'd name it a marauder, because it sounds cool and it really does look like a light cruiser at best. I see it as a ship with both a torpedo and some pulse weapons added, as most dominion ships are beam and torp based. Only the B-8 and T-15 use pulses, so this would strengthen the pulse end of this Dominion Avatar. It would be like how the Breen add their own style of torpedo, but with pulses instead. Perhaps both the Son'a Marauder and Son'a Battleship could have medium ranged torpedoes and short ranged pulse weapons.
The Battleship would be similar, with both dual pulses and a torpedo. I don't see the offensive or defensive values of either of these ships being especially high, as it didn't seem that they were any match for the Enterprise while she still had a warp core (please correct me if I'm wrong, it's been a while since I saw the movie
). So instead of high defense and offense, they would have a much higher system value, reflecting their highly advanced technology. Perhaps the battleship has something as Dominus describes, with a ship cap on units affected, of course. It would do increased damage to smaller units.Techtree wise, if they weren't built at their own yards, you could build the Son'a vessels from the regular yards very easily. Instead of requiring a prototype, the Son'a Marauder would be constructed at the construction yards and require the technology lab. The Son'a Battleship would require the Ketracel White Facility. Both of them cost enough to be used as tech requirements, especially for the dominion where teching only allows you access to one vessel and you still need to make the prototypes of other vessels to be effective. What would be a conventional means of teching up for other races would be quite unconventional for the Dominion.
As far as "Specials granted", most of them are self-explanatory except for the third one. Let's face it, the Ketracel white facility is only used to make Hyperspace Artilleries or research engine upgrades.
I'd like to see it used for something more with the Son'a. What I was thinking is a reverse of the Borg's recycling center. Instead of spending supplies to get Dilithium or Tritanium, you can select Dilithium or Tritanium to get supplies! 
It makes sense that the Son'a would be able to easily produce the white, and it would actually make sense if they did it at a station called "Ketracel White Facility". Imagine that! 
Also, who's to say that the Son'a didn't have a hand in engineering the Alpha Jem'hadar? It's been a while since I saw DS9, and we only see them in the one episode, if I recall. But regardless who made them, they would be an interesting addition.
Overall, I see this race as being a departure from the other two avatars. The strength of this avatar is not in it's build speed or giving heavy stat bonuses or super sturdy ships, but better economic control. No longer will you have a super slow, super powerful ship like the Breen Battleship or the S-7. The Son'a Battleship will be weaker than the V-13, but with a higher system value to reflect it's role as a support battleship. Maybe the Marauder can have that amazing "range extender" that everyone uses when it's gone from the C-11.
Anyway, that's how I see the Son'a ending up.
Oh, and I totally ripped off the image from TUN's unoffical avatars thread, which can be found here. Thanks a TUN! :kid:
posted on June 1st, 2011, 2:39 pm
More than one year without any post in that threat - I have to up 'em cause I like the idea of Dominus and the workout of Mal! 
posted on June 2nd, 2011, 2:21 am
posted on June 2nd, 2011, 3:06 am
A worthy necro-thread .
I very much like Mal and Dom's idea for the third avatar. I do hope some of these ideas make it in alongside a lot of the new possibilities that have come up within a year.
.I very much like Mal and Dom's idea for the third avatar. I do hope some of these ideas make it in alongside a lot of the new possibilities that have come up within a year
.
posted on June 2nd, 2011, 4:10 am
posted on June 2nd, 2011, 5:35 am
I'd like to maybe see the smaller Son'a ship as a destroyer rather then a cruiser. I'm sure the Dominion will get more small yard units but I still find it really difficult to fight Klingon players when they spam Brels. The T15 seems to be the only Dominion unit that can stand against Brels so I'm pretty much always forced to large yard rush when I face Klingons. A nice early game Son'a destroyer armed in a similar manner to the T-15 would be awesome.
The Dominion's large yard units all tend to cover everything though, and generally late game I find playing the Dominion much easier so I'm not sure what role the Son'a Battleship could take. It could go the route of being an anti-destroyer ship a la Risner, or it could be a anti-captial ship and specialize in killing battleships like the Breen Cruiser. Because of the psychological damage Brel spammage has dealt against me my vote is to make the Son'a Battleship an anti destroyer ship, once again armed in a similar manner to the T-15.
@Mal
I'm glad to see that avatar icon of the Son'a still showing up all this time later.
The Dominion's large yard units all tend to cover everything though, and generally late game I find playing the Dominion much easier so I'm not sure what role the Son'a Battleship could take. It could go the route of being an anti-destroyer ship a la Risner, or it could be a anti-captial ship and specialize in killing battleships like the Breen Cruiser. Because of the psychological damage Brel spammage has dealt against me my vote is to make the Son'a Battleship an anti destroyer ship, once again armed in a similar manner to the T-15.
@Mal
I'm glad to see that avatar icon of the Son'a still showing up all this time later.
posted on June 2nd, 2011, 6:13 am
Bugs should dominate B'rel spam . Keep your scout watching their yards and if you see more than one field yard making B'rels (i.e. B'Rel Spam) then start either double yarding Bugs or doing Bug / T15.
B'rel spam vs. Dominion would require IMMENSE skill to be victorious over a Dominion player that's paying attention
. Keep your scout watching their yards and if you see more than one field yard making B'rels (i.e. B'Rel Spam) then start either double yarding Bugs or doing Bug / T15.B'rel spam vs. Dominion would require IMMENSE skill to be victorious over a Dominion player that's paying attention
posted on June 2nd, 2011, 6:19 am
posted on June 2nd, 2011, 8:23 am
The Undying Nephalim wrote:I'd like to maybe see the smaller Son'a ship as a destroyer rather then a cruiser. I'm sure the Dominion will get more small yard units but I still find it really difficult to fight Klingon players when they spam Brels. The T15 seems to be the only Dominion unit that can stand against Brels so I'm pretty much always forced to large yard rush when I face Klingons. A nice early game Son'a destroyer armed in a similar manner to the T-15 would be awesome.
The Dominion's large yard units all tend to cover everything though, and generally late game I find playing the Dominion much easier so I'm not sure what role the Son'a Battleship could take. It could go the route of being an anti-destroyer ship a la Risner, or it could be a anti-captial ship and specialize in killing battleships like the Breen Cruiser. Because of the psychological damage Brel spammage has dealt against me my vote is to make the Son'a Battleship an anti destroyer ship, once again armed in a similar manner to the T-15.
@Mal
I'm glad to see that avatar icon of the Son'a still showing up all this time later.
I agree, the Dominion need some better smaller yard units, as a average Dominion player can really find it difficult in early game, until the B5's and V-13s come out. The B8 is one of the only good small yard units, with perhaps the bomber as well.
posted on June 2nd, 2011, 8:40 am
posted on June 2nd, 2011, 9:22 am
@Boggz
I've tried to do bug rush, but as one might suspect once they realize I do this they usually easily shift to K’beajQ or K'vorts, both ships that tear apart bugs. By that point there usually is not enough resources to churn out a prototype for a ship that can successfully hold off against those because by that time I've pumped all my resources in spamming Bugs from two yards.
So I either suggest the Dominion get a small yard unit that has a similar role to the T-15 or ditch the prototype system to make reacting to a Klingon build change a bit easier. 
@Redshirt
The two Breen ships currently in the game are largely geared toward anti-battleship roles. The Breen Cruiser for instance can tear apart large sized ships such as the Galaxy in a short order because there's no miss rate for torps against large ships, however it is virtually useless against small destroyers because of the high torpedo miss rate. What I proposed for the Son'a ships is the complete opposite of the current Breen ship roles: anti destroyer ships geared towards taking out the small guys.
I've tried to do bug rush, but as one might suspect once they realize I do this they usually easily shift to K’beajQ or K'vorts, both ships that tear apart bugs. By that point there usually is not enough resources to churn out a prototype for a ship that can successfully hold off against those because by that time I've pumped all my resources in spamming Bugs from two yards.
So I either suggest the Dominion get a small yard unit that has a similar role to the T-15 or ditch the prototype system to make reacting to a Klingon build change a bit easier. @Redshirt
The two Breen ships currently in the game are largely geared toward anti-battleship roles. The Breen Cruiser for instance can tear apart large sized ships such as the Galaxy in a short order because there's no miss rate for torps against large ships, however it is virtually useless against small destroyers because of the high torpedo miss rate. What I proposed for the Son'a ships is the complete opposite of the current Breen ship roles: anti destroyer ships geared towards taking out the small guys.
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