Romulans in Combat

posted on May 22nd, 2010, 2:15 pm

The idea that Romulans in general are bad at combat seems to pop up a lot, especially in discussions regarding boarding strength.  Where are people getting this idea?

[oberlerchner123]

posted on May 22nd, 2010, 3:07 pm

Last edited by oberlerchner123 on May 22nd, 2010, 3:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.

No idea, i think a Romulan boarding party would be pretty good.

Remember that DS9 Episode where Klingons board Deep Space Nine, all mindlessly running around with Batleths getting phasered.

I think troops of Romulans sniping away the security from the top level of the Promenade would have done better.

posted on May 22nd, 2010, 3:25 pm

build a tavara and research the marines, there you go it doesnt even drain crew from the tavara's pool.

posted on May 22nd, 2010, 3:27 pm

The idea is likely that they've never been shown stronger than humans and lack the main reason for the Vulcans physical strength (their homeworlds gravity). I got nothing about where any low skill argument comes from, though.

posted on May 22nd, 2010, 3:28 pm

I know that.
I'm referring to the fact that whenever people discuss making certain factions better/worse in boarding, Romulans seem to generally end up being thought of as weak.  Genetically they should (theoretically) be stronger than humans, but even if they aren't that doesn't make them weaker.

[Myles]

posted on May 22nd, 2010, 3:29 pm

Last edited by Myles on May 22nd, 2010, 3:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.

i like the romulan boarding capabilities as they are. i imagine that the average romulan crewman is about the same as a human/betazoid etc. but then the tavara's marines are super duper specially trained to be clever and strong.

two sides to this:

1) genetically they are supposed to be as strong as vulcans. but maybe there is something environmental about vulcans being stronger, perhaps their planet is worse than romulus. but that suffers from the problem that the romulans didnt split from the vulcans long ago enough for major changes to happen to them.

2) we see humans beat the snot out of romulans sometimes.

- TNG: the next phase has a fight where romulans are shown to be around the same strength as humans

- another tng episode where geordi is stranded on the planet with the romulan soldier show them to be about the same strength as well.

posted on May 22nd, 2010, 3:35 pm

think about it though, i consider the romulans weak compared to the other races for one reason, because their secretive nature over the past half a decade means they lack the intelligence to counter the rest, where as their entire military is based off covert operations and intelligence. in the TOS era, romulans were on par with klingons but now they are just weak because of lack of proper fighting skills which is apparent because they require the superior advantage over any foe. its been seen time and time again.

posted on May 22nd, 2010, 3:38 pm

I'm referring to the fact that whenever people discuss making certain factions better/worse in boarding, Romulans seem to generally end up being thought of as weak.  Genetically they should (theoretically) be stronger than humans, but even if they aren't that doesn't make them weaker.

That part's probably because people see them as cowards (with the cloak and common avoidance of direct action), cowards are often seen as weak until they hit you. The Romulans kinda made that opinion themselves.

Ninja'd by Canny.

posted on May 22nd, 2010, 3:56 pm

In the strategic sense the Romulans are sneaky/cowardly, but that doesn't make them worse in individual combat.  They generally don't attack unless they're in a superior position, but that doesn't make them weak; it's just their military strategy.

As for the fact that we see humans beat Romulans a lot, we see humans beat basically everyone a lot, just because the show is centered on them.

posted on May 22nd, 2010, 4:01 pm

romulans who use advantages others would not take, for example, shooting someone in the back, i mean not even garak, a trained and former obsidian order operative would consider such a tactic because he knows he can beat the best of them without resporting to such desperation even though he was tempted, an ordinary romulan knows that they dont have the skills to pull off such fighting, perhaps they were no taught hand to hand combat but rather shooting skills.

posted on May 22nd, 2010, 4:02 pm

In the strategic sense the Romulans are sneaky/cowardly, but that doesn't make them worse in individual combat.  They generally don't attack unless they're in a superior position, but that doesn't make them weak; it's just their military strategy.

As for the fact that we see humans beat Romulans a lot, we see humans beat basically everyone a lot, just because the show is centered on them.

That's why I said 'seen as weak until they hit you'.

posted on May 23rd, 2010, 2:16 am

romulans who use advantages others would not take, for example, shooting someone in the back, i mean not even garak, a trained and former obsidian order operative would consider such a tactic because he knows he can beat the best of them without resporting to such desperation even though he was tempted, an ordinary romulan knows that they dont have the skills to pull off such fighting, perhaps they were no taught hand to hand combat but rather shooting skills.

I seriously doubt that they think they can't win in a direct confrontation.  Their culture has nothing at all like 'honorable death in battle' or 'glorious martyrdom'.  A battle with ZERO Romulan injuries is seen as the best kind of battle.

Thus, they take every measure they can to ensure a bloodless (for them) victory.

posted on May 23rd, 2010, 2:50 am

That doesn't stop them from trying to provoke others, though. For a sneaky and underhanded group, they're pretty arrogant when they have a bigger ship.

posted on May 23rd, 2010, 2:56 am

Yeah.  If you can't gloat about how superior you are in front of your enemy after you've bested them, what's the point?

posted on May 23rd, 2010, 3:49 am

That doesn't stop them from trying to provoke others, though. For a sneaky and underhanded group, they're pretty arrogant when they have a bigger ship.

I'm sure the Romulans wouldn't call themselves sneaky and underhanded.  They'd call themselves 'practical' or 'pragmatic'.