What do you think will/would happen to the Cardassians (post

posted on June 23rd, 2010, 8:18 pm

yes they wouldnt simply glass the planet as that would kill the founder, so they just turn the weapons down a bit, and dont target the city where the founder is. so all the other cities would be relatively levelled.

Just wanna state that myles made an indeniably good point her. All we get to see from the planet is probably the only city not glassed.

[Tyler]

posted on June 23rd, 2010, 8:23 pm

Last edited by Tyler on June 23rd, 2010, 8:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.

That's a bit lacking of logic. The time for repair does not scale with the size of the land destroyed. Cardassia may have the size of several hundred germanies, but that does not mean it takes hundret times as long. That would be equal to saying: Evolution from bacteries to a zivilization on earth needed 4 billion years, thus evolution of 100 civilizations in the galaxy needs 400 billion years. 

So you reckon the Cardassians would rebuild faster to keep up? What's next; a single dead city slows down to match Germany? The repair rate is related to size of the losses, and Cardassia lost a lot more than Germany.

Devastated planets have a lot more cities/industry to rebuild than devastated countries.

This is, of course, just my opinion.

[mimesot]

posted on June 23rd, 2010, 9:08 pm

Last edited by mimesot on June 23rd, 2010, 9:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.

So you reckon the Cardassians would rebuild faster to keep up?

No, that would be an illogic colclusion.

What's next; a single dead city slows down to match Germany?

Sorry, please explain that a bit further. Why shall it slow down?

The repair rate is related to size of the losses

Simply no.
I'm grieved to say that, but that's a completly wrong assumption. Firstly the repair rate is dependent on the remains, not the loss (cause the loss ca be 800mil of 1bil of of 10bil. 200mil survivers will surly have a harder time rebuilding the same state than  9.2bil). Secondly you can't wildly mix up relative (like survivers per landmass) and absolut measures (like size of something). Just saying there are a lot more industries/cities to be rebuilt does not take into account that there are more rebuilders as well. If you said that there were more survivers in germany per area of land than on cardassia prime, i would clearly agree with you that this is logical and I even think that this the case for cardassia. Unfortunalty you didn't do so.

This is, of course, just my opinion.

Logic is no opinion - just the boundary conditions and assembly of argumentation differs per person.
- could be a citation of Tuvok

posted on June 23rd, 2010, 10:02 pm

Given that the Cardassians are a large interstellar empire, with multiple worlds just in the Cardassia system colonized, I'm sure they'll recover in about a decade.  Even given that some of their other important systems have been attacked, Cardassia Prime will be at the top of the new government's list.  As well as it's citizens, who have always been overly patriotic and sympathetic to the needs of the state.

However, the war did take a toll, and the landscape will likely bear those scars for centuries to come.

Regards,
-Grey

posted on June 23rd, 2010, 10:08 pm

Cardassian infrastructure isn't that good, they're a very resource poor race and their people were only loyal because the Obsidion Order ruled with fear (they and the military were in charge of every citizen from birth to death). Federation massistence may help a bit, but can only do so much considering they're also repairing their own damage.

Anyway, FO doesn't have the Cardassians anywhere close to the pre-War state. Not like Cardassia Prime was ever comparable to the other races homeworlds...

posted on June 23rd, 2010, 11:32 pm

I wouldn't be surprised if they tried a civilian government under something like the Detapa Council again. Its what most of them wanted before the Klingons, Dominion, and Cardassian Military forced them back on the path to aggressive war under a dictator.

I would also agree with the assessment that it would take a decade or so to pull themselves back together. Either they will find a new method of getting resources (peaceful trade and cooperation) or sink back into the one ways (conquest).

posted on June 24th, 2010, 3:53 am

Even if they attacked the planet from orbit (which may have been the case) they obviously didnt glass the whole planet. Even if you take the 800 million lives lost as just the planet population and not the cardassian empire as a whole there still has to be alot of cardassians left. Lets just assume for a second the cardassians fielded 5,000 ships with an average crew of about 300 (which seems to be a reasonable number for a ship the size of Keldon/Galor class). Now lets say ALL of them got destroyed (which obviously didint happen) the military losses of the fleet would be 1.5 million military casualties. Now lets also assume that they lost ten times that much on the ground 15 million casualties. Now add those up and with the planet and military casualties were at 816.5 million dead. Now unless all the cardies are living underground they didnt just obliterate the planet from orbit. They may have used some orital bombardment to take out major cities but i think the fleet had alot more to worry about then to attack the planet (such as the allied fleet on their doorstep) Its not like the fleet had alot of time to sit there and obliterate the panet, the allies were right on their tail. Also you cant tell me that through the course of the whole war that the Dominion never built any assets on Cardassia Prime. You can bet there were many things the Dominion didnt want destroyed on the planet. You have to remember up untill the allied fleet arrived at the planet the founder leader was hoping that retreating to Cardassia Prime and staying there woul give the allies pause to attack and just try to bottle them up instead of go for the kill, giving the Domion time to rebuild. And yes they would be occupied after the war, and theres no doubt they lost alot of territory to the romulans and klingons, you can bet the Federation in the name of "good relations" woulnt take any of their territory. They would still have several colony worlds and the do still have some ships so they would still have the Union, yes it would be a shadow of its former self but none the less they still would have thir own territory. And i still believe they would likely form some kind of alliance with the federation, especially when you considert the fact the Romulans would never give up any territory they captured so there would be Romulans right next to Cardassian territory now, they would likely rely on the Federation to keep the Romulans at bay as they would be in no situation to hold off any Romulan aggression.

posted on June 24th, 2010, 4:03 am

i agree with the earlier assement that the assault was most likely made by ground forces. Therefore the damage to minimal as compaired to what would happen if it was 'shelled' from orbit. But realistically it could be 50 to 100 years to get the cardassian empire back to the point that it was

posted on June 24th, 2010, 4:42 am

i agree with the earlier assement that the assault was most likely made by ground forces. Therefore the damage to minimal as compaired to what would happen if it was 'shelled' from orbit. But realistically it could be 50 to 100 years to get the cardassian empire back to the point that it was

Well I think that depends. If they had no help, it'd take 100 years, at least. But they have Federation aid, and theres a  [slim] chance they could get aid from the Dominion as some form of restitution for the attempted genocide.

I think they could pull it off in a decade or so.

posted on June 24th, 2010, 5:00 am

You guys are forgetting something.  If they had to 'go it alone' they still have a way to kickstart the whole process.  All they need is a single subspace radio, some gems or precious metals, and the willingness to call the Ferengi.

No non-interference regulations.  No bans on weapons trading.  The Cardassians could buy an antimatter reactor and an industrial replicator and go from there.  And that's just being minimalistic for what it would take to bring things back to previous levels quickly.

If they're cold enough (and in the past, they have been) they could buy slave labor from the Orions as well.

There are plenty of ways for them to accelerate the process so that they can move to retake the worlds the Dominion gave away.

posted on June 24th, 2010, 5:09 am

You guys are forgetting something.  If they had to 'go it alone' they still have a way to kickstart the whole process.  All they need is a single subspace radio, some gems or precious metals, and the willingness to call the Ferengi.

No non-interference regulations.  No bans on weapons trading.  The Cardassians could buy an antimatter reactor and an industrial replicator and go from there.  And that's just being minimalistic for what it would take to bring things back to previous levels quickly.

If they're cold enough (and in the past, they have been) they could buy slave labor from the Orions as well.

There are plenty of ways for them to accelerate the process so that they can move to retake the worlds the Dominion gave away.

Where would they get these trinkets and metals for trade? And why would there be no ban on trading weapons to the Cardassians? What makes you think the Cardassians would even be willing to risk another war just to retake what they lost? I'd think they'd be more interested in keeping what they have left.

posted on June 24th, 2010, 11:17 am

The Cardassians have never been afraid of war, it's a well known fact. Especially considering every conflict they've been in has been to get more resources because their worlds have very few. It's why they became a militant empire in the first place.

posted on June 24th, 2010, 11:35 am

The Cardassians have never been afraid of war, it's a well known fact.

But they aren't stupid...
They have been nearly obliterated in the last conflict, they wouldn't risk it a second time soon...
And it would be more wisely and logically that the Federation Alliance installs a Ban on military grade weapons for some time in exchange of assistance in rebuilding and security...

posted on June 24th, 2010, 11:45 am

They're not stupid, but arrogance and pride is quite common on Cardassia and both tend to overrule intelligence and wisdom.

posted on June 24th, 2010, 4:07 pm

Where would they get these trinkets and metals for trade? And why would there be no ban on trading weapons to the Cardassians? What makes you think the Cardassians would even be willing to risk another war just to retake what they lost? I'd think they'd be more interested in keeping what they have left.

Where would they get them?  From the bombed out slag of Cardassia Prime.  Gold is gold, and it's not hard to melt it into shape for trade.

Why would there be no ban?  The Ferengi and Orions have no bans on trading anything to anyone.  They even run blockades to make sales if the price is right.

Why would they risk another war?  They were willing to go to war with the federation because there were 100 native americans who refused to leave their homes after the borders were redrawn.

The Cardassians are not complacent, peaceful, or humble.  Throughout their appearances on TNG and DS9, we've seen an aggressive, relentless species who would risk their entire civilization over a point of pride.  They're like resource-starved, discipline-obsessed, sneaky Klingons.