Topic: [Query] Romulan Stations Designs

[pepperman]

Over the years I have seen plenty of great Romulan ship designs which some modellers have brought to life but has anyone seen any Romulan station designs.  Been thinking about a winter project to sink my teeth into and thought I'd query the group and see what they might have stored away in there databanks.  So what say you, any good Romulan station designs out there?

[Centurus]

I haven't seen any Romulan stations in a long time, and even then, I think they were SFC stock.  Would love to see some new designs though.

[Panzergranate]

I downloaded a few Romulan stations, outposts and defence platforms from Battleclinic earlier in the year. They were conversions from Armada to SFC 2, which I had to convert to SFC 1 so as to be able to use them.

I'm not sure if anyone has actually created anything original for the Romulans on this theme.

Finding diagrams, plans and illustration on Romulan stations, outposts and defence platforms is not easy, given their inherant secretive, sneaky ands deceitful ways.... And that's just with their allies!!

Not biased, just speaking from a Klingon point of view....

 

[pepperman]

Yes, the Romulans are sneaky bastards to be sure.  I am familar with the Romulan stations from the Armada series as well as most of the good mods.  To date, I have been unsucessful in finding much in the way of stations outside of that environment.  The quest continues so hopefully I'll run across something in my travels.  If any of you happen to see a shape or whatnot that cries Romulan give a shout.

Thanks for looking.

[atheorhaven]

My thought is that Romulan stations should be a bit behind Fed/Klingon stations simply because they're resource poor.  So, smaller stations but sharing some design characteristics with whatever design would work best in the environment it's placed in.  So something based off K-7 for instance would be smaller, but have a shorter neck, the typical Romulan embellishments, and maybe a ring joining the sections.  I'll see if I can grab a couple of pictures to mock it up..

No ring on it, but this gives a good idea of the derivative (ie: pilfered) tech that I think they'd use, in this case around TMP times.  After all, using someone else's R&D and tech that's proven as a basis cuts down their deployment time.  My personal belief though is that the Romulans follow a form of bushido.. they'd bribe someone for the plans, and steal only if they were forced to do so.  But a promise made to someone outside the Empire is a promise to a "non-person", about the same as promising something to a dog or a cat.  Not something they'd have to live up to, but would if they could.

Just a personal belief though, think that TNG made them more sneaky in general.

[Terradyhne]

My thought is that Romulan stations should be a bit behind Fed/Klingon stations simply because they're resource poor.  So, smaller stations but sharing some design characteristics with whatever design would work best in the environment it's placed in.  So something based off K-7 for instance would be smaller, but have a shorter neck, the typical Romulan embellishments, and maybe a ring joining the sections.  I'll see if I can grab a couple of pictures to mock it up..

No ring on it, but this gives a good idea of the derivative (ie: pilfered) tech that I think they'd use, in this case around TMP times.  After all, using someone else's R&D and tech that's proven as a basis cuts down their deployment time.  My personal belief though is that the Romulans follow a form of bushido.. they'd bribe someone for the plans, and steal only if they were forced to do so.  But a promise made to someone outside the Empire is a promise to a "non-person", about the same as promising something to a dog or a cat.  Not something they'd have to live up to, but would if they could.

Just a personal belief though, think that TNG made them more sneaky in general.

how did you get the idea that the Romulans are resource poor, how did they than manage to build ships like the giant D'Deridex or the Z-1 Nova ?? I only think they are a bit inferior in technology than the other races, because they wanted to get the wrong way with their singularity reactors research and overfunded this field of research.

pepperman, their are not much station designs for the most other races than the feds as no one seems to be willing or creative enough to design some for them, so you won't find that much "other" station designs for the Romulans.

[Panzergranate]

SFB places the eRomulans in a"star desert" with alot of their territory covering the stellar voids between the spiral arms of the galaxy. Even the Franz Josepth Star Trek Technical Manual maps place them in a "star desert".

The top speed of the old Warhawk cruiser is stated to be warp 4 (64c) in one TOS episode, when the Enterprise is being pursued. With their range limited by fuel considerations (Impulse powered warp drive) the big distances between the stars or even exploring their territory would be difficult.

In TOS "Balance of Terror" the commander's reminciences with his first officer about the many campaigns they have fought in, and clearly they are not involved in any conflict with the Federation or the Klingons but maybe the Gorns or other unknown races, suggests that the Romulans, at that time, still have a lot of conquering to do.

Clearly the millitary assistance afforded by the Klingons with old D7 battlecruisers and MAM technology would have made a significant contribution to Romulan exploration, colonisation and conquest plans into their territories.

As a result the Romulan economy would have prospered and and this would have enabled their millitary strength tro grow exponentially.

That is why they can build Dederex class ships in TNG yet in early TOS episodes they are the technologically poor beligerent with feeble and limited starship capabilities.
 

[atheorhaven]

Yeah, what he said. 

Also, I thought that it just made sense.  The Romulans were obviously far ahead of Earth in a lot of ways, but fought their war with Earth lobbing nukes at each other from some pretty big distances.  That suggests good C&C ships, good sensor and telemetry, and not too much on the advanced tech side (as Earth was at the time).  Doesn't say that they were hunting lizards with sticks and flint knives.. just that their resources were spread pretty thin, so low yield, easy to mass produce and cheap weapons would be advantageous to strike armadas and fleets of space marines, that's all..

[Panzergranate]

The Romulans practice a very spartan and ruthlessly efficient millitary docorine becauuse they have to. Like Japan they are strapped for natural resources and this motivates them to secure it from others, by conquest if possible.
 
Based on the early TOS Romulans, it is quite resonable to believe that they would have created quite an extensive network of refueling stations all over their territories in order to maintain their impulse powered fleet. Quite what happened to these stations as MAM powered ships take over would be a question. Would they be converted to some other purpose, abandoned or scrapped??

The MAM fueled ships can run for years where as the impulse powered ships appear, by the TOS "Balance Of Terror" episode, only seem to have a space flight duration of a few days to a week.
 
In another episode Spock give the maximum speed of the old Romulan ships as warp 4 (64c) so it is possible to calculate the maximum distance between refueling stations an old Warhawk could trundle. To explore and expand their empire the Romulans would have to gradually install these stations as they progressed.

A Klingon D7 battlecruiser can make warp 7 so for the Romulans this must have seemed like going from a moped to a sports motorcycle.