I don't mind the long episodes, since the content is plenty good. There's lots of other podcaster segments I fast-forward through (App of the Ep, Hollywood Minute, etc)
I'm not quite done with the episode, but I need to get my thoughts down now before I forget.
I loved the overall Trek discussions, so many things to comment on I wished we were simply discussing over beers so I could add. Here's some stuff I shouted at the iPod:
-- Planetary Bombardment
Though you spent a lot on this, I'm surprised no one cited the threat to the Halkans in MIRROR MIRROR. The Mirror universe Spock makes it quite clear they could wipe the Halkan cities off the map, one by one.
Kirk used the same threat against Eminiar VII in TASTE OF ARMAGEDDON. And Garth of Izar tried to do it to the planet Antos.
There's also an example of using ship's phasers on a lower setting to stun an entire city block, I believe that was in PIECE OF THE ACTION.
So yes, the weapons potential of a single starship is terrifying.
BTW, the single worst atrocity in the series (setting aside the Borg empire overall) is probably the Douwd known as "Kevin Uxbridge" destroying the entire Husnock race, 50 billion of them, instantaneously in a fit of rage.
-- Other Non-Military Ships
You mused if we'd seen many non-military vessels outside of Starfleet? First obvious answer is the many times we've seen Vulcan ships.
We've also seen Romulan Science vessels (they're in STAW!)
And Ferengi ships are merchantmen by definition. Just also very well armed.
-- Space Battles
Objectively, DS9 has the best space battles, and likely its the one in SACRIFICE OF ANGELS that you mentioned that is the best.
Wrath of Khan has perhaps the best overall dramatic presentation, but essentially its an old broadsides battle, a slow motion pass, that then turns into a submarine fight. Very little that's quintessentially and uniquely a "space battle" beyond the 3-D zinger.
For actual FLEET battles, you need DS9 or Babylon 5
-- Characters commanding other races ships
Some examples off memory - Troi commands a Romulan D"Deridex, albeit in disguise. Riker commands a Klingon Bird of Prey in the officer exchange episode. And a weird twist one - Worf (and Kehylar) once commanded the Enterprise as Klingons under a Klingon flag.
-- Abramsverse Trek
The comics prequels to the 2009 Trek reboot are the only place that explains WTF is going on. Nero's ship was indeed originally a mining vessel, but after the destruction of Romulus, they find shelter at a secret Tal'Shiar base where they were retrofitting and reverse engineering Borg tech. Nero has the experimental tech sort of assimilate his mining ship, which is why its such a monster.
After they destroy the Kelvin, per the comic, they invade Klingon space, and actually fight, get captured by, and escape from the Klingons over the next 2 decades. hence the huge time jump while Kirk grows up, and all the scars Nero and the others acquire.
Its extra sh*tty evidence against JJ that he so casually skipped all that. It almost makes the idiocy of Starkiller Base pale in comparison. Almost.
I loved the observation that the JJ-Verse is super different because of that time incursion too. INTO DARKNESS , despite failings, makes it clear what happens when your fleet is solely driven by military concerns over exploration.
-- STAW Scale
With all due respect and affection, Greg - Get over it :-) ;-)
NONE of the distances in any of our tabletop space games is to scale, even representatively. So why do ships bother you thus?
Accurate Star Trek scale using say the current Enterprise D as a baseline would require (I'll quote from another discussion) - "the Borg cube would take a whole table, the D'Deridex would almost be the size of of the current Cube model, and Dominion ships would be even bigger than that."
And the variety is too vast to even do "class sizes" ala Star Wars Armada.
Think of them instead as Tactical Plot Icons - all same sized representations of ships for simple relative positioning.
My only real and valid scale gripe is the Tinyprise. WhizKids could totally afford and make a "regular sized" version of the classic Enterprise, but they choose to fall back on the old sculpt.
-- STAW Review
While I know at least Andy is enthusiastic about the game, your overall review came across as "damning with faint praise", but I'm not sure that was your actual goal. If you wanted to talk people out of the game and to just play X-Wing instead, you succeeded.
And a note on play balance, only the early wave days featured promo ships with OP and desirable cards. Later ones have simply been cool to have, maybe with very good combos, but far from essential ones. And since the Borg reset back in 2015, balance in Faction pure (or faction Pure by ship) I find BETTER than X-Wing (which still mostly succumbs to turret ship gimmicks).
-- Online Discount Comments
Another gentle critique - over several reviews now, you'll comment on MSRP, and then add in slightly conspiratorial tones that listeners could easily get it all super-cheap online. I bristle at even passive encouragement of such.
The listeners already KNOW there are online discounts. What should be actively encouraged is buying from the LGS so our gaming hobby actually has a future. I know this is a whole other topic. But if everything went to online sales and kickstarter, we'd all be stuck gaming only in each other's basements, or at "single game" game clubs only one night a week. Since our LGS fills up 6 of 7 nights a week with a different game each night, I shudder to think how many games would die if we went back to the game-club era. Variety would die out, and since Naval gaming has always been niche, the whole object of your podcast would be sent back to the chit and hex-map days.
Just sayin' ... ;-)
Then again, perhaps that's all according to Greg's plan, so he isn't tempted by too many games! ;-)
Oh, and last word on Trek overall. Besides actually playing STAW, Greg - you need to WATCH DEEP SPACE NINE. If I set TOS aside into a special category, DS9 is my favorite series hands-down.
Plus, I'd be very curious of your opinion in light of you only recently watching Babylon5.
One small caveat - just as TNG didn't really get good until Riker grows a beard, DS9 doesn't find its stride until Sisko grows a goatee.
:-)
