Hmmm. How to roleplay the Cardies?

[Scrogdog]

I'm an older (and thus TOS) kind of guy.

Sure, I watched DS9. Liked lot of it, even. Except for the last season and perhaps the second half of the season before that. Too much "gods and demons" and not enough "science fiction" in the traditional sense.

Here's how I see things in terms of the strategic scope of the game.

Federation: Goody two-shoes alliance builders.

Klingon: Proud warriors with many traditions.

Romulan: Spies, wordsmith con-artists and assassins.

Cards? Hmmm... kinda like the Klingons except bigger B holes?

There must be something better than 'like the klingons' I'm just not thinking of it. :)

[JimmysTheBestCop]

Role Play them as the British Empire. Most of the time they get referred to as space nazi's from Trek fans however they actually share a lot in common with the British Empire pre WWII.

What Cardies did to Bajor isnt at all different from Britain and India and all of their Africa colonies and Asian colonies etc. Dukat was very Nazi like personally.

But if the Cardies themselves were Nazis then they just would have genocides the entire planet of Bajor.

[Larkis]

I think cardassians focusing a lot on evonomy, beeing able to boost the productions cause they transform the people into slaves, but suffer from diplomatic penalties and need to hold military personel on that planets to fight the resistance.

[Anguille]

Cardassians are also excellent spies. Law and order is their way

[Thucydides]

Cardassians are a highly nationalist empire that brutally oppressed Bajor. They seem pretty big on law and order, but in an authoritarian sense rather than a social justice sense. They have a military tradition, they make use of spys and subterfuge. They are very very proud. The economy seems industry based but it is unclear iirc?

I think that basic summary of their character gives a lot to roleplay on.

[RobOda]

Fascists basically. Propaganda, police state, secret police plus hefty military chains.

Absolutely nothing like the British Empire, they're pretty much space Nazis up to eleven.

[ashbery76]

Get a rubber forehead.

[Sinjen Blackstar]

Originally posted by ashbery76:

Get a rubber forehead.

Tape a spoon to the center of your head.... :P I'm a long time Cardassian player from BOTF.

[Anguille]

Originally posted by RobOda:

Fascists basically. Propaganda, police state, secret police plus hefty military chains.

Absolutely nothing like the British Empire, they're pretty much space Nazis up to eleven.

I disagree. They are more like the Soviets. The Cardassian society is very interesting even though I wouldn't want to live in Cardassia for long. The worst is the justice system.

[Kuldiin]

Bloody Cardies!

[abyssalfury]

The Cardassians basically end up being the half way point between Klingons and Romulans. The main defining trait is their authoritarian nature. They believe in order, where the Cardassian state is at the top.

Klingons might start a war over things like honour or grudges, or just because they like fighting and going to war lets them do it. Cardassians, not so much. If the Cardassians start a war, it's about maintaining Cardassian power and supremacy, or gaining power/resources in service of the state.

Same sort of deal on the Romulan comparison. A lot of their sneaky stuff is about maintaining the state. While they might ultimately end up having similar results, the reasons why the Cardassians do the things they do are a little different.

It's a little hard to say how to role play them without knowing exactly how mechanics will be implemented, but some of the main things that I think would differ from Klingons/Romulans:

-Offensive wars should only be fought for tangible benefits (planets, resources) not intangible reasons like honour.

-Cardassians are fascists, and by nature are going to prey on the weak and respect the strong (at least until the strong become the weak). Strong factions should be addressed via diplomacy or subversion, weak factions are victims.

-Cardassians are extremely brutal but not outright genocidal to 'lesser' species. From their point of view those species should be happy to be slaves to the superior Cardassian Empire. Domination is preferred over destruction.

-They shouldn't be relentlessly aggressive; they should be more willing to consolidate power and build their own strength rather than fight an enemy on equal terms.

-In the same way, their intelligence/spy/etc stuff should be a focus internally more so than externally. Using authoritarian measures to keep their own people under control is more important than spying on others or weakening them via subterfuge.


Of course, this all assumes you're looking to play Cardassians as they are generally depicted. But there were absolutely examples of Cardassians who had issues with how the Empire operated, so you could role play a 'nicer' faction if that was your preference.

[ashbery76]

The PC gamer article stated you can go for different versions with the mission trees ala dark Federation,etc.

[ashbery76]

DS9 made the Cardies with two of the best characters in Startrek history imo..

[corestandeven]

Originally posted by ashbery76:

The PC gamer article stated you can go for different versions with the mission trees ala dark Federation,etc.

If you do have the option to go non-canon, so for instance a Federation-Romulan alliance, a Federation-Caradassian alliance, Klingon-Romulan Alliance, etc that would be good. If however the game follows a canon path every time, e.g. the Klingons and Romulans will always hate each other, that'd be frustrating and reduce replayability.

[JimmysTheBestCop]

If Bajor cant build a statue for Dukat I QUIT

[WolfTooth]

Originally posted by corestandeven:

Originally posted by ashbery76:

The PC gamer article stated you can go for different versions with the mission trees ala dark Federation,etc.

If you do have the option to go non-canon, so for instance a Federation-Romulan alliance, a Federation-Caradassian alliance, Klingon-Romulan Alliance, etc that would be good. If however the game follows a canon path every time, e.g. the Klingons and Romulans will always hate each other, that'd be frustrating and reduce replayability.

From the PC gamer article:

What's encouraging about these narrative systems is that it doesn't seem like you're simply playing out a single-track victory condition for each faction. The Mission Tree branches, and you'll make meaningful decisions within it. Do you embrace the Cardassians' fascist nature, or redeem them and free their enslaved peoples? As the Romulans, do you accept Federation aid when the star by Romulus collapses, or give in to your people's overweening pride and face the consequences? There are only a couple of these for each faction, but they feel like they add meaningful differences to their respective playthroughs.