IST Academy

[Mark Skarr]

I am now confused, because Dartz and I are saying the same thing.

Are you dismissing my suggestions out of hand because they come from me?

If you and Dartz are saying the same thing, he's saying it better.  While I can't see the IST doing garbage pickup or bus driving, I could see them providing security for those groups as well.

And no.  I'm not dismissing anything because anyone says them.  If I was dismissing you, I wouldn't be responding to you.

And, you clearly say:

The IST is not an army. It should not be trained as if it was.

Which flies in the face of the book saying:

To make matters worse (for new recruits, that is), IST Command has managed to obtain the services of the six most-hated drill sergeants in the United States Marines!

Why would they have US drill sergeants training them (and hated ones at that) if they're not looking for a strong, military organization?

And, Dartz even identifies them as an Army (technically).  So, you two can't be saying the same thing.

I'd be happy if you would, but you seem to be going with the mirror-universe starfleet instead.

Actually, more TOS than TNG.  TNG was too utopic (dystopic) for my tastes.  And, in TOS, they were ready for violence to break out, but tried to be diplomatic as best they could. 

Best case, one dissuades a nation from obtaining nuclear weapons without invading that nation - thus, diplomacy is part of #1.

It doesn't say "dissuade" it says "enforce."  By the time the IST gets involved, diplomacy has already failed.  For both 1 and 2.

How does one discourage armed conflict by starting armed conflict? #5 is all about diplomacy.

The Russians and the US did it for 50+ years.  It's called Mutually Assured Destruction.  While it wasn't great, and only successful on a macro scale, it did work.  And the one time that the ISTs did prevent an armed conflict in the book no diplomacy was ever attempted.  Check page 77.  IST Panama City deployed their battlesuits to prevent a US landing while their supers were tasked with H&I on the US ships (non-violently).  A third group arrested and spirited Noriega away for trial.

So, again, the willingness to resort to violence before diplomacy.

And it's not:

Speak softly before picking up that big stick.

It's "speak softly and carry a big stick."  The stick is ready before you speak softly, so when it fails, the stick is ready.  It means you're ready for physical violence as soon as the talking fails.

The PCs aren't playing the redshirts - they're playing the Picards and Rikers.

Again TNG is not IST.  TNG is far too optimistic.  It may be what they aspire to, but, they're not there.  Not by a long shot.

However, that also flies in the face of the book.  The PC's aren't Picard or Riker, they would be their superiors and the Civilian Administrator.  The PCs would be the security team.  Diplomacy wasn't a required skill until I put it on the template.  So, how are characters untrained in diplomacy supposed to defuse a hostile situation?  Blind luck?

When the U.N. sends in peacekeepers, their job isn't to smooth things over and come to a diplomatic resolution for the parties involved--that time has passed.  Their job is to enforce the peace--violently, if necessary--but hopefully not.  The diplomacy may still be ongoing, but it's happening at a level above the Peacekeepers, usually in another country.

I know you've invested a lot of energy in describing that Chinese war... but is it actually going to happen?

With that statement, you seem to be the only person who doesn't think so.