Faction identity – Dominion

The Dominion are an odd faction (by no means the oddest, that particular award goes to Mirror Universe) since they are essentially 3 factions in 1. The Jem’Hadar, Breen and Cardassians all have somewhat distinct features and this makes writing a faction identity post for them somewhat difficult.

“The Dominion was a major interstellar state in the Gamma Quadrant. Technologically advanced and millennia old, the Dominion was founded under the absolute rule of a group of Changelings known as the Founders, whose will was carried out by the Vorta and the Jem'Hadar. The Dominion was dedicated to imposing the Founders' vision of "order" upon the universe, i.e. bringing all other civilizations under its control.”

The Cardassians

“The Cardassians were a humanoid species from the Alpha Quadrant. They were native to the planet Cardassia Prime, capital world of the Cardassian Union. Known throughout the Alpha Quadrant for their ruthlessness, the Cardassians became one of the greatest enemies of the United Federation of Planets and Klingon Empire when they joined the Dominion in 2373. Their xenophobic attitude towards other species was well established throughout the quadrant after the Setlik III massacre during the Cardassian War, as well as when their atrocities during the Occupation of Bajor were revealed after their withdrawal in 2369.”

Cardassian ships have a 180 front arc and a pretty bad manoeuvre dial. At either 4 or 5 PWV they have pretty good hitting power that is improved by their Captains – Gul Macet, Gul Danar, both versions of Gul Dukat and Gul Lemec all help to boost either the number or quality of their red dice. The damage output of a ship over the course of the game is also aided with both Dorsal and Aft-Weapons Arrays. Whilst the Galor class vessels lack the BS needed to make the most of those attacks, Dukat 7 and the perk of the Reklar help to mitigate this. Cardassians are the hard hitting almost glass cannon aspect of the Dominion Faction. That’s not to say that other elements of the faction are not also hard hitting, but the Cardassian upgrades and ships lend themselves to this element better than other parts.

The Breen

“The Breen were a reclusive, powerful, and warlike humanoid race, native to the planet Breen in the Alpha Quadrant.”

With only 2 ships at time of writing, the Breen are difficult to define as a race. The signature Breen upgrade is the Energy Dissipator. Breen ships tend to have lots of weapon slots (and a tech upgrade that allows for more to be taken) and rely on secondary weapons to cause damage. Their ships don’t have the BS action but Breen Aide is a scan enhancer that allows a conversion of blank to hit. Their ships are also quite manoeuverable, with the Rav laerst’s Perk making them even more manoeuvreable. With such great movement you’d expect the Breen ships to be quite small, but in reality they have pretty good hull and shields (the named versions are 3-2-4-4). Breen Guards is a pretty good ganking card, one of the few ganking cards that allows for multiple uses, although it suffers from the ‘not cloaked no shields’ usage restrictions that render many ganking cards less effective. Of all the different Dominion sects, Breen are probably the one that I see used the least, which is a shame since they have potential. Never turn your back on a Breen.

The Jem’Hadar

“A genetically-engineered humanoid race from the Gamma Quadrant, the Jem'Hadar were the military arm of the Dominion and one of the most powerful military forces in the galaxy during their time.”

The Jem’Hadar ships come with Jem’Hadar crew and Vorta captains. The ships have some variety: The Attack Ship is small and manoeuvrable whilst the Battle Cruiser is much tougher and still surprisingly manoeuvrable. The Jem’Hadar Battleship was the first ship in the game to have a PWV of 6, but paid for it by having an abysmal dial. Jem’Hadar upgrades are again pretty mixed, with the likes of Omet’Iklan and Remata’Klan offering better attacking ability, whilst Amat’Igan and Ikat’Ika offer defence boosts. The area where there is the most consistency is with ganking cards. Kudak’Etan, Toman’Torax and Virak’Kara are all top end ganking cards that ignore the usual restrictions. Jem’Hadar upgrades tend to be more restrictive than other Upgrades since many of them can only be equipped to Jem’Hadar ships or come with a heavy penalty if they aren’t. The signature Jem’Hadar weapon is the phased polaron beam that ignores enemy shields. Whilst never devastating, PPBs can strike at a ship that relies more on shields than hull to survive and can cause some issues (The Defiant doesn’t like them).

So, as I said at the start, a mixed bag with a variety of different aspects. What the Dominion do share across races is that they have great attack efficiency, with three different cards that allow blanks to be converted to hits (Omet’Iklan, Breen Aide and Boheeka) and interesting secondary weapons (PPBs, EDs and DWAs).

1.      Good attacking power with great efficiency

2.      Some really good ganking cards

3.      Lots of variety, second only to Federation

4.      Interesting secondary weapon options

5.      Generally poor manoeuvring – but with some ships that have much better manoeuvrability.