Pens, random screwdrivers and Allen hexes from furniture, rubber bands, a giant box of paper clips that I have no idea where they came from, a stack of note cards, a couple pads of post it knockoffs, markers, pens that don’t work. Mechanical pencils. Markers that don’t work. Broken wooden pencils. A box of crayons.

9 usb cables, 6 of which are the OG USB mini, another is the printer cable. 3 other random power cords.

2 box cutters, 3 pairs of scissors. 3 lighters, 1 of which reliable for now.

And a random ball of string that’s keeping it all “connected”

Ah. Yeah. That makes sense.

Also, door alarms. Like modern RFID or NFC door systems are capable of reporting in real time someone swiping a badge- a failed badge swipe (ie if someone is trying to get into someone’s room,) or even a threshold of “x-many failed swiped”- and perhaps more importantly; when a door gets forced open (or is otherwise open when it shouldn’t be. Including held open for “too long”)

The most secured facilities, even just using modern equipment would have lock downs checking biometrics, a badge, and probably some kind of password (and a duress code to use instead of a password,)

that’s… oddly specific…

Security cameras are in fact very vital aspects of a security theater. Sure they won’t stop someone from breaking in, but they’ll definitely allow one to monitor much larger areas than would otherwise be possible.

The caveat is they can’t be ignored and need to be monitored. And given how dumb the ship’s computer is….well. Probably should assign a Vulcan flunky.

Also…. Boobies.

We’re talking about an organization that refuses to retrofit their ships with seatbelts despite who-knows-how-many crew members dying every week from getting tossed out of their chairs in a fight or when anything unexpected happens.

Also… surge protection… just saying.

My favorite fan theory for star wars? R2D2 took the shot. He faked getting hurt by the laser bolts because luke was a dumbass farmboy, but letting him take the credit was less troublesome than explaining how he knew how to blow up a death star. (or that he’s always going around saving the galaxy because leaders like to use dumbass kids to fight their wars. yeah. he took the shot over naboo too.)

me too.

shamelessly.

It’s useful in getting cadets to see what it feels like to be in a no-win situation, and to get them to think about it, but this purpose for it and the specific way its framed opens it up to Kirk criticism in this post.

No it’s not useful for that. Not even remotely true. They go into it knowing that it’s just something they have to get done. You do it once, get clobbered and move on.

It’s not useful to impart experience because it’s known you’re going to lose. In-universe, a captain would not have that knowledge.

That knowledge changes everything about how you approach it- and together with the knowledge that it’s “just a sim”

If you wanted to give that experience- as best you can without killing lots of cadets- then you remove that knowledge, slipping ezcercisss in that feel “normal” until they’re not.

As for how to score it? There’s plenty of ways. Number of ships you kill. How long you survive, not to mention tactical performance etc.

Do you really need a canon source to draw that inference? Of course they have a way to score an exam. (And every exam would have been scored. That’s the point of them. You have to evaluate how you perform before you can begin to improve.)

I think there’s more detail that can be added to this though - in the Kobayashi Maru sim every cadet knows what the sim is before they go in there. It’s not some secret - they all know it’s unwinnable. If you somehow knew that it was unwinnable then the ethics of leaving them are tenable depending on your beliefs. But in reality you can’t know. You shouldn’t pretend to know.

Honestly, the scenario here is illuminating more for seeing how the cadet would respond. it’s also a great way to develop new tactics. In that sense, setting a "new high score"is a “Win”, even if you get blown up in the scenario. I still stand by saying that the excercise was a recruitment tool for selecting possible operatives for Section 31 (or whatever the agency was called then,)

personally, I think my response would have been to try and take the Maru under tow using the tractor beams; then run like…uh… well… a fast waddle? It’s presented as a binary choice. Either try and save the crew and get blown up, or try and fight and get blown up. it doesn’t need to be binary- you have a massive crew and can get one detail working the problem of rescuing the Maru crew while you and the bridge crew work on fighting the ship. Failing towing… shuttles. Failing shuttles… maybe docking and merging shields of both ships…? Possibly, lowing shields in one side, while using the maru for cover on that side and beaming that way?

(side note, I forget if shields had to be lowered for shuttles. Inany case, in TNG, that was true. the real question I have is what kind of idiot engineer designed a ship’s shield system that couldn’t be turned off in a specific portion of the hull to allow beaming with a relatively small opening? Or, maybe, just hear me out, a sort of ‘space lock’… like airlock hatches, that allow you to go out, but with shields.)

So… I’d go ahead and say that Kirk here is wrong.

The simulation isn’t about teaching starfleet prospective officers anything. a single “This is stupid but we have to go through it,” simulation going to convince anything of any one or “teach” all the bullshit they say it does.

The real point of the exercise is that it’s a filter. Remember, the crew performance is observed. People are watching. This scenario and exercise is mandatory for all star fleet cadets because they’re looking for people that never get involved in the first place. Or are willing to follow orders or “greater good” bullshit.

Kirk was likely noticed for being extremely determined and a certain disregard for stupid rules. It also sets him up for being passed over on the seedier side of starfleet because, interestingly, that certain disregard for stupid rules comes from his integrity… which… is why Kirk was involved in episodes like Private Little War. (despite maybe not being “inside” he was still considered “useful” enough when he was in a convnient place?)

This is a rampant fan theory, sure, but section 31 would have to recruit from somewhere, and the academy is a wonderful place for that. Slipping a few exercises to see how cadets respond is… well, it’d be more surprising if they didn’t.

Sorry, but I’m pretty sure the galaxy can’t fit on Rex’s junk…. Just saying…

Can I make a request that it follows K2-S0?

That clanker saved rogue one from being complete trash. (That, and everybody dying.)

The primary strength of the federation wasn’t that it’s technologically advanced- rather that it was relatively technologically adaptable.

It was that adaptable nature that allowed Janeway et all to defeat the borg (and everybody else.)

I subscribe to the theory that the reason Q screwed around with humanity as much as he did was to push them towards being able to defeat the borg- throwing them at the cube let them see what they were up against and begin preparing before the borg were on the federation’s doorstep.

As for humanity in particular, I suspect it’s because the federation is unique in that, as seven of nine said, a collective of many voices in harmony. (More or less.)

It’s a lot of diverse worlds working together, without there being some controlling force (like the borg’s hive mind, or the Dominion’s founders,) keeping everything from flying apart.

This diversity of thought was its real strength, and it was humanity that laid the foundation for it. (Because off course we did.)

I always find it amusing how supposedly pacifist Starfleet ships could take on their counterparts two to four on one and still come out winning on a routine basis, despite Klingons being both an older race and vastly more violent.

Them and Romulans. And borg. And the species that were kicking the borg’s ass.

Definitely true, of course,

I certainly get the impulse to kill Clippy.

Dude was an asshole. “Oh it looks like you’re trying to finish a school report at 5 am, let me delete that for you!”

I’m thinking it’s trying to say:

(2/6) + (1/6) = (3/6) = (4/6) - (1/6)

But either in “colloquial English for those who want to give other people aneurysms” or “colloquial English for those trying to sound smarter but aren’t”

Basically that the degree of difference between a half and a third is the same degree of difference between a half and two thirds- and that degree of difference is “one part”.

just poke the fake-muscle suit with a needle. It’ll deflate comically.

(actually, I’m pretty sure it’s clay sculpted and then used as a positive for a silicon mold. He was still ripped for the role, but… not that ripped.)

And the peppers that troll the fuck out of your temperature receptors?