Star Trek Insurrection: Is Starfleet Crumbling? 

Picard has been shown to suffer from PTSD at this point. They're not putting him on the front lines of a war. Not to mention, he's one of their best diplomats, so if they need to quickly recruit more planets into the Federation, that's exactly where he and the famed flagship should be, to win or woo them over asap.

The Enterprise not being in the Dominiom War is probably the same as why Pike's Enterprise was left on the sidelines during the Klingon War: Last line of defense

Worf randomly showing up without much explanation was the writers intentionally saying to audiences... you guys probably don't care THAT MUCH how or why Worf is here... he just has to be here because it's Worf and he is strongly associated with this crew

This movie was an extended episode of the series with a better budget....

Everyone's fleets were crumbling in this time due to massive losses during the dominion war. Except for the Romulans. They avoided the scale and scope of military losses that the federation and the Klingons experienced. I'd make a joke about how section 31 in ds9 was looking at Romulus as the next big threat and link that to JJ trek but through star trek online we know the destruction of Romulus really was an inside job.

Over the last the years, I've come to think that "Insurrection' could've easily been re-tooled as the Liberation of Betazed. We get an action-packed movie with solid lore connections and actual stakes, that complements DS9 but doesn't cheapen it, Lwaxana Troi could've returned (leading a underground resistance), the Enterprise would get to flex it's stuff, and you can't tell me F. Murray Abraham wouldn't make a good vorta.

I feel like The federation might not have gotten the Sovereign class involved because of how high tech and new it was. If it got captured somehow, that would potentially leak secrets to their enemies and if it was destroyed, that would be a phenomenally devastating blow to federation morale. Also the jokes weren't THAT bad, besides, if I was a little nervous about a meeting that might affect the federation's relationship with a new species drastically, i would probably crack shitty jokes too. :p

I am beginning to believe in Star Trek: Picard Starfleet became corrupt.

About the cloak not being used for military applications, it might be that "observation cloaks" only allow for a limited form of invisibility. After all like at 3:10 it's clear tech able to see trough them exists, and is not even that bulky or complex, so they aren't really of any advantage when dealing with other technologically adept factions.

Subzero: ethical and moral subroutines… activated. Starfleet: ah crap...

wonder why nobody knew about Worf coming around. No ship meetup, no permission to get onboard asked for, not even Riker as XO... it looks like he just appeared right behind the corner ;P

When they blew the Defiant up, it killed morale in the fleet. If they didn't keep the Enterprise away before then, they sure would've after. It's a huge target. And let's not forget the Odyssey. A Galaxy class, top of the line for the time. The Dominion aren't afraid to sacrifice bug ships for easy wins.

In Disco, it was revealed the Enterprise 1701 was kept out of the fighting during the Klingon War (Beta cannon says the Enterprise was basically fighting a one ship war in a star cluster). I think it makes sense that the Enterprise is not on the frontlines for two reasons. 1. It would be a massive target on the frontlines. 2. The Enterprise-E is powerful enough to basically fill in for the rest of Starfleet on the exploration and diplomacy missions while they're off fighting the war without the risk of them getting overwhelmed in a fight.

Star Trek Insurrection - It's like that one night stand you want to forget about.

At the point of the opening nobody knew they were rejecting tech as far as we knew they were a less developed culture

In my head canon this one takes place just after the end of the Dominion War. Worf is tying up loose ends and doing some last jobs for Starfleet before heading to Kronos, the Federation is trying to replenish its ranks with new members now that it has some breathing room, and working with the Son'a (who are at one point in DS9 named as an official ally of the Dominion) which gives Starfleet some real 'US gov't working with Nazi scientists while WWII was barely over' kind of vibes, which I think fits with your whole outlook.

The whole movie just feels like a overly long TNG episode, where nothing really happens that effects the overall trek universe.

People often over look the fact that the Federation , has these kind of colony’s

Lore: "something that has han solo in it is not startrek" Thadiun Okona: "am i a joke to you?" trekkies everywhere: "well........"

As someone who used to play the violin, it absolutely jars my strings when actors depict violinists playing on the fingerboard rather than by the bridge. It shows that even after so many years, directors and actors don't know to ask the simple question: where do bow? Just a small detail.

Humor is always so subjective. I actually enjoyed it in this scene. Though one thought I only just hit on; the Dominion has shown an ability to hit behind Starfleet lines. So as flawed as the thinking may be, you may want to send your biggest, strongest ships on "simple" diplomatic missions like this for safety. If the Dominion attack, they're much more likely to survive that ambush without a large escort that could make such missions far more difficult. Just look at the DS9 episode "Starship Down". I'm the first to admit it's no where near the same, but I'd argue it's an example of how/where the thinking could have come from. Not saying it's a good reason, but it's a thought none the less. Oh, and they're not using a "cloak" in the traditional sense. At least not for this. It's a holo-projection system. I doubt it would hide from even sensors we use today. But for a pre-industrial civilization? Totally works. Though I've often wondered; no one notices footprints in the dirt? The sound of footsteps? No one ever runs into one of the researchers?

Bro, you just said “idyllistic” instead of “idyllic” just to get me to comment to correct your spelling. Well played. 😎

Hey Lore Reloaded, Love you!

Star Trek :Insurrection i thought it was bad until Alex Kurtzman Trek came around. After Picard TNG Season 1 and this have become decent.

The Enterprise-E has been repeatedly refereed to in canon and alternative media as the "Federation Flagship" and is also the lead ship of her class as far as I'm aware. In 20th century navies it was very common for such ships to be used for statecraft and diplomatic liasons - Its power and presence can be used to make lesser nations awestruck, and in cases where you have allies re-assure them that despite tensions in the area powerful assets are still on hand and can be spared for their sector With the timing of the movie, I would pose that this is likely some time immediately before the Romulan entry in the war - with the Enterprise intentionally doing tours in regions with limited presence like HMS Hood did around Africa Its simple presence sends a message to the Romulans not to interfere with an area as the Federation is interested in the region

5:03 Did anyone else notice the observation post was two filing cabinets with shelving inbetween?

Thank you for the mortal combat bit it have me a much needed laugh!

Great work as always Lore!

"We don't want technology." "Alrighty, hand over your hammers, hoes, plows, anything that uses wheels or pulleys, and forges and we'll help you on your way to using no technology."

I align with a lot of this video, thanks for making it!

“That is.. Not the best...” - I mean, that’s one way to put it

Damn bro I need one of those 7 hour epics you been putting out!!!

My favorite scene was probably Worf going through puberty once more and Data giving him tips.

Part of me wondered if it was cause with the Enterprise E being the flagship of Starfleet, they knew if it was lost the morale of the fleet would be crippled along with that PR thing you mentioned so it was kept off the frontlines.

As Nostalgia Critic so eliquently put it "Thanks for saving us with your technology by the way we hate technology."

I'm guessing the 'cloaking devices' used by the observers only work with visible light (I mean, in Trek this probably means human visible plus IR and UV), so they get around the Treaty of Algeron by simply doing nothing to hide the user from passive sensors in any other part of the EM spectrum.

Another great video, keep it up! I have noticed with videos that copywrite trolls mark there are no ads. When played there were ads so no trolls yet. Always enjoy your videos!

The issue I am waiting to be explained is the relationship between this story and that of the Son'a working with the Dominion to make ketracel white near the end of the Dominion War (DS9 "Penumbra")

Regarding your opening points about technology: Yes, I completely agree that the scene, well in fact the whole setting of the movie, is a not very subtle manipulation about "the good old days" and how everything was better then than now. But I think there is also a very clever point made here: Star Trek is an utopian setting where technology has advanced humanity to the point where human work isn't required anymore. Computers, machines and robots are capable of running everything. Heck, even without them the replicator technology alone would provide humanity with everything they need. The Ba'ku not decided to get rid of technology but they choose the limit it to the kind of technology that helps us, that advance our capability. They banned the kind of technology that made us obsolete. I think this a very clever commentary on the questions that our society will face very soon. I' m looking forward to the answers we will find to this questions..

Federation cloaking devices? Doesn't that violate the Treaty of Algeron or something?

Nice a good vid as always to enjoy on me brake

Don’t you think the Baku’s penchant for Artisinal living coupled with their longer timeframes due to slow aging explains the superior cultivation of their environment? Also i got the impression they have tech it’s just hidden away or integrated into their living seamlessly.

My beef with this movie is the premise basically. The federation is dying and billions of lives are at stake. Here he has the opportunity to move people without harming them and save billions. Isn't the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few a thing in star trek? What makes this worse is in TNG picard didn't seem to have an issue with literally relocating native americans (for lack of a better term). Oh the hypocrisy. I understand the ends do not justify the means. The reason they don't is you can't determine the ends when the means are selected. The stakes are what justify the means. Saving billions justifies forced relocating people. I know that sounds so not PC of me to say. But I'm right. Picard asks for a number. How many does it take? I don't know the line. But exercising your sovereign authority over your land as a government to save billions without causing bodily or monetary harm to hundreds is on the right side of wherever that line is. In this movie picard is the bad guy and he wins.

Ok, off topic I know, this is going to be a long one. The last few days I have decided to let the geek out of his box, Anyway I think that I have fixed the Borg (head canon only) this explains the reason why the Borg went from a terrifying unstoppable force into a shadow of their former selves and were able to be defeated and also may help the whole "Borg farming earth theory". So we start with Q throwing the Enterprise into system J-25 into the path of the first Borg cube, at this point the Borg are exactly as described by Guinan in other words they are only interested in technology not people, anyway they encounter the enterprise and would have probably just assimilated the ship and crew and left it at that, but Q decided to save the enterprise and sends it back home, but from the Borgs point of view the ship just up and Disappeared right in front of them, and at this point they have already "sampled" the ship and crew and found nothing that could cause the enterprise to disappear, so start heading for earth. skip to about two years later and the Borg reach federation space and assimilate the colony on New Providence where they find nothing that helps explain why the enterprise disappeared in front of them, so they start to think about how the answer may be found in human physiology so they assimilate the highest ranking person in the colony (a mayor or governor maybe) and give her the ability to speak for and control the Borg, but still find no answers, so they head further into federation space and encounter the enterprise again where its decided that they will create a counterpart for the now Borg Queen and thus assimilate Picard and create Locutus, given the level of individuality that they allowed to remain in the Borg queen introduces human ego into the Borg collective and this obviously causes the collective to start making mistakes and ends up with a severely weakened Borg to encounter Voyager and this brings In their downfall.

The blacksmith doesn't even break a sweat.

Dear Mr. Lore, you are a genius. This is so perfect and I love the way of your analysis! This movie is forever different to me. I enjoy connections between this video and the one(s) studying the results of the Dominion war. I see the federation in this time as more akin the DS9 and I can almost hear the words of Quark describing the savage humans.

Honestly. Keeping your most famed and prized and arguably most powerful ship away from enemy lines is not completly unheard of in human history. The famous Yamato while saw combat action many times during the war, was largely kept at port not only because it was very resource consuming to keep that beast running but due to overall morale back home. Basically as long as Yamato was home everything is fine because we don't need to use this massive beast. Aka it is not the time for the boss to stand up form his chair and grab his sword to cut down the enemy...yet. SO keeping the enterprise relatively safe and away from the bulk of the fighting is not illogical.

The RLM browns and beige reference.... nice lol.

5:04 That's the stuff.

I have read in a Star trek Forum is that reason. The Enterprise E was not in the Dominion War was because it would be essentially have a Huge Target painted on its Hull. Since it is the Enterprise and a Sovereign Class Starship.

You may critizise this scene with the staff doing all these bad puns, but honestly, that's exactly how I would expect the most experienced staff to act in such a situation. You may see them as officials and experienced officers, but funny enough all of these are long-time friends at the same time and these bad puns, honestly, in my peer we do them all the time, especially when there's stress up ahead or we're in the middle. This scene is brilliant for what it is, as it is just... normal. Another, simple reason for ships being held back during wartime is, well, there are other enemies around. Having relatively poweful ships patroling as usual and answering to events could be nothing but a show of force to such potential enemies, which are likely to take advantage of an all-out war. This may sound strange, but specifically rather independent ships with crisis-experienced crews may be perfect for this kind of assignment. As they could handle situations without consulting with the council, which is occupied with the whole Dominion affair. This, obviously, is out of the ordinary for the Federation, but we know that the Dominion war has changed the Federation deeply. And we don't just know it from ST:Picard, but it already was a topic for DS9. Sure, the Federation had faced enemies before, Klingons and Romulans and even the Borg, yet the Borg-Conflict does not really fit the description of "war" in a traditional way. And, as established, the Borg always do the minimum. The Dominion on the other hand is a a "control through power"-faction. They sent in the amount needed to end a conflict quickly if necessary. And they did something that hasn't occured for a long time. They attacked earth. Sure, the Borg tried the same, but the Borg failed, though the victory was costly, but importantly, the attack failed. The Breen were successful. I urge you to play stellaris against a normal player and then during a war launch a suprise attack against his homeworld. Even if that world is neither politically or economically important, most people will react to it in a rush. And they if they repell the enemy force, they will endure high costs to prevent such a event from happening again. And Earth is the core of the Federation, as it was said during DS9, Earth is the Federations problem. A paradise world on which nothing seem to go wrong. It would be logical to assume that the war and especially the attack on Earth and the following devastation would change priorities within certain aspects of the Federation, and these changes could, in the long run, very much be for the worse.

All the highly experienced officers may have been on those Mirandas or Galaxy classes that got blown up fighting the Dominion. Perhaps in this regard Starfleet did some soul searching and mobilized into a wartime entity, lowering standards for officers and sending them to the front line while keeping veterans (Such as Picard and his crew) to do necessary but delicate work that would be blundered by other, inexperienced crews.

The DS9 Episode "Paradise" did the rejecting technology theme the best. It outlined the hypocrisy that they use technology to create a eutopia, then abandon it, as well as using technology to quell technology.

I feel like Insurrection and the internal politics is similar to America today. It's a fascinating essay opportunity. I look forward to watching your views.

Don't forget the conversations with Dougherty and the Son'a!

Pet theory on the why sovereign E. was being used for diplomatic instead of Frontline deployment. 1] is mostly morale. If they deployed this ship into battles that are known to find down while fleets into 20% casualty and lose her the damage to morale could be huge. A real world example is the Japanese giant battleship ijn Yamato was berthed in Tokyo Bay for much of the war until deployed near the last months of of desperation. 2] others have pointed out that the trch may be too brand new and dangerous to fall into enemy hands at this point of the war. 3] this late in the war the breen weapon may still be in play and there just wasn't any mentions of the Dominion war deployment of the Big E are subdued or very vague. [Not my strongest point, I think I missed dialogue mentioning this in the video] 4] the big E is being held in reserve because of both the breen season AND in case there needs to be a reactionary emergency force from some other incursion like the borg or Another breen attack on earth. Always close enough to be near earth or the core systems within hours to shore up the defensive fleet or take command of the emergency support fleet as the ships stream in all hiddely piddely.

New series... I recently rewatched the movie and I didn't think it was half as bad as I considered it to be in my memory 😅

"...ain't no one winning an Oscar for the JC Penny spring fashion look..." 😆 -- Mr Plinkett, @redlettermedia

We need more clips of the enterprise crew walking in the corridors! 😜

I had always been under the impression that Insurrection took place not too long after the Dominion War and Picard's diplomatic tango with a new species was Starfleet fast tracking new membership to rebuild what had already been lost. Not ad a means to gain more bodies and resources to end the Dominion War. Starfleet holding back not just the Enterprise but what seems like all of their Sovereign class ships was cautionary. I believe it was literally their newest line of ship that they probably didn't want to hand over to the Dominion by making it a priority target on the frontlines.

1:30 I would attribute the pristine clothes issue to a costuming oversight.

Is Starfleet Crumbling? Looking at Picard and Lower Decks, both of which offer different looks at different aspects of the Federation, both of which are pretty grim, I'd say that this movie does show signs that the Federation is fraying around the edges, something also hinted at in DS9. It fits with a very important aspect of humanity, the cycle of empires. Growth, golden age, decay, and then a collapse into the Long Night.

This movie really clashes with the fact that the Dominion War is, well, happening. But it reeks of the Starfleet admirality we saw in DS9's Paradise Lost.

The out post could of been pre constructed and transported down during the night, as for the enterprise E the ship might of been brand new fresh off the shipyards and going though shakedowns to see if there was any errors in assembly, or bugs in the computer you just don't build a new ship and push it off to war especially not a new design.

If this is during the war, how is the UFP allied w the So'na who were producers of Ketracel White? That would not make sense as much as a project Paperclip alliance after the fact.

The Enterprise was also first and foremost a diplomatic ship, which is why it's basically a luxury liner, a luxury liner that fight. Having it still perform missions of alliance building during war time still makes some sense. Although it might not be the best use of it.

I always had the sensation, by the dialogue, that this movie happened in some point before the Dominion War started, not in the war itself.

You know for the timeline, trying to figure out when this is. Didn't the Sona ships start showing up with the Breen and Cardassian ships in combined fleets? So this movie is probably set not long before those episodes. Specifically Weyoun mentions the So'na in Penumbra, so probably around that episode.

I heard that they cut some dialog in scene where Worf shows up, about congratulating him on his wedding (that none of them bothered to attend) and the reason for that cut is because of messy timing...this movie takes place while Worf is still married to Jadzia - BUT, the movie itself wouldn't be in theaters until after the episode with Jadzia's murder aired on TV. Might have been nice to have SOME mention of it. Like, Troi telling Worf, on the down low, that she is sorry for his loss, and if he needs to talk, anytime, her door is always open. Maybe *encouraging* him to come see her. Or if they didn't want to go there, just a "We are so sorry we miss your wedding, we were all very excited to attend, but as you know the Dominion...blah...blah...and we had to...blah...blah..." Maybe they could tie it to the occupation of Bajor. Like the Enterprise having to protect a refuge convoy from Betazed. As for HOW Worf got there...Imma say that he used one of DS9's three mini starships - aka "Runabouts". Plenty of room in either of the Enterprise E's massive shuttle bays.

I know this video is old but a interesting idea was about a serie about the federation and how is in decay and the new powers are a new revitalize Klingon Empire and the Ferengi Alliance

I think if Worf is doing other jobs, it would have to be just after the Dominion War, but before he becomes an ambassador to the Klingons. If it was during the war he would still be there not messing with some ceremony

Well, the Millennium Falcon was in First Contact... So Hans Solo *is* Trek. ;)

I just thought of this. We find out that the Baku do actually understand and have advanced technology. Yet they had no idea of the invisible people studying them. I find that strange.

What Ive heard the official lore stated that the Sovereigns and other high tech ships were held back from the frontlines as to have a battlegroup ready for any Borg incursions

Given that the Sona are mentioned as producing ketra kel white for the dominion in DS9 episode Penumbra and need help protecting it from the federation that would indicate that Insurrection happened sometime before said episode timeline wise.

What is the difference between Starfleet members and Starfleet protectorates? I think the Bajor wanted to join the federation and not become only a protected area of unknown level of bilateral influence.

Apparently leaving important ships off the frontlines is a Starfleet thing, Pike's Enterprise was exploring during the Klingon War on Discovery.

I forget where I read it, but I saw somewhere that they only allowed limited Dominion and DS9 references because they were worried that not everyone who watched the movie would have watched DS9. There was supposedly going to be a scene where Worf mentioned the death of Jadzia, but they cut that for that reason. They were worried about people being confused about Worf having a dead wife

Speaking of RLM have you seen their top 20 or whatever they're up to now trek episodes videos? Listening to Mike and Rich chat makes me think about how awesome it would be for you to chat with them sometime.

Considering what happened to the Odyssey it would not surprise me that Starfleet keeps their flagship away from trouble as a loss would be a massive hit to the fleet's moral. Diminishing moral being a significant problem is mentioned several times during DS9 as the war progressed.

I’d say this movie isn’t really showing the federation crumbling, but more it’s post war reconstruction (they probably knew by this point that they would end up being the victors of the war, so they preemptively started rebuilding.)

It definitely takes places in the final days of the dominion war. In the first episode of the final ten episode countdown of DS9, weyoun mentions the Sona allying with the Dominion right before the breen alliance.

I'd already liked the vid BEFORE you hit us with the MORTAL KOMBAT music!

Insurrection should have been a three part story arc in the middle of a season rather than a stand alone movie.

Well, at least in pre-industrial times, we didn't have the Lucida typeface, so one cause of nausea and mental dysfunction was absent.

Securing a planet is a big win for one ship, probably more useful than being in a task force with 100s of ships even if it is an amazing ship. There are also lots of examples in history of high end capital ships being too risky to put in harms way, for example the Yamato. Yamato was only used in desperation near the end of the war.

I thought they said in the movie that the doninion negotiations were ongoing That to me and made me think that dominion war was over

Worf is there because... contractual obligation. If Worf hadn't been in the movie, people would've complained that a TNG movie should have Worf in it.

I thought this was set after the Dominion war, I mean, I remember them saying that the people they're negotiating with here were part of the Ketracel white production in the alpha quadrant. (Which is a little odd that it sticks in my mind, because the first time I Saw the movie, I hadn't seen DS9 yet) However... Worf is here... At the end of the Dominion war, didn't he kinda retire from starfleet and become the federation ambassador to Q'nos? if that's the case, why would be be on the enterprise? Likewise, if it was during the war, wouldn't he be on the Defiant? He was on the Defiant during the First Contact movie, so that was set during the Dominion war... I guess, to me, This movie makes sense to be taking place immediately following (Within a year or two) of the Dominion war.

Didn't this take place during the dominion cold war?

They could have made DS9 and the movies interconnect. It was done pretty well with the Agents of Shield show. The show had to live through the fallout of Winter Soldier with Shield getting demolished etc. Later on there was a whole subplot of Coulson funneling huge amounts of money to a secret project nobody knew about, which in the end was the restoration of the Helicarrier from the first Avengers movie helping in the evacuation during the finale of the second Avengers movie. The Agents of Shield series did a lot of other legwork for the second Avengers movie too. They fought Hydra on several occasions in the respective season and scouted Hydra bases. When it came to one of if not the main stronghold of modern Hydra Coulson said something like "it's time to bring in the Avengers" and this resulted in the assault we saw in the opening of Avengers Age of Ultron. It was glorious. Now for DS9/ Enterprise E you could adapt this like this: Make the DS9 show do lots of legwork in the last season. Drop on multiple occasions ships and other ressources are getting held back for some kind of counter offensive. Make it even a point they're losing ground because of this. When things look most dire make Sisko say something like "It's time to bring in the task force." Then let Worf end the episode by saying: "I'll contact the Enterprise." BOOM Now have the show pause on television for one or two weeks or even an entire month for a Star Trek movie drop in theatres. Have the huge battles of the DS9 finale on a Hollywood budget like the battle at Sector 001 instead of the garbage 90s TV CGI we actually got. Have some things go wrong in the movie. Afterwards have the DS9 show perform the mop up actions of the stuff that went wrong in the movie and have Sisko lead the peace negotiations with the founders. Maybe even have both crews in the movie. And have both Sisko and Picard at the final negotiations scene. Make them work hand in hand for the greater goal of galaxy wide peace to put a contrast point to their first (or rather second) meeting in the first episode of DS9. It could have been brilliant.

its you i like there is no person in the world like you and i like you just the way you are you made this day a special day by just you being you and the best person you can ever be is your honest self! as jon luc picard says warp drive engage!

Another possible reason the Enterprise-E is being kept out of the conflict is that she's the flagship. Fleetwood morale during the Dominion War hit probably the lost it ever has in most of these officer's lifetimes. Now imagine if news came in that one of the flagships, specifically the Enterprise, pride of the Federation, had been lost. Now you have two possibilities. Best case scenario you have a repeat of the British losing the HMS Hood during WWII during the hunt for the Bismarck. It becomes a rallying cry. Worst case, and what Starfleet is worried about, is the crushing of that last shred of morale.

10:50 Could the Enterprise E being held back be equivalent to the Yamato unit its last sortie? Don't want to risk its loss?

Damn. Sanja Milkovic Hays is probably my distant cauisn!

It’s the same argument as to why the Enterprise and other ships were ready during both of the big Cardassian conflicts, they are the last resort. Stat fleet doesn’t want to lose their flagship in a non decisive battle with the Dominion. They are just too important for morale

Lore this species is brought up in DS9 . They Allie with the Dominion Sisko bring’s them up in passing

I think the Enterprise leading the fleet to try and route out the Dominion on Betazed would have been an interesting story. Could have been Dominion War drive and could have been close to home to counsellor Troi. Moments of empathy from Riker in how hard the occupation of her home world is hitting her could have been a much better bridge for their renewed relationship than "hormones".

they could be keeping it back for the same reason why 20th century battleships rarely fought each other. They don’t want to risk losing the Enterprise E or any other Sovereign to a Dominion ship, in battle sometimes all it takes is one lucky shot (or unlucky hit), just ask the hood, and the pride of the fleet is going up in flames. But for any attacks on a core world they probably wouldn’t of had a choice but to use them, can’t remember the timeline on the sovereign and when the breen entered the war, but I’d imagine at least one sovereign at least responded offscreen to the breen attack of earth and starfleet hq. Obviously thats just speculation.

My headcanon for why the Enterprise was kept off the front lines is morale-related: They're the flagship of the fleet, and a lot of ships named Enterprise (and their crews) have been legends of the Federation. You can bet the Dominion knows this. Thus, if you put the Enterprise or any other Sovereign-Class vessel on the front lines, it seems likely that the Jem-Hadar would target it particularly aggressively, because the Founders and Vorta know/expect that destroying it would cause a disproportionate blow to Starfleet morale. Thus, Starfleet's biggest stick becomes the Dominion's biggest target, and possibly even a liability. Presumably someone in the admiralty made the call that it was too much of a risk.