Why no Romulan representative in DS9?

[Stofsk]

It's still pretty stupid. How the fuck did the Dominion mass up that many forces without the wormhole? In SoA, didn't they say a mere thousand ships ('mere' in comparison to the 30,000 they end up with at the end of the war) would tip the balance?

It's like the writers just didn't bother trying.

[The Romulan Republic]

That's true about it being along the whole front, I think. As far as I know the highest numbers given on-screen for a specific battle were in the effort to retake Deep Space 9 from the Dominion (something like 600 vs 1200, as I recall). I honestly don't know if any exact numbers were given for the finale.

I tried to address your point, Stofsk, but I'm honestly not sure now that I think about it. So I've deleted my initial attempt at an explanation, and I'll see if I can think of some way to make sense of it.

[Coalition]

It's still pretty stupid. How the fuck did the Dominion mass up that many forces without the wormhole? In SoA, didn't they say a mere thousand ships ('mere' in comparison to the 30,000 they end up with at the end of the war) would tip the balance?

It's like the writers just didn't bother trying.

One idea might be that since Cardassia is only a few light years away from Bajor, the Dominion ships can repair/resupply faster. This allows them to keep more ships on the front line, since they don't need as much fuel to get to the front line (or return from), while also letting their repair damaged ships much faster. Bajor is neutral in the war, so it can't serve as a repair/supply base.

Klingon ships have to either return to DS9 for supplies, or the Federation Core worlds for repairs, making them have to reduce their patrol time due to fuel needs, plus needing to be in better shape after a battle to make the trip in the first place. Add in a few Dominion Bugs doing supply raids, and less supplies are available at DS9, meaning more Klingon ships have to return to Federation Core Worlds for supplies.

As example numbers, a Klingon BoP might have to leave when it is at 50% effectiveness (to make it back to a repair base), while a Dominion Bug has to return to Cardassia when it reaches 30%, since its repair base is much closer. This gives the Bug a 40% longer endurance in a fight (it can lose up to 70%, while the BoP can only lose 50%).

This means the 1500 Klingon BoPs might only be able to keep 300 on-station, while the Dominion can keep 6000 (out of 6500) on-station.