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The Zakdorn, seen as 'the best tactical minds' in the galaxy, are they worth their claim?

We only see them in two episodes, Peak Performance and Gambit, and both times they come across as worthless bureaucrats. So, as Worf said, are they just a people who has lived off their reputation and that is what has kept them safe?

After all, we didn't hear of any contributions of theirs during the Dominion War, now did we?

What exactly is there to discuss? I mean it seems like you've already wrapped up everything we know about them.

You forget the appearance of the one Zakdorn, Klim Dokajin, in "Unification", who applies his race's vaunted strategic skills to the challenges of running a junkyard —and manages to lose two of the ships in his charge without even noticing.

You forgot that at least one of them was quite capable at the game Strategema, trashing both Riker and Data at it and considering Riker a bad strategist for that.
He got his comeuppance when Riker held his own against the Enterprise with an old Constellation-class ship in a war game and Data won his rematch at Strategema by stalling until the Zakdorn threw the game out of frustration.

Patrick Degan wrote:You forget the appearance of the one Zakdorn, Klim Dokajin, in "Unification", who applies his race's vaunted strategic skills to the challenges of running a junkyard —and manages to lose two of the ships in his charge without even noticing.

I think I mentally swapped Gambit* and Unification when I saw the OP (they've both got Riker running around with the Enterprise on his own), so on second thought I don't recall a Zakdorn actually being present in Gambit.

It's not like it's some kind of gross inconsistency or discontinuity. The original episode isn't terribly subtle in suggesting that the Zakdorn might be masters of marketing moreso than of strategy, so having the junkyard supervisor be a bumbling jerk isn't any kind of a stretch. Of course, there's also the point that not every Zakdorn is going to be a strategic supergenius and grandmaster tactician.


*fun fact, that no-talent assclown Brannon Braga pooh-poohed doing Gambit since he thought it was "too campy".