It doesn't necessarily matter how and why and when the war got started, as each episode deals with 'the situation at hand' and many could even be watched as standalone adventures. Check here the minimum and recommended System Requirements to run Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Dominion Wars with no technical problems and test if you can. The only reason not to attack the Dominion right there would be if Alpha strategists had calculated a date at which their fleets would be ready, and this was not it yet.ĭrama-wise, I guess you can hop in at any arbitrary moment. But the timetable had probably been fixed some time before that in-universe, as the Alphans did not launch a war in 'By Inferno's Light' but let the Dominion shipments proceed to Cardassia. The timetable would ultimately be fixed in 'Call to Arms' where Starfleet decides to mine shut the wormhole, knowing the Dominion will immediately react. The inevitability of war would seem to be established there and then already. In 'Jem'Hadar' we already get the Dominion attitude of 'if you don't get off Gamma, we kill you all', and in 'The Search' we learn they won't be satisfied even with that because they hate the idea of the Alphans blowing up the wormhole. There are small references to the Dominion that build their ominous presence in Rules of Acquisition, Sanctuary and Shadowplay. Here's a big list of their appearances (or the ones I mostly remember): Do you want the whole buildup of the Dominion, events that led to the outbreak, or just get to the heart of the matter in season six?
