This approach allowed the Dominion to build up the number of ships in the Alpha Quadrant with amazing speed, and to replace huge losses relatively quicly once the war was under way. Fortunately, the method is not without its drawbacks; the presence of many major joints in the body of their ships tends to lead to weak spots, most especially when those ships are produced under conditions of great urgency. The interior connections required to unite the various systems into an integrated whole also tend to overcomplicate the machinery, leading to lower reliability in peacetime and complicating repairs of battle damage. Nevertheless, the Dominion war machine was a fearsome one and many analysts considered it unbeatable even by the combined might of the Federation, Klingon, and Romulan fleets.

Various forms of information gathering allowed Starfleet to gain a reasonably accurate picture of the size of the Dominion fleet. There is also a fair certainty about the losses inflicted during the war, while the capture of at least two Dominion ships - one reasonably intact, the other in ideal condition - has allowed Starfleet to get a very good idea of the capabilities of their ships. The following data can therefore be regarded as being quite accurate.
 
 

In many ways, the Cardassians have suffered more than any other group in the Dominion war. Their joining the Dominion was prompted by the Klingon invasion, which cost them heavily.  As the tide of the war turned in favour of the Federation and its allies, there were suggestions that the Founders were more than happy to let the Cardassians soak up as much punishment as they possibly could in order to spare their own fleet. This certainly seems to be borne out by the casualty figures; the Cardassians have lost almost three quarters of their fleet since the beginning of the war, compared to only 31% for the Dominion proper.

The Cardassians suffered further when the Breen allied themselves with the Dominion after recieving several Cardassian territories in return. This led to their rebellion against the Dominion, which prompted various reprisals against the civilian population.
 
 

Undoubtedly the biggest unknown in the entire Dominion war, the Breen are almost as mysterious now as they were before. The size of their fleet and the energy draining weapon with which it was equipped almost completely turned the tide of the war overnight. Nevertheless, very little continues to be known about the Breens exact capabilities and the following table is therefore largely speculative and only partially complete.
 
 

The Dominion outnumbered the Klingon/Federation alliance from the beginning of the war, and although the addition of the Romulan forces helped even the odds somewhat the Dominion still had seven ships for every four allied ones. The allies were nevertheless turning the tide of the war ever more in their favour, until the addition of the Breen forces swung the balance back.

In the aftermath of the Breens introduction of the energy damping weapon, the Klingons could field only 1,500 ships against a combined fleet of 30,000 - odds of twenty to one. Although this situation improved once the Federation had acquired an example of the Breen weapon, the numerical odds were still heavily against the allies.