The Romulan War Condor was the mainstay of the Romulan fleet during the 70 year communications blackout with the ALPHA QUADRANT. Unbeknownst to the Federation, Klingons and Cardassians, there was a long bloody war between the Romulan Star Empire and invaders calling themselves Thorians (an off shoot of the Tholians bred with Romulan DNA) who were bent on occupying nearly 30% of Romulan occupied systems. This war was one of the main reasons the Romulans closed their borders, and cut off all diplomatic and trade wit the rest of the galaxy. The standard Romulan Bird of Prey was no match for the Thorians, who fought longer and harder than their Tholian cousins. Within a decade, the Romulans lost 10% of their occupied space to the Thorians. It wasnt until their shipyards began building larger and more heavily armed vessels that they were able to push back the invading hordes. The War Condor is one of five precursors to the D'deridex class War Bird. Built first to house large numbers of troops and serve as long term carriers, the Condor was essentially a flying city (albeit a small one) The weapons systems were not radically different from their previous, they just had more staying power, more soldiery, and a larger mass that could take much more damage. It was also the first War ship that utilized upper and lower wing sections, this was configured primarily to dock and capture Thorian ships (which were much smaller) Much like a later foe of the Federation, the Romulans learned to capture their foes and assimilate their technologies into their own, making them more resilient. They also gained key insights into their enemy. by 2364, when the Romulans re-established their presence in the Alpha quadrant, the Thorians were long gone and Romulan fleets were a force to be reckoned with. When the D'Deridex class became the primary vessel of the Empire, most other vessels were decommissioned, however War Condors were used occasionally to attack outlying Cardassian worlds in the last days of the Dominion War.