That's very debatable. I know they don't talk about supply lines in the show, but no, they would definitely need supply lines even with a superior force.
But the force marooned at Cardassia had no supply lines, and nevertheless nearly overwhelmed the Alpha Axis and won the war.
We know the Dominion has enough ships to defeat the alpha quadrant powers, but enough that they would detach such a large force from defending their own realm, for 100 years, with no way to manufacture white?
The expeditionary detachment at Cardassia was always getting its shipyards blown up by sneaky Starfleet or Klingon attacks. It nevertheless outproduced the Alpha Axis! If a stranded expedition can do that, then it would be ridiculous to think the Dominion Homeland would have any difficulty producing, say, fifty thousand ships for their armada, or suffering any sort of shortage if launching those ships away from Homeland.
The Jem'Hadar need not defend their own realm - there has béen no military challenge to the Dominion for the past 2,000 or 10,000 years, take your pick from their propaganda. And the Jem'Hadar rule their realm with an iron fist whose main attribute is that
it cannot be seen. If the Jem'Hadar ceased to exist, the Dominion wouldn't even notice for the first thousand years or so. (And they would pay even less attention to the Founders disappearing, since they don't even truly believe in 'em things!)
Why would the expedition lack the means to produce ketracel white? The Dominion can produce the substance. The expedition stranded at Cardassia could produce the substance without contact with the Dominion. The armada could no doubt produce its own white as well, then. And its own Jem'Hadar, as something like five to seven generations (to use the word liberally) at the very minimum would be born and die without seeing their destination.
For that hypothetical fleet to be able to conquer the AQ, they'd have to conquer a series of softer targets along the way, and establish infrastructure.
The expeditionary force established war-winning infrastructure in a matter of months between the first convoy (of nothing but warships from the looks of it) in "By Inferno's Light" and the last in "Call to Arms". They did that on a besieged third-rate world that itself had loudly complained about suffering from a lack of resources. I don't see major hurdles for the armada here, either.
And oh yes, the AQ has 100 years to improve weapons technology and the gem'hadar won't.
Indeed. But the Dominion doesn't believe in development or adaptation - it apparently has faced none in its history. So this would not hinder the launching of the armada. Would it hinder the military success of the armada?
Perhaps, perhaps not. We haven't seen that much advancement in Starfleet between ENT and TNG. Sheer numbers might still hand the victory to the armada, even if Starfleet ships sheltered beneath "Endgame" armor and fired phase-cloaked quadro-cobalt torpedoes or whatnot.
They were dealing with white shortages in season 6 and needed to trick the Federation into giving them worlds with the ingredients, and that was after less than a year, how do you expect them to keep the white supply moving for eighty years in transit?
The armada would not be facing constant attacks aimed at denying it from shipyards, white ingredients, Jem'Hadar breeding fluids and whatnot. Oh, it might be facing constant attacks by random passersby or peoples steamrollered by its advance, but those attackers would not know to target the logistical weaknesses.
On the other hand, as mentioned, remaining invisible is a major Dominion speciality: they do it at the level of an individual infantryman and the entire government alike. So avoiding attacks until the H-Hour of the D-Day should be a breeze.
Timo Saloniemi
