Intergalactic Summit

The Republic is a shambles and although Shakor is a vicious tyrant he is also an incompetent fool who is dependent upon his Jovian masters for guidance

My personal view is that it's just a matter of time until the Republic falls apart in spectacular fashion, and when that happens the rest of the cluster (including many Minmatars) will be begging the Empire to step in and restore law and order.

Patience is all that is needed.

If the Empire does start an invasion, I would think they'd go after someone they can win against, or at least do a lot of damage to. Sure, they can go after the Republic again, being bitter enemies and all, but there is another empire that is a bit...weaker.

Starting a Reclaiming would, at the very least, break treaties they've set with CONCORD (and the other empires by extension)...who's to say they won't break one more treaty and go after the Caldari? They've just gotten rid of Heth, and can finally start to rebuild...but they've taken a lot of damage getting rid of him, and are probably in the worst position of the four, militarily.


I've been wondering, considering what's been going on, if there isn't something going on between the Federation and Empire; some back-door dealings and whatnot. That should the Republic go rogue completely, these two could ally to set it back in its place, if not eliminate it entirely. And is the relationship between the State and Empire as good as people say it is, or is it straining as well?

War between the Federation and Empire would no go well for anyone; the Empire would be attacked hard by the Republic for their long-standing hatred (whether they're still allied with the Federation or not), and if the Caldari can they'd try to take something from the Federation as well. But like its been said, CONCORD would probably move to stop the Empire if they are the aggressors (and Caldari if they try something), which leaves them with only the weakened State for allies.

Attack our long standing allies? Only other civilization capable of mature self-rule? I am sure you would love that, but it's not going to happen. Aside the fact that your estimation of weakness is far off by my eyes. Pure agit-prop anyway.

What is happening is the Crusade, reclaiming portions of Metropolis and Heimatar even as we speak. Started in response to Minmatar aggression, the invasion of Ammatar and attacks on CONCORD. Our righteous forces battle in space every day.

For those who wish to fight the chaos and anarchy that the so called Republic fosters... or defend the greatest civilization New Eden has ever known and spread it's virtues... this is the place to be.

How a full on invasion outside of the sanctioned "faction" war could even work in today's political milieu is beyond my ken, I'll leave that to the Noble Heir Merimeth Sarum to debate in the Privy Council, and follow my Empress in whatever she decides.

Until the day the Empress decrees a change, the Crusade is the place for warriors of this cause.

It's sort of hard to fairly compare the Republic Fleet to any of the other Empires navies, I think, technology regardless, since their tactics are so fundementally different from the ground up. It's like trying to question who would win in a fight between a bear and a bird of prey; They simply don't fight in comparable enough manners for it to not become a pointless farce.

In fact, that they are the only ones to refer to their standing astral military as a "Fleet" instead of a "Navy" is actually quite telling, when you think about it. Since their doctrines are more inspired by classical aeronautical ones (Hit and runs, precision strikes on supplies and civilian targets behind enemy lines, avoidance of direct engagement, etc) rather then the vaguely classical naval ones practiced by everyone else.

Hmm. Well, so long as we're delving into hypotheticals, Tuulinen-haan, I have to say that I wouldn't imagine they'd get that far - The Republic has the advantage of the majority of it's core systems being a decent ways in their territory, unlike the Federals. If the Amarr invaded and I were in their shoes, the very first thing I would do would be to shut down the entryways in the stargate network.

And while you might be right that defending their homeworld could be enough to spur them into irrational action, well... Unlike the Federation, the Republic has been shown to be quite good at abandoning sentimentality in the past when the going is sufficiently rough regarding things that are a little more minor. (Though as the Elder War showed, their not averse to embracing it when they have the chance, of course.) They'd most likely be willing to sacrifice a few border systems (and the people on them, to be crude) if it allowed them to begin what they're much more used to: A campaign of disruption and subversion.

I respect your disagreement, of course, but... Well, I did say that they've shown that they're quite capable of abandoning it, Tuulinen-haan, for all that it might drive them in other times. After all, though they were quite keen to liberate the Starkmanir's when they had the chance, they were - as you said - also quite willing to sacrifice an innumerable amount of people and resources to do so. For them, at least from my observations, the tribe as a whole, and it's leaders, always come first.

I don't think they'd be driven to fight on the Amarrs terms unless one of those was at stake.

And as for your remark about anyone being able to use such tactics, well... You're quite right, of course, but I would suggest to you that the Republic Fleet's officers and pilots are the only one to whom it is second nature - The entire foundation of their training has likely been built around giving slow moving, slow thinking, traditional forces like the Amarr (Or well, specifically the Amarr) a death of a thousand cuts. For generations.

Anyone can pick up a knife and hack someones throat open when it's the best thing to do in the moment; It doesn't make them the equal of someone who's been practicing with one for their entire lives.

...If you'll forgive the slightly crude analogy.

I'd say that a good practitioner of guerilla tactics leaves no throat to strangle - Simply a swarm of hands with needles. The Empire likely bombed a great many settlements during the rebellion a century past... But as things turned out, it wasn't enough to stop the Republic bleeding them dryer then they've ever been. At that was then they still relied greatly on Federate aid.

But it doesn't seem like I'm going to convince you of any exceptionalism on their part, regardless, so we should probably leave it at that.

Actually, the Empire lost a smaller fraction of it's space navy at Vak'Atioth than the Elder Fleet at the Battle of Mekhios. The effect Vak'Atioth had was that the Empire realized that a numerically superior force of Amarr ships could be deafeated by anyone at all.

Tune in next week when I tell her she's been meditating completely wrong ALL THIS TIME.

*winks*

Honor. Hah.

If the empire somehow overcame the Federation the Empire wouldn't need you anymore. There'd be no friendships, no alliance, no ties that bind.

All the State would be to them is their next meal.