The only major flaw I see in that theory is the fact that as the war goes on with no real gains, people are going to become resentful. Winning is always good - everyone likes to win. Losing can be good too; the very real threat of imminent destruction pulls people together. But a stagnant war, with no real hope of victory but no real threat of defeat? That is not good PR material.
You just summed up the biggest problem wars have. I admit, I was really influenced by Orwell there, as in 1984 two parts of the world are in deliberate war (I was confusing it with brave new world first, long ago since i read those), while one is at peace, and the war is taking turns. (as far as i remember)
As I said, this could be portrayed publicly completely differently. Gains are always there. In contrast to what Real Time Strategy or Star Trek teaches us about space, actually even one solar system or a couple of asteroid fields could already be a lot of resources to use, if you can mine them. Also, Precursor tech is kind of the point of all of this, all three empires want a hand on that.
Constant war in reality would make people tired of it, because it’s your people fighting, and also, because in reality, soldiers will realize very soon how unhuman war actually is, and the certain truth, that even if sometimes necessary, wars are still always pointless. However a constant war fought by people who actually sign up for it, would not have this effect.
Because actually, the bigger empires now have peace, and conflict is not made directly by soldiers, and allows a much more defensive pasture, while still keeping the public notion of “an enemy” intact, heighten the morale of your citizens, and still boosting your warfare economy and research.
But that was just my own little conspiracy theory there.
Generally, I still think, we should think of our home empires as established multi-planet governments. Military might be used much more for inner problems. But I hope the logical scale of a government which governs multiple worlds and a corporation, which fights in actually small spaceships, becomes more clear if i just mention them in one sentence together. It could be extremely lucrative to be a successful pilot in a successful corporation, and the payout seems quite nice.
Since we fly smaller ships, up to the frigate, and soon also get a corp dreadnaught, but we sometimes fight around the ruins of giant space ships or installations, it would be also quite logical to assume, that military for the bigger worlds might use more bigger ships, and much more controls the real borders. As mentioned, this would also explain, why you actually cannot take the system, where the staging station of each faction is. Finally, the description of the staging stations support this theory, if you read them: Jericho Prime is known for its pirate connections, the sentinel station of the empire is right around the core world being “very safe”, and Federation station New Eden allowing access to the “Federation core worlds”, which therefore seem to be outside our map.
So, while my theory is just a brainstorm, my main critique was actually to “portrait Corporations as too big and the Empires too weak” - which of course would make us corporation mercenaries feel more important, while actually, it would also devalue our corps being so powerful at their current state. For fiction, the factions are perfect for corporations, to be included in some kind of global politics, so it could enrich the world way better, if corporations are “The Thing” of that universe to see action in, to gain wealth and prestige, but not at the price, of overglorifying the characters and corporations involved.
This makes stories possible, where a corporation is involved in something “outside of the game”, like a conspiracy, a secret assassination ordered by a Jericho Family, a civil unrest incited on a Federation planet by another faction, or the story of “flag-less” people living on a small colony, despising all control from outside. Also, imagine, how we would meet with “The Warmaster of this and that Jericho Family”, or a Colonel on an Empire patrol ship, which are people having completely different careers, might outrank us in life, but actually, we have seen more fights than they have.
But what if the higher ups made this whole war to cover up a greater threat, a hidden issue, something that will make everything stop and turn to deal with this new threat or thingy or what ever.
Same thoughts here, so my conspiration theory basicly says, that the three empires actually see a much bigger threat for all three of them in the technology discovered. Data exists, which is probably undisclosed. If chaos arises anyway, creating an artificial chaos might give you more control over it.
You could also say, that lately, the increased threat of “uncontrolled” corporations, or pirates, even lets some of them use the mercs to fight incursions of pirates, which is very similar, to how the core worlds in eve control piracy with capsuleers; both games use this for PvE.
One problem with the corperations is that their governments have little control over them. With that said, however, those corperations most likely depend on their factions to supply them with important products, and possibly equipment.
I think the governments have pretty much control over them actually. They give you the money. They give you the ships. They tell you where you can go to fight. Your main concern as a corporation are not the empires, but more the other corporations. Of course, in the WX Sectors, corporations are the law. But again, they are empowered by the factions they fight for, both in materials, cash, and actually, the right of jurisdiction.
Sorry, I catched a cold, and now am writsly, JP, if this thread is too high-jacked, we could also discuss over such matters in a separate thread.