Wed Jun 30, 2004 7:16 pm by Wiz914
Just to get that straight: the game is built so that the difficulty level scales as the SP campaign advances. It's a bit fake on the RPG part since the whole game does not increase in difficulty as you level up, you just get to visit new, thougher areas. So that's why Liberty has the weaker ships, followed by Bretonia, Kusari and Rheinland.
Now, the assesment is correct that Liberty does not survive on their natural ressources. In fact they couldn't, as they only control 4 systems which are not particularly rich in any ressource. However, Liberty houses the most corporations: Universal, Gateway, DSE, Interspace Commerce, Ageira, Cryer (?), Synth Foods, etc. However, they do have their problems: the biggest being criminality. 1/4 of their systems (Texas), is exclusively populated with criminals, and they need 2 prisons to contain them (3 if you count the one in Alaska), the most of any other house (average of 1 prison per house). Most prisonner who are released join the Rogues or Xenos. The Liberty space crawls with criminal bases, and so do the independent worlds between houses. In a sense, criminality is out of hand. And let's not forget that after the Dallas incident, the Texas system has been rendered unsuitable for further development, which effectively leaves Liberty with 3 viable systems. All in all, Liberty has a strong economy but a weak military.
On to Bretonia. They were the last to arrive in Sirus so they had to make up for the lost time. The fact that they landed in an area on the other side of the Barrier put them appart from the criminality problems associated with the other systems, except for the Mollys and Gaians, the native criminals in their space. They also had rich systems in minerals, which promoted companies like BMM and Bowex. The Bretonian military is average. However, their biggest problem in recent years has been the invasion by the Outcasts enroute to Liberty and the Corsairs from the Omega systems. As the Corsairs say, the Bretonian military is not prepared to take them on. However, Bretonia has access to the Tau and Omega systems, rich in minerals, thus ensuring their future prosperity.
As for the Kusari, they are the most high tech of the 4 houses. It's false they live only on H-Fuel. That's mainly exploited by the GMG, a strongy independent faction. However, the Samura and Kishiro are manufacturing hi-tech products, like optronics, optical ships, engine components, super alloys, etc. In my mind, the Kusari have the strongest economy and do not really rely on the other houses, except for the minerals their systems lack. But they have the capacity to build many ships and the ressources to do so. Given time, they can mount a very impressive armada. And the Dragon is a very effective HF. Plus given that the GMG single handedly defeated the whole Rheinland fleet in the 80-years war, it gives an idea of what the Kusari can achieve. I think they have a strong economy and a fairly strong military.
Last is Rheinland. Given their brilliant display in the SP campaign, I think they have the potential to field the best army of the Sirus space. In any case, the Banshee and Valkyrie are finer ships than those produced by any of the other houses. Plus, they were the only in the SP campaign to have fully mastered the cloaking devices allowing them to move undetected through all areas of Sirus and strike at the most opportune moment. However, Rheinland is also broke after that 80-years war and the miner's strikes. It cannot afford to pay its military or to build more ships. In a sense, they don't pose a threat to the other houses at the moment. But given a better economical context, I think Rheinland is the most impressive house in the game. Even in though times they keep it together.