I came across a thread talking about the most power nation in the game, Sarzonia pretty much hit the nail on the hammer that such a country doesn't exist, per se. I came to the conclusion that the real power blocs come into play on the alliance level. Some groups have members that work well enough together to make them a force that is known and respected in their playing circles... Some alliances get smashed within days of their founding, but others that survive often live to become relevant and, some times, influential.
I can only speak of FT here, but there are several alliances that deserve the title of influential. Those would be:
-Hermes
-The Imperial Republic of the North
-The Galactic Empire.
I'll state the reasons why I'd count these groups... First off, all the members of these alliances have substantial populations. Most of the players in these alliances have been playing regularly for awhile now.
With Hermes, I'd like to think that the power of the alliance I am affiliated with comes from the Hyperspace gate network, which connects over sixty solar systems across the Milky Way galaxy. The alliance has three nations that started in 2003 and the youngest started in 2005. The members put a lot of effort into writing out development of all sorts, be it technological, military or character based. Militarily, the gate system gives them an unparalleled ability to traverse the galaxy in very short order, giving them an awesome force multiplier in the form of strategic mobility. The disadvantage they have is their erratic, militant and aggressive dictatorial leaders... One of which suffers from severe post traumatic stress disorder, causing him to make rash, often violent, mistakes.
The Imperial Republic of the North is an influential group of people because their threat to impose a .003% tariff on all goods transported into the galactic north met probably one of the most off the handle responses I've ever seen in the game. They still have the Galactic Commonwealth of Planets shitting in their pants and getting ready for "The big one". Their membership is made up of quite a few experienced players that are well known and respected in the community. Several of them are exceptional at "writing on the spot", that being the ability to still churn out level headed posts even though they have a gun in their face. Militarily, they're the regional equal of Hermes. They have the ability to sit down in one place and wait for an attack from any direction because they have so god damned many ships it makes my head spin. The quality of these ships has yet to be determined, but by going by the Russian example, quantity has it's own sort of quality. They control galactic North East and utilize a slipgate system that allows them to traverse their own space well enough to keep it under control... That being said, my personal opinion of the slipgate system is that it's good enough, but not good. To me it seems like a purely military system that isn't as efficient at reaping the economic rewards of mass transport that the Hermes gate system does... That being said, IRON policy hasn't helped them branch out into the galaxy's emerging markets like Hermes has. I'd say IRON is a galaxy class alliance that's expansion is limited by its own doctrine.
The Galactic Empire... That is an interesting one. They just came back, but I've already taken notice of them. I sacrificed billions of foreign citizens to stop them and now that they're back I've taken notice. I wouldn't be surprised if most of FT was as worried as I am. Telros' stand against Hyperspatial Travel's, a founding IRON member, support of the Osanyian massacre at Kalgar has earned my respect. Those who know the history of the Galactic Empire could tell you volumes about the ruthless regime of Unified Sith and the horrors that the organization visited upon the galaxy... Which would make anyone weary. But as for Telros' stand at Kalgar, that throws their whole dynamic in doubt... I really have no clue what they intend to do in the future, good or bad and I'll be keeping my eye on them to the point where I don't intend to over commit too much in the way of military force until I'm sure of their intentions. That's about all I know about that.
Anyway, post your opinions on who you think are the most influential groups in this game.
