If one of the Great Powers were to collapse...

Which one do you think it would most likely be? In addition, why do you think so and what might the fallout of such an event be?

By collapse I don’t mean losing most of their territory, I mean the point where that official race has been brought near or to the point of elimination and are the same size or smaller than most minor powers.

This was a question that entered my mind and I was curious about what others thought. I haven’t got a good idea of comparative strength yet, so I can’t form a complete opinion. What I’ve heard and seen, combined with a fantastic game-wide influence map Archduke Astro made leads me to think it would probably be the Alliance, but I’m interested to see others think.

i see the Tribe collapsing before too long. For proof, I offer this video of an Order ambassador attempting to set up an embassy with the Tribe:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAaWvVFERVA :smiley:

Besides this, Tribe ships need massive crews who have no protection from enemy fire, so the population they lose even in victory far outstrips even their free-love lifestyle.

“The man with the rifle shoots. The man without the rifle follows him. When the man with the rifle gets killed, the man without the rifle picks up the rifle and shoots”.

My 2 cents . . None. In my mind they are called the Great Powers for a reason.

Personally, I think it would take at least 2 or more of the existing majors to go an all out offensive to wipe just one Great Power out. . . But I honestly cant see that happening.

On the other hand, one thing I can see happening is the shifting of borders, for example:

  • Order takes out an Alliance sector and the Alliance push further into Order territory
  • local Parasite outbreak gets wiped out only for another to appear elsewhere.

Who is to say that their free lovin life style has not resulted in a population explosion :stuck_out_tongue:

It really isn’t something I expect would happen either, unless there is a large chain of assaults by multiple other powers, which would probably require co-operation and co-ordination, something rare between the great powers. I mean this completely as a “What if…” scenario.

Looking at the map, one plausible (albeit unlikely) scenario I see which could collapse the Alliance would go something along the lines of:

  1. Major Swarm invasion of northern Alliance territory. Many Alliance fleets mobilized to defend against Swarm.
  2. Order forces exploit less defended borders to attack Alliance territory. Alliance forces in main region now focused along the two fronts. Secondary regions also under invasion.
  3. Remaining uninvaded Alliance borders are bordered by the Federation. The federation may then use weakened Alliance borders to expand their borders and/or attack major targets, further weakening Alliance defensive
  4. Secondary regions of the Alliance, weakened by previously mentioned powers, have come under heavy assault by two major enemies of the Alliance: the Tribe and the Rebels.

By this point every region controlled by the Alliance would be under attack by at least 2 Great powers, with an opening for a third to attack. Nomad and Parasite forces are generally too far away for front line invasion and also likely maintain a neutral relation with Alliance. The Empire has a positive relation with the Alliance and would likely not attack them, military support seems unlikely though.