Wulthuslarger degree of economic liberty

Meowers...until you make a mistake, become bankrupt and find yourself turned into a slave.

Light-Hawk

Meowers...until you make a mistake, become bankrupt and find yourself turned into a slave.

You don't find yourself turned into a slave, it is a voluntary system. Having debt isn't what is looked down upon, it is remaining in debt and not being able to pay it off. Also at least there is a system in place that allows you to recover unlike the Federation where you are just screwed.

Rebecca Hail It is absolutely possible to employ more people and still have a lower economic output. Employment and economic output correlate over a number of factors. Quality of life is better in the Empire, but that doesn't mean that it's economy is stronger. It's simply not something you can accurately judge without hard numbers.

...As for the imps always winning, that's flat out not true. The Federation used to crush the Empire in every combat CG that happened between the two of them.

Burstar
So, you acknowledge that the Empire employs more citizens and gives them a higher quality of life' but nope, still possible the Federation has a better economy... Yeah nah, sorry. Until hard numbers do come out you're just going to have to accept the fact that all the evidence leans towards the Empire being the better economy.

Side note: FGS is not the counterpart to the Clipper. The FAS is obviously the closer counterpart to it. L2 interpret a given premise appropriately if you want to be taken seriously in return.

As for your 'muh CGs' point: :lul: RL player interaction towards individual events equate how to in game bubble-wide economies?

Rebecca Hail I know that you're capable of having a civil discussion, so please stop acting like a condescending prick.

Burstar

Rebecca Hail I know that you're capable of having a civil discussion, so please stop acting like a condescending prick.

Then actually contribute to the discussion by having a counter argument of your own instead of just saying "i don't like your reasoning behind your simple at least plausibly supported opinion that I've actually forgotten and can't be bothered to go back and re read but respect is important to me true story".

As for the station conditions: they are affected by in game modifiers like states, population satisfaction, and economy size. If you haven't noticed this that's on you. Being an Empire station is one of those modifiers that improves Station condition / announcer politeness etc that Drew Wagar has commented on in the past as part of the good immersive elements of the Elite world. I'm not going to go digging for it though i suspect it's in teh 'history of' video. Believe me or not, I don't care. Just pay attention in the future and when it clicks send me a thank you message.

Amata LireinSorry to disappoint here, but the game doesn't actually reflect this. My homeport of Stephens Enterprise in Burojinura is an Imperial starport, but on occasion the hangar I got assigned to is quite dirty with bent pipes, empty pizza boxes and cups lying on the floor between the pad itself and the lifts.

It does get reflected in the codex though, mentioning that the streets and corridors in Fedneck settlements and stations are often filled with graffitis and the homeless.

Xeknos I'd also need to see some evidence to back up the "Imp ships outclass Fed ships" argument.

Isaiah EvansonI get that people are trying to split hairs and argue that one side is better than the other...

But they're really not. They're just different expressions of varying degrees of authoritarianism. It's like arguing over flavors of cyanide-laced ice cream. Fed, Imp, Alliance - they'll kill you or get you killed just the same. Just a question of how and how fast.