Morwen did steal that, yes, but I don't mind.
In the end, I feel like a lot of these ideas seem to hinge on the idea of there being enough people interested in a "good fight" to counteract those interested in total dominance, or that the market will cause more people to join the loosing side take advantage of increased prices.
My experience, however, tells me that this is the exclusion rather than the norm; moreover, even if there are a significant number of people on both sides interested in "goodfights", the existing numerical imbalances between militias will cause the smaller side to run out of available combat ships (assuming a relatively similar win/loss ratio for all parties) far sooner than the larger side. This will then only be aggravated by the smaller side's inability to make money by grinding their own missions, because they won't be able to dock in their own stations.
Overall, however... here's my thesis on the topic of FW and consequences:
- I am not averse to war being unfair or having - indeed, it is these factors that makes EVE's 0.0 sovereignty wars unique compared to most other "territory holding" online games.
- One of the reasons the above can be true is that neither victory nor loss are permanent; while the steps after victory are obvious, the steps after defeat are critical as well: Either find somewhere to fall back to, or dissolve your alliance. Should you take the former option, finding new manpower and resources for your force is critical; typically that either means joining a new bloc or going to boot out someone weaker than yourself. If you take the latter options, your members have the ability to join someone else doing what you couldn't.
- In FW, the above options are not available. Once you are out, you are out; there are no allied forces to request to your aid nor any alternate theaters to go fight in. The availability of titans and the geographical relatively short distance between theaters means that any force that comes to dominate one theater will be easily able to influence the other, and vice versa. This is drawn from my direct experience with FW, and talks I've head with people on the other side.
- Finally, it was suggested during a discussion in OOC earlier today that the numerically smaller side adopt a tactic of waiting for the frontlines to pass, then rising up again to strike at the support units. I personally don't believe this is a viable tactic either; most militia hauling these days is done by covops transport, jump-capable ship, or freighter with escorts including webs (again, drawing from personal experience and talks with the other side); none of these present targets that can be intercepted without careful planning. Supply lines from market hub to warzone are incredibly short, however, limiting the distance (and time) a raider has to organize an interdiction. Neither is "laying in wait" a possibility either; with a unified militia channel and no place for raiders to dock up to make their presence in local constant, even the most rookie players will have early warning of a raider fleet.
