Naja wrote:The level of control differs a lot based on your government type - the priorities of your empire's elite and the people who consent to being governed.
Sol Force was originally just an underfunded space exploration department under the Socialist consortia governments of Earth.
Then the Hivers invaded and it became an incredibly powerful Junta government under Ashilde Falke and Edward MacKenzie. Both ruled with dictatorial power.
But then with the temporary lull in the Winter Wars, Hannibal Freeborne was popularly elected instead of ascending via military coup or a "vote" of top Legators, and he's done much to move Sol Force in a more Liberationist direction.
At least that's what I remember.
I think the first statement is probably the most poignant. From how I read the matrix in the game the values and capabilities of an organizations people and elites matters a bit more to how much control the government exerts than how the man at the top is selected. I would argue it is possible for a democratically elected leader to exert far greater and more total control over a population than the most cruel despot who staged a coup to get into power... if he has the machinery to make it happen and the population accepts his authority as being legitimate. From what I've seen of how solforce (or the Zuul or any other species is written for that matter) you can interpret how much control the government exerts over its population for yourself. Solforce could be at any side of that governmental spectrum based off of how you interpret each government type and what level you are looking at solforce's actions. Overbearing military/industrial junta at the interstellar level? Liberationist at the planetary level (Since Solforces primary concern at the planetary level seems to be that the planets pay their taxes)? Communalistic for their sponsoring/founding of new colonies? Mercantilistic for the promotion of trade? However you want to look at them they could be... just depends what aspect of governance you are looking at and what criteria you are evaluating.
I will say though that Solforce does not strike me as the type of organization that would become overly concerned with something like individual liberties when it comes to anything important to it though, regardless of the government type or level of day to day control it exerts over the lives of its citizens.
