Creeping Dementia wrote:Sebageddon wrote:I don't think the UCM will take most of the cradle worlds. I do think that the resistance will retake Earth which will form the basis of an interstellar alliance of resistance freed planets
I haven't read anything that would lead me to think something like that could happen, but anything is possible.
Considering it seems the Resistance is allowed to exist by the Scourge simply because A) it wouldn't be cost effective to hunt them all down... And B) that the Resistance aren't a genuine threat to the overarching mission of the Scourge, I kind of doubt it.
But it's possible if the Scourge all evacuated their troops from Earth, and if the UCM and PHR somehow lost their desire to retake Earth, all of which seem unlikely.
I'm basing that guess on a lot of what is written in Phase 2. It states that Lt Rodriguez is gathering as many Resistance cells as possible to his HQ in New York. It also states that many Scourge have already left and been leaving for a while. There are examples of theatre's with little UCM forces that are relying on the Resistance to bolster numbers such as Aaru and Shangri-La. Under the section about Lt Rodriguez it says "While the UCM delays its actions on Earth, rightly or wrongly, it seems that this deserter is at the forefront of the resistance there and is poised to become a pivotal figure in the future."
It is fair to say that now that Ferrum has been attacked Combat ops on Earth and all other theatres will be slowed or stopped and that many of the UCM's already tight resources will be diverted back to the colonies. This will leave many theatres poorly supported by the UCM who will have to start relying on resistance cells to bolster numbers as we have seen in Aaru.
From the Resistance groups point of view they have had a taste of freedom or true vengance for the first time and it tastes pretty good. As the UCM's reconquest starts to stall what are these groups going to do? Go back to hiding? Maybe but i doubt it especially if they hear that Earth freed itself.
From a narrative point of view its cool as well because it will allow the resistance faction to grow into a true interstellar faction in the future. As they start mopping up the scourge its likely that they will begin trying to repurpose old or alien ships. If the Resistance do end up evolving along these lines they will be a nice counterpoint to the UCM's fascist culture by being a more feudal empire similar to Dune or Battletech. That would be 3 human factions each with a very unique feel and the Resistance wont simply become irrelevant and eventually swallowed by the UCM.
The big problem with this theory is that everyone else has a fleet so even if you managed to clear 100% of enemy troops on the ground there would be nothing stopping them from just nuking your planet! I do have a slightly out there suggestion which deals with the issue and also links to some of the other discussions on the forum. That mysterious event at Callisto which seems to point to a new race.
At the moment there is no truly benevolent race or any race that is equivalent to the EA before it got invaded. It is possible that a new Alien race has made contact with Lt Rodriguez and offered to provide some support. The reconquest is taking part in a relatively small part of the galaxy and we have to assume other races are aware of whats going on and have had dealings with the Shaltari, Scourge and possibly PHR. Therefore it makes sense that an outside player wants to make contact with those that are suffering similar to how the UN and Nato operate in real life.