Yeah, Don use the foundry to build droids, use the foundry to build the infrastructure to build droids. That way we can openly compete in droids manufacturing with much less suspicion cast upon us.
Random Republic Intelligence Officer:"Hmm...wonder where all this armor came from? Hmm...the CNS shouldn't have those designs should they? It's a Military Asset."
Thing is, major movements of pretty much anything will be watched. We've gotten away with Watcher assets because the Watchers overall are...kinda small in the face of a galaxy at war (hundreds-thousands of actual members I think? In a galaxy of trillions). That, and we've been careful to keep things to the shadows with smuggling, underworld contacts, etc. and outright disguises when in the light. Suddenly producing enough product to supply literally billions of people, even if its mundane stuff? That's not a little thing, not little at all. And when people can't figure out where it all came from...then its even worse.
As for the Von Neumann method...honestly kinda a waste of time. The Foundry can build super quick with just about anything. We? Can't. Trying to build droid factories would mean much more complicated logistics for slower, crappier results and still without a particular
use for all of the armies being made.
If we can't use the Foundary to its fullest potential just like that, then why the heck we spent a large amount of time securing it?
Also, I am still at a loss on what's exactly needed to take down Palpy at a reasonable rate (=> 50%). Do we really need a Death Star or two in order to do it? I meant, we have done a lot ever since the last turn and we still haven't secured a 10% increase in our success chance. And we are running out of time before Palpy decided to shoot us first before we are completely ready...
@Dr. Snark Question: just how big of a threat Palpy see us right now, and what is his threshold before he resorts to drastic action (i.e. forming the Galactic Empire and sending the Galaxy to hell)?
The full potential of the Foundry is unlimited production of murder armies at a rate and quality that exceeds basically anything else in the galaxy. The CIS in its
entirety probably exceeds the Foundry, at least at its best, but its also not nearly as effortless or high-quality. If we can keep the Foundry itself hidden, or protected with a sturdy enough fleet (which is its own problem, basically no one can contest the GAR or CIS Navies atm), then we
will be capable of conquering the galaxy. But the problem, is that this is a very brute-force solution to a complicated and delicate problem. Even ignoring Palpatine, it would mean breaking the majority of galactic civilization, and then re-building it ourselves and keeping it from rebelling. And it'd be even bloodier a regime then the Galactic Empire considering how most of Ol'Palpy's effort was in managing the PR coup that made people
want his iron fist, an effort an endless army of murder-bots simply cannot pull-off.
So yeah. It's gated.
As for Palpy, part of his difficulty is his personal threat. He's a very dangerous man after-all. Most of it though, is from what measures and protections he's taken that we don't know about, what allies, guards, apprentices, artifacts, etc. he can use if things go tits-up. Finally, assuming we blow past all of that and nail the man himself, 'success' means we don't just let a contingency measure activate and burn the galaxy to the ground. By crashing the economy, causing massive conflict and wars, plagues, or even hidden fleets of fanatics ready to come out and do it planet by planet with turbo-lasers if they have to. So 'success' means identifying and neutralizing all of
those threats in addition offing an extremely powerful Sith Lord with unknown assets and capabilities, in the very center of their power. Yeah.
Not easy.
