To answer my own question:
The Empire was founded by a bunch of territorial supervillains who wanted to lord it over others while LARPing in a pseudofeudal system. Logic is only part of the calculus, as evidenced by their society.
Imhotep, the current burning chancre of the Mimir Sector, was a pastoral world before it's conquest. Agricultural world, 800 million people. Even now it's explicitly described as marginal. They've probably plowed more resources than they can hope to reasonably recoup in a couple decades.
The Empire intends to hold it anyway. Because it's theirs now. And dragons don't share.
And an attack on Imhotep was sufficient to push us to respond, despite the planet's marginal economic status; on the urging of the sector's civilian command, we risked the heaviest ship in the sector in a probe on New Theia.
I think people aren't evaluating the cost benefits right.
But it's not important enough to argue over.
I'm growing weary of you missing the point. You keep pointing to catching smugglers and thwarting an attack on Mori's World as significant goal you presume I wanted to achieve. Let me make this absolutely clear: I didn't and don't care if we caught any smugglers or if Mori's world was burned to the ground. Yes, we might have had to pay 10-15 PC if my plan had won and the smugglers tried to recoup their losses and the Valinori struck without opposition. But the smugglers and pirates have already been whittled down to near nothing and Mori's world is a glorified asteroid outpost. I would absolutely trade both for a chance to raise Crew Levels and give our officers +1 strat/tact, because that benefits us more, and benefits the Imperial House more. Mark my words, we're going to bitterly regret not fortifying the core of our force while we had the chance.
You can harp on all the losses my plan was willing to accept, but that's war. You trade, you make sacrifices. For victory, you accept that sometimes you can't respond to every provocation or skirmish.
The biggest red flag that indicates that you're not thinking strategically is that you can't see the difference between Imhotep and Mori's world. A good chunk of the local gentry had invested into Imhotep, and their deaths meant there was a groundswell of political pressure for vengeance. Furthermore, the fall of Imhotep would have defacto connected the Rana Salient to the NASP proper, giving them an excellent staging base for striking at Illum. Lastly, the attack on Imhotep was before the local NASP force suffered two successive major defeats. They aren't remotely the same situation.
Lastly, the reason I advocate [] Evade vs [] Leave is that now that we've made the foolish decision of defending a worthless rock pit, we may as well finish the fight safely and try to finish this turn at a +0 instead of in the negatives. That doesn't mean I'm willing to risk our lives for a petty increase in PC, however, or a dozen or two dozen Wealth.
Edit:
Also it's cats and dogs getting people to see reason. I don't think that a vote for Leave could win in this climate, so I'm trying to finish things as safely as possible.
-You think letting pirates run amok in a sector held by the Empress' cousin would only cost 15PC?
You think having an Imperial-held planet pillaged by raiders would only cost 15PC?
When both happened, not because we were shorthanded, but because we were training and moved our forces away?
Let's just say I disagree and leave it at that.
- I'm not thinking strategically? I vehemently disagree.
Mori's World is 350 million people, and a wholly owned direct Imperial territory, and industrializing. It's valuable.
Imhotep is 800 million, with the only direct Imperial investment being the planetary garrison, and an
agricultural economy described as "marginal". Oh, and it's been on the brink of rebellion for years.
Imhotep is a marginal world, a pastoral colony that was a representative democracy prior to conquest and has a population of about eight hundred million. It seethes under imperial control and it does not help that multiple minor houses vie for control along with the ducal houses of the sector, Imperial authority almost completely absent outside of the cost of maintaining the planetary garrison. A recent raid by NASP cruisers lead to the elimination of their squadron but also the destruction of much of the planetary government, infrastructure a
Let's be clear: If two raids were striking Mori and Imhotep and we only had forces to save one, I'd save Mori.
For both strategic industrial AND political reasons: Imperial disfavor is much deadlier to a naval officer.
Besides, if the Empress cherrypicked this planet, it has to be valuable or potentially so.
There's a reason she left Imhotep to the nobility to pick over.
-What gentry? There is roughly one noble for every hundred million serfs.
@Gunman You are quite right that nobles have major incentives to stick to two or three (more normally three or four actually, a lot of nobles die in duels or military service) children. Only a tiny minority of the free upper classes are genetically enhanced noble descendants however and almost nobody apart from them register at all on the Wealth scale.
To very wildly ballpark figures there are probably a hundred million commoners for every noble then perhaps fifty or sixty people with degrees of noble type genetic enhancement for every noble. The average free commoner is a later career doctor, a middle manager in an important industry, etc. They are not rich, anyone with a single point of Wealth would in modern day terms be at least rich in the hundreds of millions range though the existence of people who literally rule planets has pushed the upper tiers of luxury expenditure to literally insane levels.
Imhotep would average 10 nobles, and maybe 600 people who had some degree of noble ancestry in their lineage.
Probably less, since it was conquered less than a decade ago, and is neither a tourist or industrial world.
Sure they're maneuvering for territory to own. Sure they'll squawk if it's damaged. So?
Imperial House territory=/=minor and ducal territory. Especially for an IMPERIAL NAVY officer who intends to advance. Or even get paid.
-You seem to be misunderstanding the astrography and FTL technology.
The Rana Salient isn't cut off from NASP territory. That's not how the hyperdrive works. If they want to turn Rana into a staging base, they can do it already. Not that they need a new staging base when New Theia is right there on the border.
Furthermore, NASP just wanted to quagmire us; they had no intention of risking another war. Not yet.
It was the.......idiots at Chang Mu who mistook propaganda for intent.
-I understand changing people's minds is hard. I sympathize.
But you didn't even discuss it.
-Worthless rock pit?
The problem I think you're having is integrating that a shitty place to live can still be lucrative for people who own it.
The Empress is the biggest dog in the Imperial pack, and gets first dibs.
She called dibs on Mori's World, and left Imhotep to the minor noble Houses to squabble over, after losing tens of capital ships in the war. Assume she(and her financial managers) are neither blind nor stupid.
