The other one I didn't think of is LPI which is huge in terms of bases, as well as making a butt load of money contracting from the Liberty Government for Law enforcement, as well as selling commodities produced by prisoners for free.
Edit, sorry Prowler, while GMG produces alot of H-fuel, it is a low price point commodity, and they are a single industry company without any kind of fiscal diversification, limiting their value.
Actually, while GMG may only produce H-fuel, its not a low-price, but middling price commodity. Furthermore, besides items required for human survival such as food, water, and oxygen, its one of the most-used commodities and required for any space activities, be it military, transportation, or just travel. Its sold on such a vast scale that GMG doesn't need to diversify, for they have a guaranteed sell, and in huge amounts. Because of the amount of H-fuel used and sold, they bring in tons of cash. And as has been said, those gas mining operations are still spreading, providing even more gas.
I think you'll find in the dystopian era of Freelancer That a corp could easily be as rich as a house, look at Rheinland, easily the poorest of the Houses, Interspace Commerce could easily be richer than Rheinland. It deals almost exclusively in money and they have the monopoly on financial concerns.
As for Synth Foods, Synth is a huge company but it sells small profit commodities at an incredibly high volume, kind of like a futuristic Coca-Cola, whilst it makes a huge volume of cash it's not going to make the kind of cash that an industrial or financial concern is going to make. Logistically speaking paste makes less money than money itself can make.
Also don't forget that number of bases does not equal wealth, although it is one method of indicating wealth, both the LPI and Samura control planets, The LPi's planets are only police bases because they set the law, but it's stations are LPI stations, owned operated and controlled. Samura is different, Samura does own planets, Junyo and Kurile, it also has a controlling interest in the development of Kyushu. Which should be considered a veritable cash cow for Samura in terms of corporate assets.
Zoners aren't rich, but they are influential. The Zoners can pull strings like no other faction in Freelancer, what the Zoners want, invariably they get. It's unlikely that money changes hands very often in a Zoner transaction, pure monetary wealth out in the edgeworlds isn't worth very much if it can't put food on the table or ships into space. The Freeports aren't visited by big spenders they're visited by folks with goods to swap and ships to repair, each Freeport is a neutral space where all can come and go regardless of his affiliation.
The GMG aren't massively rich either, H-fuel is bloody important however, and once again the GMG controls influence, hard to argue against the GMG when your ships can't move because the GMG won't fuel them. That's where GMG's power lies. Trading H-fuel for commodities it needs.
Also Ageira and Universal, two of the big three, the other being Interspace, these corps are rich, massively so. Universal deals in high risk goods, moving them to and fro for large sums of cash. Universal can pull strings in Liberty but that's about as far it's influence travels. Ageira is much the same, only Ageira has the revenue from bloody huge military contracts, which it farms out to it's partner DSE. Combined Ageira and DSE are a powerful and fairly influential company, having a monopoly on Lane and Gate repair is quite a neat money spinner.
So determining which factions is the wealthiest is quite a difficult prospect. Are you going to look at temporal power? Because the easy answer to that is Liberty it has the most populated systems, owns the largest in RP military and is just powerful, but all that comes at a cost, like modern day governments it's likely Liberty has a debt, and not a small one, in terms of actual liquid assets it's probably very poor indeed, relying on it's taxes and careful budgeting to maintain it's status.
Pure wealth is different, in RP there's no doubt Interspace Commerce controls the flow of money, it is the Bank, the Insurance company and the Investment company, there are no others. Others may dabble, but all of it is underwritten by the giant financial colossus that is Interspace. They have bigger budgets to play with than any single House, more cash flows through Interspace per annum than everyone else.
Influence is another good one to judge and easily the single most influential organisation is the Zoners. The canniest of the factions, the wiliest of the factions, the Zoners can pretty much achieve anything with words into the right ear, and that can be worth an awful lot more than money.
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The Good Reverend.
Saint Del is considered a holy healer of diseases of children, but also as a protector of cattle.
The Zoners, on the other hand, are a major producer of ships, including capital ships, which they sell to other people. I'd say both the Zoners and GMG would be high on the list, though lower than Interspace. Samura, I think, would come below those three. House militaries/police (with the exception of the LPI) and any other faction which is owned/controlled by the House governments can't really be considered as a single faction, since they're just a part of the government as a whole. The Liberty Navy isn't wealthy at all, they get their funding from Liberty. And the potential wealth/resources (same thing, eh?) an entire House can bring to bear when necessary, even if that House has debts, will dwarf any single corporation with the possible exceptions of Interspace, the Zoners and the GMG. Rhineland in particular is supposed to be quite poor, for a House, and Bretonia/Kusari has funds tied up an the ongoing war.
' Wrote:I have to disagree on the GMG. Not only do they hold the reigns on H-fuel (not a low price commodity), they also do not produce capital ships.
Capital ships cost exorbitant amounts of credits to design, produce, and maintain. The amount of credits saved there in comparison to other factions?
The GMG would be very high on the list.
Leave it to orin to bring up a useless point. Yes the GMG does not produce cap ships, neither does interspace, or the LPI. Samura builds cap ships for the KNF, but do not use them, so thats all profit. The Zoners do build cap ships, but thier power does not come from material wealth anyway, so thats kind of a wash....You were saying Orin?
IC, yes, more profitable. Never said the GMG was the richest faction, I said they were one of the richest. LPI? That seems like a useless point, since they don't hold reigns on such a valuable and widely needed commodity. Free prison labor? Profitable, but I don't think that's near as profitable as other applets. Samura? Possibly rich too, as they are one of the few companies mining H3 as well, though on a much much smaller scale. They may also receive funding from the KNF, so I'd expect them to be a richer org as well. Zoners? I'd expect them to be rich as well, seeing as they have massive trading enterprises and near to no real enemies.
If you feel like fighting, you're barking up the wrong tree. The GMG is one of the richest factions, I think. Not because they don't have capital ships, but because they have control of one of the, if not the most, important commodity in Sirius and they don't have capital ships. I agree with you on those other factions as well. Putting similar rich factions above or below each other is a pretty useless argument, since it's all similar and each person will agree or disagree. I simply see the GMG as in the top tier of the richest, in relation to what we have to look at.
Singapore Shipyard
Minato harbor
Sulawesi Station
Falkland Base
Java Station
Holman Outpost
Freistadt Base
Cardiff Mining Facility
Battleship Hood
South Shields Refinery
Friendly Corporations:
ALG
Planetform
Gateway
It would take billions of credits for the IMG to maintain such capital ships and all those bases none of which are planets. Planets don't need constant supply, as most can produce necessary supplies. It would have to be rich to maintain that many bases, which is almost as many bases as your average house military, if not, more.
Also, having some corporations as allies provides funding and supplies. Planetform is an especially important corporation, as it would lead to IMG-settled planets and make the guild more productive. And with that productivity comes waste, which ALG remove probably at a discount, for their being allies. Gateway is important to keep from Bretonia from moving into their territory, and for supplying IMG bases. And the revenue from mining and shipping materials is also a reason.
Likely one of the most powerful non-corporation/house factions.
A way a lone a last a loved a long the riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay,
brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs.
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