This might be indicated in the canon (haven't read any) but mainly in terms of the BGS, is there much disparity between the Empire and the Federation? Is the Federation going to overwhelm the Empire in the simulation in a few years, or vice versa? Any idea how many systems (obviously a moving target) are in these superpowers? Is one of them an underdog?
Which is economically/politically more powerful, Fed or Empire?
- Thread starter Mythmere
- Start date
From what I've read, generally the Federation is more powerful than the Empire in terms of resources and territory. Although the Empire can "match" the Federation in terms of military strength, this comes at the expense of many of their freedoms and consumes much of their economic output. It's also unlikely that the Empire could afford to divert as many of their resources to their military if they didn't have Imperial slaves to provide labor at dramatically reduced costs compared to the Federation. It's a situation much like how the US had more GDP and economic output than Russia during the Cold War and Russia generally had to struggle to match the US in terms of technology and military strength. It was only really the lack of modern consumer products and the poor standard of living in Soviet Russia, along with large numbers of talented designers and engineers such as Kalashnikov who could be motivated ideologically or politically instead of needing financial incentives, that allowed Russia to do this. Essentially the "difference" was made up for by having their citizens live a substantially lower standard of living. In addition to reduced personal freedoms and access to domestic products the life expectancy for males in 1990 (near the end of the Soviet Union's era) was only 65 years in the Soviet Union compared to 72 years in the USA, and the gap was even worse during the earlier years in the Soviet era. It was never truly sustainable for Russia to do this and they never did fully match the US in terms of their navy, for example they never even managed to produce a single nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to rival the dozen or so Nimitz class ships the US produced (Russia's only aircraft carrier, the Kuznetsov, is conventionally powered and considerably less capable than the Nimitz class). So it's more an issue of how the Empire can achieve military parity with less overall resources by placing a much greater burden on their citizens in order to "keep up" with the Federation militarily.
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That's a fairly accurate reading of the cold war, but a poor analogy for the Federation and the Empire.
Yes, the Federation has more population, more territory, a larger military industrial complex, and presumably, greater military might. The Empire is not the USSR, in fact, the Empire arguably has more personal freedom than the Federation, with individual systems and governments deciding whether or not to prohibit commodities, such as tobacco or imperial slaves.
As divisive as this may be to say, the better comparison is the American South of 1850. (You'd think tobacco would be a clue.) The Empire, just as the South, is an honour-based society. In a culture tightly built around honour, respect, shame, and personal responsibility. Every person or family will feel obligated to contribute their fortune, children, and favors to uphold their honour and the glory of the Empire.
The main difference between the American South and the Empire is the lack of any evidence that the culture has established racism as one of its main tenants. (This is the divisive statement which should not spark a debate. I am from the South. I know what we were taught in public school. And I've read the speeches declaring secession from the Union.)
The Empire's ability to compete with the Federation is not about the government restricting "freedom", but about Imperial citizens voluntarily sacrificing their self-interests for the improvement of the Empire. The flip-side of that is the better an individual succeeds in Imperial service, the higher his/her family's standing and respect in the Empire improves. So striving for the Empire's best interest does benefit their own self-interest.
Whereas, as far as we can tell, the Federation is run by corporations entirely for their own self-interest, pushing the military-industrial complex and fear of the other as a means to corral their population in the direction they deem appropriate. The Empire relies on its citizens, clients, patrons, and senators to uphold and maintain their contributions towards the improvement of the Empire.
As far as I can tell, self-interest and the Empire only exists for Torval and Patreus, and that is debatable. They're both pushing for what they see as the best for the Empire. I've always seen Torval as the matriarch of a large family, and it wasn't until recently that I became aware of her personal fleet honoring historical female leaders. The ships named after Boudica, Elizabeth, Cleopatra, and Marlin Duval. (The names showed up in a story where Senator Torval freed thousands of unregulated slaves rescued from captivity.) There is lots of potential for story with Torval, so she isn't simply a businesswoman and slaver.
Someone over on EliteLore subreddit used eddb to run a census of the galaxy. These numbers might be inaccurate by now as systems' governments change and don't always get updated in eddb, and according the them the Empire has two thirds the population of the Federation, but only a third of the system count.
So the Federation does likely have more resources, more people, and a larger military. A thousand years ago, the Great Battle of Liberation went in favor of the Empire of Achenar. Under a quarter century ago, the Treaty of London established new rules in the wake of the introduction of the 'new' model of frameshift drive. The aim was to prevent an arms race, but apparently, that's not enough anymore.
It's unclear just how the conflict will weigh out, but recent community goals show the Federation still holds all the material and human resource superiority.
It's worth noting that the reason given for the Empire's victory a thousand years ago was due to the multi-purpose and lack of specialization of the Federation fleet. Now, clearly, it's the Gutamaya vessels and Imperial fleet which focuses more on diplomatic soft power and multi-purpose vessels, while the Federal fleet shows nothing but guns as its core dynamic.
What i understand about the lore in elite is that federation is a controlled by corporations and a lot of corruption. The navy and wars are business. Its no clear how united the federation is currently as there has been rumors about backstabbing and some systems and regions have had huge rebellions against Federation. Lugh war was successful rebellion against Federation after Crimson State Group won federation in war and destroyed the capital ship that was send to take care of the rebellion. There was a lot of rumors about someone inside Federation working against federation. Federation had a lot of difficulties in pp and CG but now the federation seems to be able to beat Empire, so things have got better for them.
Empire is less corporations and more of the tradition. The powerful families have the control over Empire. Its navy is controlled by powerful people. So Large parts of Empire are under control of few people so in chase of big civil war the Empire people who have control over large parts of planets/navy and could want to rebel to get more. Empire has had good luck with cg and pp but lately have loss some of them. Only big negative political thing for empire is the death of ex emperor and empire dawn movement.
Empire is like Rome when it was republic around times of Caesar. When Federation is like large corporation that have investors who have the power and citizens and soldiers are workers.
Empire is less corporations and more of the tradition. The powerful families have the control over Empire. Its navy is controlled by powerful people. So Large parts of Empire are under control of few people so in chase of big civil war the Empire people who have control over large parts of planets/navy and could want to rebel to get more. Empire has had good luck with cg and pp but lately have loss some of them. Only big negative political thing for empire is the death of ex emperor and empire dawn movement.
Empire is like Rome when it was republic around times of Caesar. When Federation is like large corporation that have investors who have the power and citizens and soldiers are workers.
Short answer, nether.
Your asking the wrong question in the wrong way.
The BGS is entirely player run. NPC's can't visibly effect it or at least, no recorded instances of things changing have been noted.
Many players support local factions wanting to spread them rather then any serious attempt at the Superpower level to overwhelm one or the other. Those that do participate on the Superpower level are more into Powerplay which is larger, easier, and more visible then the BGS.
While the Federation does support the largest number of pilots, most are newer players who are just getting their feet wet and most start out in Federation Space. So they're more apt to work for the Federation because that's who they started with. On the flip side, the Empire has a lot of Zealous and Fanatics who have made the conscious decision to support the Empire and work tirelessly toward this fact.
So nether is going to swallow the other in the BGS. The Federation can bring numbers but the Empire has the older players who know how to work the system. Essentially it's going to be a deadlock. The Great Battle of Liberation as the first conflict that Birthed the Empire and the Federation played out very much like the first battle of the American Civil War in that the nascent Empire did very well in it's Strategic level to beat back the Federation to their home territory.
Why the Federation lost was not only due to the fact that they didn't have a Modern Navy much like they have now, the Admiral in Command made the stupid decision of overstretching his supply lines. Under estimating Imperial Guerrilla Tactics to cut off the supplies and leave the Federal 'Navy' helpless. Once the Feds made it back to a more fortified position, they were able to hold fast and drive the Imperials off. Since nether side could break the deadlock at the time, Sol called off the war and the Empire was born.
Now both sides have a serious Navy and a better understanding about logistics. Any fight between them would be ugly and on the scale of the World Wars in which it would be a question of how long both can hold out while destroying the other side as much as possible.
Both have been around for well over a Millennia so nether is considered "The Underdog" at this point. If anything, the true underdogs are the Independents.
Your asking the wrong question in the wrong way.
The BGS is entirely player run. NPC's can't visibly effect it or at least, no recorded instances of things changing have been noted.
Many players support local factions wanting to spread them rather then any serious attempt at the Superpower level to overwhelm one or the other. Those that do participate on the Superpower level are more into Powerplay which is larger, easier, and more visible then the BGS.
While the Federation does support the largest number of pilots, most are newer players who are just getting their feet wet and most start out in Federation Space. So they're more apt to work for the Federation because that's who they started with. On the flip side, the Empire has a lot of Zealous and Fanatics who have made the conscious decision to support the Empire and work tirelessly toward this fact.
So nether is going to swallow the other in the BGS. The Federation can bring numbers but the Empire has the older players who know how to work the system. Essentially it's going to be a deadlock. The Great Battle of Liberation as the first conflict that Birthed the Empire and the Federation played out very much like the first battle of the American Civil War in that the nascent Empire did very well in it's Strategic level to beat back the Federation to their home territory.
Why the Federation lost was not only due to the fact that they didn't have a Modern Navy much like they have now, the Admiral in Command made the stupid decision of overstretching his supply lines. Under estimating Imperial Guerrilla Tactics to cut off the supplies and leave the Federal 'Navy' helpless. Once the Feds made it back to a more fortified position, they were able to hold fast and drive the Imperials off. Since nether side could break the deadlock at the time, Sol called off the war and the Empire was born.
Now both sides have a serious Navy and a better understanding about logistics. Any fight between them would be ugly and on the scale of the World Wars in which it would be a question of how long both can hold out while destroying the other side as much as possible.
Both have been around for well over a Millennia so nether is considered "The Underdog" at this point. If anything, the true underdogs are the Independents.
From what I can see (being entirely Imperial) the Empire is focused primarily on family bonds and patronage. This shouldn't be confused with patriarchy. It is a system of order wherein a wealthy family (by asset or monetary wealth) maintain the ruling hierarchy. There's really no such system of government in place like this today. The closest analogy would be Rome. Star Trek is a good comparison for our situation as well. During the Dominion War the Federation (of Star Trek) had been primarily a fleet of Exploration, Science, and Diplomatic vessels. This had profound consiquences throughout the war that lead to Starfleet being uanble to field successful warships. The USS Odyssey is a great a example of this. During the opening conflicts with the Dominion the USS Odyssey was destroyed by a single kamikaze attack. This loss created profound changes in the way Star Fleet was organized as the USS Enterprise would also be destroyed under a relatively minor assault.
The changes that followed the Dominion War were thicker 'necks' between the Saucer and the Nacelle Struts as well as incredibly more potent and pronounced investment in weapons on Starfleet vessels. Family members were also a much reduced presence. In short, the Empire in Elite: Dangerous seems to have taken a similar route to that of Starfleet. It possesses inaccurate weapons, terrible heat vulnerabilities, and an impractical design all across the Majestic class. I don't really foresee the use of these ships in any long term scenario.
The Federation, on the other hand, can be seen rather like the United States of the present era. It is far less a nation than it is a Federation of corporate entities who are primarily unknown save through the hegemonic and monolithic enterprises. Fortunately, these things tend to be creatures of momentum. A great example is the Senkaku Islands versus the People's Republic. The United States could care less about 200 km of ocean floor and a few miles of rocky islands. However, the conflict is ideological. The current PRC is a weak government. It needs to present a strong patriotic face to the people of China. This is causing the politicians to demonize the Japanese which in turn threatens most of Asia. The conquest of Tibet was as much a strategic action as it was ideological: in fact it was a mistake in protest codes if you dig into it. In any case, by conquering Tibet China controls the major rivers leading out of the Himalayas between Pakistan and India. They can cut off their water at any time. Whereas the in the South Pacific, China is attempting to re-solidify pre-modern territories that were generally 'influenced' pre-European contact and humiliation.
The wider aim of China in the current era is the conquest of the East and South Pacific. Taiwan, if abandoned by the United States, could only deter Chinese aggression for three weeks at best. Most likely less since a lot of United States stealth technology seems to have been successfully stolen by China. Japan is merely posturing for political authority by a weak government. Unfortunately for the PRC this has lead to an increase in global hostilities because it has now drawn the United States into what it might otherwise not have bothered with finding concern over. This would be the Senkaku Islands again. If China takes these and does nothing it can essentially lay claim to the Pacific. If the United States abandons its promises to Taiwain or Japan it would also lose the entire Pacific west of Hawaii and significant trade partnerships globally.
If we understand that the Federation is behaving largely in corporate self-interest then we must also understand the social momentum. The Federation is too fractured and factional to be capable of a long term sustained engagement under false-pretenses through patriotic authority. Nationalism is also not yet crucial. However, the change of presidents recently combined with the conspiracies surrounding them leads to a weak overall governmental body in the perceptions of the public. Since the public is largely loyal to its economic sector this means there is little democratic momentum in the politics. Rather, there is an overriding sense that people will side with the least impractical given their needs and circumstances (just as with the United States politics currently). It a game of perceptions. It would appear that the Federal NAVY is somewhat currently fortified against the current superfluous politics otherwise endemic to the Federation(s). However, as their military objects are entirely in the Pleiades this shows a strategic foreknowledge of danger since the Pleiades bare no politic significance in terms of territorial disputes with the Alliance or Empire.
The Empire seems to be playing some sort of cloak and daggers campaign similar to what you see from MI6 the NSA in real life. These are battles fought in rooms whose occupants are few, but whose IQs collectively to an unsettling figure. And, their organized. Ironically, the Empire is the position to not be affected by the coming conflict. Unfortunately the patronage system is similar to the weak government problem the PRC in real life is motivate by. The patrons want to posture which actual creates a problem if someone calls their bluff. This 'sabre rattling' is an example of that just before the conflict. The Federation was responding to something external. The Empire patrons just postured and then had to make good or look like idiots. This undermines the goals of whatever the MI6 / NSA equivalents are that seem to be the major players in Imperial authority. My suspicion would be this the Dark Wheel group, Salome, possibly whoever Jasmina is visiting (though an Alliance version of this), and the Children of Raxxia (though I don't think they realize it yet).
Anyway, this sets up a scenario where the MI6/NSA group gets exposed, the Federal Navy is found to have a critical flaw, and then something bad will happen that affects all of us fundamentally rearranging the nature of human society and possibly civilization up to this point rather profoundly. Most of this is just the dominoes falling. It's not going to be the result of anyone deliberately causing it. However, it exposes a vulnerability we don't see or understand yet. That's my take on all this.
Conclusion:
Both are going to fall.
The changes that followed the Dominion War were thicker 'necks' between the Saucer and the Nacelle Struts as well as incredibly more potent and pronounced investment in weapons on Starfleet vessels. Family members were also a much reduced presence. In short, the Empire in Elite: Dangerous seems to have taken a similar route to that of Starfleet. It possesses inaccurate weapons, terrible heat vulnerabilities, and an impractical design all across the Majestic class. I don't really foresee the use of these ships in any long term scenario.
The Federation, on the other hand, can be seen rather like the United States of the present era. It is far less a nation than it is a Federation of corporate entities who are primarily unknown save through the hegemonic and monolithic enterprises. Fortunately, these things tend to be creatures of momentum. A great example is the Senkaku Islands versus the People's Republic. The United States could care less about 200 km of ocean floor and a few miles of rocky islands. However, the conflict is ideological. The current PRC is a weak government. It needs to present a strong patriotic face to the people of China. This is causing the politicians to demonize the Japanese which in turn threatens most of Asia. The conquest of Tibet was as much a strategic action as it was ideological: in fact it was a mistake in protest codes if you dig into it. In any case, by conquering Tibet China controls the major rivers leading out of the Himalayas between Pakistan and India. They can cut off their water at any time. Whereas the in the South Pacific, China is attempting to re-solidify pre-modern territories that were generally 'influenced' pre-European contact and humiliation.
The wider aim of China in the current era is the conquest of the East and South Pacific. Taiwan, if abandoned by the United States, could only deter Chinese aggression for three weeks at best. Most likely less since a lot of United States stealth technology seems to have been successfully stolen by China. Japan is merely posturing for political authority by a weak government. Unfortunately for the PRC this has lead to an increase in global hostilities because it has now drawn the United States into what it might otherwise not have bothered with finding concern over. This would be the Senkaku Islands again. If China takes these and does nothing it can essentially lay claim to the Pacific. If the United States abandons its promises to Taiwain or Japan it would also lose the entire Pacific west of Hawaii and significant trade partnerships globally.
If we understand that the Federation is behaving largely in corporate self-interest then we must also understand the social momentum. The Federation is too fractured and factional to be capable of a long term sustained engagement under false-pretenses through patriotic authority. Nationalism is also not yet crucial. However, the change of presidents recently combined with the conspiracies surrounding them leads to a weak overall governmental body in the perceptions of the public. Since the public is largely loyal to its economic sector this means there is little democratic momentum in the politics. Rather, there is an overriding sense that people will side with the least impractical given their needs and circumstances (just as with the United States politics currently). It a game of perceptions. It would appear that the Federal NAVY is somewhat currently fortified against the current superfluous politics otherwise endemic to the Federation(s). However, as their military objects are entirely in the Pleiades this shows a strategic foreknowledge of danger since the Pleiades bare no politic significance in terms of territorial disputes with the Alliance or Empire.
The Empire seems to be playing some sort of cloak and daggers campaign similar to what you see from MI6 the NSA in real life. These are battles fought in rooms whose occupants are few, but whose IQs collectively to an unsettling figure. And, their organized. Ironically, the Empire is the position to not be affected by the coming conflict. Unfortunately the patronage system is similar to the weak government problem the PRC in real life is motivate by. The patrons want to posture which actual creates a problem if someone calls their bluff. This 'sabre rattling' is an example of that just before the conflict. The Federation was responding to something external. The Empire patrons just postured and then had to make good or look like idiots. This undermines the goals of whatever the MI6 / NSA equivalents are that seem to be the major players in Imperial authority. My suspicion would be this the Dark Wheel group, Salome, possibly whoever Jasmina is visiting (though an Alliance version of this), and the Children of Raxxia (though I don't think they realize it yet).
Anyway, this sets up a scenario where the MI6/NSA group gets exposed, the Federal Navy is found to have a critical flaw, and then something bad will happen that affects all of us fundamentally rearranging the nature of human society and possibly civilization up to this point rather profoundly. Most of this is just the dominoes falling. It's not going to be the result of anyone deliberately causing it. However, it exposes a vulnerability we don't see or understand yet. That's my take on all this.
Conclusion:
Both are going to fall.
In my mind, the definition of where "personal freedoms" begin to be eroded is not the legalization of drugs, or the "de facto" acceptance of substance use in a given political system. It's fundamentally an issue of having personal freedoms that cannot be removed or superceeded by another individual or group. For example, in the Empire you may be "free" to use drugs, but you don't have the protection of your personal freedoms to not be abused as a slave even if the Empire tries to explain that as a form of "indentured servitude". The reality is that you do not have full rights once you become an Imperial slave and in this sense your personal freedoms are very much eroded. You also have very little, if any, say in how you are governed in the Empire as most Imperial systems are Patronage or Dictatorships compared to the Democracy or Corporate governance we see in Federation systems. Overall there is really very little to argue that you have more "freedom" in the Empire as you often lack most of the common rights afforded to Federal citizens in terms of governance and slavery. You can even argue that the "legalization" of drugs in the Empire does not truly increase personal freedoms but rather reduces them as the use of these substances tends to erode society for the citizens who do not use these substances, i.e., Imperial society has lost their collective "right" to be protected from the impact of these issues.
Which in a sense is exactly how the USSR worked. You could "choose" to be politically or ideologically motivated but it wasn't a real choice as you did not have the ability to profit off of your efforts in the way that you could in the US. In the same way, the political influence that you held by working within the Communist system was similarly a good incentive to use your talents and abilities to their fullest, much like how Kalashnikov was motivated in his design of the AK-47 in the post-war era.
In a sense the Federation is beholden to a different but equally burdensome system of profit and political manipulation, although arguably they have a corrupted political system that drives this in ways that do not serve Federation citizens effectively. If you look at Independent systems like Sirius and Li Yong-Rui, these are clearly not altruistic and are very profit and progress driven, but without the same type of corruption that we see within the Federation. You could argue that Sirius/Li Yong-Rui doesn't have to maintain a social programs or fund an active military and as such they aren't a true political system or a method of governance, but it does show that you can have progress and profit without the same degree of corruption we see within the Federation.
My understanding from reading the Galnet reports is that the Empire manages to generally match the Federation militarily, and in fact there was a recent Galnet article about the Empire Capital Ship Construction CGs where the Empire stated they would match the Federation "one for one" with any new capital ships. I believe the Empire can do this, but only by expending a somewhat higher proportion of their resources and with the widespread use of Imperial slave labor. In fact I would expect that much of the labor expended in building, say, an Interdictor cruiser is done by Imperial slaves, at least the non-technical aspects that can be done with minimal construction/fabrication training. Additionally the Federation probably spends much more than the "true" cost of a Farragut's construction costs due to corruption, budget overruns and profiteering by the Federation's military industry. In that sense the Empire does "more with less" and is very similar to the argument that the USSR made in terms of producing military equipment that cost them a fraction of what the US would spend on their equivalent ships.
Have some rep for putting together two of the most well thought out and articulately constructed posts I've seen in my time on this forum.
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The Federation is numerically larger, in terms of both population and number of systems under control. ED doesn't give overall galactic statistics, but here's an old thread where some people tried to do the math.
The Federation's weakness is that Federal space is more "dilute" than Empire space. Look at the Galaxy map in "Allegiance" mode to get the overall drift. In the core of "Federation territory", there's red, yellow and a smattering of green and even blue all over the place: the Federation and Alliance are intermingled not only with each other, but with lots of Indie systems and the occasional Imp outpost in the mix as well.
Now scroll Down to Empire space, and the map is just a sea of blue. Virtually no Indie or other superpower systems there. The Empire is therefore smaller, but more hegemonic. This tight control allows for greater efficiency and less waste: minerals from this mining colony can go to the nearest Refinery for processing, rather than having to sail past the two closest Refineries because they're Indie-controlled. The Federation could in theory use its superiority in manpower and resources to conquer the Indie systems and then overwhelm the Empire, but in order to do so, it would need to implement Imperial-style controls and efficiencies - in effect, the only way the Federation could defeat the Empire is by becoming Imperialist themselves. And ultimately, nobody in the leadership of the Federation over the last thousand years has wanted galactic hegemony badly enough that they were prepared to take that step. Even when faced with a serious external threat - the original Thargoid War - the two superpowers allied, but did not politically unify.
As for fleets, the Federation fleet is presumably larger as well, in proportion to its industrial capacity. But unlike the Empire, it cannot focus its entire fleet all in one place (such as, for an invasion of the Empire) because it needs its fleet to be just as spread out as it's territory is. The Federation not only has to deter the Empire, but the Alliance as well, not to mention keeping expansionary Independent systems in check.
The Federation's weakness is that Federal space is more "dilute" than Empire space. Look at the Galaxy map in "Allegiance" mode to get the overall drift. In the core of "Federation territory", there's red, yellow and a smattering of green and even blue all over the place: the Federation and Alliance are intermingled not only with each other, but with lots of Indie systems and the occasional Imp outpost in the mix as well.
Now scroll Down to Empire space, and the map is just a sea of blue. Virtually no Indie or other superpower systems there. The Empire is therefore smaller, but more hegemonic. This tight control allows for greater efficiency and less waste: minerals from this mining colony can go to the nearest Refinery for processing, rather than having to sail past the two closest Refineries because they're Indie-controlled. The Federation could in theory use its superiority in manpower and resources to conquer the Indie systems and then overwhelm the Empire, but in order to do so, it would need to implement Imperial-style controls and efficiencies - in effect, the only way the Federation could defeat the Empire is by becoming Imperialist themselves. And ultimately, nobody in the leadership of the Federation over the last thousand years has wanted galactic hegemony badly enough that they were prepared to take that step. Even when faced with a serious external threat - the original Thargoid War - the two superpowers allied, but did not politically unify.
As for fleets, the Federation fleet is presumably larger as well, in proportion to its industrial capacity. But unlike the Empire, it cannot focus its entire fleet all in one place (such as, for an invasion of the Empire) because it needs its fleet to be just as spread out as it's territory is. The Federation not only has to deter the Empire, but the Alliance as well, not to mention keeping expansionary Independent systems in check.
Banana perspective:
Feds are all about the work ethic. Feds encourage their slackers into the military...cannon fodder basically.
Imperials are all about the money.
The Empire enslaves their slackers for profit.
Both use the lamer elements of their societies to do their dirty work.
As for the rest:
The Alliance are like the liberals...sure, they always try and do the morally right things but they don't always get it right.
Pirates like to get drunk and cause mayhem.
Antal followers are couch potatoes and would like to sit and watch TV all day.
Sirius are the business people of the Universe...and probably the ones who should be watched the most.
Feds are all about the work ethic. Feds encourage their slackers into the military...cannon fodder basically.
Imperials are all about the money.
The Empire enslaves their slackers for profit.
Both use the lamer elements of their societies to do their dirty work.
As for the rest:
The Alliance are like the liberals...sure, they always try and do the morally right things but they don't always get it right.
Pirates like to get drunk and cause mayhem.
Antal followers are couch potatoes and would like to sit and watch TV all day.
Sirius are the business people of the Universe...and probably the ones who should be watched the most.
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Pretty much this.
To answer the original question. With 0,8 trillion people and more than thousand systems more it's safe to say that the Federation has the bigger economical power.
While it's true that the interests of the different factions in the Federation go into many directions and that the interests of the factions in the Empire are more streamlined, you can expect the factions in the Federation to behave differently under martial law.
As of now neither Federation nor Empire have an interest in an open war. That's why both factions fought proxy wars in Neits, Daramo and the Pleiades.