I hate it when people compare TR to Russia.

The NC are Anarcho-Capitalists. Basically money rules their world and it's essentially a corporate-feudal society of he who is strongest is ruler, and he who is the wealthiest, is strongest.

The TR on the other hand is a Socialist Republic, though on Auraxis their ideological centre is more focused on North Korean Juche-style Socialism where the military is the driving force of society, as opposed to the more collectivised, worker's Socialism found at home.

And the VS are just a load of tech-cultists.

The TR are similar to modern America, less concerned about freedom and more driven by peace and global stability.
The NC are more like early America, more about money and freedom, less about control or safety.
The VS. . . I dunno. They're a bunch of radical technology-worshipers who declared war over some shiny alien doohickies.

I agree with the OP: I always found the TR to be much more similar to USA than either of the other factions.
The whole military culture, loyalty until death motto and overwhelming firepower thing.

And on the danger of bringing politics into the discussion, the whole "freedom" thing of the NC seems quite opposite of how USA works today(patriot act, NSA, etc).

I like how the factions SOE has made each faction with their lore. You can see the upside in each faction, you can see how each faction has a noble cause. The NC merely want to be free, they don't want someone telling them they can or can't do something, they're all Gadsden flag, don't tread on me, let me have my freedom and be free. The TR want to see everyone be safe, they know that if everyone does what they have set out in the rules that everyone will live happy lives and be safe, they know the best way and they're simply trying to help everyone get to that way. The VS have seen the light, they know the way to make life better for everyone. The evolution of mankind that will come from their technology will make life better for everyone, and they simply want to see those improvements take place, evolution must come and they've found a way to make it come faster and better.

Sadly, you can also see how each faction see's how terrible the other is. We've seen the NC embrace radicalism in blowing up the ship during the expedition, and we know that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, how men will let some rot in the gutter so long as they have what they want. We have seen the TR move towards oppression, and we have seen that path lead to Totalitarianism before, how they have begun to rule with an iron fist. And we see how the VS are moving towards Radicalism, in their desire to exterminate all those who don't see the light of Vanu, not to mention the last thing the galaxy needs is for disco to return.

I think it's neat they way it's all worked out, a nice balance. We each have something we can rattle our factions sabre for, because it's right, and we each have serious flaws within our faction that show just how dangerous our ideals can be.

The two are not mutually exclusive.

Stalin, Mao, etc.

FYI that was actually the TR, who pinned the blame on the NC. Official source here.

Well, I'm guessing that article was alluding to Waterson blowing up the ship and pinning it on the NC. Interesting, I always assumed the NC were just trying to point to the TR being even more tyrannical, I had always assumed some NC had done it. Well, see folks, the TR really are worse than the NC (I'm definitely an NC supporter here)

Have you not been to these forums before?

Yeah, NC is totally space Murrica with Russian weapons. The TR is space China.

err, i think vs is space china because they're nerds and they make cheap knock offs of alien technology. tr is the space roman republic

https://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/the-official-unofficial-lore-thread.192945/

https://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/the-official-unofficial-lore-thread.192945/

I hate it when people compare the VS to Christianity and Scientology. We're more like Bhuddists.

HEY! Don't you say that ever again. This game has incredible amounts of lore potential.

Ohh so Chinese are nerds... Interesting PoV... They are the biggest importer of US and the fastest growing superpower in the world. The second richest also... They must be nerds...just sayin.
If Vs were the space china, we'd win this war surely.

"cheap knock offs of alien technology" - lore-wise, Our weapons are much, much more powerful than TR or NC ones. So we could ******** all of you in the story. I would enjoy it.

And yes, TR are Russians.
Vanu are Space Budhist Jedis. Lot of little Mace Windus, IMO.

Since when is Russia communist again?

If space America is fighting for their freedom from an army with a red uniform, that could make the TR space British Empire.

Just saying, there could have been some space-tea ejected from an air lock at some point.

I always thought it was interesting that in the lore the war broke out because the TR attacked a NC weapons factory in the Kaorr Desert region.

Not unlike the British march on Lexington and Concord to secure American weapons and supplies.

Its important to point out that whats going on currently in Ukraine is almost entirely Russia's fault, you know with the seizure of Crimea and promoting of unrest in the east.

Remarkable. The Terran Republic and the New Conglomerate are fighting each other over who is who or which is what or how or... they seem confused. We, the VS, will assuredly be victorious now and educate them both properly on political science, modern philosophy and provide LIT (Literacy Improvement Training) as needed.