Let Aegis die; End AX Monopolies.

There have been repeated calls for the renewal of Aegis. Many players have supported this idea, and many canonical high-ranking individuals are also calling for its reinstatement, most notably Professor Alba Tesreau.

I am against Aegis, and I'd like to tell you why.

The History of Aegis

First, we need to go into the history of Aegis. Aegis was formed in 3303, as a response to the threat of Thargoid incursions. With enemies seemingly invulnerable to our best weapons, and a laser-focused assault on the Bubble, we had no real choice at the time; all the Powers needed to stand together, or they would fall separately.

And at first, Aegis did seem to succeed! They created and mass-produced the AX weapons, the AX Missiles and AX Multicannons, for the first time allowing us to fight back and defeat the Thargoids, eventually repelling their incursions. Not only that, they also created the Eagle Eye system, predicting Thargoid attacks before they could strike. Clearly, Aegis was well founded…at the time.

But after that, things began to stagnate. While Aegis continued to produce AX weapons and outfit the navies of the various Powers to defend against Thargoid incursions, the level of technological progress and focus they initially displayed plateaued. While ongoing AX weapon advances took place, they were almost universally at the hands of Ram Tah and the Engineers, not Aegis. When Eagle Eye was overwhelmed by attacks, pushing beyond its 6-system limit, they did nothing to repair its systems, and it eventually fell into disuse. And that's pretty much how things stayed for five years.

Monopolies

How did this happen? The answer is simple. They made the same mistake of any monopoly; they became complacent.

Yes, Monopoly. What else can you call an entity granted exclusive power over an entire industry?

Sure, the Engineers would outfit the Pilots Federation, but their work was small-scale and custom, while the average pilot was left with nothing but largely-ineffective weapons – weapons that were later greatly improved as a side project of a few individual engineers! Worse than that, it became evident that Aegis hadn't even designed the enzymes that were the core aspect of AX weaponry in the first place! No, they were designed by INRA, hundreds of years before, during the first thargoid war! All Aegis did was attach it to standard multicannons and missiles, front the funds to mass-produce them, and then continue to produce them in massive quantities even when it became exorbitantly clear that they were hopelessly outdated, unable to defeat even a Medusa, let alone a Hydra!

Now, you could say that the Powers always had the power to re-organize Aegis, to force them into a leaner and more effective agency, but that's simply not true, and the reason why is evident; it's the same reason Aegis was created in the first place. The Powers could not cooperate under their own will. They are so conflicted, so adversarial, that they NEEDED an external power to tell them what to do, to override their individual opinions in support of a greater cause. Naturally, that means that those same Powers were also hopelessly conflicted in finding a majority to tell Aegis how to proceed. The Feds might want better multicannons and armor, while the imperials might want shield tech and better lasers, all while the Independents want mass production of guardian fighters and homing AX missiles, and in the end, nothing happens.

Lacking consensus, Aegis was given free reign to do as it pleased, and that, naturally, was what all weapons manufacturers do; funnel money into their own pockets. They made trillions selling AX weapons while countless men and women died using inferior weaponry. After all, why waste money on innovation and new factories when they had no real competition and unlimited power?

And inevitably, that lead to Salvation. Without Aegis failing on every level, he never could have formented enough discontent for a single
additional failure – the Alexandria – to cause Aegis's entire dissolution. He waited for the perfect time, then used their own incompetency to step in and seize power.

But don't get me wrong, and think I support Salvation! Salvation was just as bad as Aegis, just in his own way. He, too, was a Monopoly, in his own way; while Aegis represented supreme inaction, Salvation represented supreme action – action beyond all reason. When the Powers only had him, when he had taken control of the monopoly the galaxy had first given Aegis, he took everything they could give, asked for more, and caused greater destruction than anyone could imagine.

The Problem – And the Solution.

The problem, my friends, is Monopolies. They are the bane of progress. A monopoly has no need to save lives or improve their services, because they are the only option. And fundamentally, the need for this monopoly is long gone. We don't need Aegis anymore.

• When Aegis was formed, we had no countermeasure to the Thargoids. Now we do.
• When Aegis was formed, we had no infrastructure to create AX weapons. Now we outfit entire capital ships with guardian weapons!
• When Aegis was formed, the Thargoids were carrying out a laser-focused campaign on a small portion of the bubble, requiring all powers to concentrate their forces there. Now the attack is across the entire bubble; not only is there no point in focusing our forces anymore, we can't afford to do so, lest the thargoid front widen further!

Every reason why Aegis was formed no longer exists, and that's why it's time to let it die.

Instead, it's time for us to rely on the time-tested system that has driven progress since the dawn of mankind; competition between ourselves. When we form alliances and corporations and monopolies, we grow fat and lazy. When we compete, when we make ourselves our greatest enemy, that is when we progress the fastest. When you are using sticks and stones and your enemy has iron armor and weapons, you innovate or you die.

And that's why I want to see power restored to the Powers that first gave it. I want to see the Imperials developing a resistance to thargon phasing damage to shields! I want to see the Feds making Bulkheads with innate resistance to caustic attacks, and with speeds great enough to cold orbit as effectively as Lakon vessels! I want to see the Alliance making AX beam lasers and seeker missiles, and Taipans outfitted with guardian weapons!

Restore that great source of progress that has driven us since the dawn of mankind!

Aegis is dead. We should let it stay that way.