Grievous said:
Hmm, looking at my spreadsheet for the factions (which incorporates T4 stats and other sources), I get the following stats for the Glorious Empire:
Glorious Empire
13 of systems
Population (M): 5,693
GWP: 94
Available Budget: 21
Trade Surplus: 1
SDBs: 163
Starship Squadrons: 6
Defense Battalions: 2211
So, I think it works out.. not a paper tiger perhaps, but I agree that it won't last, which is right.
Not quite sure how you're getting such a low GWP as my calculations yield a GWP of 380 for Htourlao for example.
The problem is Htourlao is the only world with significant GWP and budget that reached 3 digits (my calculations showed 148 RU, with 1 RU = 3.8k local MCr value). Syoakh for example in my calculations had a budget of 18 RU. That creates problems if using T4 stats of military maintenance which are 3 RU per Size (+2 RU per Size per parsec between maintaining world and the unit). We know from the Mongoose Glorious Empire that there sits presumably the equivalent of a BatRon above Syoakh with J3 capability. A minimal T4 space unit with J3 would be A1D1J6, which is Size 8. That is 24 RU to maintain, but Syoakh is also described as maintaining ground forces and deep site meson guns. Therefore I assumed that ate up Syoakh's budget. If the Size 8 fleet were maintained from Htourlao that is 40 RU. Doable, but eats up much of Htourlao's budget. We know again from the Mongoose Glorious Empire that Htourlao maintains significant fleet assets as there is a carrier and battleship described as well. Let's assume it is another Size 8 fleet. That is another 24 RU in maintenance. So 66 RU eaten up. Yero'ilra is described having at least destroyers and pocket warships with Jump 3. Yero'ilra's local budget is < 2 RU so it cannot support any significant fleet assets. It is 5 hexes from Htourlao so every Size costs 13 RU. Even a minimal unit of Size 4 (A1J3) would cost 52 RU. That leaves 32 free budget for Htourlao.
However it gets worse. There are stranded no longer Jump capable battleships in Oihu (3 parsecs from Htourlao) and Keawoaw (2 parsecs away). Again for the sake of argument, assume a minimal A1D1 for battleships. That is a maintenance cost of 18 RU and 14 RU. So 0 RU left for Htourlao.
If Htourlao had a higher discretionary tax rate, it could still have a budget. At a total nearly confiscatory tax rate of 71% it would have 2 RU budget left, but an increasingly discontent population (my spreadsheet included Popularity calculations). But this does not count any Htourlao local garrison forces! These calculations all used pretty much the minimal strengths for military units and all other worlds are left undefended. Such a Glorious Empire has all the staying power of wet paper. Now maybe if Htourlao had capable administrators they could reduce waste and scrape a few more RU but in T4 that requires good Admin rolls year after year.
Such a finely balanced budget also renders it impossible for the Glorious Empire to conduct offensive operations as that would make maintenance costs skyrocket the further forces move from Htourlao.