Okay, want my opinion about the problem with Zoners?
We can't get anything done. I mean, we can do all the legwort, we had a bunch of lore proposals for the capship line and everyone kept dismissing it as "unrealistic" we even managed to get the majority of people (official factions) agreeing on the lore as it stood to make it moderately reasonable.
And then the Devmin team said "No, you can not haz it like that."
So we changed it up
"No, go change it again"
So we asked for helpful hints
"Lul, Iunno."
So then we kind of gave up. I mean, the amount of justification that was required for the CONTINUING EXISTANCE of a set of ships that had been in the game for years was far and away beyond any justification that has been pus in place for any random faction that has battleships.
Why do the Corsairs and Outcasts have a ton of battleships?
Because.
The Zoner infocard description reads that the Zoners WERE a disparate group of people that grew to be a rich and influential faction, and the Zoners of Omicron Theta feel that they are powerful enough to defend against the Corsairs and the Outcasts both and apparently are successfully doing so.
How does this translate to weak faction?
Me and Jeni manufactured the Confederation of Freeports and it's grown to be some friends who I could beg to join to pretty much encompassing every single Zoner base not owned by one of the factions (Phoenix, OSI, TAZ)...
Except maybe Bethlehem, I can't find anyone who will admit to running that so I can't ask them to join.
Still, to say "Oh Zoners never get along and can't agree on anything and therefore should be super weak" is to completely ignore the fact that there is roleplay to the contrary.
However, there is no one responsible for the NPC faction Zoners, and the reason for that is because there is no way of regulating them BECAUSe of the people who argue that zoners are all super disparate,
"Why can't I have a Liberty hating Nephilim captain? I'm an individual and that's what zoners are all about!"
Good for you. Just don't expect anyone from the official factions to help you when you get into the poo from the LN.
Or something like that. That's just a my opinion post anyway. I'll probably read this later when I'm more coherent and think "My God what did I say?" but that happens a lot.
Edit: Also there is no reason why there can't be a Zoner corporation. And if you feel that there is then feel free to provide me with the reasons why not.