But pretending this supersedes the fact that their planet is within spitting distance of our capital is just dumb.

Did you know that admiral visera yanala disobeyed tibus heths' direct order to fire the doomsday weaponry upon Caldari Prime seven times. Their was no threat of the titan ever firing because of honorable Caldari placed in command. The only dishonorable Caldari was Tibus Heth and the provists.

Wow you clearly have missed the fact that on the ground it was hellish. Caldari forces weren't moving from their defensive positions. Not to mention the Caldari navy harassed the Federations forces from dropping orbitals. The battle ended with both sides asking for a truce before the battle got out of hand. The Gallante won the space battle Caldari won the land. (Just got eve source and after reading the gallente section I'm horrified it still exists)

You missed my point.

Operation Highlander was hardly the entire Federation Armed Forces. It was a strike team of naval and ground forces, designed to wrest control from an unprepared opponent. This was because Tibus Heth was threatening Gallente citizens with a Titan's Doomsday weapon.

If we hadn't cared about our own citizens.

If we hadn't cared about collateral damage.

If we hadn't cared about a madman with a Titan in our home system.

Then yes, we could have taken over Caldari Prime.

However long it would have taken, however many lives would have been lost in the process, however many counter-invasions we had to weather, the planet would be under Gallente Control if we really, truly, wanted it.

The fact that we've decided to run it in tandem with Mordu's Legion and Ishukone speaks to how much we value peace over ownership.

Could have, would have, and should have are irrelevant.

All the matters is what is, and what did happen was the Caldari Ground Forces drew you into a stale mate, forcing the Federation to concede to terms of demilitarizing the planet.

Consequently the Federation destroyed a supremely valuable tactical assets at the demands of a fool.

These phantom Federal armies you speak of were not present, nor did they make themselves present, neither too did the entirety of the State levies make themselves available.

Once again, you're ignoring the point.

I'm not talking about a specific instance where we "could have" taken over Caldari Prime.

I'm not saying Operation Highlander "would have" been successful if we'd had more troops.

All I'm saying is that Caldari Prime continues to exist because the Federation is letting it.

If we wanted, really wanted, we could take every Titan in our arsenal right now, and demolish the planet.

If we wanted, really wanted, we could take every Federation trooper in existence and take the ************ over, with assured orbital superiority and no reinforcements for the Caldari.

When I say "share" Caldari Prime, I mean that we're allowing it to continue its orbit around the sun thanks to our good graces, and the millions of Gallente happily living on the surface.

To pretend we couldn't destroy the planet on a whim is willful ignorance.

You're right, we were fought to a stalemate on Caldari Prime. Because we decided to stop fighting. The Federation could easily have called in reinforcements, ignored the casualties, and continued trying to take over the planet. Or, we could have bombed every Caldari on it into kingdom come.

But even so: Gallente interest still run roughly half the planet. And Ishukone was running the other half. Last I checked, that was the definition of "sharing."

If the Gallente did this you would see a fully mobilized State. 8 trillion souls bearing down on your empire. Gallente think they are strong but how long would the Federations citizens fight. Not the small rich class the poor which makes up 90% of your fighting force. How long would the Mannar fight before abandoning the Federation and splitting of like the Intaki or Caldari. Your people don't like war only the rich upper class wants it, because they don't fight it. The State was born from war, loves war, trains each citizen for it. 4 megacorporations supply half the armaments in new eden. Are forces are small but deadly. The Federation is scared of this fact so they can't start an all out war without the lower classes support. (( yummy I love reading eve source next is amarr))