The idea behind the mercenary training posts is that they are just a simple gathering place where players can start a rebellion or uprising if one of the factions is inactive, to restart it; not that they are an extra faction from outside the scene (the name mercenary probably wasn't very good). If I made an armory with processing and crafting stations somewhere, it would just seem like adding another castle to the scene, which the evil empire could control just like the rest of the castles they own... "mercenaries" are only intended for a group wanting to take back a specific castle by force or sneakiness, not for them to be a wandering pillaging army that has no castle with resources or weapons they need to protect - if they want to be a wandering army, they need to break into the different castles to steal equipment, not just have it handed to them.
Maybe I need to join a game when there are a lot of players, to try understand why it might be too hard to take back a castle from one big faction... it seems most large empires would be built up with players that enjoy fighting, so once there aren't many enemies to fight, doesn't the faction start splitting up from the inside? If not, why do you think players like all joining one big faction? Are all the castles staying totally locked up, without any chance to sneak some weapons out? What are some of the specific annoying things that seem to happen when trying to take back a castle from an empire faction?
