The coming Garlean invasion

[Ramesses]

You're forgetting that one of those kinds of forts was destroyed by the concentrated efforts of not just the WoL, but other Adventurers as well. Sure, the battles and planning leading up to that was quite complex and there was no small amount of uncertainty that it would succeed, but in the end, it did.

-Snip-

It would seem I have over-played my sarcasm and my tongue in cheek jests regarding a war with the Empire. Allow me to be clear on two short items:

• I love history and could go for days discussing all sorts of social, cultural, economic and military related debates on the merits and demerits of war both in fictitious and non-fictitious settings. The excellent nuances of this game and its histories are no exception.
• Two, several of my friends in-game already know me to be an aged long fan of what the Garlean Empire could be. There are a few Garleans that I genuinely like and their character adds great depth to Eorzea.

That said, I'm not certain of where you are within the MSQ so I will try to be neutral in my comments so as not to spoil it for other readers / players.

The Garleans once had a brilliant strategist -- no, I'm not referring to Solus at the moment-- his name was Gaius. And almost as if he had Sun Tzu's "Art of War" in his back pocket, he understood the huge merits of establishing victory without unnecessary loss of life, infrastructure, and resources. He already understood that an all out war was never good for any side, even the victorious side.

Thus, this is the same situation in which Eorzea now finds itself. The realistic and logical direction that a conflict with the Empire would follow is basically a war of attrition with a underlying war of subterfuge as its foundation. Ironically, the subterfuge option is already being "planned" by one side, so to speak... I shall not divulge any more to prevent spoilers.

There will also likely be a "zone" where battles --not a full war--- will regularly occur, with both sides generally attempting to secure resources with minimal fighting; for example, fighting for crystals or Ceruleum resources. Once those resources are secure, a retreat is imminent and so it will go back and forth until the resources are exhausted. In situations where the Empire will elect to use full force and raze an outpost, fortress or small city to the ground, it is generally done in order to strike fear into the opposing side and erode morale.

Hydaelyn's current state of affairs has made several layers of intrigue come into play and nothing is no more as clear cut as it seems... I won't be surprised if at some point, we will be helping the Garleans prevent their own empire from imploding in on itself.