Who are the good guys?

[ice]

Now, I'm not completely sure if I get all this story or the colors of ships and whatnot, but I'm pretty sure that whatever you're playing as, you're from the federation, and you're fighting against the rebels and have to destroy the rebel mothership from getting to the federation base..

Now, it's been a while since I saw star wars, but I think the rebels were the good guys in that movie.

Are we actually bad? What has the federation done to create an uprising as strong as the rebels?

[Guswut]

Many events in the game spell out that the rebels are causing a great deal of problems for most people, so in the context of this game's scope, you are a "good" guy.

Now, understand that the terms "good" and "bad" are subjective. To a slug just sleeping away the day until someone wanders around their nebula in search of a good time at an unreasonable price, they are the good guy, and the rebels and federation are bad guys until they come and get taken for a spin at the cleaners.

Try playing through a run imagining yourself as the last hope to a dying federation that has ruled the galaxy with an rusty iron fist for hundreds of years. See if it changes the feeling of the game for you.

[ice]

It still feel kind of weird. When entering a rebel controlled sector, the rebels are portrayed as bad, but that might just be what they want you to think.

What if the federation are just a bunch of dictators that have fooled you to think you are the last hope of the good guys? What if everything you have made believe is a conspiracy?

Also, I have gotten a lot of sad and emotional when one of my named crew or ship dies, so now I just play with the random names, without really getting a feeling of the game.
Though it's still extremely fun, mind you.

[ice]

It still feel kind of weird. When entering a rebel controlled sector, the rebels are portrayed as bad, but that might just be what they want you to think.

What if the federation are just a bunch of dictators that have fooled you to think you are the last hope of the good guys? What if everything you have made believe is a conspiracy?

Also, I have gotten a lot of sad and emotional when one of my named crew or ship dies, so now I just play with the random names, without really getting a feeling of the game.
Though it's still extremely fun, mind you.

[apostateCourier]

I'm still trying to figure out how the rebellion got such an insanely huge amount of support without a really, really good cause/set of points against the Federation.

[ice]

There's also a rebel encounter where the rebel ship apologizes for attacking you, and says "But a warrior needs his battle" (or something like that), making it look like the rebels forces people to join their cause.

[icepick]

It's left vague on purpose for you to fill in the gaps.

War is ugly, there's often no "good" side anyway.

[Guswut]

It still feel kind of weird. When entering a rebel controlled sector, the rebels are portrayed as bad, but that might just be what they want you to think.

What if the federation are just a bunch of dictators that have fooled you to think you are the last hope of the good guys? What if everything you have made believe is a conspiracy?

Also, I have gotten a lot of sad and emotional when one of my named crew or ship dies, so now I just play with the random names, without really getting a feeling of the game.
Though it's still extremely fun, mind you.

You likely have pre-existing feelings about "rebels" from your historical interaction with the term (case in point, your first post's reference to Star Wars). Most events I've seen saying the rebels were the bad guys are non-combatants that are being forces to give things to the rebels. Automated combat drones are attacking outposts and stations, and the like as well.

That is also entirely possible, but fairly unlikely considering the amount of effort that they'd have to go through to keep the story from falling apart (Occam's Razor). But the game is a lot of fun when you imagine different back stories.

If you didn't get a bit upset when you lose a valuable member of your crew, or your ship is destroyed, you wouldn't be human. I have to say, though, that watching your original crew (minus the pilot, who took a missile to the everything, and was then replaced by Notch the mantis slave as it was either him or a slug who doesn't even have eyes) plow through the rebel fleet, past certain death and destroy the rebel flagship, well, it's great stuff.

[Derakon]

Let's put it this way -- say you're a British loyalist in North American during the Revolutionary War. Who are the bad guys now? The American military had legitimate grievances, but that doesn't mean they were objectively justified. Remember, one man's "freedom fighter" is another man's "terrorist". It's all a matter of perspective.

That said, in-game the Rebels are definitely bad guys as far as your crew is concerned. They're trying to kill you! Doesn't get much worse than that!

[Arcalane]

There's also a rebel encounter where the rebel ship apologizes for attacking you, and says "But a warrior needs his battle" (or something like that), making it look like the rebels forces people to join their cause.

There are a couple like that, actually;

A Rebel ship approaches cautiously. "Personally," says the captain, "I'd have stuck with the Federation. But I'm a soldier, sir, and I'm no use without a war to fight. Raise your shields!"

You receive a transmission: "Sorry sir, this is nothing personal but we're under orders." The Rebel ship's weapons go hot.

Fun fact: the Red-Tail (Kestrel Plan B) comes in Rebel colours, perhaps implying that on such a run you are defecting from the Rebel fleet with data on the flagship. Or you were Federation prisoners of war who stole it to escape the Rebels.

Honestly you could pretty much explain it however you like. The Rebels are evidently a pretty organized setup judging by their ability to field an entire warfleet and flagship, and the various opportunities for crew to join you certainly don't make the Rebels sound like the good guys. It may well be that they have noble goals, but the majority of their forces have taken to preying on the civilian traffic of the sectors they move through in order to sustain their fleets.