Coming from an outfit that both the warring sides here would probably consider useless, a predominately sniping oriented outfit, I find this discussion amusing. What people seem to forget is that what happened in the game was truly the sum of its parts.
By which I mean to say all sorts of different outfits did different things that contributed to not only an individual empires success, but to the gameplay experience for everyone.
As Malorn quite rightly pointed out, trying to exclusively measure worth seems pointless in the grand scale. Every player and outfit had a role to play regardless of their ability, fame or efficiency. Exxon-1 is a good example, their support play (particularly in vehicle fights) made them a prime target. Were they as well known as other outfits? No. Did they make a big difference? Hell yeah! Were they good players? Hell if I know!
To some extent each empire was like a sports team. Sure you had your star players that made clutch plays which people tended to remember but you also had a lot of the grunt work being done by the rest of the team who possibly didn't get the fame for lack of individualistic achievement.
Ultimately I'm grateful that the original game allowed for diverse different play styles to contribute towards the same goal. I'd be disappointed if there ended up being a "right" format that everyone aspired to.
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