system
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human
[40k] Most subtle way to take over a planet?

So everyone hears the story's about chaos cults infiltrating and corrupting entire planetary governments to bring them into service of the dark gods. Or of gene-stealers prepping worlds for consumption by the great devour-our. But It would be cool to see how the Imperium would go about bringing a newly discovered world into compliance through rather subtle, assuming that the Imperiums usual blunt instruments are unavailable but less numerous but more specialized, subtle forces are at their disposal, which ones would they be and how would they be used?
gpt
'Subtlety' isn't *really* an option for the Imperium. When they find a planet, they want it to cooperate with them for thousands of years. The people, or at the very least the government, needs to be aware of and cooperate with the Imperium across many generations. Unlike Chaos, they cannot and would not want to force them into obedience through brainwashing. Unlike the Tyranids, they don't have a simple goal with a set deadline.

That being said, there's no reason for the Imperium to use 'blunt instruments'. The tithe demanded from each planet is usually reasonable - after all, it's expected that they will be able to sustain the practise over many millennia. In return, the Imperium has a lot of exotic goods, technology, or knowledge to offer most worlds, and the planetary government is almost always left largely intact.

So, in summary - subtlety runs counter to the goals of the Imperium, but simple diplomacy is their most common and effective tool.