Decreasing the number of NPC stations would have the same effect, without being silly about it and making the Empires appear even more insignificant than CCP already loves to portray them.
Then Citadels would matter for highsec corps, and meaningful wars over systems without stations could happen.
The stations don’t even need to be ‘removed’ but become a different type of beacon ‘Closed NPC station’ where they refuse capsuleers docking but their own fleets (like the NPC mining fleets) still use it as a spawn and delivery point.
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