War is Peace
In addition to SD 2.10.2 Wartime Fatigue, which gives a yearly +1% cumulative chance of an empire’s economy slipping into recession during times of war for 6 months, Aloft the Republic has additional rules to cover “endless war”, where a nation declares war for the bonus EP but never attacks anyone.
Such greedy government saps both the economy and the nation’s willingness to sacrifice for the “good of the nation”. Thus, for each year in which no serious combat occurs (e.g. involving a total of less than 10% of the military base value during the course of the whole year, as a rule of thumb), consequences accrue.
First, the chance of recession (SD 2.10.2) becomes a cumulative 1% per month after the first year, rather than annually. The recession is still only checked for once per year, but is much more likely to occur in a shorter period of time. If real fighting commences during the course of the year, accumulation of recession chance resumes the normal rate of +1% per year.
Second, for each year in which the rule of thumb guidelines are not met, each system suffers a -1 cumulative modifier to any morale checks that must be made for any reason. These penalties decrease at the rate of 1 per turn once the war ends or real fighting begins.
Fake War - increased chance of recession
Fake War - increased chance of recession
This won't really stop the folks who declare war for the boost to economy (using Wartime Economy rule from core books), but at least makes it less attractive.