My impression from AoR is that players will be engaged with handling their own minions if they choose to roleplay appropriately.
Naturally, there's always room for the standard party format of a small group of PCs, but what I'm wondering is how having several groups of NPCs under PCs functions in gameplay. My imagination lends itself at this point to having one player who is a scout in charge of a squad of scouts, the heavy gun PC sticking with a different squad and following behind, the pilots providing air support - several PCs split apart and surrounded by minions all trying to accomplish the same mission.
If one finds that one developes a favorite NPC (think Barney from Half-Life) will it be possible to promote him as time goes on? Would losing NPCs significantly affect one's standing within the ATRR or the Empire?