It's been a bit but I think I can reserve an hour before my night's shift to speak candidly about this subject concerning Conscripts and i24. I apologize if the tone may sound harsher than originally intended.
Conscripts as a faction were primarily introduced as an event-based faction. A faction predominantly on the expedition server, comprised of characters on the main server, with little events beholden to them on the main server in accordance to their faction's arc. As someone who took over for Fungle to run a mission based, the cyclical nature of the CCR, or CSF, has been to be continuously decomissioned and recommisioned. During these times of them being reintroduced to Willard's canon again as a faction, there's been repeated attempts - including the most recent one - to have them operate on the main server en force. Because of this, I will strictly keep my focus on the faction's relationship with both the gamemode and the main server instead of extending to expeditions.
These deployments on the main server are varied. Back in Industrial 24 they took over Outlands duty. Back in City Eight they also took over Outlands duty. Now, in this iteration of returning to C24, they had briefly were allowed to both have guns and patrol alongside Civil Protection Officers, creating and causing issues that I would eventually decide to snap a plot line I was trying to do tangentially (I will not elaborate on this as it is irrelevant.)
The CCR and CSF cannot and do not occupy a space upon main in which isn't filled by another. Because of their nature as a faction -- their allegiance, mainly -- means that they themselves will either occupy alongside Civil Protection or take over their duties in the worst cases, at more infrequent times this also extends and has been revisited in arguments of taking over for Overwatch.
This causes repeated issue because it dethrones the Civil Protection and OTA as main, antagonist factions both on and off the server. And causes friction between both players as the vetting process for both aforementioned is repeatedly higher, and again because the CCR and CSF cannot exist within a vacuum, and because of their inclusion, it means that the function provided and enjoyed by these players has been interceded, dependent from going into Outland Expeditions to everyday RP. The CCR, CSF are repeatedly armed better than Civil Protection despite being a conscripted force, and creates a dissonance in why and where conscripts themselves would somehow enjoy more benefits without tying themselves to a totalitarian regime that is omnicidal.
In terms of Resistance, the Conscript Faction in C24 were so oppressive due to the nature of their numbers and generally-unrestricted SOP that most Resistance roleplay had ground to a halt due to the presence on their server reinforcing both Civil Protection and Overwatch. In their numbers and equipment they operate as a quasi-equaivalent to transhumans, outgearing the normal Civil Protection. During the OTA operation in the Parking Lot, there was 8 rebels versus 25+ Combine, with the majority of them being made up of Conscripts. We did not spawn in anything other than ammunition to keep the fight ongoing, but it was to the point that if we were anything other than equipping ourselves in heavy armour and weaponry it would've been done and over with. Resistance players took this as a sign to in-general just disassociate from the server. There were a notable uptick of Resistance players afterwards when they left, and then more when the bunker was reintroduced providing some level of safety for roleplay -- but the latter was after the conscripts left.
It had gotten to the point that Conscripts were the biggest faction in playercount on the server, outsizing both the Citizenry. To the point that nothing could genuinely be done or introduced as GMs or the like, because of the nature of which CCR/CSF represented. A lot of people would be conscripts to walk around with a gun due to their low requirements and high floor for what they were given, alongside the authority to both detain and the like.
There was also OOC conflict too in portion to this from CSF/CCR side where they didn't enjoy any aspect of the Combine (their own) faction in regards to Civil Protection or OTA. Which resulted in them establishing a separate hierarchal structure from CIvil Protection and OTA -- only answering either to the City Administration(?) or OCIN, and were largely regarded with negative fanfare within the faction towards any attempt to try to reduce or control the Conscripts to the point that things were getting heated OOC.
With my own outlook, I feel that the Conscript faction doesn't inherently deserve to be on the main event server outside of being invited in for events. Their inclusion causes issues both IC and OOC. And by giving them a place onto the server, they take away the fundamental aspects of Combine as a faction and the general themes of both the server and HL2:RP as a whole. By providing a face to the main antagonistic force, and giving them more free-will, autonomy and leverage than the general Civil Protection functionary, it causes a dissonant reaction that takes away the partiality of the human soul and the general dehumanization of Humanity as itself. The Combine themselves do not have spirituality. Incorporate anything of themselves to a souless husk of industrialization and commodification for their intergalactic colonial machine, and any submittance to it has to be representative in both terms of storytelling, by GMs, the server as an atmosphere, and the players themselves. And -- again, this is my personal belief and outlook -- I don't see it in the faction of CSF / CCR when inserted into the server.
Sorry.