RE: Mark Gellis, Trade
I like your idea of having system with *large* number of space habitats.
The impact that such a setup would have on trade is that it's even more likely
that whatever you need, you can get it within your system, hence an even less
need for trade with other systems, mostly stuff that cannot be duplicated.
RE: Metlay, Armor
You give (micro)asteroid collisions as the reason for ships to have armor 40
minimum. Let's think about this a bit more. What defenses do ships have
against asteroids? shields? not that I'm aware of. point defense lasers? we
have those, but I've never heard of any rules or scenarios dealing with
avoiding asteroids or microasteroids.
I personally would not like to have my main asteroid defense be how thick my
hull was, because there's eventually a bigger asteroid out there with your name
on it! I'd want some kind of active defense. First off some kind of
detection, and then some method for destroying or avoiding the asteroid. how
small of a asteroid are we likely to be able to detect? how small of an
asteroid is dangerous? Is there a set of undetectable, but dangerous
asteroids? maybe I'll take the train, yeah...!
PS I agree with all the policy about TML and TDR that's been explained...
RE Shipping
You remember I mentioned slowboat (long orbit robot freighters) shiiping of
bulk cargos intrasystem at a certain TL. Anyone want to comment on the
possibility of doing this intersystem, perhaps with a laser light sail?
Jim Baranski