Re: (3581) all sorts of things...

Steve Higginbotham writes:
>
> That's a very good question, which we have been asking ourselves since
> we got hold of Hard Times.  (actually, I have been wondering since MT
> came out, as MT made it MUCH harder to build a ship which could have a
> real chance of being an effective pirate)

How so?  It looks about the same to me...at least if you consider High Guard
as part of your pre-MT framework.

> Paul Dugan writes:
>
> >Would the IDPs be coming through with the piracy and war that is
> >suppossed to be wreaking such havoc? Were these things being sent out
> >for free? (note:I haven't yet aquired Hard Times, so I may be speaking
> >from considerable ignorance)
>
> Indications were that they were passed out for free, and that every
> world in the Imperium had them in their databases.  Who cares whether
> they still come in?  You already got the ones for TL5-15!

Although it has since been picked up by Chuck Gannon (and hence Challenge and
Hard Times), I'm the one who came up with the IDP name.  I figured that they
were essentially given away free by the Imperium in the interest of maintaining
a healthy economy to tax...

> >Grav technology may  be simple, but it's much more expesive than
> >wheels. (as the horse cart is than an auto). With the general finacial
> >collapse that would seem to be enatiled by the disruption of trade, and
> >the general malaise of war, and the fear about the future promoting
> >depression (as we see today with buyers being cautious) I might be
> >happy to give up my abaility to fly around the world in 20 minutes in
> >my sleek megacredit speeder and just buy a cheap lo-tech ground car.
>
> So, how much less does it cost to buy the wheel from an oxcart in the
> USA today than it does to buy a tire for your automobile?  Wheels are
> cheaper if you have a wheel factory, but if all your factories produce
> Grav modules, wheels are going to be EXPENSIVE imports.  Cynthia has
> designed several Grav vehicles that retail for about the same as a
> modern automobile (use fuel cells and solar panels, and watch the price
> of your speeder plummet!).  I doubt that wheeled vehicles would be
> competitive.  Especially given the detail everyone else (GDW included)
> seems to overlook.  NO ROADS!   The wheeled vehicle economy will never
> work without roads for them to drive on (yes, four wheel drive offroad
> vehicles exist - have you ever seen a four-wheel drive off-road
> 18wheeler?)  The roads would cost FAR more (llok at how much the USA
> spends on them) than the grav vehicle factory ever could.

Hmmmm....I don't know about that for sure, Steve.  While I didn't go into it
extensively at the time, some back of the envelope calculations had me
convinced that bulk freight transport by grav vehicle probably becomes
economical with the increased fusion plant output at TL13.  Below that level,
you would see increasing amounts of people and high value/low weight cargoes
moving by grav vehicle from TL9 through TL12.  Bulk cargo, though, would be
easier/cheaper to move in wheeled vehicles on roads between population and
distribution centers.  Think of it as a railroad analogy.  There will also be
other special purpose applications for wheeled and tracked vehicles even at
higher TLs, so the technology won't be completely forgotten.

Rob Dean


> >I wanted to address another issue though, and that is the vilani
> >cultural influence, which must be prevalent to some extent throughout
> >the imperium in general. If the smart-sophonts have hightailed it out
> >of the dangerous areas, it would leave alot of people behind who
> >wouldn't know were to begin to understand a tech 15 blueprint, and who
> >might not want to when they could just slap together an oxcart (or run
> >a driveshaft out of their failed grav-vehicle).
>
> I doubt that the smart sophonts did, but the Vilani heritage CANNOT be
> that strong, since the same problem existed in teh Long Night.  Plenty
> of time for evolution to wipe out that particular mind-set.  Note the
> troubles Vland has had in reinstating it even in their own sector.
>
> And if it were common, then the lads left behind would just know how to
> do one thing, which WILL NOT BE how to build wheeled vehicles!  They are
> far more likely to have cookbook knowledge of Grav engineering than of
> wheeled vehicle design (which they haven't used in 11,000 years).
>
> >Maybe the 5-level techdrop is too extreme, maybe it isn't extreme
> >enough.
> >It would seem to be a good way to quantify the general chaos of the
> >hard times period. Remeber that the rich on the necounter tables always
> >did
> >have +2 TL items, and the peasants -2 TL. (or therebaouts.)
> >I'm going to get hard times soo and give it a looksee. It sounds
> >interesting.
>
> The five Tl drop is ludicrous. The assumption that such a drop would
> last for more than a VERY short period is even more ludicrous.
> HOWEVER, the MOST LUDICROUS THING TRAVELLER (in any incarnation) HAS
> EVER DONE IS TO ASSUME THAT "PEASANTS" WILL BE COMMON IN THE
> IMPERIUM!!!!!!!!
>
> - -- Via DLG Pro v0.985b
>
> [email removed]
>
> I have learned to use the word "impossible" with the greatest caution.
>                                     --W. von Braun
>