Personally I'm dying to get a working understanding of imperial
economics (esp. trade). What we need are some indexes of how much
cheaper certain things are to produce at various places, and the cost
to transport things. The second can be worked out by figuring out the
minimal ship to move a ton of cargo (assuming say a REALLY big ship,
or ideally, best theoretical case).
(bulk) trade will occur when it's cheaper to buy abroad and ship than to
manufacture locally.
Example: suppose cost to ship is cr1000/ton and that stuff becomes 10%
cheaper to make every TL. Then anything that costs more than
cr10000/ton to make on your TL14 world it will pay to import from the
TL15 world.
This example sucks, because the TL14 world has *nothing* to sell to
the TL15 world. But if the cost to make food decreases by 5% per tech
level and the cost to make tractors decreased by 15% per tech level
then the two worlds will trade. TL14 world makes food at cr20000/ton
and tractors at cr30000/ton TL15 world can make food at 19,000/ton and
tractors at cr25,500/ton. At first glance it looks like the TL15
world will not want to trade, but if you consider it, they can make
*more* money by spending their time making tractors, and selling them
to the TL14 world, and paying the inflated food costs... (I know,
volumes needed are not equal, but you get the point.)
Any ideas on where to fudge numbers from?
-Love, Kisses, and a Neutron Bomb
-Eric the Finn