Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny1A.2
Well, it was somewhere in between. Orichalcum was not quite as expensive in the glory days of the Hegemony as it will be in the ~2100 period of Earth. So there were more 'private' starships than in 2100 Earth. (Private meaning with their own FTL drive, as opposed to riding a star carrier.) But yeah, most traffic still used their version of star carriers and for the same reason.
So no, there weren't many 'free traders' as such, or at least, not as SF sometimes envisions them. But there was trade going on in the hands of small traders travelling on the carriers, too. Sometime I'll have to delve into how that works more extensively.
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Yeah you should. Because it makes me wonder if some of the star carriers are run by smaller companies that operate more out in the fringes or frontiers of known space than the big megacorporation bulk star carriers that regularly run well travelled routes.
Also the star carrier stuff reminds me of the heighliners of Dune, with both universes having some sort of hard barrier or difficulty for private starships. :D