[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

I'm not even sure it's more accurate to point out specific features rather than the broad trend. I'll list some features off the top of my head:[list][*]No Aliens, which makes the setting less diverse.

It also makes it less "space-opera-ish," which may not be a bad thing. However, if one includes uplifts, as well as variant human types, then those can substitute. I've already started to push for uplifts, myself.

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

[*]I got my big share of parahumans, but I find them a less cool substitute compared to aliens (we already have THS).

I guess I kind of see this as an expansion of, or extrapolation from, THS. It's not my preferred setting of Transhuman Stars (THS discovers 2300AD stutterwarp technology, humanity begins to fray), but it's pretty okay, so far -- at least, as far as it's gotten, anyway.

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

(SNIP)
[*]I don't like the narrow artificial gates, they tend to make the world less free to roam.[*]I got my web topology, which makes the world more free to roam, lessening the negative (IMHO) impact of gates.

If the gates are going to exist, at all (I seriously dislike them, for reasons identical to yours), then web topology was absolutely required. The presence of jump drives helps remove most of the problems, though.

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

[*]I still think that FTL comms get in the way of many fun plots suitable for PC speculative tramp freighters, mercenary opportunists, pirates etc.

Ayup. The more slowly information moves, the greater the opportunity (and need) for small-scale merchant-adventurers. If FTL communication exists that functions faster than the fastest ship, then those with the largest, fastest ships dominate interstellar trade. That means small operators get squeezed out.

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

[*]I'm awaiting the government votes with some caution, since I suspect that the previous trend will continue, making things like local gate monopolies, highly centralized hierarchical governments etc. (But please do vote for what you consider most fun, don't let my comment ruin your fun.)

Same, here. If we wind up with single-government planets, I'll bail. Fortunately, that doesn't seem to be the trend.

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Basically was hoping for something more diffuse, diverse, frontierish, experimental, anarchistic, transhumanistic, like Duncanites in THS or the outer rim of the solar system in Eclipse Phase, and instead it looks rather restrained and down-to-earth, like the NASA and ESA projects in THS. Or at least a world that seems to encourage design oriented towards the latter more than the former.

I agree with this whole statement, and it's why I think 2300AD (despite its dated origins and other problems) offers the best space sci-fi setting ever created. It was so wide-open, and the frontier planets felt, well, like frontiers.

The shared space setting still has a ways to go, though, and it could result in some good things. If the colony planets are widely dispersed, have competing (and conflicting) multiple colonizers for each one, and the gate networks provide connections only between them (and Earth), with plenty of habitat systems only reachable with ships, then it could be okay.