Quote:
Originally Posted by johndallman
However, none of these require a lot of the stuff, and it may be cheaper to produce it on low-tech worlds with natural biospheres by extraction from natural gas than by scooping it out of gas giants.
|
It probably is, but as soon as someone creates a steady market with a viable profit, an offworld source can come in and undercut the market. Not for a long period, but probably long enough to drive the local producer either out of business or into a deep slowdown. The offworld source is only seeking short term profit (players, for example, needing a quick infusion of cash).
With that possibility no one is going to invest much in a helium extraction operation on a low tech world. A vicious cycle but it might explain some aspects of why there even ARE low tech worlds around.