Steve Jackson Games - Site Navigation
Home General Info Follow Us Search Illuminator Store Forums What's New Other Games Ogre GURPS Munchkin Our Games: Home

Go Back   Steve Jackson Games Forums > Roleplaying > GURPS

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 09-13-2019, 10:40 PM   #41
Johnny1A.2
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Default Re: Realistic STL Interstellar Missions

Quote:
Originally Posted by Anthony View Post
Persecuted groups don't have the resources to carry out a two hundred year project.
Depends on how big the persecuted group is, and how many resources are needed to do a 200 year project. Those variables could vary widely.

Also, 1 or 2 particular assumptions can change the calculus. For ex, suppose a reliable, effective 'sleeper' tech exists, so the crew and passengers can pass the 200 years in suspended animation. (Never mind how probable that is in itself, assume it exists.)

For a group that wants to get away from Other Group, sleeper tech makes a 200 year journey a lot more tempting. The same generation arrives that sets out, and the journey feels much shorter. The combination of sleeper tech and frozen (or otherwise suspended) embryos could enable a new colony to create a large population in a relatively short time, too.

Other particular technologies can change the equation, as well.
__________________
HMS Overflow-For conversations off topic here.

Last edited by Johnny1A.2; 09-13-2019 at 10:48 PM.
Johnny1A.2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-13-2019, 11:03 PM   #42
AlexanderHowl
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Default Re: Realistic STL Interstellar Missions

Realistically, a TL10 society seems to need around $10 million per person, a TL11 society $5 million per person, and a TL12 society $2.5 million per person (at least from my estimates) for a STL interstellar colony mission. I would suggest that a society cannot sustain more spending on such missions than 1% of their GDP. Assuming a sustainable population for the Sol System of 10 billion and the Space per capita income, your annual colonization budget comes to $6.7 trillion at TL10, $9.7 trillion at TL11, and $13 trillion at TL12.

When you divide by the cost per person, that translates to 670,000 people per year at TL10, 1.94 million per year at TL11, and 5.2 million per year at TL12. Societies may be able to sustain up to 5% per year, which would increase the number of people fivefold, if they use biotechnology to improve health and longevity (the savings in health care may be diverted to space colonization). Such a society would likely need affordable and easy longevity treatments, perhaps in the form of symbiotic parasites genetically engineered to produce longevity drugs.

Imagine a society where the average person live 300 years due to symbiotic parasites and benefits from comprehensive eugenics genetic engineering. A society where the average person possesses IQ 12 and Intuition would be radically different than our society. People would not take nearly as many risks and would usually be willing to take time to solve problems.
AlexanderHowl is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-17-2019, 09:13 AM   #43
acrosome
 
acrosome's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: The Land of Enchantment
Default Re: Realistic STL Interstellar Missions

A mid-mission time frame strikes me as natural for a Horror game, due to the inherent isolation. Seven light years to the nearest help sure is isolated...

Otherwise, I think arrival is the obvious time frame for an adventure. I loved Beowulf's Children, for example. Coyote had a neat twist, too.
acrosome is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-17-2019, 12:42 PM   #44
David Johnston2
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Default Re: Realistic STL Interstellar Missions

Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny1A.2 View Post
Depends on how big the persecuted group is, and how many resources are needed to do a 200 year project. Those variables could vary widely.
l.
A realistic interstellar ship requires vast resources. It would be a global scale project.
David Johnston2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-17-2019, 01:28 PM   #45
Flyndaran
Untagged
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
Default Re: Realistic STL Interstellar Missions

I would hazard to step up that to a system-wide scale project needing resources from more than just one gravity well.
__________________
Beware, poor communication skills. No offense intended. If offended, it just means that I failed my writing skill check.
Flyndaran is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-17-2019, 02:18 PM   #46
AlexanderHowl
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Default Re: Realistic STL Interstellar Missions

I would agree. For example, it would be cheaper to build it in the Neptunian Lagrange Points rather than Earth orbit (in delta-v terms).
AlexanderHowl is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-17-2019, 02:45 PM   #47
Anthony
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
Default Re: Realistic STL Interstellar Missions

Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
I would agree. For example, it would be cheaper to build it in the Neptunian Lagrange Points rather than Earth orbit (in delta-v terms).
Depends on your drive profile; the Oberth effect can make launching from lower orbit cheaper.
__________________
My GURPS site and Blog.
Anthony is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 09-17-2019, 05:17 PM   #48
AlexanderHowl
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Default Re: Realistic STL Interstellar Missions

Realistic high delta-v drives have 0.005g acceleration, far too puny for Oberth maneuvers.
AlexanderHowl is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-17-2019, 05:35 PM   #49
Anthony
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
Default Re: Realistic STL Interstellar Missions

Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
Realistic high delta-v drives have 0.005g acceleration, far too puny for Oberth maneuvers.
It may be profitable to have more than one drive system.
__________________
My GURPS site and Blog.
Anthony is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 09-17-2019, 05:56 PM   #50
DanHoward
 
DanHoward's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Maitland, NSW, Australia
Default Re: Realistic STL Interstellar Missions

Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
Our velocity has not increased dramatically over the previous 25 years, much less than the proceeding 25 years, due to diminishing returns on investment (11 km/s for Apollo 10 versus 16.2 km/s for New Horizons).
This is an increase of almost 50%. It seems pretty dramatic to me.
__________________
Compact Castles gives the gamer an instant portfolio of genuine, real-world castle floorplans to use in any historical, low-tech, or fantasy game setting.
DanHoward is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Fnords are Off
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 11:19 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.