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Old 02-22-2017, 07:11 AM   #41
RyanW
 
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Default Re: Shared space setting

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Originally Posted by Frost View Post
6) are there unoccupied systems in the area inhabited by humanity?
Yes, sort of. There are systems that don't have anything attractive for a major colonization effort, but that do have transiently populated mining or research stations and/or fringe colonies (or the remains thereof).
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7) are there and known sapient alien species?

a) no
b) yes, but they appear to be extinct
c) yes, but we haven't made direct contact yet
d) yes, and we are in contact with them
A) There are signs that some interpret as proof of alien forebears, and people trying to decode supposed alien signals from deep space, but both are rejected by mainstream research.
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Old 02-22-2017, 07:14 AM   #42
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Default Re: Shared space setting

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6) are there unoccupied systems in the area inhabited by humanity?
yes, Essentially, but don't expect much from them. Humanities coverage is spotty for a reason.

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7) are there and known sapient alien species?
7A. perhaps I'm seeing this setting as being harder than other folks, but I want the focus to be on humans and the things they do to themselves.
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Old 02-22-2017, 07:46 AM   #43
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Default Re: Shared space setting

OK just tallied the votes for questions three and five.

3) eight votes and one abstention. a) 4, b) 4, c) 0.
OK a tie unless Eric would like to weigh in now I am tempted to adopt a compromise position of using TL 10 but with conservative hard sf path in most fields. I will revisit this soon.
[Edit]Eric just PM'ed me with a revised vote, it is now five votes for b so the overall TL is 10[/Edit]

5) eight votes, one unclear. a) 0, b) 3, c) 5.
Colonies can potentially be located anywhere.

Last edited by Frost; 02-22-2017 at 08:10 AM.
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Old 02-22-2017, 08:50 AM   #44
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Default Re: Shared space setting

The rest of today's questions:

8) Is exploration of new systems continuing?

a) yes, survey flights are as regular as ever
b) yes, but things are slowing down
c) no, the focus is on developing existing systems
d) no, exploration has fallen foul of official/ corporate apathy

My vote: I am going to reserve judgement on this one any of these could be interesting

9) Are any more systems likely to be colonised in the near future?

a) yes, there are a few systems that have been surveyed for years, they have just been waiting for somebody to raise the money
b) maybe, there are candidates out there
c) no, with five systems to choose from its easier to go where the people are

My vote: a) a tightly confined setting might actualy have potential but given the small setting the chance the PC's to get in on the ground floor of a new colony makes for the more exciting option

Voting closes 12:00 pm tomorrow (2/23).

Last edited by Frost; 02-22-2017 at 10:11 AM.
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Old 02-22-2017, 08:54 AM   #45
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Default Re: Shared space setting

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Originally Posted by Frost View Post
The rest of today's questions:

8) Is exploration of new systems continuing?

a) yes, survey flights are as regular as ever
b) yes, but things are slowing down
c) no, the focus is on developing existing systems
d) no, exploration has fallen foul of official/ corporate apathy

My vote: I am going to reserve judgement on this one any of these could be interesting
8B. There's always someone looking to get some sort of benefit from being one of the first settlers/miners/etc. in a future, new system, but as humanity expands, the demand for new systems gradually decreases.

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9) Are any more systems likely to be colonised in the near future?

a) yes, there are a few systems that have been surveyed for years, they have just been waiting for somebody to raise the money
b) maybe, there are candidates out there
c) no, with five systems to choose from its easier to go where the people are

My vote: a) a tightly confined setting might actualy have potential but given the small setting the chance to get in on the ground floor makes for the more exciting option
9A. The newest system(s) is gaining population.
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Old 02-22-2017, 09:19 AM   #46
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What if we could tie the two into the same phenomenon?

Treating either STL or FTL warping and wormholes as manifestations of the same effect, should overcome some of your objections and add a degree of verisimilitude.
I guess you'll need some effective STL for gadding about in-system, so this could work.

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Because frozen people are loads of mass, and you can use a cloning tank many times. You collect almost all the matter it uses at the destination, only shipping data (brain tapes) and cells for cloning.
Another good argument. Are there any others? And what arguments would there be for freezing/deep sleeping crew and passengers instead if this level of taping and cloning is available?
I can see legal, moral or philosophical ones, but they might work against a transhumanist setting.

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6) are there unoccupied systems in the area inhabited by humanity?
6) Yes, but with fairly limited access. Some for mining or research, as others have said.
It'd be cool to have as well-
- the top secret corporate system, which only the top execs of the Titan Corporation know about and the Special Acquisitions Division. Highly illegal stuff is going on here.
- a no-go, locked-out system, due to space-time weirdness, space madness, or some virulent contagion
- the top secret military system, where some nation-state is amassing an invasion force
- and such
The 3-5 inhabited systems are the fully colonised, nation-state, UN-equivalent member systems. Other places are for plot purposes and adventure destinations, but not thousands of these, 30-50 at most?
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7) are there and known sapient alien species?

a) no
b) yes, but they appear to be extinct
c) yes, but we haven't made direct contact yet
d) yes, and we are in contact with them
7- a) No, I think transhuman/biopunk is about the conflict between different versions of humanity, not other space peoples.

Alien life is occasionally found,, but nothing above chimp-level intelligence.
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Old 02-22-2017, 09:46 AM   #47
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Default Re: Shared space setting

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Another good argument. Are there any others? And what arguments would there be for freezing/deep sleeping crew and passengers instead if this level of taping and cloning is available?

I can see legal, moral or philosophical ones, but they might work against a transhumanist setting.
Given the lack of strong AI, you likely want to have a few people travel in the freezer to start up or fix the cloning and programming process. That's simply an engineering argument.

The other issue is if braintaping is a destructive process. It's been implied that it isn't, but that probably ought to be decided. If it is, then the THS xox problem isn't a big issue in this setting. If it isn't, then you can have multiple copies of people.
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Old 02-22-2017, 10:00 AM   #48
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Default Re: Shared space setting

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The other issue is if braintaping is a destructive process. It's been implied that it isn't, but that probably ought to be decided. If it is, then the THS xox problem isn't a big issue in this setting. If it isn't, then you can have multiple copies of people.
Outside of this, admittedly interesting sideline we have yet to decide if it is going to be part of the setting at all. My gut instinct is that it isn't, TL 10 low super science with no strong AI doesn't offer many plausible options for using brain taping.

Of course things might look different after we vote on specific or unusual tech features (that should have gone up today, but needed more thought).
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Old 02-22-2017, 10:06 AM   #49
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Default Re: Shared space setting

6) are there unoccupied systems in the area inhabited by humanity?
Yes.
Or, at least mostly-uninhabited. They're certainly "wilderness" systems compared to Sol or the other five big systems.

7) are there known sapient alien species?
a) no
I vote no in practice, but I still like the idea of extinct aliens, particularly as a source of artifacts. Maybe call it b) with instant runoff to a).
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Old 02-22-2017, 10:14 AM   #50
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Default Re: Shared space setting

8) Is exploration of new systems continuing?
a) yes, survey flights are as regular as ever
Note that the initial survey flights were very, very slow as it is. Either FTL to uncharted systems is impossible, or maybe it's just very unsafe until a complete "grav survey" or something is done of the destination system. Either way, only a single-digit number of systems is currently discovered per century.

9) Are any more systems likely to be colonised in the near future?
a) yes, there are a few systems that have been surveyed for years, they have just been waiting for somebody to raise the money
The main reason these systems haven't been settled is, in part, that they were marginally less useful than the existing colonies. Any one of them would have some significant drawback, or else has only been known of for a few decades and hasn't been closely surveyed yet.
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