Re: [Space/Spaceships] TL9 nomad fleet - playable?
 

If they can afford the space, it might be best to think of all that as a giant mall serving the ship's population and crew. If they can't afford the space, things like toothpaste would be "public-utility-ized", reducing quality of life but taking up a fraction of the space. (Maybe model as a single anchor store, and then reverse the VE space multiplier that makes a crew station part of a bridge.)

Re: [Space/Spaceships] TL9 nomad fleet - playable?
 

I'm currently trying to put together a space setting where habitable worlds are extremely rare. The civilizations are built around multiple space stations/colony ships and those planets that do fall within acceptable tolerances (gravity conditions/tectonics/temperatures) are settled with what are essentially spaceships converted into ground buildings. I've decided on FTL (a jump/probability drive not operatable inside the Outer Limit of a star system) and I'm allowing Reactionless Thrusters. I'm still not sure about gravity control (I'm leaning towards spin gravity instead of artificial generators) and my decision on gravity control will determine the level of BioTech I'll use. (No artificial generators means I'll probably have a higher level of BioTech to allow for modified "spacers") The governments will be more fuedal in nature as there are no FTL communications (other than messages relayed from jumping ships) and Earth is just an ancient tale told as bedtime stories to children.

Re: [Space/Spaceships] TL9 nomad fleet - playable?
 

I personally think once you have a space adapted civilization they won't likely go back to the mudsucker life. If I ever do this kind of thing, there won't be any FTL, and STL travel is basically at cometary speeds.

Re: [Space/Spaceships] TL9 nomad fleet - playable?
 

That would be a life of enormous poverty.

Re: [Space/Spaceships] TL9 nomad fleet - playable?
 

By modern material standards, perhaps, but that's not really the point.

Re: [Space/Spaceships] TL9 nomad fleet - playable?
 

Realistically, I expect that "habitable planets", where you can just pop the hatch and breathe deep, are probably vanishingly rare. Most borderline-habitable worlds will likely require some amount of terraforming if only to tweak the atmosphere.

And, once you've solved the problems of sustainable life support and industry in space, there's not much reason to put the effort into terraforming, when cometary or asteroidal resources are so much more accessible. Terraforming, in the future, will be like the manned space program is today: something people do for idealistic or visionary reasons, not out of economic necessity.

TeV

Re: [Space/Spaceships] TL9 nomad fleet - playable?
 

I'm not entirely certain why you think this. Can you elaborate?

Any resources that exist on planetary surfaces are available elsewhere, and don't require you to climb in and out of a gravity well to get at them. Meanwhile some resources (solar energy, isotopes that are rare on planets) are much easier to get to. What does a cometary civilization lack that a planetary one has?

Re: [Space/Spaceships] TL9 nomad fleet - playable?
 

There are no isotopes that are rare on planets and common in comets. Solar energy is only abundant in space that is short on volatiles and vice versa. And I need hardly mention that space is big and cometary speeds are not so fast. That means that each grazer would have a long trip between comets after they used them up.

Re: [Space/Spaceships] TL9 nomad fleet - playable?
 

EVE Online, as far as I envision that.

Re: [Space/Spaceships] TL9 nomad fleet - playable?
 

Are you certain about that? What about components of solar wind radiation? Sure, but Type II civilization doesn't need planets to gather power in the inner system, does it? Why would they wait until a comet was completely used up in order to gather more resources?