A Space Apocolypse Discussion

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Jonas

Not to mention at that level humans should be fairly easy to replace, using clones/robotics/androids just off the top of my head, so space slaving makes even less sense in the setting as stated so far.

The OP has stated that this is a pretty safe tech setting, and that the TL is closer to TL8 + fusion +super materials. So no human cloning, and no good AI. Robotics is plausible, but you still need a human pilot at the controls. Which means your slaves are going to be doing white collar work, not blue collar.

They can bio engineer cinematic performing super viruses and have built up space infrastructure but trace micro and macro nutrients we can synthesis now using far more primitive tech is beyond them? This also implies they have awesome propulsion tech since ...

The cinematic super viruses have been established as a fluke by the OP. don't place any argument on them other than something the designer could and would do personally.

Oh? we've reached the state of a meal in pill? right now the food industry is finally concluding nature has the best stuff and focusing on getting the best results from natural means. Yes, they could probably synthesize the trace elements one way or another, but there is a better reason they didn't.

Yes, they have awesome lifting power. The setting is specifically designed to give them that. They had awesome lifting power before the plauge hit, and now they have 50 times that per person (minus whatever they lost). The setting is all about awesome lifting power. That's why they aren't synthesizing -- because its cheaper and gives better (tastier, more nutritious) results.

If you want a more Flash Gordon style space opera setting you'll be better off just going for it and not worrying about the details of 'why', provided you tell your players this right up front, since otherwise any justification for it is going to fall apart in fairly short order.

I don't really see this as flash gordon. I do see mild space opera, but not anywhere near that kind of cheese.

Originally Posted by PTTG

Besides the essentials, Earth is where almost any food that isn't algal paste comes from.

The Moon and Mars had more traffic than the rest of the solar system. They couldn't even keep the flu out, even with the enforced 30-day quarantine.

You're treating the Moon and Mars as open systems -- I was thinking that they were a collection of various colonies connetected by different transportation systems. Yeah, the great cities get hit, but surely some mining outposts don't ...