08-15-2022, 03:32 AM | #81 | |
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: The Athens of America
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Re: [Spaceships] Million Merchant Marathon
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That is what has kept space from being anything but an expensive showpiece, research project; the cost of boosting everything out of Earth's Gravity. Even after that problem is greatly reduced it will still be cheaper to mine and make what you need out there than to ship it all up. Imagine how the colonization of North America would have gone if every tool, every horseshoe, every plank needed was shipped from Europe rather than made locally. That will give a bit of the idea of the scope of the problem. If it is a job program cool! Give 'em a raise for being Astro-Miners or Zero-G Riggers and congratulate them for 'meeting' the rigorous requirements (no matter what they actually are or even if there ARE no standards). Then ship them to orbit ONCE, with a free return trip upon retirement. Make it as homey as possible, bring families up, make it easy to send pay dirtside to support extended family. Every time you have to fight gravity you are upping your costs, significantly. So don't do it. My $0.02.
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My center is giving way, my right is in retreat; situation excellent. I shall attack.-Foch America is not perfect, but I will hold her hand until she gets well.-unk Tuskegee Airman |
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08-15-2022, 06:22 AM | #82 | |
Join Date: Jun 2013
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Re: [Spaceships] Million Merchant Marathon
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*Then again, what scc has described - a society that has lost somewhere around a third of its economic production (due to the collapse of the US and China) and that has a major continent in bad enough condition that refugees from it are set to overwhelm the infrastructure of the rest of the world - is probably in no condition to try to terraform anything.
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GURPS Overhaul |
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08-15-2022, 09:11 AM | #83 | |
Join Date: Aug 2007
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Re: [Spaceships] Million Merchant Marathon
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No airplane of the period had a properly shaped airtframe for surviving the shockwaves in the transsonic regime. Their wings and/or propellors would have been ripped off by those shockwaves and this was probably the cause of destruction for those vehicles that did break up in extreme dives (which was surprisingly common in testing). The F-86 Sabre was probably the first aircraft to exceed the speed of sound in a gravity-assissted dive. Note the clean nose and the highly swept wings.
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Fred Brackin |
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08-15-2022, 04:27 PM | #84 | |
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Oz
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Re: [Spaceships] Million Merchant Marathon
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Decay is inherent in all composite things. Nod head. Get treat. |
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08-16-2022, 12:16 AM | #85 | ||
Join Date: Mar 2013
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Re: [Spaceships] Million Merchant Marathon
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All to make some aluminum foil. It's not worth it. Quote:
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08-16-2022, 07:35 PM | #86 | |
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: The Athens of America
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Re: [Spaceships] Million Merchant Marathon
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The cost of building all of this IS massive. However it is (in many cases) a single time, up front cost. An orbitial factory costs more to build than a ground side one. Once it is built tho every day you make that investment back with the savings on transport costs. The only real question is what is the time to break even (upfront cost vs transport savings) after that orbital production will be more profitial than groundside. Considering how many Megaprojects this proposed setting encompasses and that ALL of them are in Earth orbit (or further out Venus, Mars, etc); the thought of doing it with every nut, bolt and washer being made Earthside is at least for me a total 'dealbreaker'. Hell I have been reading this thread mostly for entertainment. Even with very robust Orbital Industry I am not sure this setting does not bust my suspension of disbelief. However unless gravity has been ELIMINATED as a factor in transport costs I just do not see it. Well good luck and hopefully we have helped a bit with the creative process. Its all good so long as peeps have fun!
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My center is giving way, my right is in retreat; situation excellent. I shall attack.-Foch America is not perfect, but I will hold her hand until she gets well.-unk Tuskegee Airman |
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08-16-2022, 07:36 PM | #87 | |
Join Date: Jun 2013
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Re: [Spaceships] Million Merchant Marathon
All to terraform three planet(oid)s (Venus, Luna, Mars). And if you aren't willing to invest in having substantial orbital assets, you honestly have no business trying to terraform anything.
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And, sure, there's also the option of ignoring all that... but if you're going that route, why bother worrying about complex things like Hohmann Transfers and the like? I think this is what's preventing me from properly grokking your setting - the way you seem to jump between hyperdetail and "It just works, don't worry about the particulars."
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GURPS Overhaul Last edited by Varyon; 08-16-2022 at 07:41 PM. |
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08-17-2022, 01:46 AM | #88 |
Wielder of Smart Pants
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ventura CA
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Re: [Spaceships] Million Merchant Marathon
"We can't possibly help African countries repair the environmental damage we mostly caused with colonialism, but instead will simulaneously colonize three uninhabitable bodies in space" seems like a satire.
Last edited by sir_pudding; 08-17-2022 at 01:50 AM. |
08-17-2022, 01:48 AM | #89 |
Join Date: Oct 2019
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Re: [Spaceships] Million Merchant Marathon
You say that, but that's exactly what some of the ultra-rich today think.
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08-17-2022, 01:50 AM | #90 |
Wielder of Smart Pants
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ventura CA
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Re: [Spaceships] Million Merchant Marathon
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Tags |
spaceships, terraforming |
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