Generation Ships

[Sindri]

What would a generation ship with enough population and resources to maintain a TL 8 society and some left over focus it's technological advancement on?

A generation ship is the ultimate hydraulic state so what sort of repercussions would there be politically? What sort of economy would there be?

What would the society focus it's energy on? How do you keep people from getting bored or crazy?

[Flyndaran]

Why only TL 8? That's much lower than the TL required to make and launch a generation ship.
I imagine you might want to look at small island populations.
But small towns survived boredom with the ever popular booze and sex. To avoid overpopulation and drunken space brawls, you could promote the hell out of games.

[Sindri]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Why only TL 8? That's much lower than the TL required to make and launch a generation ship.
I imagine you might want to look at small island populations.
But small towns survived boredom with the ever popular booze and sex. To avoid overpopulation and drunken space brawls, you could promote the hell out of games.

I don't think there is anything that keeps TL 8 from doing a generation ship but alright suppose whatever TL you desire. The question is, what kind of technological areas would be a priority for a generation ship?

For a population recruited from the modern world it seems like there would be more difficulties in a generation ship where you have more limited ability to travel than a town where you can visit a nearby city periodically or change towns combined with dislocation from their native planet and the stress involved with living in a ship that you depend on to live and that if something goes wrong no one can save you. That said games can probably help a lot.

[Flyndaran]

Very tight selection of inhabitants can easily shape the micro society. Heck, agoraphobes might even like the idea.

Repair facilities and robust training for nearly everyone to know how to deal with breakdowns from aging equipment. Genetic engineering facilities to deal with small population bottle necking.

[jeff_wilson]

Originally Posted by Sindri

I don't think there is anything that keeps TL 8 from doing a generation ship but alright suppose whatever TL you desire. The question is, what kind of technological areas would be a priority for a generation ship?

TL8 can't make a self-contained human-suitable biosphere that will last more than a few years if that. The canonical GURPS generation ship treatment is in BIOTECH for 4/e.

[Lamech]

Originally Posted by jeff_wilson

TL8 can't make a self-contained human-suitable biosphere that will last more than a few years if that. The canonical GURPS generation ship treatment is in BIOTECH for 4/e.

Spaceships disagrees with you. You can make a generation ship starting at... TL 7. That said spaceships is horribly optimistic about everything. However nothing really prevents a generation ship at TL 7 according to spaceships.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Lamech

Spaceships disagrees with you. You can make a generation ship starting at... TL 7. That said spaceships is horribly optimistic about everything. However nothing really prevents a generation ship at TL 7 according to spaceships.

The sheer amount of machinery you'd need even to process all the needed crops (even if you can grow all the crops) would be large.

Unless you're going to pack a century or two of toilet paper you need a paper mill. Potentially a totally different mill for fibers for cloth. Then some sort of oil plant for feedstock for even the simplest utilitarian plastics. Rubber-production too. Even some wood for replacement furniture and small items. After that you can work on food crops.

All of this would be very hard on any ship you could even build in orbit at TL7. We're starting to talk about the industiral capacity of at least a small nation-state rather than just a city. Especially when you talk about the machinery to re-manufacture your other machinery after it wears out in 50 years.

You're going to need higher TLs for the miniaturization.

Also, I'm not going until they can do vatflesh to provide some meat. I don't want chicken and tuna either. :)

I'm saying TL10.

This leads me to say that genetic engineers need to be common enough in your crew that all of the children you produce will be maximized TL10 upgrades. It'd actually be a significant incentive for going.

Give everyone all the HT-based traits you can do at TL10 (including Alcohol Tolerance and No Hangover), +2 IQ and Common Sense as well. That ought to reduce your social problems.

Eidetic Memory and +4 Mathematical Ability would change your edcuational needs (and I do assume for the better). You can even add in Musical Talent, Intuition and Versatile too.

[jeff_wilson]

Originally Posted by Lamech

Spaceships disagrees with you. You can make a generation ship starting at... TL 7. That said spaceships is horribly optimistic about everything. However nothing really prevents a generation ship at TL 7 according to spaceships.

Does SPACESHIPS address anything longer than "long space voyages"?

Originally Posted by Earther

I don't see any generation ship ever working as planned. Just look at any cruise ship line where people are onboard for just 5 days. Still, it is fun though for a campaign setting.

One step on the way to generation ships would be something like a Cloud 9 tensegrity sphere. If you can make one of those to stay aloft and productively inhabited for 50 years it would go a long way toward showing generation ships are doable.

[vicky_molokh]

I'm not sure the technological advancement is your prime concern. For me, the most puzzling question was what sort of proportion of various professions and workplaces is required for a reasonably stable canned society.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

I'm not sure the technological advancement is your prime concern. For me, the most puzzling question was what sort of proportion of various professions and workplaces is required for a reasonably stable canned society.

A lot more like martial law than democracy. Freedom and slow decision making would lead to the death of everyone.