1201: Infrastructure in the Reformation Coalition

[Dunia]

The Reformation Coalition is surrounded on all sides by the wilds, they do not even have a buffer zone. The wilds are just at their doorstep in 1201-1205, with even greater threats from the Guild-sponsored worlds, Solee and the vampire highway all within 10 parsec from their borders.

And when we look at the RC worlds, we have 1 A-class Starport, 4 B-class, 4 C-class, 5 D-class and 8 E-class. The TL of the worlds varies as much: 1 TL-12, 3 TL-11, 2 TL-10, 6 TL-9, 2 TL-8, 3 TL-7, 2 TL-6, 1 TL-4, 1TL-3 and 1 TL-2 world.

In my eyes, but it may be only me, the Reformation Coalition do not want to follow the 3rd Imperium with their politics, one reason is that it did not work in the long run, as it created a large schism between people, in the RC, all people are needed and needs to feel part of creating the new future - another reason is that with all these threats, the RC needs to build up the infrastructure to have a standard of say TL-10/11 and at least a C (preferably a B) -class Starport so that each world can be responsible for building their own SDB fleet.
If one world will fall to the virus or to Solee, the moral of all the RC worlds will fall. The RCSA/Assembly must know that the survival of all the worlds depends upon a number of factors:

1) There can not be a schism between upper-class worlds and lower class worlds, the technology level as well as basic infrastructure must be equal, otherwise people would move from a planet such as Phoebus or Ra to a better world such as Aubaine or Eos.
2) If each world can produce spaceships to build up a defensive force, the RCN will be able to use more ships in an offensive way against the outside threats.
3) The RC must have thought of a jumpstart program, should there be a new outbreak of the Virus that they cannot stop. In my campaign, the players founded “The Library” a corporation with the only goal to preserve the Coalition research and/or Technology, and how to kickstart a civilisation up to TL 11 (They come from Eos) and each world that wants to be part of the Library programme and get a Library on their world, had to share of all its research and a part of their GWP to keep it standing.


Even if these thoughts are very centristic the federalists must see them as a necessary evil, at least that is how I see it.

What do you think?


So the 2 thoughts that I must ask after this post is:

1) How long does it take to upgrade a Starport to one level above?
2) How long would it take to raise in TL, if they had the support from the other worlds in the RC?

 

[Gallowglacht]

1) In Orriflammes case it is a technicality and political issue. They have made Jump Ships (with help and parts) and there is a passage somewhere about them waiting for certification which might just be Aubine dragging heels until the Schalli "manned" shipyards are up and running.

For Coalition pseudo-ports probably not long. The Hiver tech academy has had 8 years to crank out 4-5 classes of highly skilled people and drives can be salvaged rather than built. The 4 B-class ports can make jump ships from the start and are probably only a year away from true "A" class.

2) Tech level wise; Once the Coalition has secured the boneyard worlds on its doorstep it can start sifting through tech. Path of Tears says high population worlds leave behind entire production lines. This will secure more tech than the Coalition can produce for private firms (I imagine the armed forces stick to as much RC produced tech as possible, for training, compatability, re-supply and to build expertise in high tech construction. The RC want private companies to manage themselves and have every advantage so they can be taxed for bootstrapping.)
The limiting factor is trained personelle. Again a 4 year tech training course might be a good yardstick. New worlds can probably build up to intermediate tech levels quite quickly with RC technicians reactivating existing unused tech. Boneyards can supply the tech (once a system is secured, surveys done and a company set up to do the work..so quite a delay) Teaching techies is the limiting factor.

 

[Starviking]

1) There can not be a schism between upper-class worlds and lower class worlds, the technology level as well as basic infrastructure must be equal, otherwise people would move from a planet such as Phoebus or Ra to a better world such as Aubaine or Eos.

That would be extremely difficult with the amount of civil ships in RC, and cost might also be a factor.

There's also the fact that these planets are home. Some youths may move away, but there'll be a core population that will stay.

However, as long as ships are heading out into the wild, there'll be ships that need to use these planets. With the substandard ports there they'll eventually have to be upgraded because of the traffic.

2) If each world can produce spaceships to build up a defensive force, the RCN will be able to use more ships in an offensive way against the outside threats.

That's true. I think though with the lack of merchant shipping the RC is going to be operating more on a 'sub-contractor' ethos as regards a lot of manufacturing. The nature of relics is a factor in this, as well as the small RC manufacturing base.

If Trybec has a relic production line that can produce widget A, and Eos can produce widget B - and when you joint A to B to make Heplar Regulators C - then many Heplar engines in the RC are going to have T/E Regulators.

It might also make sense for the smaller worlds to band together to co-produce ships like SDBs. One design I had on BARD was the ATEF SDB, a TL9-12 ship made from components produced on the worlds of Aurora, Trybec, Eos and Fija, with some sourced on Aubaine. It's a bit like a futuristic Eurofighter consortium.

3) The RC must have thought of a jumpstart program, should there be a new outbreak of the Virus that they cannot stop. In my campaign, the players founded “The Library” a corporation with the only goal to preserve the Coalition research and/or Technology, and how to kickstart a civilisation up to TL 11 (They come from Eos) and each world that wants to be part of the Library programme and get a Library on their world, had to share of all its research and a part of their GWP to keep it standing.

Nice idea! It might be seen wasteful though to have all that technical info, but to have no-one using it. Perhaps using them as training institutes, but keeping the exact locations from the masses might be more palatable to the bureaucratic mind?

Even if these thoughts are very centristic the federalists must see them as a necessary evil, at least that is how I see it.

What do you think?

Good points, but the limited resources will act against any large governmental development I think. I reckon most people in the RC think that once you build up civilization in the AO, then the trade flow back and forth will provide all the resources for development. Starport development may be excepted.

 

[epicenter00]

So the 2 thoughts that I must ask after this post is:

1) How long does it take to upgrade a Starport to one level above?

The shortage, as Gallowglacht pointed out, is in the pool of the trained and experienced people. I'm not really sure how much I "buy" the idea of high tech on boneyard worlds still being even semi-good after 70 years. However, it's a central pillar on how the RC works in canon.* So the equipment is there - bringing it back is a problem. The primary difficulty with starport quality is that ... starport quality is a misnomer and always has been. The real concern is the presence of a shipyard (for instance, most ports in the modern world are "B" class, while a lot of the "A" class ports aren't even in good places for offloading freight) - not the rest of the port facilities. However, to construct starships you need technicians who have experience in building stuff. I'd say it probably takes about ten years, maybe as little as eight. 5 years with "tutors" showing the people the ropes, then another 5 years with increasingly less supervision and aid. At the end, they'll be able to start manufacturing starships, provided the supply end is there.

2) How long would it take to raise in TL, if they had the support from the other worlds in the RC?

This goes back to the question of "what exactly is TL?" I think raising TLs in the RC could take 10-15 years per TL. Not only do you have to raise the material technology, you also have to train the local population to use, design, and manufacture devices. You also have to get the locals to get used to the devices. I think if the high tech worlds of the RC weren't climbing on their own, raising up lower TL worlds would be easier - for instance if Aubaine and Oriflamme had nothing left to rebuild on their own worlds and could devote all of their time to trade and basic research, they could bootstrap the other worlds quite quickly. But the reality of the RC is that even the highest tech RC worlds are still rebuilding themselves, working on borrowed time with salvaged devices - they simply don't have the "swing resources" to indulge in helping other societies uplift as well.




Notes:


* There's a few holes in the theory:

1. If boneyard tech really would works, it'd be best to find it in places where conditions are best for preserving it. Worlds that can support human life tend to have gaseous oxygen and liquid water, both of which are extremely destructive to high tech items. The wealth of the RC would logically come from "boneyard" worlds - most likely from airless vacuum worlds. Low threat (no locals), high percentage of preserved items, and easy retrieval (flash-frozen corpses don't complain if you take stuff). The conclusion would be that the RC would be like interstellar grave robbers - an inhabited world is something they'd avoid, ideally.

2. Wouldn't the Guild have caught onto this? Looting dead worlds is a lot more profitable than trading with living beings.

Glossing over these two conclusions, the reason why the RC goes to so much trouble is that it makes a better RPG to have interaction with locals (even if it's violent), and that the RC feels a moral imperative to rekindling civilization.

 

[Gallowglacht]

I have some thoughts on why the Guild don't do so as much.
First off, manpower. The guild are mainly small ship crews, they don't have the manpower to secure a potentially dangerous (possible Virus 'bots and defences) boneyard and them take all the time to sift through the crud to get the good stuff. They might not even have as many people trained to recognise the good stuff.
Secondly, they are looking for different stuff. Weapons are easy to grab, easy to sell to TED's and unlikely to infect the crew. The RC will be looking for life support machinery for Baldur and high tech infrastructure for the other worlds.
Thirdly, IMTU the guilds main strength and resources are across the other side of the Vampire highway relative to the Coalition. On the other side the Guild do have a bit more strength and more relic tech.
Finally the Guild deal with live worlds to gain access to other needs boneyards can't meet. Lets not delve too deep into this last point.