Colonies in 2300

[ckirmser]

I've been trying to come up with some sort of formulation that defines just what a "point" of "capital improvements" represents. Further, I've also been trying to figure a way to determine the dependencies of each improvement.

For example, take a Farming improvement. What resources - say, power - does the improvement need? How many colonists does one Farming improvement support? Etc.

Let's say a colony has five million colonists. Do they need only one Farming improvement, can they survive with none? Do they require one improvement per million? How does it work?

Every colony has a footprint. But, how big is that footprint? How much area is required to support X number of colonists? Do all five million fit in one Terrain hex or is there a population density? If there is a density, is it dependent upon the surrounding terrain and climate? For instance, does one standard Terrain hex of Desert support just as many as one standard Terrain hex of Savannah?

I would love to see a detailed exploration of Colonies, Capital Improvements and the associated costs and demographics, if one is out there.

 

[McPerth]

Many questions you put on the table...

Many of them would depend on many factors (the fertility of the land in the planet, the food growing tech, etc...). It's logical to think that a colony needs some farming to survive, and the food production of this same farming will depend on that. Of course, in Earth, a desert hex will grow less food tan a Savannah one, but how much is open to debate.

2300AD is a quite incongruent in what some colonies are told to be buying food from nearby ones, but just the cost to uplift them to orbit would raise the price of this same food to the point of making it a luxury.

It's also curious that some agricultural planets (Beta Canum, Heiselmat, etc..) have incompatible life for earth inhabitants (right handed proteines), so requiring heavier investment to make them grow food.

I don't believe the wealth equivalent a "point" of "capital improvement" represnts is hard set, though. I guess it represents so many factors (money investment, tech, population, national effort, etc...) for it to be calculated.

 

[ckirmser]

Many questions you put on the table...

Many of them would depend on many factors (the fertility of the land in the planet, the food growing tech, etc...). It's logical to think that a colony needs some farming to survive, and the food production of this same farming will depend on that. Of course, in Earth, a deser hex will grow less food tan a Savannah one, but how much is open to debate.

I'm making the assumption that terraforming costs are subsumed within the "point" cost of the improvement or that the improvement is the cost over an above that required to make the hex into a Terran normal terrain to support the improvement. That would be a whole 'nother supplement.

I don't believe the wealth equivalent a "point" of "capital improvement" represnts is hard set, though. I guess it represents so many factors (money investment, tech, population, national effort, etc...) for it to be calculated.

Granted, though I figure Marc - or, whoever was in charge of the Capital Improvement costs - had some idea of what they were modeling.

I mean, there seems to be no standard at all and GDW was a really good company for designing standards. Heck, Twilight 2000 even had grazing rates for cattle. I can't believe that they just grabbed numbers out of the air.

As it is, however, one Farming improvement can support a colony of 32 or one of 100 million equally. That just seems ludicrous.

Or, forget the Farming improvement and consider the Mining improvement. What does that entail? What does it produce? How much power does it require? What constrains its location? How many colonists are required to support it? Could a colony of 1,000 handle four Mining improvements just as well as a colony of 100,000 handles one?

Many questions exist on this topic.

I've been working on my own version, but that combines another gaming system and it's a good bit of work. I was hoping that Marc - or someone - would already have the relevant design notes somewhere.