- #1
Bab5space
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So in a setting with interstellar travel I was thinking about interstellar trade.
I know the method of travel dicates what is traded, so I will elaborate below:
Constant Acceleration: Refueling is virtually not a concern.
Stargates: Ships can accelerate for months to reach just bellow lightspeed but do not have to for known and explored systems. They just fly to a nearby moon with a stargate on the surface and fly out at another one planted on a moon in a another system. The gates were planted 2000 years prior. So they have been plying interstellar space and planting gates for the last 2000 years. Stargates must be put on planets or moons because of the waste heat they generate, which is more than a spaceship can handle.
EDIT: Stargates are usually put on airless moons, forcing vessels to fly to any planet with atmosphere.
Stargates are seldom ever put on Earth-like worlds, since if they malfunction or explode the effect is like a Tsar bomb... multiplied a millonfold.THE MAIN QUESTION: What to trade? Sounds obvious but it really is not.
The basic needs for life are food, clothing and shelter, for humanoids. Any civilization on an Earth world you trade with will have that already.
So what else can you trade? Luxuries. Slaves. Technology they do not already have.
Alternately you can sell stuff they already have but the the strategy of buying low and selling high may not work, since it is arguably cheaper for native to buy homegrown stuff than buy stuff that counts or includes ship maintenence fees for crossing interstellar distances.
Selling crops only goes far initially. Once you sell seeds the first time to an Earth world the natives will just homegrow it and won't require you to ship it anymore.
Any other ideas for what would logically be shipped? Because I am fresh out of ideas.
I know the method of travel dicates what is traded, so I will elaborate below:
Constant Acceleration: Refueling is virtually not a concern.
Stargates: Ships can accelerate for months to reach just bellow lightspeed but do not have to for known and explored systems. They just fly to a nearby moon with a stargate on the surface and fly out at another one planted on a moon in a another system. The gates were planted 2000 years prior. So they have been plying interstellar space and planting gates for the last 2000 years. Stargates must be put on planets or moons because of the waste heat they generate, which is more than a spaceship can handle.
EDIT: Stargates are usually put on airless moons, forcing vessels to fly to any planet with atmosphere.
Stargates are seldom ever put on Earth-like worlds, since if they malfunction or explode the effect is like a Tsar bomb... multiplied a millonfold.THE MAIN QUESTION: What to trade? Sounds obvious but it really is not.
The basic needs for life are food, clothing and shelter, for humanoids. Any civilization on an Earth world you trade with will have that already.
So what else can you trade? Luxuries. Slaves. Technology they do not already have.
Alternately you can sell stuff they already have but the the strategy of buying low and selling high may not work, since it is arguably cheaper for native to buy homegrown stuff than buy stuff that counts or includes ship maintenence fees for crossing interstellar distances.
Selling crops only goes far initially. Once you sell seeds the first time to an Earth world the natives will just homegrow it and won't require you to ship it anymore.
Any other ideas for what would logically be shipped? Because I am fresh out of ideas.
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