Terran Empire, Year 2363-2364 (13)

[Kurt (OP)]

Just thought I would drop my two cents in the bucket, as this is a fairly interesting topic (and story).

As for 'terrestrial' type planets, the odds are that Formalhaut has them.

With the location of its 'debris' disk, and the known location and approx mass of Formalhaut b being misaligned with the configuration of the disk, it is almost a certainty that smaller terrestrial type planets inside of Formalhaut b's orbit are responsible for the disk's current configuration.

 If some of those planets originated outside of F-b's orbit and migrated in as F-b migrated outward from the primary, they would likely be sufficiently cooled for human exploitation.  If the albedo was low enough (read the high ice content he positied on his N/CO2 planet), it would likely have a tolerable temp as well.

Doubt I'd want to move there, but if you didn't have any other options, or it was worth a lot of money to visit/exploit, I'm sure folks would start wandering that direction     )

I'm glad you enjoy them.  I'm also glad to find a fan of the Terran and Phoenix Campaigns.  I've put a lot of work into all of them.

Kurt

[TrueZuluwiz]

How would you go about making sure that a large population was not established in such a system? You could build just enough infrastructure for the numbers you need to harvest the minerals and no more. Make sure the living quarters are cramped and uncomfortable. The food is not very good and there's only just enough. No families, the miners are very well paid, but are rotated in and out frequently. The miners' families are in a system one jump away and are not allowed to visit the miners, the miners have to go visit them. Obviously, the minerals recovered from this system are going to cost more than those mined from another, less dangerous system, but safety is much more important than productivity to any mining company, right? Right?

[Aldaris]

How would you go about making sure that a large population was not established in such a system? You could build just enough infrastructure for the numbers you need to harvest the minerals and no more. Make sure the living quarters are cramped and uncomfortable. The food is not very good and there's only just enough. No families, the miners are very well paid, but are rotated in and out frequently. The miners' families are in a system one jump away and are not allowed to visit the miners, the miners have to go visit them. Obviously, the minerals recovered from this system are going to cost more than those mined from another, less dangerous system, but safety is much more important than productivity to any mining company, right? Right?

And of course, the civillian shipping companies totally won't move in an enormous amount of infrastructure and dump eager colonists there.

[UnLimiTeD]

Is this still about living in a system that might or might not explode in a million years?
People are living on islands in the pacific that are bound to sink within a few thousand years.
We have something to be called "Civilization" for a few ten thousand years.
Even if the system would go nova in 2000 years, no one would reasonably care, that is an awful lot of time and absolutely enough to build a population there

[Kurt (OP)]

How would you go about making sure that a large population was not established in such a system? You could build just enough infrastructure for the numbers you need to harvest the minerals and no more. Make sure the living quarters are cramped and uncomfortable. The food is not very good and there's only just enough. No families, the miners are very well paid, but are rotated in and out frequently. The miners' families are in a system one jump away and are not allowed to visit the miners, the miners have to go visit them. Obviously, the minerals recovered from this system are going to cost more than those mined from another, less dangerous system, but safety is much more important than productivity to any mining company, right? Right?

You've hit the nail on the head.  While the Empire may only intend to establish a "Short-term" colony, the colonists will inevitably put down roots and then there will be at least some that will resist any attempts to remove the colony.  

The way I look at it, all of this will merely stimulate the Empire's scientific establishment to find some way to deal with the serious problem of the short lifetime of certain stars.  

Kurt

[Aldaris]

How would you go about making sure that a large population was not established in such a system? You could build just enough infrastructure for the numbers you need to harvest the minerals and no more. Make sure the living quarters are cramped and uncomfortable. The food is not very good and there's only just enough. No families, the miners are very well paid, but are rotated in and out frequently. The miners' families are in a system one jump away and are not allowed to visit the miners, the miners have to go visit them. Obviously, the minerals recovered from this system are going to cost more than those mined from another, less dangerous system, but safety is much more important than productivity to any mining company, right? Right?

You've hit the nail on the head.  While the Empire may only intend to establish a "Short-term" colony, the colonists will inevitably put down roots and then there will be at least some that will resist any attempts to remove the colony.  

The way I look at it, all of this will merely stimulate the Empire's scientific establishment to find some way to deal with the serious problem of the short lifetime of certain stars.  

Kurt

Here's some info on that particular subject, if you're interested., most specifically:

Stellar Husbandry - Text by Dave Criswell, in Anders Sandberg's Transhuman Terminology
A type of stellar engineering which involves controlling the evolution and properties of stars, especially to stabilize them, prolong their lifetimes, manipulate the stellar wind, lift off useful material or create new stars. Typical methods include star lifting or mixing the stellar core with envelope material to make hydrogen burning last longer.

Considering the speeds at which the Empire's technological level is increasing, I think they'd be able to do this kind of thing by the time Altair's lifespan becomes a serious issue.

[MWadwell]

How would you go about making sure that a large population was not established in such a system? You could build just enough infrastructure for the numbers you need to harvest the minerals and no more. Make sure the living quarters are cramped and uncomfortable. The food is not very good and there's only just enough. No families, the miners are very well paid, but are rotated in and out frequently. The miners' families are in a system one jump away and are not allowed to visit the miners, the miners have to go visit them. Obviously, the minerals recovered from this system are going to cost more than those mined from another, less dangerous system, but safety is much more important than productivity to any mining company, right? Right?

You've hit the nail on the head.  While the Empire may only intend to establish a "Short-term" colony, the colonists will inevitably put down roots and then there will be at least some that will resist any attempts to remove the colony.  

The way I look at it, all of this will merely stimulate the Empire's scientific establishment to find some way to deal with the serious problem of the short lifetime of certain stars.  

Kurt

Here's some info on that particular subject, if you're interested., most specifically:

Stellar Husbandry - Text by Dave Criswell, in Anders Sandberg's Transhuman Terminology
A type of stellar engineering which involves controlling the evolution and properties of stars, especially to stabilize them, prolong their lifetimes, manipulate the stellar wind, lift off useful material or create new stars. Typical methods include star lifting or mixing the stellar core with envelope material to make hydrogen burning last longer.

Considering the speeds at which the Empire's technological level is increasing, I think they'd be able to do this kind of thing by the time Altair's lifespan becomes a serious issue.

Or at least, they might believe that they'd find an answer to this problem before Altair's lifespan became a serious issue....

[Aldaris]

They'd better, because even if everybody in the system itself is evacuated, the radiation will be nasty in any other systems that are physically nearby.

[Beersatron]

Poke!

How long is it taking for each "turn" now? I'm sure it must be getting harder to keep track!

[Kurt (OP)]

Poke!

How long is it taking for each "turn" now? I'm sure it must be getting harder to keep track!

It is taking longer, because more is going on.  The real culprit is real-life/work, which has been consuming more of my time lately.  

Plus, I've been pondering the direction the campaign should take, and part of the slow-down is because of that.

Kurt