Hah. I like the idea of banking planets - particularly with a planetary governor that's good at that.
Right now in my conventional campaign, we're about 22 years in. Delegates are gathering at Earth for a conference from Mars, 6 other Sol colonies, and 8 extra-solar colonies in 3 systems to discuss the future of humanity not just in terms of the next few years, but in the next 50-100.
Some of the questions they'll debate include:
- What does sustainability mean in the Trans-Newtonian age? How can we conserve resources? What kinds of long-term infrastructure can we build to save minerals and build economies and what kinds of growth could really be harmful in the long run? Will we become a nomadic race unable to move from system to system faster than we can strip it of minerals? Or is there a more sustainable path?
- What about the civilians? Trans-Newtonian technology has mostly benefited the military. While no doubt defeating Precursors, alien monsters, and defending against other possible threats is in the interest of humanity, there is no existential threat to the human race and no naval warship has ever been destroyed by an alien. All engagements to date have been one-sided. Given that, isn't it time to invest in social justice, culture, medicine, domestic technology, and education in more than just a peripheral way? Senator Ogoro is calling for dozens of research labs, tens of thousands of tons of TN materials, and other assets to be permanently transferred to these matters.
- What role do colonies play in humanity's plans? So far, they've been the source of important extractive mining, trade, and (in the case of Yablari), key technology from archeological digs, but some have pushed for specialization. The Federated Army, for example wants to move its ground unit production facilities to Mars and base part of its fleet there.
- Now that Mars is fully terraformed, what world or worlds are next and why?
- What military doctrines are needed to defend against possible threats and what ships could fill these needs?
Diplomacy Teams representing Mars, science interests, the Workers Guild, Capitalist Alliance, individual shipping companies, the Federated Army, and other interest groups are squaring off around these and other issues in what is expected to be a 3-month conference.