02-11-2020, 12:00 AM
Hi There - Welcome to OA!
Sure! What MacGregor said. This is no problem.
Basically it would come to down to what the colonists wanted. At one extreme, the neumann swarms and bots could create all needed infrastructure before the colonists arrive or while the colonists are held in biostasis after arrival. So the colonists would arrive/wake up and everything would just be there waiting for them. The biggest challenges they would face might be how they want their homes decorated or what beverage they'd like waiting for them when they arrive/wake up to commemorate the experience.
On the other extreme, the neumanns and bots could create just enough infrastructure to provide minimal support for the colony and then shut down/move on/disassemble themselves. The colonists would then be on their own - in the case of prim or ludd colonies, possibly being left with little more than a terraformed planet, hand tools, and hopefully some skills to make more. In more advanced colonies whatever level of tech and infrastructure the colony decided it wants - which might still be staggeringly advanced and wealthy by our RL standards, but quite simple and 'rough' by Y11k standards.
And of course there is a huge range of options in between the two extremes. Some colonists just want to be in a new place and don't want to bother with all the set up. Others want some degree of challenge and may set things up to provide it, at least initially. That could include non-post scarcity economic systems as an option (possibly the only option in the NoCoZo).
Perhaps the level of infrastructure and 'challenge' is something that is worked out during initial colony planning or a potential colonies send out something like a prospectus that lays out how the colony will be set up, including the level of challenge. Potential colonists would then look these over and decide which mission meets their desires and decide to 'invest' their time and effort with it.
To be honest, I don't think that's a question we've ever directly considered before. Congrats on hitting us with something new right out of the gate
Archeology certainly exists in the setting, but to date I think we've pretty much only ever considered it in relation to ancient xenosophont civilizations and even then I don't think we've directly spoken in terms of archeology - although that is what is actually happening. OA has a bunch of vanished alien civilizations lying around and logically the information about them in the EG had to come from a form of archeology (xenoarcheology).
Speaking in terms of Terragen civilizations - The closet we currently come to archeology in this area is again a matter of logical inference rather than direct descriptions and is in relation to the aftermath of major disasters in the setting. The Gehenna Incident, the Surreal Rash, and Cinder Systems presumably all result in the remains of multiple civilizations that might be studied for reasons that shade into archeology (possibly mixed with the civilization equivalent of figuring out what happened after a plane crash to hopefully prevent it happening again). Like some types of archeology this may occasionally also run into issues with survivors or descendants objecting to things being studied due to religious concerns or issues with 'desecrating' the dead or the like.
There are also a number of mentions of the remnants of the works of ancient Ahuman AIs being left behind in various star systems after they were forced out the Solar System early in the timeline. But again, although this might fall under the umbrella of archeology, it isn't described that way for some reason.
Looking beyond these examples - Logically, there should be some number of failed colony missions over the history of the setting, especially in the earlier part of the timeline when the technology and know-how for setting up a new colony wasn't as developed. We do make passing mention of failed missions here and there in the EG, but seem to mainly treat these as 'the ship never made it to the system' without providing details or talking about colonies that failed after arrival. And as you say, colonies in the Outer Volumes and Periphery - where we explicitly say things are more dangerous - should fail from time to time.
The upshot of all this is that you have pointed out an area of OA that is not as fully developed as it should be. You (and others if they are interested) can think of this as a giant blank canvas waiting to be painted on, if you feel like it. If that feels too much like 'bringing your work home with you' and you'd rather spend time and attention on other aspects of OA, that's perfectly fine as well
That's no problem. We have quite a few members here for whom English is not their native language. Plus we have three different versions of English in play on the site (British English, American English, and Australian English) and our membership includes a wide range of experience with writing, regardless of the language it's done in. We like to think that we help people get better with practice
Hope this helps and once again - Welcome to OA
Todd
(02-10-2020, 08:28 PM)Jargal Wrote: 1. I have an idea of space habitat that seem interesting to me, but I'm not ready to create full solar system for it. I've seen some habitat articles without system description in EG, but they are very old. Is it possible to write habitat article and then somehow place it in suitable system from already existing?
Sure! What MacGregor said. This is no problem.
(02-10-2020, 08:28 PM)Jargal Wrote: 2. I undestand what in developed systems economy is post-scarcity and automated, but how about the system in the first years of colonization? Obviously even then sophonts will only be overseers of neumann swarms and other automated industry, byt how many time and attention will they need to devote to the process?
Basically it would come to down to what the colonists wanted. At one extreme, the neumann swarms and bots could create all needed infrastructure before the colonists arrive or while the colonists are held in biostasis after arrival. So the colonists would arrive/wake up and everything would just be there waiting for them. The biggest challenges they would face might be how they want their homes decorated or what beverage they'd like waiting for them when they arrive/wake up to commemorate the experience.
On the other extreme, the neumanns and bots could create just enough infrastructure to provide minimal support for the colony and then shut down/move on/disassemble themselves. The colonists would then be on their own - in the case of prim or ludd colonies, possibly being left with little more than a terraformed planet, hand tools, and hopefully some skills to make more. In more advanced colonies whatever level of tech and infrastructure the colony decided it wants - which might still be staggeringly advanced and wealthy by our RL standards, but quite simple and 'rough' by Y11k standards.
And of course there is a huge range of options in between the two extremes. Some colonists just want to be in a new place and don't want to bother with all the set up. Others want some degree of challenge and may set things up to provide it, at least initially. That could include non-post scarcity economic systems as an option (possibly the only option in the NoCoZo).
Perhaps the level of infrastructure and 'challenge' is something that is worked out during initial colony planning or a potential colonies send out something like a prospectus that lays out how the colony will be set up, including the level of challenge. Potential colonists would then look these over and decide which mission meets their desires and decide to 'invest' their time and effort with it.
(02-10-2020, 08:28 PM)Jargal Wrote: 3, unrelated to previous. For an archeologist as myself dead peoples are often more interesting that live peoples. In OA how often does a colonized system or major habitat/habitat group die out to the last sophont for whatever reasons? Not in the Sephirotics or other civilized places, of course (or maybe even there), but somewhere on the Periphery?
To be honest, I don't think that's a question we've ever directly considered before. Congrats on hitting us with something new right out of the gate
Archeology certainly exists in the setting, but to date I think we've pretty much only ever considered it in relation to ancient xenosophont civilizations and even then I don't think we've directly spoken in terms of archeology - although that is what is actually happening. OA has a bunch of vanished alien civilizations lying around and logically the information about them in the EG had to come from a form of archeology (xenoarcheology).
Speaking in terms of Terragen civilizations - The closet we currently come to archeology in this area is again a matter of logical inference rather than direct descriptions and is in relation to the aftermath of major disasters in the setting. The Gehenna Incident, the Surreal Rash, and Cinder Systems presumably all result in the remains of multiple civilizations that might be studied for reasons that shade into archeology (possibly mixed with the civilization equivalent of figuring out what happened after a plane crash to hopefully prevent it happening again). Like some types of archeology this may occasionally also run into issues with survivors or descendants objecting to things being studied due to religious concerns or issues with 'desecrating' the dead or the like.
There are also a number of mentions of the remnants of the works of ancient Ahuman AIs being left behind in various star systems after they were forced out the Solar System early in the timeline. But again, although this might fall under the umbrella of archeology, it isn't described that way for some reason.
Looking beyond these examples - Logically, there should be some number of failed colony missions over the history of the setting, especially in the earlier part of the timeline when the technology and know-how for setting up a new colony wasn't as developed. We do make passing mention of failed missions here and there in the EG, but seem to mainly treat these as 'the ship never made it to the system' without providing details or talking about colonies that failed after arrival. And as you say, colonies in the Outer Volumes and Periphery - where we explicitly say things are more dangerous - should fail from time to time.
The upshot of all this is that you have pointed out an area of OA that is not as fully developed as it should be. You (and others if they are interested) can think of this as a giant blank canvas waiting to be painted on, if you feel like it. If that feels too much like 'bringing your work home with you' and you'd rather spend time and attention on other aspects of OA, that's perfectly fine as well
(02-10-2020, 08:28 PM)Jargal Wrote: P.S. English isn't my native language, so I apologize in advance for any grammar and syntax errors, which, undoubtedly, I will make a lot.
That's no problem. We have quite a few members here for whom English is not their native language. Plus we have three different versions of English in play on the site (British English, American English, and Australian English) and our membership includes a wide range of experience with writing, regardless of the language it's done in. We like to think that we help people get better with practice
Hope this helps and once again - Welcome to OA
Todd