[Loser]

Just another experienced solo-ist (yeah, yeah, har, har) here, who is new to the board, culture, and multiplayer, but I have some ideas on the population inquiry.

The way I see it, every 1,000,000 block of population is it's own arcology, that's why it weighs so much (ha!). It produces enough food, clothes, entertainment, and pharmaceuticals to keep it going. They produce their own power and are so big on recycling that they can keep going in cargo holds in space.

For most people in the world, the only job they have is providing for other peoples sustenance, and reproduction (whoo-hoo). Some of them are army reservists. Kind of like real life.

Your planetary facilities are big (BIG!) and mostly automated. They really only need someone to push the buttons. 1,000,000 people is enough that someone is there to push the buttons in the correct manner, less is not enough to figure out how to turn it on. It's something they're doing in their spare time, like fishing.

However, as you get truly obscene numbers of people on the planet (it starts at what, 50,000,000?) there are enough people pushing the buttons on the facilities that they figure out how to push them more efficiently. Population bonus time.

That farm on you homeworld is not producing consumables. It is making hemp, rubber, are peanut oil for the hoses, gaskets, and stuff in you industry.

Similarly, every unit is not just that unit, it is a modular support and maintainance harness that interfaces between the unit and whatever is carrying it. An unbilicus _and_ housing for the pilot.

Of course, that's just my paradigm. I could be wrong.

[ 26 April 2002: Message edited by: Loser ]