[PvK]

Originally posted by geoschmo:

But Graeme's point is valid though if you throw out the FTL part. Ships in SE4 don't travel FTL speeds within system, but they go a LOT faster than anything we can currently do. The Voyager Probes were launched what, 30 years ago? And an SE4 ship launched from Earth now could catch them in about 2 months.
...

Yes, his point that tech in SE4 is far ahead of our 2002 tech is of course valid. Again, it's a matter of proportions. He thinks the starting tech is so high as to be able to hand-wave away many problems. Infinite energy with no specialized fuel, the ability to survive in any environment, and the ability to manufacture anything immediately from raw materials, without any specialized research and design, all seem to be starting techs, as far as his point of view, while in my case, I see them as either at the end of the SE4 tech tree, or way above the entire tech tree.

One problem I have with imagining such high basic abilities, is that with those abilities, the raw materials and empty space provided by alien planets seem to me like they wouldn't be particularly helpful. The raw materials of a single planet would probably be more than enough to provide for all the needs of such an advanced techology. The main advantages of spreading out would be dispersion and maneuver, not providing "used up resources" or "room to study".

PvK

[ October 22, 2002, 15:48: Message edited by: PvK ]