Planets and Resources

[MattII]

Originally Posted by Gregstrom

After further thought, why not abstract asteroid belts somewhat? Treat a beltas a single location with effectively unlimited space, but with costs being very different from planets.

Nah, if you treat it as a single location how are you supposed to attack any particular asteroid?

They'd start out ferociously expensive to build facilities/colonies in, but as tech levels improve (artificial gravity, cheap tech that lets you hollow out and reshape rocks, etc.) costs reduce. Eventually, asteroid belts end up holding most of a system's production etc.

There's only a fraction more volume in a 100km diameter asteroid than in a 50m deep (a height/depth that was nothing to people even half-a-century ago) subterranean complex with the surface area of the USA, and said complex wouldn't need to provide its own air or food either.