How much does FTL travel cost?

> Remember the assumption that it it costs a lot to send to send an empty

> starship somewhere. The other assumption is that even full

I am not sure I accept this assumption, and I 'think' I have heard others
state just the opposite in this discussion (i.e. they were assuming that FTL
travel was cheap).  Frankly, I figured it was somewhere in between. ;-)

> Steam engines are not low tech, and they are still state-of-the-art for

In 150+ years they will be very low tech IMHO and steam engines are not
used much today (in first world countries they are used in a few speciallized

applications, yes, but that is it).

> You want to send appropriate technology for the expected conditions.

Here I agree with you 100%.

I think it just comes down to how expensive FTL travel is. IMHO, if it is as
expensive I think you suggest, then I am not sure that interstellar conflicts
would be worth gaming. Empires would spend years preparing and IF the conflict
ever took place they would be resolved pretty quickly (in comparison to the
prep time). And I say IF they were resolved because if
you knew you were out-numbered and likely to loose an impending conflict
you would settle at the last minute if at all possible. Anyway, IMHO for FT,
DS2 and SG2 to be viable FTL travel must be affordable to the extent that any
reasonably placed colony can expect a ship from home every year at the
minimum.

> comparison to the prep time). And I say IF they were resolved

Assuming there's anything to ship. We don't ship a lot of stuff to, oh, say
Somalia, because there's not much reason to. We could, if it

On 30-Jan-02 at 21:45, Scott Clinton (grumbling_grognard@hotmail.com)
wrote:

> In 150+ years they will be very low tech IMHO and steam engines are

Our highest tech engine is a steam engine.   How do you think a
nuclear plant turns heat into electricity?

[quoted original message omitted]

> Scott Clinton wrote:

> >Steam engines are not low tech, and they are still state-of-the-art

Where in the first world do you live in if steam engines power less than a
half of the energy not used in transportation? While I will admit that
generating electricity could be considered a specialised application that
requires only a few thousand steam engines, they are the prime movers of much,
if not most, economic activity. They are also used produce electricity, or
motive power, alongside industrial processes that either require steam or have
a lot of waste heat.

Steam engines are still being built and new efforts are still going into