As a rule I speak in general terms when it comes to history, and the impact it has on the way things turn out in the end.
Your history is rather flawed, as we'll see, so any "lessons" you've derived from it are flawed too.
Diplomatic relationships take time to form. The meeting point maybe there for a few months or a few years depending on what sort of treaty is being discussed as they iron out the points of this new alliance. They are also going to want to know what the Imperium is going to give them in return.
I'll remind you of you own initial question. You asked about
first contact. Not diplomatic ties, not treaties, and not trade missions but
first contact. All the stuff you're writing about now isn't what you initially asked about. Yes hammering out formal agreements will take time but you didn't ask about that. You asked about how the Imperium could contact the FTL-capable sophonts of this sector with a minimum of danger for both parties.
From a historical point, I’m looking at the way the Portuguese and the Dutch created their trading posts along the coast of Africa.
The Dutch didn't trade in Africa. They settled the Cape as a supply depot for their shipping heading for their real colonies in the East Indies.
They basically went in, set up a secure area, met with the locals and started trading.
No, they didn't. At first Portugal was only interested in creating supply depots supporting their push around Africa to India, depots which were fortified more with an eye towards preventing other Europeans from seizing them and less with an eye towards defense against the lcoals. The Portuguese weren't interested in trading with the locals beyond the trinket level until much later and that trade began via the usual blanket method.
Further in land, most tribes never saw or heard about the foreigner. Either the coastal people wanted to monopolize on the trade or use the technological advances share with them by the traders to keep their political position secure in the area. What started out as a simple resource trade venture turned into the slave trade. (Again this is the simple version of events).
That's not a simple version of the events. It's simplistic and mostly false version of the events. Europeans weren't kept out of the interior by the machinations of the coastal nations they traded with. Europeans were kept out of the interior because African diseases made the interior a death trap for Europeans. As late as the 1700s, Europeans working in the coastal slave depots experienced a yearly mortality rate of over 90%. Goods could only travel into and slaves out of the interior in the hands of the locals.
My thought process about these Meeting points is to attract potential clients to the Imperium.
My thought process in creating the idea was to answer your original question: The meetpoints are where the Imperium and the locals will make
first contact. Once that contact is established and both parties feel secure enough, further negotiations will continue where either side lives.
The Imperium isn't opening up a Walmart and inviting everyone to come on down for huge savings on TL15 devices. The Imperium is simply letting their presence be known in a low key manner. The Imperium is picking a point along routes they know one or more local races travel, a point which isn't seen as critical by the local races, and a point which the Imperium can control.
The Diplomatic Corps has made contact with three races and are in the process of working out the standard treaty...
I'll point out
again that the Imperium is
not negotiating those treaties at the meetpoint. Such negotiations would be held at different locations for each of the races in question, specific locations that work best for each specific race and the Imperium, i.e. the races' homeworlds.
It won't matter if the local races despise each other because each race will be negotiating with the Imperium alone.
So in my mind, the Diplomatic Corps has a very important role to play in exploring new sectors. (And No, I’m not saying this is comparable to Star Trek in anyway!!!)
Of course the diplomats will be earning their pay. As for not saying this is comparable to
Star Trek, you may not be saying that but far too many of your assumptions are based on
Star Trek beliefs and technology.
This is
Traveller and it works differently.
Two Movies I’ll throw at you here as examples: Battle for Los Angeles and Independent Day.
Sorry, but no. Hollywood is an example of nothing.
However, it’s my understand the Imperium isn’t exactly expanding at this time and depending on which version you’re using in a state of collapse.
Wait a minute. This is your idea, but you don't know whether the Imperium in this situation is expanding or collapsing? That certainly explains why you've been moving the goals with each of your posts.
So any exploration of a new region might only (snip of completely different scenario)
That's not what you asked about in your first post. It's interesting, despite the inclusion of the cliched Hollywood schtick of rapacious aliens, but it's not what you asked about.
Now technology contamination: We know what happens here on earth when a company wants to get into a market control by someone else. Reverse engineering of a product takes place. If a race xenophobic or happens upon derelict alien ship they are going attempt to see how these alien’s technology works (Can you say Area 52 conspiracy). Of course it going to take time for them to reverse engineer the technology and make it part of their defenses.
First, it's Area 5
1. Get your conspiracy theories straight.
Second, technology contamination doesn't work like you think it does in the real world and doesn't work like you think it does in
Traveller. If all it takes to gain a technology is a product and a short period of reverse engineering, Vietnam would be building wafer fab clean rooms on their own and every race in
Traveller would be at TL15. Vietnam isn't, the races in
Traveller are not, and your fears are completely overblown.
In this example, we don’t need to reverse engineer the device, we just need to give them the information required to operate it. If there are no plans for the Imperium to take an active role in the sector or quadrant, the race discovering simple technology will have the time to understand and build their very own copy of the device they have found. If they are able to take the crew and turn them (again language becomes an issue), they would be on the fast track of technological growth.
The mind boggles... I'll repeat again that if what you said were true every race in
Traveller would be at TL15.
Gene Rodenberry popular culture version of “First Contact” shows us the basics things we must watch out for when a higher tech civilization meets a lower one.
Anthropology and history show us the result of higher tech civilizations/cultures meeting lower tech civilizations/cultures. That result is the destruction of the lower tech civilization/culture and not a loss of technology from one to the other. Roddenberry's version is both wrong, mush minded, and not
Traveller.
In fact,
Traveller explicitly renounces the idea of any Prime Directive or other such boobery. It's been laid out forthrightly, most recently in
T4 which states, and I'm paraphrasing, that you can trade with lower TL races and cultures all want if you think you're smart enough.
We’ve all read different takes on the First Contact scenario and what takes place.
Traveller has basically one take and it's not the take you've been assuming.
We know as a general rule, it dangerous because we don’t know what the alien’s outlook towards ET’s are...
Hence my answers to your questions about first contact.
... and knowledge is a dangerous thing because it can be used in ways it was never intended to be used.
Spoken like a true Vilani, but the Third Imperium doesn't seem to be as worried about people acquiring technology as much as you are. After all, despite thousands of years of nearly free trade across Chartered Space, there are still significant technological gaps between races and within races.
Good luck with your project.
