Worthless worlds as important places

[bookwyrm]

Battlefield Earth was a fun read, the first half more than the second, in my opinion.

The first half was where most of the 'action' was, especially the Johnny vs. Terl stuff.

The second half was Johnny vs. the Universe to find a place for Humanity to survive & thrive.

 

[Frak]

The point was it’s survivable at TL0/1 .wheras worlds with A+, 1- atm aren’t survivable without TL5+ equipment every minute of every hour of every day for the whole year.

If the population is Human,. Natives open up a whole new range of explainations.

 

[aramis]

The point was it’s survivable at TL0/1 .wheras worlds with A+, 1- atm aren’t survivable without TL5+ equipment every minute of every hour of every day for the whole year.

Fairbanks had no indigenous peoples in the winter until after some stupid gold-hungry Europeans settled there. The Yupik and Inupiaq considered it uninhabitable during the winter... The Fairbanks bowl is summer hunting turf for both, and river accessible in the summers by the Inupiaq. Utgiagvik (Barrow) was and is year round inhabited, but for the most part, the heart of winter is short trips to the neighbors' houses...

It is worth mentioning that the Yupic and Inupiaq are village cultures with seasonal partial-population migration between multible stable locations. One for winter-over (Elderly and small children, and the disabled, remain here year round), one for fishing season, one for caribou and small game hunting. That there are indigenous population sites in the fairbanks bowl is NOT proof of its survivability in winter at TL1... because the TL 1 peoples knew better, and simply summered there to hunt.

So, Fairbanks was really not populated year round until the US was about TL 5. It could have been at TL4, especially if the housing had been conjoined into large structures with reduced exposure (think an indoor mall with houses instead of shops)...
It was settled in 1901... by a white guy, who set up a trading post for trade with the summer hunting and river fishing Yupik and Inupiaq. And then the gold deposites in Fox and other areas close to Fairbanks.

 

[Dragoner]

Interestingly enough I am working on EV Lacertae right now which is a worthless system besides being a strategic nexus, and thus of importance enough to have a big bernal sphere station built, and a planet terraformed, somewhat inadequately; enough so to be a local capital of the zone/subsector it is in.

 

[Commander Truestar]

It's my opinion you can do things (smuggling, etc) in the "worthless" systems which you can't do elsewhere.

So, "Important" depends on what you need.....

 

[Badenov]

It's my opinion you can do things (smuggling, etc) in the "worthless" systems which you can't do elsewhere.

So, "Important" depends on what you need.....

Well, the original post was about Sector and Subsector capitals, so 'official places' rather than 'smuggling havens'. Though, smuggling havens can evolve into important places, the Caribbean is full of them.

 

[Condottiere]

Sometimes, you build capitals in former swamps.

Could be for political reasons.

 

[Commander Truestar]

Well, the original post was about Sector and Subsector capitals, so 'official places' rather than 'smuggling havens'. Though, smuggling havens can evolve into important places, the Caribbean is full of them.

LOL,
No one notices all the panel vans that travel in and out of that odd warehouse-like building off Fleet Street in London.
Inspections never see much of the truck bays inside and no one opens the boxes...

Hmmmm

 

[infojunky]

There are precedents in history.
California, 1849, comes to mind ... the gold rush.

In 1848, the population living in California was about 14,000.

You may want to check your sources, figure between 150,000 to 300,000.

Indigenous and Mexican population where notoriously under counted. The other anomaly in the reporting of the numbers is San Fransisco's Census Records were destroyed by a fire.