Johannes replied to me: > An other possibility would be in a gigantic galactic empire setting. They > might even build one or two such ships without custombuilding it for > specific evacuation.
Instead of building and mothballing specialized transports, the GGE could use troopships (with extra speed, command and control, and medical facilities). Or subsidize merchanters to mount more life support. Neither would be as efficient in the refugee role as a freighter, but they'd have other uses beyond evacuations. Or they take last-TL freighters, which are no longer competitive in commercial operations, and refit them as evacuation transport ships. (German civil defense and disaster response organizations have some remarkably old trucks, because they are rarely used and hence don't wear out.) Disaster response would be a reason not to rely on local assets like shuttles, too. > An other possiblity is that in part the passangers police themself, if > they already come with an authority structure. It would cut down the > number of stewards neccessary, but it can lead to interesting situations > at the interface of ship and passanger authority. When the assumption is that a world evacuates itself, the split might be between professional spacers and government agencies along for the trip. You take a ready-made city population, including police, health care, schools, social services, whatever, and transport them in a single lift. At their destination, they'll find new city in containers, delivered by regular freighters, and waiting for someone to assemble everything and press the "on" switch :-) Or give each shipload an army corps or division, without their heavy guns but with established chains of command and with all their engineering stuff. On arrival, they can teach how to dig latrines and erect tents. > > But unless the passengers stay on their shuttles (a variant of the pod > > idea), you have to get them off the shuttle and onto the ship, in time > > to turn the shuttle around for the next flight. > > > > Shuttle to ship would likely be one of the most easy operations. shuttles > have typically simple floorplanes and there is only one way to go, there > are very few reasons to stay on the shuttle (looking for lost luggage and > going to the toilet). There is little place and reason to wander off. > > And if you have many shuttles, you might not need to make many runs with > each of them. If thats realistic depends on the exact setting. How is that different from sending the colonists in special trains or buses to the starport? Of course the psychological of a shuttle would be greater. I get the feeling that there could be two ships, or more. One at TL13+, landing-capable, for a million men, and another one at TL10-11, possibly with shuttles or containers, and perhaps somewhat smaller and with a higher ratio of cargo to colonists. _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
