Onno Meyer wrote: > Enough forced growth tanks could turn out herds of herbivores to > feed minimal breeding populations of carnivores, so the genetic > engineers don't have to come back later to add carnivores. > > To make this work, the terraformers would need hundreds of labs > and millions of hexes worth of growth tanks. That costs trillions > of $, and it it requires a large ship.
What will the herbivores eat? To do this right, you're going to have to force-grow not just the herbivorous herds to support the carnivores, but also the plants and other autotrophes to support the herbivores. Of course, if you've got a breathable atmosphere already, you may already have this part in place. Or not. If the local flora is biochemically incompatible with your herbivores, you're going to have to start by replacing it with something more palatable. This is equally true in terms of the operation of those forced-growth tanks: to grow a 10-lb. baby, you'll need at least 10 lbs of raw materials, probably in the form of something that can nourish the clone as it grows. By starting with the autotrophes, you can ease into this process: since they don't feed on biological materials, you have a much better chance of finding what you need to grow them on the target world, rather than having to lug it with you. Once they're firmly entrenched, start cranking out herbivores; and once those are in place, start cranking out the carnivores. -- Jonathan "Dataweaver" Lang _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
