Eugghh... I never liked the idea of silicon-based life. Not saying it's impossible, but believe me, as someone with considerable experience in the field of biochemistry I can name a lot of problems with it. Even if they did come about on Novaluna, selective pressure would absolutely favor carbon-based life, which is everything else. Also, silicon-based life would not be crystalline. Silicon dioxide is an inorganic material largely unusable in life.
Cumberlanda wrote:Vistora wrote:
So far, we've settled on our Ark ships being of the Sleeper variety, propelled by methods far better for such massive constructs than solar sails, that carry at least one onboard shuttle for ferrying the crew up and down.
Alright, makes sense. I'd say it also should have some smaller scout ships for preliminary exploration. It would be easier to send down 10 in a ship of that size than 10 in a ship that could hold upwards of 1000.
I guess perhaps each Ark ship can either have one large cargo/transport shuttle and several small scout entry vehicles. Additionally, each participant perhaps can choose between one large shuttle or, say, three smaller shuttles. The former would result in a larger, more developed settlement from the get-go, while the latter would entail a larger number of smaller colonies spread out.
