Advice Thread OOC Future Tech Only

[Non-Aligned Worlds]

Yes, that is accurate. However with nations that prove themselves hostile they have a simple policy "forgive, but never forget".

Depends on what part of the culture. If it's adopting an alien language, I doubt it. If it's adopting new types of food, quite possibly. The same could apply with music, to have a Milagronian feel at the core with just a touch of alien noises.

Someone that breaks tradition is seen as slightly odd, but nothing else. It'd be seen as an odd quirk that person has more than anything else. Said person is still treated with respect and relationships don't fall through because of it. It'd be nice if they followed tradition, but hey if they don't like something they don't like it.

Tradition is pretty important in Milagro, and most people don't really object to it, so someone who doesn't follow it is quite a rare sight.


Already planning that I'm going to have a "Day of the Dead" like in Mexico and obviously the day they arrived on the planet would be cause for HUGE parties ALL over the nation.

I mean ALL over. No peace and quiet for ANYBODY that night.


Thanks. I could answer most of them right on the dot, since I've been thinking about this for a while, but I'd rather not clog up the thread

Oddly enough, fast food is not really all that popular in Milagro. The cultures that formed it from the start were never big on fast food, and due to a shaky colonization process (at first) all gathered food had to be cooked, so fast food never really took off.

As for "show cooking" that is something Milagronians would DEFINITELY be willing to try out. Even if they sucked at it, they'd keep trying until they got decent (at least).
:D

ONE more thing guys. What do you think of my flag. I know there's a bunch of threads for that sole purpose, but in terms of what I've been describing, does it seem to fit. If need be I can explain it and then you can decide if it makes sense or not.

Your nation and mine should get together and have one huge party.

It would be so epic as Cresians can get so hyped up by the end of the day(s) of the party, they won't remember a thing. They party hard. REALLY HARD.


All joking aside, lemme give my thoughts on your flag.

I love it.

Seriously. I love the colors, especially since your people sound like they love fun, the colors are bright and cheery (Even though you could probably add a darker meaning behind the red, which might stand for the blood of those lost defending the nation,). The ripple is perfect for your flag as well. Though when I looked at your normal flag without the ripple I flinched a little because some of the edges are a bit rough,(the graphic Designer in me D:) it looks great.

What would be a good way to introduce my nation? I've done it in MT, but I'm not entirely sure what approach to take. I don't want to do the cliche, send a ship into space and meet people. That's rather dull and loses momentum rather quick in my experiences. Anyone have any good ideas?

My nation in a nutshell is this: A group of systems (Not sure of the number) decide to come together and form the League of Non Aligned Worlds. Since NS FT has plenty of large powers, these systems decide to band together for the common good. They pledge to protect each other, share resources, and adhere to three basic principles.

1. All sentient life is precious.
2. All sentient life is equal.
3. All sentient life deserves freedom.

These worlds are of multiple species with a multitude of different cultures. They would be allowed to run their own affairs but foreign policy would be dictated by representatives of each world.The military would also be streamlined into one common force instead of a bunch of militias.

I was thinking of a diplomatic intro, but military could work too.

Find a nation where not all sentient life is equal or at least appears to be no equal by way of misunderstanding. You could do something diplomatic and have everything get all tense as you realize somethings off.

But thats just me.

That would be an interesting RP. Thanks for idea. I was also thinking of possibly having a larger power sponsor the league and give it some legitimacy. Maybe I could hold a banquet/meeting and allow for my diplomats to meet other powers.

[The Legion of War]

What would be a good way to introduce my nation? I've done it in MT, but I'm not entirely sure what approach to take. I don't want to do the cliche, send a ship into space and meet people. That's rather dull and loses momentum rather quick in my experiences. Anyone have any good ideas?

My nation in a nutshell is this: A group of systems (Not sure of the number) decide to come together and form the League of Non Aligned Worlds. Since NS FT has plenty of large powers, these systems decide to band together for the common good. They pledge to protect each other, share resources, and adhere to three basic principles.

1. All sentient life is precious.
2. All sentient life is equal.
3. All sentient life deserves freedom.

These worlds are of multiple species with a multitude of different cultures. They would be allowed to run their own affairs but foreign policy would be dictated by representatives of each world.The military would also be streamlined into one common force instead of a bunch of militias.

I was thinking of a diplomatic intro, but a military RP could work too.

Those three principles alone either ally you or place in a neutral zone with at least half of NSFT. So you've already kinda taken a side... Somewhat. If a larger power sponsors you, that's also like taking a side. Which IS what you wanted to avoid, right? Right?

HOWEVER, you could refuse to participate in any wars and be totally neutral (like Switzerland) if you really want to be "non-aligned".

[Babylon Commonwealth]

What would be a good way to introduce my nation? I've done it in MT, but I'm not entirely sure what approach to take. I don't want to do the cliche, send a ship into space and meet people. That's rather dull and loses momentum rather quick in my experiences. Anyone have any good ideas?

My nation in a nutshell is this: A group of systems (Not sure of the number) decide to come together and form the League of Non Aligned Worlds. Since NS FT has plenty of large powers, these systems decide to band together for the common good. They pledge to protect each other, share resources, and adhere to three basic principles.

1. All sentient life is precious.
2. All sentient life is equal.
3. All sentient life deserves freedom.

These worlds are of multiple species with a multitude of different cultures. They would be allowed to run their own affairs but foreign policy would be dictated by representatives of each world.The military would also be streamlined into one common force instead of a bunch of militias.

I was thinking of a diplomatic intro, but a military RP could work too.

I'm down for either, once the zombie crisis is done with of course. <3

[Non-Aligned Worlds]

What would be a good way to introduce my nation? I've done it in MT, but I'm not entirely sure what approach to take. I don't want to do the cliche, send a ship into space and meet people. That's rather dull and loses momentum rather quick in my experiences. Anyone have any good ideas?

My nation in a nutshell is this: A group of systems (Not sure of the number) decide to come together and form the League of Non Aligned Worlds. Since NS FT has plenty of large powers, these systems decide to band together for the common good. They pledge to protect each other, share resources, and adhere to three basic principles.

1. All sentient life is precious.
2. All sentient life is equal.
3. All sentient life deserves freedom.

These worlds are of multiple species with a multitude of different cultures. They would be allowed to run their own affairs but foreign policy would be dictated by representatives of each world.The military would also be streamlined into one common force instead of a bunch of militias.

I was thinking of a diplomatic intro, but a military RP could work too.

Those three principles alone either ally you or place in a neutral zone with at least half of NSFT. So you've already kinda taken a side... Somewhat. If a larger power sponsors you, that's also like taking a side. Which IS what you wanted to avoid, right? Right?

HOWEVER, you could refuse to participate in any wars and be totally neutral (like Switzerland) if you really want to be "non-aligned".

Those principles are to govern the nation with the ANAW sphere. We are also seeking a larger ally for protection and legitimacy. Not to get caught up in a war. Although, if ally was to go to war we wouldn't refuse to help them. After all, annexing systems as tribute is a good way to spread the greater good. I will probably start an RP tonight or tomorrow. It will more than likely be a diplomatic function so I can meet with leaders from all over the NS FT community. TG me if you have an interest in it.

[Hobbeebia]

I would be willing to meet your peoples as well

[Yalos]

I wonder how a primarily agrarian interstellar nation might turn out? I have been doing research, and I found out that you can build a massive farm complex that is completely self sustainable, and I thought that it was really cool. This farm system can apparently produce massive mounts of ethanol, reduce environmental waste products and twice the amount of food being produced on a similarly sized farm of today. Would a star nation based almost completely off of this, and of course, a few major industrial centers, make sense? Im thinking similar to Southern US pre civil war, replacing slavery with automated processes. It seems economically sound, efficient and sustainable, but I might be missing sometthing.

[The Akasha Colony]

I wonder how a primarily agrarian interstellar nation might turn out? I have been doing research, and I found out that you can build a massive farm complex that is completely self sustainable, and I thought that it was really cool. This farm system can apparently produce massive mounts of ethanol, reduce environmental waste products and twice the amount of food being produced on a similarly sized farm of today. Would a star nation based almost completely off of this, and of course, a few major industrial centers, make sense? Im thinking similar to Southern US pre civil war, replacing slavery with automated processes. It seems economically sound, efficient and sustainable, but I might be missing sometthing.

It wouldn't be enough to sustain an economy. Even in the US, one of the largest agricultural nations on Earth, actual agricultural production accounts for barely a fraction of US economic output. Even the most efficient farm system will require more land per economic gain than a white collar job.

That aside, modern agricultural sectors thrive due to geography and workforce. Cheap labor forces, or at least heavy government subsidies in the case of developed nations, plus arable land for certain crops results in an agricultural sector, which can then export surpluses to countries without cheap labor forces or arable land. This isn't so important in space, though, as automation can mitigate labor cost issues and there should be no real shortage of arable land once space colonies and other worlds are considered.

Thus, at most, you might be able to scrape out a small niche market of exotic luxury foods, but it's even less likely that you could be a developed space nation and still rely on an agricultural economy, since aside from taste and sustenance for biological entities, it's not a very efficient economic activity.

[Yalos]

What if I were to produce a highly addictive narcotics? Or medicines? A society based off drugs might be fun...
Also, I did mention that there would be at least a spattering of industrial centers spattered around to keep the economy running. Its not like everything is in the hands of farmers.
These wealthy planters will probably aim to just live their simple lifestyle, so there isnt too much economic impetus to industrialze with an already built in method of cash crops,which means that I wil ll suffer industrial problrms.

[Kyrusia]

What if I were to produce a highly addictive narcotics? Or medicines? A society based off drugs might be fun...
Also, I did mention that there would be at least a spattering of industrial centers spattered around to keep the economy running. Its not like everything is in the hands of farmers.
These wealthy planters will probably aim to just live their simple lifestyle, so there isnt too much economic impetus to industrialze with an already built in method of cash crops,which means that I wil ll suffer industrial problrms.

I'm just going to say this, as neither a condemnation nor a recommendation: Space Colombia.

[The Akasha Colony]

What if I were to produce a highly addictive narcotics? Or medicines? A society based off drugs might be fun...
Also, I did mention that there would be at least a spattering of industrial centers spattered around to keep the economy running. Its not like everything is in the hands of farmers.
These wealthy planters will probably aim to just live their simple lifestyle, so there isnt too much economic impetus to industrialze with an already built in method of cash crops,which means that I wil ll suffer industrial problrms.

Any drug you could produce, anyone else could produce as well. The limits of geography and resources start disappearing in space, so the only thing left in truly limited quantities is white collar work and creative endeavors. Notice how that's generally true even today; the service industry accounts for the vast majority of the GDP of developed nations, with industry and agriculture being comparatively minor contributors.

[The Legion of War]

Those three principles alone either ally you or place in a neutral zone with at least half of NSFT. So you've already kinda taken a side... Somewhat. If a larger power sponsors you, that's also like taking a side. Which IS what you wanted to avoid, right? Right?

HOWEVER, you could refuse to participate in any wars and be totally neutral (like Switzerland) if you really want to be "non-aligned".

Those principles are to govern the nation with the ANAW sphere. We are also seeking a larger ally for protection and legitimacy. Not to get caught up in a war. Although, if ally was to go to war we wouldn't refuse to help them. After all, annexing systems as tribute is a good way to spread the greater good. I will probably start an RP tonight or tomorrow. It will more than likely be a diplomatic function so I can meet with leaders from all over the NS FT community. TG me if you have an interest in it.

Regardless of your intent in having a sponser you are still "taking a side". The fact you're willing to annex a nation as "tribute" so you can impose your moral code on them shows that you aren't non-aligned. The real life non-alignment movement during the Cold War did not involve annexing nations.

Imposing your form of government is just like America a few decades back (except they WERE the larger power) and don't tell me America is "non-aligned". If you're willing annex nations as "tribute" I don't think that classifies as "non-aligned". It's imperialism in disguise.

Not that you CAN'T RP that. You most certainly can, as long as the whole point is that the non-aligned systems are non-aligned in name only?

[Thrashia]

So you find a plant (or other narcotic substance) specific to a single planet and simply control the flow. Just like the Spice in Frank Herbert's "Dune."

[The Akasha Colony]

So you find a plant (or other narcotic substance) specific to a single planet and simply control the flow. Just like the Spice in Frank Herbert's "Dune."

Except unfortunately, with sci-fi chemistry, genetic engineering, and a whole host of worlds available, if even a single part of the plant gets out or the drug analyzed, it could be replicated. Spice is rare in Dune because it's used as a plot device, and Herbert was writing a story, not an expose about the drug trade.

[Thrashia]

So you find a plant (or other narcotic substance) specific to a single planet and simply control the flow. Just like the Spice in Frank Herbert's "Dune."

Except unfortunately, with sci-fi chemistry, genetic engineering, and a whole host of worlds available, if even a single part of the plant gets out or the drug analyzed, it could be replicated. Spice is rare in Dune because it's used as a plot device, and Herbert was writing a story, not an expose about the drug trade.

Then there would be absolutely no inter-galactic trade and everyone is self-sufficient in all things. So there's no real need to fight over resources, we can just replicate it. No real need for any strife in fact.

Congrats! You've won Nation States. I'll go find another game now.

[SquareDisc City]

Suddenly, patents and copyrights!

[Non-Aligned Worlds]

Those principles are to govern the nation with the ANAW sphere. We are also seeking a larger ally for protection and legitimacy. Not to get caught up in a war. Although, if ally was to go to war we wouldn't refuse to help them. After all, annexing systems as tribute is a good way to spread the greater good. I will probably start an RP tonight or tomorrow. It will more than likely be a diplomatic function so I can meet with leaders from all over the NS FT community. TG me if you have an interest in it.

Regardless of your intent in having a sponser you are still "taking a side". The fact you're willing to annex a nation as "tribute" so you can impose your moral code on them shows that you aren't non-aligned. The real life non-alignment movement during the Cold War did not involve annexing nations.

Imposing your form of government is just like America a few decades back (except they WERE the larger power) and don't tell me America is "non-aligned". If you're willing annex nations as "tribute" I don't think that classifies as "non-aligned". It's imperialism in disguise.

Not that you CAN'T RP that. You most certainly can, as long as the whole point is that the non-aligned systems are non-aligned in name only?

I'll probably stay non-aligned at first but eventually, who knows. Maybe someone will come to power and change all that. Lots of RP possibilities.

[The Akasha Colony]

Except unfortunately, with sci-fi chemistry, genetic engineering, and a whole host of worlds available, if even a single part of the plant gets out or the drug analyzed, it could be replicated. Spice is rare in Dune because it's used as a plot device, and Herbert was writing a story, not an expose about the drug trade.

Then there would be absolutely no inter-galactic trade and everyone is self-sufficient in all things. So there's no real need to fight over resources, we can just replicate it. No real need for any strife in fact.

Congrats! You've won Nation States. I'll go find another game now.

That actually would generally be true once a sufficient level of technology is achieved. Thus, the scarcity would not be in the materials with which to manufacture something, but in the knowledge. Intellectual property in the form of creative content, technology, and other information would become even more dominant in the economy than it is now, as this is the only content that remains reasonably unique. Solar systems will generally have the same composition of elements and thus generally the same resources, but the ideas dreamed up and experimented upon by sapients would remain a limited resource, particularly when constrained by copyright.

This is not to say that all forms of value for physical goods would disappear. Limited-production luxury goods would remain popular and expensive, more for the prestige attached to them than to their actual value in terms of materials and utility. In this regard, drugs on a small scale may remain popular in the same way that Cuban cigars are still famous, and perceived to be worth importing. But even this fame doesn't sustain Cuba's economy. It is, rather unsurprisingly, difficult to sustain an economy on a single product, or even a single category of products.

Suddenly, patents and copyrights!

Laws have a funny way of being ignored when drugs come into the picture, for various... reasons.

[Arthropoda Ingens]

There's really no reason for competitive advantages to disappear just because space.

It does of course rather depend on how practical long distance travel is, but broadly speaking, competitive advantages in manufacturing and services can happily keep existing.

The primary sector is a different matter, of course. One can of course always make shit up¹, but overall, the primary sector really shouldn't be something that's relevant to international trade. Consequently, territorial expansion for the purpose of primary resource acquisition is nonsensical. OTOH, such expansion for Lebensraum makes perfect sense. And then there's the ideologues. And doom & gloom nations. The suggestion that just because everyone should have all the shiny rocks they could possibly need ends all conflict is just infantile.

¹ Sugar mines. Because weird flora

[The Akasha Colony]

There's really no reason for competitive advantages to disappear just because space.

It does of course rather depend on how practical long distance travel is, but broadly speaking, competitive advantages in manufacturing and services can happily keep existing.

The primary sector is a different matter, of course. One can of course always make shit up¹, but overall, the primary sector really shouldn't be something that's relevant to international trade. Consequently, territorial expansion for the purpose of primary resource acquisition is nonsensical. OTOH, such expansion for Lebensraum makes perfect sense. And then there's the ideologues. And doom & gloom nations. The suggestion that just because everyone should have all the shiny rocks they could possibly need ends all conflict is just infantile.

¹ Sugar mines. Because weird flora

I'm not arguing that comparative advantages will disappear, simply that market domination by a single nation or group based on exclusive control of a resource will disappear on a physical level, with the only thing restricting widespread proliferation (if desired) is intellectual property laws, if observed.

[Yalos]

Wait, Ashaka, if its possible to replicate stuff throughout the universe, then why should I even care about exporting at all? Where's the profit in shipping and merchants when any nation could create an exact replica of any goods? I don't need to invest in trade. If there's no market in product based goods, then what am I actually losing out on? Absolutely nothing, and it seems that luxury goods would be the only way to maintain a positive balance of trade (why else would a nation import or export?), so wouldn't I be grossing more than most other nations if I had a special brand of crop? I'm actually just confused, because you just told me two entirely different things...I think you assumed that I was looking for a profitable economy, but you also argued that the economy should primarily be self sustaining, which is exactly what I was proposing.

I'm simply looking for an effective method of sustenance, to keep a semi healthy economy running, and if this farming system is able to build, a more or less self sustaining homestead, why would it matter if I export things? Any world with a sun could use this system, and if my culture has an agrarian history, wouldn't it make sense if I build a harvesting economy for the sake of my IC culture? From what you just told me, my system works just fine. I don't need a positive balance of trade if I can support my society within itself through scientific advancements. I don't need to "purchase intellectual property" if my own nation has its own innovators and engineers. Many planters would probably have time to spend in other pursuits, so I'm certain that I wouldn't be lacking in the field of development. Given, I would still be behind the more industrialized nations in terms of military capacity, but I'm not looking for a militarized nation, so that fits the bar just right.

So...I guess that my farming economy works, but doesn't make a nonexistent economic profit?
I can live with that.

[The Akasha Colony]

Wait, Ashaka, if its possible to replicate stuff throughout the universe, then why should I even care about exporting at all? Where's the profit in shipping and merchants when any nation could create an exact replica of any goods? I don't need to invest in trade. If there's no market in product based goods, then what am I actually losing out on? Absolutely nothing, and it seems that luxury goods would be the only way to maintain a positive balance of trade (why else would a nation import or export?), so wouldn't I be grossing more than most other nations if I had a special brand of crop? I'm actually just confused, because you just told me two entirely different things...I think you assumed that I was looking for a profitable economy, but you also argued that the economy should primarily be self sustaining, which is exactly what I was proposing.

Intellectual property. Unlike raw resources, which thanks to the laws of thermodynamics don't magically appear but are already quite abundant, creative property is created and can be exported. Creative works like movies, books, and music, and other forms of information such as scientific research and technology. While a physical device created on a massive automated assembly line may be so cheap as to be close to free, the design behind it is by no means so, and indeed becomes even more important.

Thus, there would be a shift from the trade of physical goods to the trade of intellectual property as the driving force of international trade, although this still has no effect on the massive prevalence of services, many of which could be difficult to automate. The trade of physical goods could still occur on the basis of technological differences protected by intellectual property laws; if one nation develops brand new technologies for say, a car, they could simply refuse to share it and demand people buy from them, but any nation that chooses to ignore these licensing laws could easily build a counterfeit via reverse engineering, and this would be possible with a wider range of goods in the future thanks to more advanced analysis procedures.

Manufacturing specialization is also a factor. A nation that invests in factories specialized in the production of cars will be more efficient than one that builds multi-purpose factories. Thus, while the cost of any of these physical goods will be quite low, and any nation would be capable of producing them if desired, the specialized nation's goods will cost less. However, shipping and transportation must be factored into the equation, along with tariffs, so it would be quite easy for these basic trade barriers to erase any comparative advantage. Again, it depends on the situation, and broad generalizations are only useful in understanding what factors would be involved; how they work out in practice is situational.

I'm simply looking for an effective method of sustenance, to keep a semi healthy economy running, and if this farming system is able to build, a more or less self sustaining homestead, why would it matter if I export things? Any world with a sun could use this system, and if my culture has an agrarian history, wouldn't it make sense if I build a harvesting economy for the sake of my IC culture? From what you just told me, my system works just fine. I don't need a positive balance of trade if I can support my society within itself through scientific advancements. I don't need to "purchase intellectual property" if my own nation has its own innovators and engineers. Many planters would probably have time to spend in other pursuits, so I'm certain that I wouldn't be lacking in the field of development. Given, I would still be behind the more industrialized nations in terms of military capacity, but I'm not looking for a militarized nation, so that fits the bar just right.

So...I guess that my farming economy works, but doesn't make a nonexistent economic profit?
I can live with that.

Agrarian economies don't really function well in terms of providing a high quality of living or a high GDP, both presumably prerequisites in some form to develop spaceflight technology. In fact, developing your 'superfarms' would itself require a vast industrial and service sector to provide the capital, resources, and science necessary for construction. My objection to your 'culture' is separate from the nature of interstellar trade; it's simply that farming isn't productive in terms of actually advancing society. It caters to a basic need but surpluses don't really do much.

If you have surplus food, you might be able to sell it. More than likely though, it'll just spoil and go bad, and is thus effort wasted. But if you have excess industrial capacity instead, you can sell either the surplus products or contract out the factories themselves. Or you could use the capacity domestically to improve standards of living. Neither of these will spoil and go bad. And you can never really have too much research or creative development, unless of course that means no one is growing or importing the bare minimum amount of food to survive. Both also tend to be more labor and land efficient than agriculture as well.

There's a reason why agriculture-dominated economies tend to be either subsistence economies or heavily dependent on exports and usually still considered poor 'banana republics.' There's a reason why despite all the advanced technology and land available in the US, farms are barely profitable and rely heavily on subsidies. Your economy 'works' in that its people don't starve since they have plenty of food, but how they even got into space in the first place is something of a question.

[SquareDisc City]

While any nation may be able to build a widget, some will be able to build it more cheaply than others, perhaps enough more cheaply that shipping it across the galaxy is economic. I've always figured that a general-purpose replicator might be able to make anything but will need more resources and thus cost to do so than dedicated factories.

And ninja'd.

[Star Trek America]

There's always the fact not everyone is going to have replicators or atomic recompliers in their hands and therefore they need to be sustained by trade, realistically speaking this will be just about every single stellar empire excluding some truly high end ones. Intergalactic Commerce will certainly be different from International Commerce, but at the core the trade of goods and services will not stop simply because of space and abundance of raw material.

[OMGeverynameistaken]

There's always the fact not everyone is going to have replicators or atomic recompliers in their hands and therefore they need to be sustained by trade, realistically speaking this will be just about every single stellar empire excluding some truly high end ones. Intergalactic Commerce will certainly be different from International Commerce, but at the core the trade of goods and services will not stop simply because of space and abundance of raw material.

There were limits to replicator technology. Hence why latinum was valuable and restaurants were still a think in the Star Trek universe.

[Star Trek America]

There's always the fact not everyone is going to have replicators or atomic recompliers in their hands and therefore they need to be sustained by trade, realistically speaking this will be just about every single stellar empire excluding some truly high end ones. Intergalactic Commerce will certainly be different from International Commerce, but at the core the trade of goods and services will not stop simply because of space and abundance of raw material.

There were limits to replicator technology. Hence why latinum was valuable and restaurants were still a think in the Star Trek universe.

I'm aware. Point is though, trade isn't going extinct.