Hello In my new space game idea the key to success is the trading of goods to and from different planets/moons/space ports/etc. My universe is one of functionality and a gritty grind of human labour and un attractive equipment. Think of it like this, say in the next 100 years we developed star/warp drives and started colonizing other worlds, etc. But it isn't the space we all know and love from the sci-fi films, there are no cool holo projectors or super advanced robots, because in the depths of space you don't want cool, you want something that is functional and tough so it works in the extreme conditions the universe throws around. Now I need some help coming up with goods or products that are in need in this universe, I've come up with a few categories and examples but I need you guys to help me come up with some more and little descriptions on why they would be good in this ever expanding universe. I will say that there are space soldiers (need to name them really) and there are degrees of space pirates, there are also independent robot groups so keep all of this in mind when creating stock. I want as many products as possible with; if you can manage it there predicted size and mass. The List! Product List Thanks in advanced. [Edited by - Punk Designer on August 27, 2009 2:20:17 PM]

- Slaves
- Porn
- Drugs

Most things that are illegal right now are going to be quite common in a universe large enough to render law-enforcement as unrealistic.

Porn is illegal?

Things like food, metal and wood are a bit non-descript. And generally, we probably wouldn't ship them interstellar unless there was a HUGE disparity in production costs.

We ship, for example, frozen meat and grain transcontinentally only because the production system is SO much cheaper than locally that it can't be bettered and even bulk it doesn't cost much to put it on a ship. We do air-transport a lot of food around, but largely that's due to strange economic policies. Until a few years ago we didn't. Assuming space travel is at least reasonably expensive, you're unlikely to move apples between planets.

At the point space travel means towing a million tons of grain somewhere it'll be as boring as ocean travel is today..

Transportable stuff in an era where space travel is unusual/dangerous/exciting is generally going to be things you can't get locally. So those will be things which need;

a) a higher tech level than the place has; your genetic animals is a good one, or even seeds -- genetics companies already "tie" you to buy new seed each year by making their plants infertile. Medical drugs, biomed equipment again works here. Advanced computer systems, machinery, some weaponry fit into this category. Some of these would be reasonably priced at the source but would only generate a modest markup.

b) you simply *can't* reproduce them; people would be an example. Antiques would be another. Fine works of art -- the artist lives on another planet, you HAVE to get the pictures shipped. They're probably expensive to buy to start with.

c) objects which are rare by dint of actual rarity; jewels, exotic/speciality foods {Think things caviar here}. Regular alcohol probably isn't -- it's not at all hard to make -- but specialist alcohol might; Beer gets brewed locally but champagne you import. These would be much the same sort of things as are expensive today. These are probably pretty expensive as well.

d) objects which are rare merely by dint of location; cultural artifacts whose value is increased merely by the act of shipping them. They'd be cheap on the originating planet, but expensive the further away you go.

e) Things which are illegal where you are; recreational drugs is a perfect example. Exotic (perhaps endangered or dangerous) pets might be another. It may not be illegal at the production site -- I suspect heroin is pretty cheap in Afghanistan, it's the risk in bringing it to the west (where it's illegal) which makes it valuable. Information might fall into this category. Not just porn, but political writings, philosophy, even religious books -- like the cultural artifacts they might have low value in one location and high in another.

f) Things which are illegal to make where they're made. Illegally hunted furs and trophies could be one -- relatively ordinary substances could acquire value this way; think about ivory. 100 years ago, it was a fairly ordinary material -- now it's illegal to hunt it there are ivory smugglers. However it's not illegal to own ivory, it's just expensive because rarity has pushed the price up. (This works the other way round too, materials can suddenly plummet in price/rarity -- people once made prized cutlery sets out of an expensive metal... called 'aluminium' :-)



You could probably get a pretty good list by looking at the manifests of ships in the 1600s and 1700s and seeing what they were moving around.

Don't forget that speed sometimes makes a different to the yield on items. Yes, it's only a computer spare part... but if it's the one you need for something important, you might pay extra to overnight it. Tea clippers were built because there was a price premium in being first to market.

Actually food and life support supplies will likely be one of the most commonly shipped items through space if we develop cheap and easy Faster Than Light ships.

Why? Because planets that can grow food are fairly rare, but there are a lot of places with stuff that could be easily mined, but wouldn't want to actually live there full time.

If it becomes more cost effective to ship food, air, and water to a mining station, then you'll produce it off site and truck it in. This would likely be safer than trying to rely on on-site production using potentially unreliable equipment. You might have systems there as a back up if your transport is late, but I would feel more comfortable with four or five store rooms with six month's of supplies, if a cargo ship stopped by every week, than I would with a garden dome that produced food 'just in time'. After all if one of the green house techs screws up, I'm out lunch.


So, what is shipped, and where it is shipped to, will totally depend on the actual cost of shipping. Most of the shipping will likely be done between major developed worlds, and starting colonies or mining out posts.

After all, if a world is well developed, they are likely going to end up producing nearly everything they could want or need. We get along just fine on earth without needing to mine stuff off world. Now some metals may be far easier to mine in metal rich areas of a solar system and shipped in, but for the most part large centers are unlikely to bother with imports.

It would be plausible for metals to be shipped between solar systems. I'd expect inner worlds to be like North America and Europe and fringe worlds like 3rd world countries. Labor would be a lot cheaper in the fringe worlds, but expertise would be in the inner worlds. If the government wants to build an army of ships, the shipyards would most likely be located in the inner worlds where it's better defended and where there is enough expertise to engineer the ships. The quantity of resources required would be a lot more than what is available in the inner worlds, so importing is required. Also, they would most likely have mined out their worlds if they expanded to other worlds. You don't send colonists 20 light years away just for kicks. You do it because resources are plentiful there and you need them.

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Original post by Tiblanc It would be plausible for metals to be shipped between solar systems... The quantity of resources required would be a lot more than what is available in the inner worlds, so importing is required.

I just don't see this - sure, Earth will be fairly mined out at some point in the future, but we still have the Moon, many other planets and moons, and the asteroid belts - all of which are closer than the nearest star system. Unless FTL travel is considerably cheaper than sub-light travel, bulk import between star systems seems unlikely.

Quote:

You don't send colonists 20 light years away just for kicks. You do it because resources are plentiful there and you need them.

You also send colonists away because your homeworld is overpopulated, and you need to get rid of them (somewhat like the British use of Australia as a penal colony).

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Original post by loufoque Porn is illegal?

In some countries, yes. Certain types are illegal even in moderately liberal jurisdictions (i.e. the US).

Well what will a planet not have that they need?

Food, water, air?

Generally speaking they will likely have the components for basic steel but you can introduce a special steel that is needed for space ship building, soldier's armor, high tech computers, etc.

There is also need for energy. Once again basic energy needs can be provided by the planet most likely but space travel and military operations may require very high tech energy sources.

After that knowledge and people become extremely important.

Resource –
- e.g. mineral - Things like crystals, rocks, etc.

Machinery/vehicle –
- Atmospheric Craft - For close-range planetary survey, or atmospheric combat.
- Satellites - Things you leave behind to collect data.

Water is a consumer good that isn't needed!?

You might find some useful info in one of the early versions of the game you're proposing: Elite