Pre-ChaNES: Into the Void

[Head Serf]

I'd let Shadowbound take Russia. I think they'd be more important than Indonesia, but I guess that's your call.

And I guess that's fine regarding planets and such, but what about the galaxy as a whole? Will there be a map with all of the different planets and far away they are, and how big they are, ect?

 

[Frozen In Ice]

It does seem strange that Indonesia got in over Russia or India.

 

[Fuschia]

Its not that they got in over Russia or India, its that I chose them. Besides, they have enormous potential(fourth most populous nation in the world, enormous amount of untapped natural resources, and world's second highest biodiversity, not to mention controlling some key shipping areas through the Pacific), and are the most reasonable powerful Islamic state in this NES.

 

[Swissempire]

@Iggy, I didn't write the article

 

[Niklas]

Chand, why four? Considering the very talented players you have lined up on your waiting list, the informal nature of this first update, and all the extra fun we will have with more spread among the factions, why not six or eight? It's easy to imagine a place for at least six of USA, EU, Japan, China, India, Indonesia, Russia and the AU. Next on your list is Erik Mesoy and das right? That would be quite spectacular...

 

[Fuschia]

2008-2019
In 2008, the Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle(PDI-P) began a major campaign against Indonesia's largest political party, Golkar, using basic forms of mass media (radio and newspapers, mostly). This campaign was directed entirely at blaming Golkar for the authoritarian regime of President Suharto. The end result was a disintegration of Golkar's voting base, which dispersed among the various political parties, especially the PDI-P and the Democratic Party(PD).

The elections of 2009 resulted in a PDI-P President and PD Vice-president, with the greatest number of seats in the People's Representative Council, although still a far way from a majority (32%, or 176 seats). The PDI-P continued with Indonesia's general course of high national government involvement in the economy, reliance on an export economy, and not tapping the majority of Indonesia's resources. They also mistreated many of the minorities, especially the ethnic Chinese, who controlled a large portior plantn of the economy for their population. They re-took the Presidency with the same candidate a second time in 2014, although the Vice-president switched from the PD to the National Awakening Party.

These policies led to a general and very slow increase in the economy and infrastructure of Indonesia, although generally only for the main islands. Pollution continued to be a problem, and mistreatment of ethnic minorities and an excess of control by the national government led to some civil unrest. The Party for Indonesian Advancement(PIA), a small regional party that supported economic and industrial reforms, tolerance, and more regional autonomy, were boosted to the national stage when they increased infrastructure levels in many of the smaller islands and supervised construction of a trio of geothermal power plants. A group of NGOs controlled by the Chinese and a number of minor political parties banded together to form the Alliance for Indonesian Advancement(AIA), and the PIA was installed as its head. The elections of 2019 led to a much reduced PDI-P, with almost all of their lost votes being garnered by the PIA.

Although the elected President was from the Democratic Party and the Vice-president from the PDI-P, the controlling factor of the People's Representative Council was the AIA. The PIA single-handedly gathered 17% of all votes, and the Alliance's total was just above 40%.

OOC: More to come later, I don't have the time or energy to post all of this at once...

 

[Chandrasekhar]

And I guess that's fine regarding planets and such, but what about the galaxy as a whole? Will there be a map with all of the different planets and far away they are, and how big they are, ect?

Yes. Well, at least the map will show each star system of note, and a further stat page will briefly describe the type and orientation of each of the systems' planets.

Chand, why four? Considering the very talented players you have lined up on your waiting list, the informal nature of this first update, and all the extra fun we will have with more spread among the factions, why not six or eight? It's easy to imagine a place for at least six of USA, EU, Japan, China, India, Indonesia, Russia and the AU. Next on your list is Erik Mesoy and das right? That would be quite spectacular...

The main limiting factor here is how many habitable planets are within close range of Sol (in this fictional setting, of course). There are three, actually, and only one of them is the sort to launcher stellar empire of its own from. Of course, each of those branches off into several other systems, with interconnections of their own, so I could fully see a more distant colony being made under, say, Russian governmental administration once the systems closest to Earth have been colonized.

Even with four nations, the initial setup is going to be somewhat crowded. This may work out to be a good thing.

 

[Fuschia]

We will still be able to set up colonies or, at least, bases on "uninhabitable" planets, right?

 

[erez87]

will there be millions of possible star systems?

Just wondering You said the whole galaxy is in after all.

 

[North King]

Moreover, I argue that in the far future, we have 2 other habitable planets as literally next-door neighbors. Mars is fairly easy to terraform; Venus will take a little more work, but both can probably support human life.

 

[Swissempire]

What if you just made it a future NES with some Stellar competition, but mostly just a future NES

 

[Chandrasekhar]

We will still be able to set up colonies or, at least, bases on "uninhabitable" planets, right?

Yeah, various planets are unfriendly for various reasons, but they all have their redeeming features. The vast majority of colonies will end up being large series of domed communities, at least unless this NES goes through a second BT period where terraforming is a serious force. Solar harvesting and resource collection will remain as fairly constant attractions even for planets where humanity is tough to sustain.

will there be millions of possible star systems?

Just wondering You said the whole galaxy is in after all.

At the moment I'm settling for "dozens." However, the map will continue to expand as humanity does, as needed.

Moreover, I argue that in the far future, we have 2 other habitable planets as literally next-door neighbors. Mars is fairly easy to terraform; Venus will take a little more work, but both can probably support human life.

In other conditions Mars might be hospitable enough to be the home of an interplanetary empire, but with Earth on its doorstep, it'll probably end up as property of whoever owns its much more useful neighbor.

What if you just made it a future NES with some Stellar competition, but mostly just a future NES

What if you made it?

 

[North King]

In other conditions Mars might be hospitable enough to be the home of an interplanetary empire, but with Earth on its doorstep, it'll probably end up as property of whoever owns its much more useful neighbor.

Obviously it will not be a home for an empire, but it could be a highly useful planet. People need to live somewhere, after all. Venus is even more useful, if you can get rid of that atmosphere. It's almost the same gravity as Earth, and I imagine that you could make the planet almost as populated if you tried.

Also, domed communities strikes me as something of a rather silly sci-fi cliche. Why have domes, with all that useless air needing to be pumped in, and with all that surface area to worry about? I think modules interconnected on the surface, while much less glorious, are much more practical.

 

[Disenfrancised]

Moreover, I argue that in the far future, we have 2 other habitable planets as literally next-door neighbors. Mars is fairly easy to terraform; Venus will take a little more work, but both can probably support human life.

Depends on the transportation technology - if you have thousands of systems at your fingertips, going someplace thats earth-like right off the bat would be a better option than wasting your time/energy on sucky planets like mars and venus.

Plus I think your underestimating venus - sorting out the day-night cycle alone will be difficult and energy expensive.

 

[North King]

Depends on the transportation technology - if you have thousands of systems at your fingertips, going someplace thats earth-like right off the bat would be a better option than wasting your time/energy on sucky planets like mars and venus.

I don't buy the Rare Earth hypothesis at all, but nor do I think that Earths will be as common as dirt. I'm suspecting they will be rare enough to make long term, low cost terraforming efforts well worth it.

Plus I think your underestimating venus - sorting out the day-night cycle alone will be difficult and energy expensive.

A thick atmosphere (less thick than they have now, obviously) can help with heat distribution, as can solar shades and mirrors.

 

[Dachs]

Mars is fairly easy to terraform;

lurker's comment: The kind of planet-wide terraforming you're talking about, to make Mars reasonably habitable, would take hundreds of years at the minimum. I've seen a scenario for a 1400-year terraforming experiment, too, but then again that was conducted by pH's and entirely too soft sci-fi for my tastes.

 

[North King]

lurker's comment: The kind of planet-wide terraforming you're talking about, to make Mars reasonably habitable, would take hundreds of years at the minimum. I've seen a scenario for a 1400-year terraforming experiment, too, but then again that was conducted by pH's and entirely too soft sci-fi for my tastes.

Hundreds of years, from what I've read, seems reasonable. Moreover, there's nothing wrong with thinking of it on that scale. No, it's not going to be instantaneous, but few things are.

 

[alex994]

2008-2019They also mistreated many of the minorities, especially the ethnic Chinese, who controlled a large portior plantn of the economy for their population.

Who will simply flee back to Great China with their capital and skills and further deprive the backwater of Indonesia the capital and expertise it requires to keep what you call a nation together

 

[Chandrasekhar]

Obviously it will not be a home for an empire, but it could be a highly useful planet. People need to live somewhere, after all. Venus is even more useful, if you can get rid of that atmosphere. It's almost the same gravity as Earth, and I imagine that you could make the planet almost as populated if you tried.

Well, the atmosphere is a very big problem. Something like 90 times Earth's air pressure, right? And a tempurature of 450 degrees celcius, which isn't anything to shrug aside either. Mars seems much more attractive as a colonization option, at least as far as I know.

Also, domed communities strikes me as something of a rather silly sci-fi cliche. Why have domes, with all that useless air needing to be pumped in, and with all that surface area to worry about? I think modules interconnected on the surface, while much less glorious, are much more practical.

Well, it's the same basic principle, right?

I don't buy the Rare Earth hypothesis at all, but nor do I think that Earths will be as common as dirt. I'm suspecting they will be rare enough to make long term, low cost terraforming efforts well worth it.

That's what I'm aiming for.

 

[Lord_Iggy]

Great Britain still has its own government. It's just become more integrated into the EU.

After some currency troubles in the early 2020s, it adopted the Euro, BTW.