Re: How big is a troopship? [DS/FT/SG2] (and what it all means)

Good post, but I have one problem with this:

> So.... A Brigade might be about 720 Mass.
> 
> THAT is a lot of mass. THAT is an asset worth killing for an enemy
> (the ship cost is quite high). THAT is worth defending. THAT dwarfs
> SDNs. Transports in the GZGverse would far outsize warships (think DD
> vs Supertanker for an analogy). And that's only arriving to a fight
> with maybe 2300 guys.

OK. 2300 people with some heavy equipment and provisions for a month or
so requires 720 HS in cargo/passenger space and landers alone; about
1000 HS if you add in minimal hull and engines as well.

The population of the NAC capital, Albion, grew from zero to "almost as
large as England" (assuming that the English population doesn't
stagnate very much in the FT future, that's at least 50 million) in 35
years, and much or even most of this growth was due to immigration. 

Assuming that the equipment necessary to survive on an alien world is
no less bulky than the military equipment of the brigade, Albion saw on
average at least one such Brigade-size colony unload its cargo EACH AND
EVERY DAY during those 35 years...

...and there are quite a few other planets that's been colonized as
well in the GZGverse, even if you don't count the horde of unofficial
ones.

So, either colony ships of this size or larger (which would most likely
be drafted as troop carriers when the need arose) are rather common in
the GZGverse, or people in cryo (and most of their equipment) takes a
*lot* less space than Thomas's calculations suggest.

Regards,

Oerjan Ohlson
oerjan.ohlson@telia.com

"Life is like a sewer.
  What you get out of it, depends on what you put into it."
- Hen3ry