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

On Thu, 23 Sep 1999, Oerjan Ohlson wrote:

> Good post, but I have one problem with this:

likewise :).

> 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,

i can't argue with canon.

> and much or even most of this growth was due to immigration. 

now hold your horses - where do you get this idea? i distinctly remember
the term 'carefully engineered population growth'. immigration would
obviously be the major factor to begin with, but population growth is
exponential; possibly even super-exponential, as as the population
increases, the planet will get better healthcare, agriculture, etc.

> 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...

Singapore currently has 700 000 000 gross tonnes of shipping go through
it
each year; that's about 2 million tonnes a day. i would guess that this
is
more than a brigade. i reckon that interstellar trade has to be on
scales
at least equal to earthound trade (after all, it's worth fighting
extremely expensive wars over).

> 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.

i'd agree. i think that freighters, liners, transports, etc, must be far
larger than warships, which is very much at odds with the picture in FT.

i have to say the idea of 10 000 tonne space battleships never rang true
with me. ships in canon ft strike me as unfeasibly small.

tom