colonial tech

Richard has a point about colonies making use 
of simplistic tech. This could include advanced 
steam engines (advanced in design, so as to 
retain simplicity but acheive max efficiencies). 

OTOH, one thing people are sort of glossing 
over is the 200 years of time past. Lets just say 
that either biotech or nanotech or both are 
what they are cracked up to be. This has 
profound impacts potentially for colonists. 

Let's talk about the "Factory". This is a nanobot 
builder/controller system. The part you need 
from Earth is the main controller. And maybe 
an initial dose of bots. Add appropriate trace 
minerals, and set it down on a big metal 
deposit. Wait some time, get a small factory or 
machine shop capable of turning out the parts 
for your tractor/car. The factory has the 
advantage of being self repairing. It needs no 
input from the colonists, except relocated every 
so often or a new program (not too expensive 
to ship due to brutal info density and therefore 
low shipping costs) downloaded from Earth. 

And I agree with Richard in terms of the 
simplicity of construction of "a car" (basic) and 
maintenance of same. Henry Ford was building 
internal combustion vehicles long before 
assembly lines. Garages were about the order 
of the day. And he didn't have 200 years on us. 
Henry's cars also gave good value because if 
his engineers told him a crank shaft had to be 
1", he ordered a 2" shaft. They were 
overdesigned, but they lasted a long long long 
time even when poorly treated in many cases. 

---------------------------------------------
Thomas Barclay
Co-Creator of http://www.stargrunt.ca 
Stargrunt II and Dirtside II game site
"In God We Trust... on Cold Steel We Depend."