Re: Small Colonies

> Size of the colony would be somewhere between 300x300
> and 500x500 km, Population ca 55000.
>
> What could make that small colony be a viable
> economical base to support a medium tech mechanized
> force (Hover Vehicles, liquid propellant rifles, HKPs
> and Missiles no grav, no PA) of a brigades size in
> total?

   I'd expect a 55K population to support a battalion rather than a
brigade.  How to get around that?  Well, you could say that the
formation is mostly reservists; or you could say that they're
receiving a lot of cash from outside sources, whether through
mercenary contracts or whatever else.
   If you go the reservist route, an enemy can wreak havoc by parking
his army on your border--if you don't mobilize, you're inviting
invasion, but if you do mobilize, it wrecks your economy.  Egypt did
this to Israel in 67 or 72, IIRC.
   You could just claim that you're exporting unobtainium at high
prices, but you then have to explain why your neighbors haven't moved
in and taken over.
   55K is fairly small anyway--more of a town than a province.	Can
you change to a 500K population?  That would make supporting a brigade
a lot more likely.