[FIZ]

In BP lore, one of the reasons the terraforming of Mars slowed was due to habitable planets being found through the jump nodes IIRC.  This was pre-Great War granted, but it does sound like their is at least one greener pasture in the GTVA 30 systems.  I gotta imagine a bit of a baby boom after near extinction.

[Raptor831]

If 250 million people are in a system (max), and there are approximately 15 systems to the Terran half of the GTVA (on the wiki there are 29 systems, so I rounded to 30), subtract Sol out, and you get about 3.5 billion people (max) living outside of Sol. Think China and India combined plus some extras. The Vasudans probably have a ton more in sheer numbers, simply because they were able to save some of their homeworld's population after the Great War. You've also gotta think that inside Sol there are 10-15 billion people. We've already got 7 billion now, wait 300 years plus Mars and the outer system. Unless there's some "plague" that decided to write in their future histories...

You forget something. The people in the GTVA terretory didn't just pop into existance out of nowhere - they moved from Sol to the new colonies.

Yes, true. So, knock my estimates down to around 7-12 billion inside Sol. If there's only 3.5 billion outside of Sol that's the most that could have been removed from Sol.

I'm just spitballin' with these numbers too, so I may be off!

[Aesaar]

Again, Terran GTVA and UEF populations are roughly equivalent.

[MatthTheGeek]

Do we have a canon proof of that ? I don't remember.

[SpardaSon21]

I don't think canon ever said anything about population and industry ratios, leaving it completely up to the BP team to decide what the ratios are for their mod.

[Raptor831]

Well, here's from the FS1 Intel entries: 12 worlds "successfully" colonized outside Sol, and 15 outposts on planets and moons. I can't imagine that changed too much between the Great War and BP, with those Shivan Incursions and all.

I read through the mission briefings and did find the 250 million in Capella reference, but no reference to how large that was in comparison. If Capella was an "outpost" (a possibility considering its distance), then we're looking at something closer to parity between the UEF and the Terran GTVA.

[General Battuta]

Capella was a densely populated system, not an outpost.

[SpardaSon21]

But as stated, densely populated is relative.  Chicago is dense compared to other cities, but tiny compared to New York City.  I'm going to have to side with Aesaar and say that most of the population of the GTVA probably lives in a small number of systems, and probably most of those people in Beta Aquilae and Delta Serpentis simply due to proximity to Sol.

[##UnknownPlayer##]

It feels like post-Capella the GTVA would've had a schism in settling patterns - on the one hand you've got the people who wind up planetside and inadvertently put down roots there, but probably scattered away from cities in the hope of looking less like targets to a future Shivan attack, and on the other I imagine there was an uptick in people wanting to live in space, in the hopes of being mobile enough to run if/when the Shivans return.

I mean, the GTVA exists in a world where the apocalypse really might be just around the corner, so bunkering down and or getting out are your only two decent options. Or being prepared enough to make a run for Sol when the new portal opened.

[Raptor831]

Capella was a densely populated system, not an outpost.

Yeah, you said that before, I'm just playing "devil's advocate." My wife says I do that too often... <shrugs>

But it does seem that (given the numbers) the post-Great War Terrans would be bound for economic issues after loosing so much.

Edit: Just read that Capella was the home of GTVA 3rd Fleet. Definitely not an outpost. <facepalm>

[Drogoth]

If 250 million people are in a system (max), and there are approximately 15 systems to the Terran half of the GTVA (on the wiki there are 29 systems, so I rounded to 30), subtract Sol out, and you get about 3.5 billion people (max) living outside of Sol. Think China and India combined plus some extras. The Vasudans probably have a ton more in sheer numbers, simply because they were able to save some of their homeworld's population after the Great War. You've also gotta think that inside Sol there are 10-15 billion people. We've already got 7 billion now, wait 300 years plus Mars and the outer system. Unless there's some "plague" that decided to write in their future histories...

Well apparently 4 billion Zods died in the Vasuda Prime bombardment. Do we have any reliable numbers on what percentage of the population that was?

[BlasterNT]

What about considering ship population?  A single Deimos needs a couple thousand crewmembers.  Considering this, Capella would have to be quite populous to support the number of ships seen and implied in FS2. 

[Klaustrophobia]

the ship crews would live at its home port, which is not necessarily capella.

[Raptor831]

If 250 million people are in a system (max), and there are approximately 15 systems to the Terran half of the GTVA (on the wiki there are 29 systems, so I rounded to 30), subtract Sol out, and you get about 3.5 billion people (max) living outside of Sol. Think China and India combined plus some extras. The Vasudans probably have a ton more in sheer numbers, simply because they were able to save some of their homeworld's population after the Great War. You've also gotta think that inside Sol there are 10-15 billion people. We've already got 7 billion now, wait 300 years plus Mars and the outer system. Unless there's some "plague" that decided to write in their future histories...

Well apparently 4 billion Zods died in the Vasuda Prime bombardment. Do we have any reliable numbers on what percentage of the population that was?

I don't recall and can't find any references to the percentage. My initial reaction would be somewhere around 1/3 to 1/2 of the population. Since it was a harsh environment, I can't imagine it was packed to capacity. Seems like a good guess.

[QuakeIV]

I got a similar impression, couldn't explain where though.  'had to be at least a third of them' somehow.

There may have been a percent evacuated figure somewhere.

[Raptor831]

I'm curious, at this point, about a few things.

1. How much were the Terran and Vasudan economies connected after the node collapsed, and after the Second Incursion? Obviously, they build the Colossus, so they had time/money/resources to use, but then after? Judging from the fleet that GTVA has, you'd think that the Vasudans helped . I get the impression in BP that the Vasudans and the Terrans are pretty segregated, at least to the point that the Vasudans are almost considered a third combatant. So, I don't imagine the economies are relying on each other a whole lot.

2. How much of an industrial base to the Terran planets have? Kind of a spin-off from above, but it would help to know how many widgets, say, Capella was spitting out before the star went nova. Another way of putting it, how much of a population base is needed to produce a Raynor, or a Bellerophon? As General Batutta said, if you were colonizing new planets you'd want to take the best and brightest to start with. (Unless you're populating a prison colony...) You'd also want to be able to produce what you couldn't get shipped, so you'd want advanced manufacturing tech to cope. Given that, you probably have higher quality colonies than the homeworld just to survive. Once you get beyond a certain point, you'd begin to attract "regular" people because at that point you've become mostly self-sufficient. You would also need to ask how easy it is to fly from Delta Serpentis to Vega, as lower travel costs allow you to be less picky on who you send.

3. How advanced is the tech, with respect to manufacturing, materials, food production, etc. We see all the fancy ways to blow crap up, but we don't see farms or factories. These fighters we fly have to be similar in relative cost to a modern fighter jet, or we wouldn't see them in those numbers.

Poke holes in any of this if you like!

[FIZ]

I kinda get the impression at this point that Galactic Terran and Galactic Vasudan relations could be roughly mirrored by current US and China diplomacy.  One is in debt because so and so, relationship is kinda frosty, different political ideals, but terms are allowed and there would be harsh consequences for all parties should said relationship sour.

Dunno if I'm making a lot of sense here, 2 beers in after one helluva week.

[Raptor831]

I kinda get the impression at this point that Galactic Terran and Galactic Vasudan relations could be roughly mirrored by current US and China diplomacy.  One is in debt because so and so, relationship is kinda frosty, different political ideals, but terms are allowed and there would be harsh consequences for all parties should said relationship sour.

Dunno if I'm making a lot of sense here, 2 beers in after one helluva week.

Makes sense to me.

[CT27]

Since we've been talking about the population of Sol, how many people do you all think live on Mars?

[Phantom Hoover]

The GTVA being like the US and China is a poor analogy given the much closer links between the two constituents of the GTVA, at least until they were driven apart by authorial fiat.