[Dekzar]

Hey everybody!

I've got a question for you all. I was curious, if left alone for 40 years, bothered by only very little internal problems, what do you think the Sol system was capable of in 40 years?

I mean, the impression I got from FS2 was that Sol was not just a tourist spot, but it had massive factories and could output huge numbers of ships/weapons etc. (Thus why the GTVA had to sort of rebuild their tech a little at the beginning of FS2. They were cut off from these facilities they'd relied on so much.)

So, my thoughts were, if Sol turned all that power to building up new ships and weapons, in 40 years they could have maybe a couple dozen new ship DESIGNS (Blueprints, whatever.). They could probably have built a few ships (2 or 3) each based on, say, 12-15 new designs.

What do you guys think? What could Sol accomplish in 40 years?

[aldo_14]

An Orion with 5 more guns.  

If Sol was a massive shipyard with billions of people, and hadn;t been at least partly evac-ed in FS1, and hadn't suffered any internal strife, then they'd probably just run out of materials sharpish.

[StratComm]

Let us not forget that Sol also had the partial wreckage of the Lucifer.  They would, however, be getting very starved for food/materials, since the Sol system has no relief outlet for population growth.

[Night Hammer]

Play Sol:A History:p

[NGTM-1R]

Are they capable of creating the EA as seen in Inferno? Certainly. They're probably actually ahead in terms of beam tech, since they got the front end of the Lucifer to work with instead of just sensor records.
Given what's said in FS1's ending, it seems likely that they would expect the next ship from outside the solar system that showed up to be Shivan, and have probably armed themselves to the teeth in anticipation of that. They can beat another Lucifer now; there is no defense except for hull plating against a beam cannon.
I would expect a fairly large fleet, roughly half the size of that of the GTVA, maybe a little more, and perhaps slightly further along in technology. I would also expect that fleet to be beam-heavy and have few conventional energy weapons mounted on their capships, though probably not so on their fighters.

[Bobboau]

beams were developed more by that Vasudans the the former GTA, and I don't ever remember hearing that they were based even loosely on the lucifer's weapons.

anyway... /*pats BWO avitar*/

[StratComm]

While Terrans do seem to have more experience in more convention ordinance (missiles, bombs) and in bolt weapons (kayser), it would make sense for the Vasudans to be the ones responsible for beams.  However, I can't say that I've ever heard anything canon one way or another about who created beams for the GTVA.  And just because the GTVA didn't base their weapons off of Lucifer designs doesn't mean that Sol would follow the same lines.

[Akalabeth Angel]

Does it say anywhere that the Vasudans actually developed the Beam Cannons? I know the Sobek was the first to mount the weapons, but that doesn't mean its not a joint project of some sort.

[Night Hammer]

whatever happend to the Vasudans actually still in Sol when the Lucifer blew?

I know there were at least four(the thoths). Prolly more in system though

[Swamp_Thing]

Originally posted by Night Hammer
whatever happend to the Vasudans actually still in Sol when the Lucifer blew?

I know there were at least four(the thoths). Prolly more in system though

They married humans and breeded a new race of "vasumans"!!

[Bobboau]

/*unpleasent thought*/

...anyway, I don't know if it actualy said the vasudans developed beams, but I do remember that Vasudan ships were the first to mount them. but, there is a mountan of evedence for it compared to what I recal as for there being ANY conection AT ALL between the lucifer and GTVA beams, you know, other than if the lucifer hadn't been destroyed there wouldn't have been any, not from the GTVA anyway.
...
eh, ayeah.

[NGTM-1R]

Beam cannons are based on the Lucifer's main guns...in case you missed the numerous references to this fact you can find on almost any FS2 website, I suggest you look here: http://dynamic4.gamespy.com/~freespace/hlp/category_show.php?cat=13

See?

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by ngtm1r
Beam cannons are based on the Lucifer's main guns...in case you missed the numerous references to this fact you can find on almost any FS2 website, I suggest you look here: http://dynamic4.gamespy.com/~freespace/hlp/category_show.php?cat=13

See?

AFAIK that's not a canon reference.

[NGTM-1R]

...explain to me why it's in that exact form on every site that has a "technology" section, unless it's copied from canon material?

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by ngtm1r
...explain to me why it's in that exact form on every site that has a "technology" section, unless it's copied from canon material?

AFAIK I've not seen that in any form on either the V website or in the FS2 tbls.

AFAIK because I can't check the tbls justnow

[Akalabeth Angel]

Whose to say the sites aren't copying one another? Personally, I don't recall seeing that text in the game anywhere . . . though some of the non-beam info is from FS2 or its brethren (the subspace info for example).

[Pnakotus]

Everyone would die, and noone would build anything.

Without supplies and materiel, I would have expected a massive death rate in Sol after Lucy popped.

On the ability to build fleets however, I'm not sure.  Sol was still very much the center of the GTA, and even after 30 years the GTVA fleet really wasn't that big; I'd estimate no more than several hundred ships.  I didn't really get the impression it was as large as the GTA fleet at the end of the Great War.  So whatever the bottleneck is for construction in FS, it might not apply to Sol, since they do have SOME resources and most of the shipyards.  But the economy would require massive restructuring, and since they may not have immediately noticed the node not working, poor management and a desire to keep the situation from the public could result in large shortages.  I figure a Stalinesque approach to economic change, with billions of deaths.

Lucys head would be totally useless; until I rewatched the end cinema from FS I thought I remembered it being largely intact, but it's totally blown to ****.  Its as usable as the Galatea, ie Not At All.

And anyway, Sol is likely to be immediately torn by internal division.  While Sol:A History is exaggerated for dramatic purposes, its almost certain that the GTA government would fall; frankly I'd expect rioting in the streets and massive disruption.  Once things calmed down they'd have a lot of catching up to do, and really, with absolutely no concievable threat, why would you concentrate on military technology beyond Keeping The Workers Down and Looking Hardcore On Television?

[Black Wolf]

Originally posted by Pnakotus
Once things calmed down they'd have a lot of catching up to do, and really, with absolutely no concievable threat, why would you concentrate on military technology beyond Keeping The Workers Down and Looking Hardcore On Television?

Same reason the GTVA do - because the shivans can travel tyhrough unstable jump nodes.

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Pnakotus
Everyone would die, and noone would build anything.

Without supplies and materiel, I would have expected a massive death rate in Sol after Lucy popped.

On the ability to build fleets however, I'm not sure.  Sol was still very much the center of the GTA, and even after 30 years the GTVA fleet really wasn't that big; I'd estimate no more than several hundred ships.  I didn't really get the impression it was as large as the GTA fleet at the end of the Great War.  So whatever the bottleneck is for construction in FS, it might not apply to Sol, since they do have SOME resources and most of the shipyards.  But the economy would require massive restructuring, and since they may not have immediately noticed the node not working, poor management and a desire to keep the situation from the public could result in large shortages.  I figure a Stalinesque approach to economic change, with billions of deaths.

Lucys head would be totally useless; until I rewatched the end cinema from FS I thought I remembered it being largely intact, but it's totally blown to ****.  Its as usable as the Galatea, ie Not At All.

And anyway, Sol is likely to be immediately torn by internal division.  While Sol:A History is exaggerated for dramatic purposes, its almost certain that the GTA government would fall; frankly I'd expect rioting in the streets and massive disruption.  Once things calmed down they'd have a lot of catching up to do, and really, with absolutely no concievable threat, why would you concentrate on military technology beyond Keeping The Workers Down and Looking Hardcore On Television?

Because a war, whether it exists or not, is a great way of keeping the people motivated.  Read 1984, or - for a less extreme and real life example - look at how the US is keeping up military spending with no tangible* enemy at present.  
*because terrorism isn't a tangible or conventional military enemy

Or there could be a re-factionalising of the system, rebellions in the more neglected planets like Mars, or the moon / colonies in the outer reaches of the system.

For example, if materials were short and the Gas Giants or the asteroid belt were being extensively mined and tightly controlled from Earth, the locals might get restless and demand more influence.... if given then older, but less resource-rich, worlds might complain....etc

I had a pretty good script for a 're-entry of Sol' campaign somewhere... centred around a civil war in the system where both sides were trying manipulate the GTVA to their own ends.  Probably cliche-ed now, though.

[TrashMan]

Originally posted by Pnakotus
Everyone would die, and noone would build anything.

Without supplies and materiel, I would have expected a massive death rate in Sol after Lucy popped.

On the ability to build fleets however, I'm not sure.  Sol was still very much the center of the GTA, and even after 30 years the GTVA fleet really wasn't that big; I'd estimate no more than several hundred ships.  I didn't really get the impression it was as large as the GTA fleet at the end of the Great War.  So whatever the bottleneck is for construction in FS, it might not apply to Sol, since they do have SOME resources and most of the shipyards.  But the economy would require massive restructuring, and since they may not have immediately noticed the node not working, poor management and a desire to keep the situation from the public could result in large shortages.  I figure a Stalinesque approach to economic change, with billions of deaths.

Lucys head would be totally useless; until I rewatched the end cinema from FS I thought I remembered it being largely intact, but it's totally blown to ****.  Its as usable as the Galatea, ie Not At All.

no one is interested in Lucys head... The arms were more-or-less in tact, and on them were the beams.

As far as the resources go - do you even have an idea how many material can one extract from the sol system?
You can build million Orions and you would still have enough for million more!