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On Mon, 8/25/14, Bruce Johnson <xxxxxx@Pharmacy.Arizona.EDU> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [TML] expected ship traffic
 To: "xxxxxx@simplelists.com" <xxxxxx@simplelists.com>
 Date: Monday, August 25, 2014, 1:17 PM

 On Aug
 25, 2014, at 11:13 AM, David Shaw <xxxxxx@btconnect.com>
 wrote:

 >
 > Which assumes that you need to send cargo
 in nice, convenient, 200kDt loads at *just* the same
 intervals that your superfreighter arrives in system.
 >
 > On the other hand,
 if you're needing to send 10kDt loads pretty much
 constantly, then multiple, smaller ships make sense -
 especially if what you're shipping is perishable or the
 receiving system can only *handle* 10kDt at a time.
 >
 > IRL, we have
 superfreighters plying the oceans, to be sure - but there
 are also a lot of smaller cargo vessels making a living as
 well.

 Which is, pretty
 much, exactly what everyone BUT Phil is arguing. Phil is
 arguing that the smaller cargo vessels are all you need,
 because that's all that CT lets you build.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Well, not quite.

I have expressed, with reservations, the opinion that there just might be merchantmen of 20kTons displacement.
Although I believe that a size like that would be more appropriate for a passenger liner that would still carry a significant amount of cargo.

And this statement is just flat wrong;
"Phil is arguing that the smaller cargo vessels are all you need,
 because that's all that CT lets you build."

I'm arguing that smaller cargo vessels are all you need 'cuz the CT version of Trav does NOT require the  MegaVolumes of trade that was only introduced by DGP w/ MegaTrav.

After all, those mega-freighters didn't appear till, what, about 10 years after CT first appeared?
Which would be about 8 years after GDW brought in the really big warships w/ HighGuard.

Underlying it all is my belief that the super-hi (compared to us) tech a universe like the TU would possess would work to diminish trade volume, not increase it.

So what it really comes down to is a matter of personal preference, no?

What do you like better, the MT 'universe' or the CT one?

p.s. From what I've read it appears that T5 favors the 'less is better' school of thought.