On Thu, Aug 28, 2014 at 10:04:00AM -0400, Jeffrey Schwartz wrote:
> But is landing the ship at a single starport and lugging stuff all
> over the planet the best way of doing things?

I've been advocating for multiple ground and high ports for a very
long time.  Maybe one gets the privilege of having direct Imperial
jurisdiction, but that sounds to me more like a description of an
embassy (with port attached) than an explanation for a whole planet
having only a single port.

Then again, I also believe that most *star*ports will be outside the
100D limits, because starships are very expensive and specialized
vehicles while mere spacecraft are quite cheap.  Putting heavy
maneuver drives and aerodynamic streamlining on an interstellar
freighter so it can get to a planet surface makes about as much sense
to me as putting wheels on a ship so it can get to an inland railway
platform.  Starships will routinely dock, transfer cargo and
passengers, and refuel/restock at suitable facilities in deep space.

Maybe that's an explanation for planets (as opposed to systems) having
starport codes as low as some are?  Those planets just don't have
facilities for starships on the surface, because starships almost
never come all the way in.

> How about various "local ports" ?  What if we were to spread this
> over the world's top 50 airports and top 50 container ports?

If it's a world with at least basic grav tech available, there's not
likely to be much distinction between container ports, airports, and
spaceports.  Grav vehicles are likely to replace floating and
aerodynamic lift vehicles for almost all practical purposes on most
worlds, even many low-tech ones.

So as I see it, a container (or module full of containers) coming off
a starship at the 100D gets loaded onto or attached to a spacecraft
(e.g. something like a modular cutter) that brings it into some
orbital highport for distribution.  From there, truck-sized vehicles
can take individual containers to a suitable downport.  That port can
be as simple as a warehouse with a recharging/refuelling facility or
as complex as a modern international shipping port or airport.

Similarly for passengers: they disembark from a starship onto a space
station, and after going through customs (and maybe a stay at a hotel)
board a local shuttle heading in to a highport.  Then they get divided
up into local transorbital craft heading to the nearest city or town
that has enough people going there to be worthwhile.  Again,
particularly high or low populations might be a bit different.

Grav vehicles radically change the economics of shifting people and
cargo large distances.  The change in scaling behaviour makes ground
to orbit transfers suitable for scaling down to bus sized vehicles
rather than today's wide-body jet aircraft or ocean-going vessels.

- Tim