On 2023-04-02 15:13, Jeffrey Schwartz - schwartz.jeffrey at gmail.com
wrote:
> 1111 also sees hiring some naval architects, construction of a space
> station for them to live and work on, and building a type-A a year,
> selling them, and paying off the Legionary by 1114ish

The thing with swarms is that they can make it too easy for anyone to do
exactly the same thing.  There is much gameplay to be had in limiting
what components can be manufactured by a swarm, because that means the
other components must be acquired (legal in the Imperium, grey,
cross-boarder, or theft) and then shipped to the site of the swarm
without attracting attention.  This could be via limitations on types of
devices (no jump drives), or by limiting the top level produced to be
"swarm tech - 2" or something similar.

> In the short term, he build a lot of SDBs in different variations on
> the theme, and plays around with various starship designs. He sees his
> main priority as making Carmel safe for his people. He doesn't want to
> rely on being left out of the loop again, and builds some couriers of
> his own, and a few mini-swarms to support them, sort of a mini X-boat
> network.

Unless these are all drones, there's a corresponding huge effort at
recruitment needed.  That's either training up some nearby population
with imported trainers, or recruiting remotely with a lot of cost moving
people in, or recruiting remotely for "local" jobs without mentioning
that the locality in question is at the other end of a long cold sleep
journey.  Drawback are time, cost and visibility, and an unhappy
workforce respectively.

Alan

--
Bicycles are the most efficient machine yet invented for turning energy
into motion. Indeed, the bicycle has been accurately described as a kind
of green car, which can run on tap water and tea cakes and, moreover,
has a built-in gym.

Lord Taverne, UK House of Lords, in Nov 2015 debate