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On Tue, 3/29/16, Michael McKinney <xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:

 Subject: Re: Major & Minor races in the TU was Re: [TML] Relic tech and Scarcity-Driven Imperium (was: Salvage Operations (and Submarines))
 To: xxxxxx@simplelists.com
 Date: Tuesday, March 29, 2016, 5:50 AM

 Traveller because of its focus on
 why Trade is Good will always lead to a setting where you
 don't really have races in enough isolation to have to
 solely ascend to space travel by means of relictech. At some
 point, a race will have a merchant visit it, who can sell
 them what they need in parts or in whole, the components for
 their own ascent to jump travel.

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I agree w/ this in general but the sticking point is the "At some point" time factor.

We do know that in the OTU both the Aslan & Suerrat (& some others, as I recall) had enough time to use relics (altho, in the case of the Aslan, I don't know if a crashed Terran Confed ship could/should be considered a relic), to achieve star travel before someone 'found' them.

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