I agree that above some threshold, probably pop 5-6, the tendency for trade-isolated worlds to depopulate goes away. The reason is that with that large a population, there are enough specialists around to make interesting products and cultural output locally. Again, resource constraints effectively disappear at TL9, in the vast majority of star systems. You can grab an asteroid or a comet and get all the raw materials you need, and fusion gives you all the power you need as well. So a barren rock at TL9, pop 6 could thrive indefinitely even if the rest of the galaxy disappeared overnight. Their economy would take some time to adjust, and people would complain about not being able to get Moran frabzit hoops any more, but nobody would starve or lack for breathable air.

The key to depopulation is differential opportunity. If there's nowhere better to go, or no way to get there, people stay put. I get the sense that a lot of unpleasant low-pop worlds weathered the Long Night with their population levels intact simply because there was never enough transport available to move a significant fraction of the population to a nicer world, or no nearby nicer worlds willing to take in that many immigrants.

On Mon, Jul 24, 2017 at 1:47 PM, Phil Pugliese (via tml list) <xxxxxx@simplelists.com> wrote:

For systems w/ a POP level equal to the towns along Route66, or, for that matter, even the pop of some of the smaller island/nations, I would agree.

But how many POP9+ towns were along Route66?

Once there's that many people in a system, it would pretty much go on forever, barring something really & truly catastrophic.

Even Darrian still has a respectable POP altho whether it would've been able too w/o the external contact that eventually was restored after the Maghiz, is an open question.

Also, quite a few worlds managed to maintain themselves thru the LongNight. The starships stopped coming but they got over it.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Mon, 7/24/17, C. Berry <xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [TML] Changing The Jump Drive Limit?
 To: xxxxxx@simplelists.com
 Date: Monday, July 24, 2017, 12:29 PM

 I think
 just about any world could in theory get along at TL9+.
 Essentially every system is going to have metal, rock, and
 ices, and with those, cheap space travel, and even cheaper
 fusion power, you can survive indefinitely anywhere.
 The question is where it is worth
 living. In the absence of frequent trade, people living on
 emptier worlds have fewer markets for their products, and
 fewer sources from which to buy needed items (or luxuries,
 for that matter). Over time, people will tend to leave for
 greener pastures. It really is like the old towns along
 Route 66; when I-40 opened, the towns themselves remained
 just as habitable, but the motivation for living there
 dropped sharply, and most were abandoned or nearly
 so.
 On Mon,
 Jul 24, 2017 at 12:08 PM, Phil Pugliese (via tml list) <xxxxxx@simplelists.com>
 wrote:


 I think you'll see a big difference depending upon
 details, esp POP, of each system.



 I think the Hi-POP worlds of the 'Marches, for example,
 could pretty much last forever on their own.

 The 'BIG-4' (Mora, Trin, Rhylanor, Glisten), all
 Hi-POP & TL15 are a sure bet but I think that even
 Porazlo, TL10 & POP9, would get along just fine.

 Now, of course, the various higher-level govs (sub-sector,
 sector, etc) would definitely have an interest in
 maintaining trade, just as the Spanish did wrt their
 NewWorld colonies despite the omnipresent threat of
 piracy.



 p.s. I've always wondered if the Spanish lost more to
 hurricanes & other inclement weather than they did to
 piracy, or privateers.



 ------------------------------
 ------------------------------
 ------------------------------ ---------------------

 On Mon, 7/24/17, Bruce Johnson <xxxxxx@Pharmacy.Arizona.EDU>
 wrote:



  Subject: Re: [TML] Changing The Jump Drive Limit?

  To: "xxxxxx@simplelists.com"
 <xxxxxx@simplelists.com>

  Date: Monday, July 24, 2017, 9:59 AM









  On Jul 24,

  2017, at 1:30 AM, Amber Witherspoon <xxxxxx@gmail.com>

  wrote:







  So, what I'm getting is that if we want to provide
 a

  golden



  opportunity for piracy, the numbers will have to be
 tweaked

  to provide



  a large enough region of space for lurking, but not so
 large

  that it



  becomes uneconomical to fly to the main world? Say,
 2.5x

  (250



  diameters)?











  if this is the only way to do

  interstellar trade, ‘uneconomical’ won’t really

  matter; worlds cut off from trade will pretty quickly

  dwindle; look at once thriving towns that were bypassed
 by

  the interstates…they won’t even be able to support

  pirates.

   You’ll have the occasional world that serves as a
 hidey

  hole for bad guys, loners and just plain freaks, but
 any

  world that wants to maintain contact with the outer
 universe

  will pay the price to keep a starport up.







  What you end up with, I think is

  Traveller between systems and (depending on your TU and

  tastes) in-system settings are like The Expanse, Firefly
 or

  some other local setting altogether.







  You may have sprawling in-system

  development and traffic or you could just have the
 starport

  with essentially giant cargo “trains” of traffic
 going

  to and from the main world. 







  Obviously the ‘sprawling’

  model offers a lot more PC

  piratical adventuring potential. :-)





  -- 



  Bruce Johnson



  University of Arizona



  College of Pharmacy



  Information Technology Group







  Institutions do not have opinions, merely customs









  -----

  The Traveller Mailing List

  Archives at http://archives.simplelists.
 com/tml

  Report problems to xxxxxx@simplelists.com

  To unsubscribe from this list please go to

  http://archives.simplelists.
 com

 -----

 The Traveller Mailing List

 Archives at http://archives.simplelists.
 com/tml

 Report problems to xxxxxx@simplelists.com

 To unsubscribe from this list please go to

 http://www.simplelists.com/
 confirm.php?u= PltOdItWBSgOP4y0Q6abkGbDI1eus0
 lz


 --
 "Eternity is in love with
 the productions of time." - William
 Blake


 -----
 The Traveller Mailing List
 Archives at http://archives.simplelists.com/tml
 Report problems to xxxxxx@simplelists.com
 To unsubscribe from this list please go to
 http://archives.simplelists.com
-----
The Traveller Mailing List
Archives at http://archives.simplelists.com/tml
Report problems to xxxxxx@simplelists.com
To unsubscribe from this list please go to
http://www.simplelists.com/confirm.php?u=PltOdItWBSgOP4y0Q6abkGbDI1eus0lz



--
"Eternity is in love with the productions of time." - William Blake