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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, 1:43 PM

 On Aug
 25, 2014, at 1:30 PM, Phil Pugliese (via tml list) <xxxxxx@simplelists.com>
 wrote:

 > How would the
 super-tech (compared to the present day) levels w/i the TU
 affect trade volume?
 >
 > IMO it would be much, much lower than MT
 levels.
 >
 > And, from
 what I've read, T5 seems to indicate that it's even
 lower still.

 What, then, is
 the point of the Imperium? If there is so little trade
 between worlds, there's nothing for the IN to protect,
 nor is there any reason for a foreign power to invade.
 (because if you want something from another world it's a
 heck of a lot cheaper to buy it.)

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That's a real 'mega-credit' question, isn't it.

Did the TU really need Cleon 'The Great' to begin his quest to recreate the 3I?
Did the 'pocket empire' he led really need it either?
(could it really have been just a gigantic 'vanity' project)
Did the TU benefit from Cleon's 'Quest'.
Did his 'pocket empire'?

My opinion is that, trade is NOT so low that it's not worth protecting.
(Just ask the MegaCorps & other smaller sector/subsector Corps that make their living from it!)
However it does appear that you & I disagree greatly on just how high that level would have to be.

As far as a need to protect systems goes, well, HomoSapiens is nothing if not territorial.
(It's mine & you can't have it!)

That alone would be enough reason for the 3I to protect it's territory.

As far as acquiring (seizing?) it in the 1st place?
Well the SocLevel A+ folks are all for that.
It gives them a title & the chance to lord it over the 'lesser' folk!

So maybe it all originally started 'cuz Cleon got the 'conquerors itch', so to speak, & couldn't resist scratching it.

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