Distant Outposts in the Galaxy

[timwglass]

Good morning, commanders.

Would it make sense for the Alliance to place outposts in the far reaches of the galaxy, like the outer edges? It seems to me that the powers would be venturing farther out to establish a presence a first presence in distant areas as well as using them as listening posts of sorts for alien activity. I can see where the Empire or Federation would be too busy maintaining their stranglehold on the Bubble to bother, but the Alliance seems more about discovery than controlling power.

My desire for far flung outposts is selfish. As an explorer, it'd be nice to have spaceports to visit and dump data, repair, etc. without needing to travel all the way back to the Bubble. But, to me at least, it makes strategic sense for powers to want a presence far outside the Bubble for their own nefarious designs.

Respectfully,
~Tim

 

[Para Handy]

You do know that there are already some outlier outposts?

 

[Chrystoph]

Tim,

While I can understand your desire for facilities of one sort or another, think about the investment required for that sort of thing.

Manpower, ships, supplies, these would all take up a lot of resources for very little return. As Robert Heinlein alluded to in the Starship Troopers novel, unless you are making a secret military installation, it is not unreasonable to expect a return on investment.

This is why the majority of the facilities outside the bubble are within a shell of roughly 1,000 LY. Admittedly, that is not an ironclad rule, but most of the exceptions are for things like observatories in nebulae.

 

[IcemanAJL]

It would be cool if, after enough CMDRs turn in data at a specific landmark system, a small outpost is created. Nice idea

Also I know this is slightly off topic, but in regards to this:

I can see where the Empire or Federation would be too busy maintaining their stranglehold on the Bubble to bother, but the Alliance seems more about discovery than controlling power.

Lore wise the Alliance is actually very keen on taking any action to secure power, they have a rather strong Intelligence service that does this by starting false flag wars in systems that refuse to join.

- Source: ‘And Here The Wheel’ , one of the ED novels.

 

[timwglass]

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

@para handy - I've logged many flight hours and never seen any outposts in any system galactic north or east of Sag. A*. When I say far reaches, I mean like 40,000 Ly from Sol. Something like an outpost at the end of each quadrant of the galaxy.

@crystoph - It seems like, in the right system at least, all the necessary resources to maintain an outpost would be present, or present in surrounding systems. The power would just have the initial investment of resources to build enough of a station to process system resources.

@icemanajl - Thanks. I need to read the novels.

 

[Chrystoph]

@chrystoph - It seems like, in the right system at least, all the necessary resources to maintain an outpost would be present, or present in surrounding systems. The power would just have the initial investment of resources to build enough of a station to process system resources.

I suppose that would depend on whether or not we have sufficient nano-tech to produce technologically sophisticated goods directly from raw materials and blueprints. I would tend to think that would not be the case, though, because that level of capability would basically eliminate the need for non-luxury trade.