Hang on, I just realised something major...

[Alex Brentnall]

I don't think the energy consumption is a problem in Elite's universe. I mean, we scoop up hydrogen fuel from stars, and even when refuelling at a station it is dirt cheap. They are quite far from our weight reduction and energy saving problems.

Though I am quite sure that the main problem with lighweight composites is their inability to withstand fire from thermal or heavy kinetic weaponry... A problem that we are not too worried about IRL.

Fair point but did the stable sustained hydrogen reactors that are small enough to fit in a space ship come before or after asteroid mining? I dont' actually know, I'd guess after but yeah, you may have a point there

I wonder how the Fuel Rats can live without cheese in ED

Why do you think we love snickers so much, it's our cheese substitute.

 

[Lightspeed]

Transactions in steel were banned in 3200 when huge numbers of space ports found wings of ships were "liberating" large chunks of their structure to trade steel on the open market. An agreement was reached in 3210 to close down black market steel trading when coriolis ports were becoming so weakened, they were flying apart with their own rotational forces. The market in steel also declined considerably when it was realized that common elements such as silicon could be transmuted to iron and steel using neutron irradiation from neutron stars.

 

[insanephoton]

I wonder how the Fuel Rats can live without cheese in ED

Rats and mice much prefer peanut butter or chocolate to cheese.

 

[Squid Gumbo]

http://i.imgur.com/WSFzJ7j.jpg

CHEESE GROMIT

 

[Taranis Dekker]

Maybe because ferrum is one of the most common elements in the universe? You can pick it up nearly everywhere and it isn't worth anything in the year 3303^^

That sounded like a really valid argument (and still is to some extent), but then I was reminded of.... biowaste. One of the most common... substances, costs little to produce, worth nothing, and supply is limitless.

 

[Lightspeed]

That sounded like a really valid argument (and still is to some extent), but then I was reminded of.... biowaste. One of the most common... substances, costs little to produce, worth nothing, and supply is limitless.

Can't leave the stuff lying around, though. Nasty stuff if it gets on your ship.[ugh]

 

[TheSisko]

They're not hungry enough, obviously. Damned ungrateful yokels, let 'em starve I say!

I just throw them 300 tons of fruit and veg (frozen) to shut them up.

There are plenty of eggs in the game, you just need to know where to look.

From Inara the list is;-

Utgaroar Millennial Eggs
Aepyornis Egg
Leatheery Eggs

All rare goods? Does it seem right to you that eggs are rare? What is this galaxy coming to?

We need ASDA Smart Price eggs.

C'mon, let's set some standards please. We need Imperial Eggs, which taste good and look great. [yesnod]

 

[Darkfyre99]

Actually if you star lift(look it up) you could create iron from stars themselves.

[video=youtube_share;pzuHxL5FD5U]https://youtu.be/pzuHxL5FD5U[/video]

 

[VR micmacmoc]

In 2789 they found mining surface rocks for iron and carbon was too "grindy", and subsequently ragequit to titanium. True story, so terribly true.*

Also, all the cattle in 2653 were given simple integrated neural AI implants to make them more subservient; a process that went horribly awry. In 2653, July 3rd, I believe, said bovine life began the Dairy Diaspora to a far flung sector, disappearing entirely from the Bubble and all its fledgling systems; thus Roquefortnarok began, and with it the extinction of all cheese.**

*Contents do not conform with official FDev canon, lore, or rational thought.

** especially not this

But Roquefort is a sheeps cheese, did they take their fluffy friends away with them?

 

[Patrick_68000]

Contrary to popular belief, rats predate the invention of cheese!

But the British also for the tea

 

[MarkAusten]

Maybe because ferrum is one of the most common elements in the universe? You can pick it up nearly everywhere and it isn't worth anything in the year 3303^^
Most things are build from way better metallics than steel. When was the last time, a car hull or a bicycle was made of steel?

However, it is not as abundant as hydrogen which is traded. Go figure!

 

[CMDR Poet Starwind]

But Roquefort is a sheeps cheese, did they take their fluffy friends away with them?

Ewe caught me in my fromage ignorance!

 

[Conch]

Nor is there cheese.

Or salt apparently.

i have to disagree, there is an abundance of salt. it just needs to get mined.

 

[PuffyEichhorst]

Steel? That's soooo 19th century...

 

[Arthur Shappey]

Iron is one of the most common materials in the game, found on virtually every rock we can touch down on, steel is also an iron alloy so assuming steel is still a common building material, the iron needed to make steel is quite literally found and obtainable everywhere (excluding systems only containing stars and or gas giants) So if we assume these 2 things steel is most likely not on the commodity market due to it being absurdly common.

Iron + Carbon = yes both common. But only in minute quantities [such that you can carry 1000 such "bits" in your suit to survive your ship being blown up]. At the rate you can mine it in ED, that would take several years of continuous mining just to make the door handle to the space station toilet...

Why can't we mine and buy tonnes of Iron...

Still. Tea. Yes. Tea. All the problems just wash away. We don't need steel. Just tea. The space stations are made from cardboard anyway...

 

[IndigoWyrd]

I've got no small amount of Iron in the hold of my ship, and carbon too.
Seeing as Steel is not an element, but rather an alloy of Iron and Carbon, it's likely just produced as-needed and is likely a very low-value material.

 

[Haramir]

Maybe,
because steel is an alloy and nothing you can find in mother nature or on asteroids ?

 

[Minonian]

Isn't steel like, much cheaper? Titanium seems a little overkill on buildings.

Depends on accessibility. if you have plenty of titanium what's makes it cheaper than it's a vastly superior material to work with, what makes steel a poorer choice. No one going to choose a weaker material if the 2 are about in the same price category.

 

[yodajedifishmaster]

Maybe,
because steel is an alloy and nothing you can find in mother nature or on asteroids ?

this would make sense, along with suggesting iron as being extremely common as an element, as is carbon, due to the nature of the life of stars (as i recall); i forget which element stars cannot produce during fusion at end of life but i thought it was iron, and trans iron elements can only be produced during the death explosion of a star (nova, supernova). whatever the facts which im sure i could google if i could be bothered atm, iron is probably so common along with carbon, that virtually all systems that are inhabited can easily produce iron and steel much more cheaply than it could be imported from another system, and possibly even within a system. so cheaply its not worth putting them on the market - BUT there may be some systems where there are no planets or rings/belts to mine locally, and which may therefore need to import everything. i suspect that such routes would be awarded by contracts subsidised by the governement of the system, but i see no reason why there could not be the occasional special mission where you are asked to go to a specific station and either deliver a special cargo of iron or steel which has no resale value even on the black market, or to investigate why a ship due to arrive with that cargo failed to (which is same as recovery missions of goods/data we have now).

 

[Deleted member 110222]

this would make sense, along with suggesting iron as being extremely common as an element, as is carbon, due to the nature of the life of stars (as i recall); i forget which element stars cannot produce during fusion at end of life but i thought it was iron, and trans iron elements can only be produced during the death explosion of a star (nova, supernova). whatever the facts which im sure i could google if i could be bothered atm, iron is probably so common along with carbon, that virtually all systems that are inhabited can easily produce iron and steel much more cheaply than it could be imported from another system, and possibly even within a system. so cheaply its not worth putting them on the market - BUT there may be some systems where there are no planets or rings/belts to mine locally, and which may therefore need to import everything. i suspect that such routes would be awarded by contracts subsidised by the governement of the system, but i see no reason why there could not be the occasional special mission where you are asked to go to a specific station and either deliver a special cargo of iron or steel which has no resale value even on the black market, or to investigate why a ship due to arrive with that cargo failed to (which is same as recovery missions of goods/data we have now).

I can't rep' sadly, so take a virtual +1. Your idea for government contracts and investigations of AWOL shipments (possible recovery gameplay?), is awesome.