Proposal Discussion -SLAVES in ED universe-

[boringnick]

What's the point of slaves?

Besides larga plasma acclerators:
http://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1176

There is a huge what-on-earth element in the games in my opinion:

Robots cost on average around 600-800 credits.
Slaves cost 1000-1400 credits

What's the point?

Robots are obviously cheaper to produce, and I guess much better work horses than humans in the year 3200.

Why keep slavery? Now of course, I could imagine why some sleazy people would want to have slaves.. I guess even in the future, there will be no shortage of perverts, but, why rely your whole economy (empire) on slaves, when there is a much cheaper alternative? Not to mention all the hassle that comes with slaves.

 

[Michael Brookes]

Maybe some civilisations are techno-phobic? Or maybe slaves are better than robots for some jobs.

Michael

 

[Steve O B Have]

Besides larga plasma acclerators:
http://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1176

There is a huge what element in the games in my opinion:

Robots cost on average around 600-800 credits.
Slaves cost 1000-1400 credits

What's the point?

Robots are obviously cheaper to produce, and I guess much better work horses than humans in the year 3200.

Why keep slavery? Now of course, I could imagine why some sleazy f*cks would want to have slaves.. I guess even in the future, there will be no shortage of perverts, but, why rely your whole economy (empire) on slaves, when there is a much cheaper alternative? Not to mention all the hassle that comes with slaves.

I would imagine that if you take a historical perspective then slaves are often the end result of a hostile takeover of a country/nation/world. Subsequently a culture is built up of oppression and control over the enslaved peoples and as such their value as beings is reduced to the point where they are 'things' to be traded and sold i.e. commodities.

Morally for us it is unacceptable but as we all know everyone has the capacity to be morally corrupt and personally I think it would be remiss to create a universe that didn't reflect both the morally sound aspects of society and the morally corrupt.

You'll notice that there are places where the sales of slaves (and other things like narcotics) earn you trouble from the law, as well it should, and through this there is no real illusion that trading slaves is a morally acceptable practice.

In asking "What's the point of slaves?" then you should also ask "What is the point of piracy or narcotics?". You could also take a different perspective and take a world that sees the use of robots as abhorrent and morally corrupt because that is what their religion and society dictates. What stance should you then take? Trading robots with them would be 'pointless' as they would see them as useless and more importantly an affront whereas they may have been bought up to believe that slaves are a given right for them and as such would hold the reverse opinion to you.

Personally I think it adds to the richness of the universe and provides a backdrop for some really interesting scenarios. It also provides added depth to the possibility of taking a moral pathway with your character - are you a good honest trader or do you choose the darker path in life. Money is clearly to be made in trading slaves but at the cost of both others perception of you and to the authorities.

 

[turwhitt]

You Federation boys, so unimaginative.

There is a certain prestige attached to having human servants, as opposed to robots. After all, we have to set ourselves apart from those dogmatic fools a couple of dozen light years up there, eh? And a robot harem? I would never live down the shame!

 

[Steve O B Have]

You Federation boys, so unimaginative.

There is a certain prestige attached to having human servants, as opposed to robots. After all, we have to set ourselves apart from those dogmatic fools a couple of dozen light years up there, eh? And a robot harem? I would never live down the shame!

...or the chafing... *cough*

 

[Sir.Tj]

Pure Profit.....

As long as you remember the Cargo Bay Life support that is

 

[turwhitt]

......Or you know someone who offers a good price for large quantities of fertiliser.

 

[boringnick]

Maybe some civilisations are techno-phobic? Or maybe slaves are better than robots for some jobs.

Michael

The empire strikes me not as techno phobic.

I have just started the game again and the description of the imperial industrial colonies (Sohoa etc.) are as follows:

--------

"The deep and highly mechanised Imperial mines are renowned for their efficiency at ore extraction. Slavery is also important for the routine supervision of the machinery in the unpleasant mining environment.

---------


So, I beg for forgiveness, I have forgotten the exact wording of the description. I thought that the slaves mine themselves, not that they are supervisors.

Still, having slaves as supervisors of your precious mining machines strikes as a bit odd.

 

[Stefan Mars]

Some earth history perhaps... you can look up the Mamluk Dynasty which ruled Egypt between the middle of the 13th century and early 16th. A mamluk was essentially a "slave soldier" in the sense that they were bought and paid for by an owner, but also highly priced. Their social status was such that they even ranked above some free men iirc (as I am taking this from memory from a book I read about 2 years ago).

In fact throughout the history of mankind slaves have often been considered a very valuable asset, treated (reasonably) well and could rise to fairly high status. They even had rights in some cultures.

This changed pretty much when (mainly) US and Europe started importing slaves as cheap labour only. From that point onwards slavery becomes the misery that we so often envision that it is. Industrialism - its a *****!

For the purpose of the games it comes down to the culture (ie having many slaves might be a social status thing for the owner) as well as what a "robot" really is. I am not sure that robot is necessarily a sentient machine walking on two legs, it could equally well be a fairly dumb robotic manufacturing plant for cars in which case a slave might be considered more valuable because the slave would be more versatile.

Routine maintenance by slaves is also possible. Imagine for example that the mining machinery can't be removed from the deeps of the mines and that the mines themselves are a dangerous and unpleasant place. The owner might not want to get dirty clothes by going there themselves, that is what slaves are for. Or something like that.

 

[Sir.Tj]

Also If I remember correctly Roman Gladiators were also in many cases slaves.

 

[Sir.Tj]

...or the chafing... *cough*

Naughty boy!!!

 

[Ging]

Also If I remember correctly Roman Gladiators were also in many cases slaves.

Slaves or criminals - but the Romans viewed gladiators more like race horses than anything else, so the best ones were relatively well looked after.

 

[michaelfife]

Option to free slaves

In the event the player scoops cargo from a vessel that has either jettisoned it or been destroyed, and it turns out to be slaves, wouldn't it be cool to have the option to free them at a station? Perhaps such an act could count towards lightening one's criminal record. Obviously such an option should not be available to someone who actually bought the slaves.

 

[Zieman]

Obviously such an option should not be available to someone who actually bought the slaves.

Why not?
Someone might want to free tons of slaves (pun intended) at his/her own cost, with a nice side effect of decreasing bounty.

 

[Cosmo Bozo]

Yeah,maybe you could turn them into refugees in your hold....

that way it could of course work the other way, you could pick up some refugees and turn them to slaves BWAHAHAHA!

 

[Cmdr Andy B]

Why not?
Someone might want to free tons of slaves (pun intended) at his/her own cost, with a nice side effect of decreasing bounty.

maybe some galactic charity based in one of the factions pays traders to 'rescue' slaves from the empire and you get to free them as a mission.

go into the empire, fill up on slaves, avoid the cops who will think your just a slaver and dock at the station of the organisation setting them free, have to spend half an hour fending off grateful former slaves offering to name their first born after you, get the payout and off on another mission.

Edit: legal status in the faction that the charity is based in would be fugitive before docking, clean on relaunch but to prevent 'rinse and repeat' type cash farming your legal status in the empire goes from clean to fugitive when you free the slaves

 

[michaelfife]

Ok, but then you wouldn't cart them all the way to the next station, you'd free them immediately right?
Unless you were in a partilurarly seedy system and wanted to rescue the slaves...
I think the original game upped your crim rec when you bought slaves, not sure how ED will handle that. It's an interesting idea though...

 

[michaelfife]

maybe some galactic charity based in one of the factions pays traders to 'rescue' slaves from the empire and you get to free them as a mission.

go into the empire, fill up on slaves, avoid the cops who will think your just a slaver and dock at the station of the organisation setting them free, have to spend half an hour fending off grateful former slaves offering to name their first born after you, get the payout and off on another mission

Now that idea I like! :smilie:

 

[The Major]

I avoid the entire moral issue by just blowing up any slave containers I find.

 

[Cmdr Andy B]

Now that idea I like! :smilie:

well, i though enough people were putting forwards suggestion on the darker side of human existence so i'd propose something to bring a little of the light back, shadows are always more interesting than darkness as there are a lot more shades of grey (50 of them apparently)