Of biodomes and breadbaskets.

[Dusty Lens]

Hey everyone.

So there's been a lot of flopdoodle concerning the biodomes in Theta and how the loss of the same will spell the ruination of the Corsair people. Indeed a great amount of the lore that we take for granted suggests that food from the Zoners is one of the key factors enabling their (previously) enjoyed free pass card.

I figured it'd be a fun subject to discuss in brief. That being of biodomes.

You see, my theory is that there's no way that freeport could cover the nutritional bill of, let's say, 25% of the Corsair population. Assuming that the Corsairs and Outcasts are in step the Zoners need to thrust food into the mouths of roughly 100 million people. My theory is that the Zoners employ their go between status to pull that chow in from the breadbaskets of the core. Cambridge, Stuttgart, Kyushu, Honshu and so on.

So! That's the figure we're aiming for. What kind of kit would a freeport need in order to feed 100 million people. 1/4~ of the population of Outcasts as cited by the wiki.

For this experiment we're going to create a magical construct. A wonder of technology to rival that of faster than light travel and ships which fly forever. We are going to create a biodome which feeds one person per .5 acre and requires no seed, storage for harvested crops, fertilizer or any upkeep at all. A magical self contained device that can feed one person for half an acre with zero support or storage needs.

Now!

1 km² = 247 acres * 2 people = 494 people.
Now lets assume that a few of those people are fat and make it 500 people to keep everything simple.
100.000.000 / 500 = 200000 km² to feed those hundred million Corsairs.
So there's three biodomes at 9. So! 200000 / 3 = 66666.66 km²

Executor Class Star Destroyer = 19 km
Imperial Class Star Destroyer = 1.6 km

Now let's assume that the biodomes don't actually work like they claim to, that in fact they use magical hydroponics and only one layer is exposed to the sun. Let's cut it into, say, 100 levels.

66666.66 km² / 100 = 66.66 km²

So even a 100 layer thick super magical space future biodome is, individually, as long as three and a halfish Executor Class Star Destroyers. To put it into a term that most of the people here would understand.

So, yeah, I think the Zoners bring most of their food from the core.

Thoughts?

[Osilon]

We have battleships a third the size of planets. Point.

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A million dollars isn't cool. You know what is cool? A basilisk.

[Stygian]

I have never actually looked that far into it, but I have always thought the same. Except I considered most of it coming from GC instead of the Core.

EDIT: Thats no moon!

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[sovereign]

I see Executor class stah destroyahs. Therefore I agree with your analysis.

In all seriousness though, your conclusion is what I had assumed all along. One itsy bitsy biodome feeding an entire planet is ridiculous. Planets are BIG. Zoners feeding the Corsairs is real... but not with their gardens. There's a reason you see them in the houses, you know...

Oh, and you assumed the Outcasts and Corsairs were in step... they're not. The Corsairs have a lot more people than the Outcasts, the Outcasts just live about 2-3x longer (on average) due to A) cardamine effects and B) being background men rather than "YAHARR ME MATIES" pirates. Or at least that's how it was in vanilla, a lot of Outcasts seem to have thrown caution to the wind in disco. See Tridentes in Liberty.


EDIT: If Gran Canaria had the farmland available to feed the Corsairs, why haven't the Corsairs mounted a massive assault on it? Solving their food problem- permanently no less- would be worth losing ground to the Outcasts. I can see Gran Canaria helping, but I think that claiming it's well-farmed is not something the Zoners really want to say...

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[Dusty Lens]

I know Sov. But I'm trying to be rather conservative with these estimates. You can manipulate the numbers however you wish.

[Dusty Lens]

EDIT: If Gran Canaria had the farmland available to feed the Corsairs, why haven't the Corsairs mounted a massive assault on it? Solving their food problem- permanently no less- would be worth losing ground to the Outcasts. I can see Gran Canaria helping, but I think that claiming it's well-farmed is not something the Zoners really want to say...

My theory is that Gran Canaria is, contrary to the skin put in place back before people thought about things, kinda sucks for large scale food production.

I mean, if their principle export is heavy water I would expect that they need rather robust swaths of very very cold expansive oceans.

So I reckon the world as a whole is rather cold and lacking expansive land masses.

[Kazinsal]

Executor-class Star Dreadnought = 19 km long. Its approximate 2D area (not surface area) is much greater than that. By my eyes and a top view of the Executor from the scene where the Executor plunges into the Death Star II, I'd say that the ship is maybe... 4.5 km wide. Sound good? Adjusted for an approximate triangle, that's 19 * 4.5 / 2 = 42.75 km^2 of area. So approximately one and a half Executor-class Star Dreadnoughts in area.

But still, that's a REALLY large biodome.

And yes, I know how nerdy this post is.

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Retired, permanently.

[Pinko]

EZ FUTURE GAEM WE CANT DO MATHS. QQ

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I want to get off Mr. Igiss' wild ride.

[AeternusDoleo]

You forget that the Freeports are basically a marketplace too. Or were. Lawful traders can sell and buy various items not freely available, for instance, smugglers might pick up the odd artitfact or two and drop off food, which is then, by proxy, traded when a Corsair transport docks and makes the reverse trade. Zoners exist outside of house claimed systems (aside from FP1 in Bret protectorate - A good reason for it to no longer exist since Zoners as a rule don't want to live under house rule) so the legality of the trade is not an issue.

In a sense, they were a neutral trading ground. Trading by that line is now cut off, forcing the Corsairs to either:
a- Import from elsewhere. Stuttgart, or Honshu seem most likely candidates. Gran Canaria might be up for grabs too, not sure what the situation planetside is with Sairs and Zoners there.
b- Start producing food themselves. As you said, biodomes apparantly will not support Crete's population unless created in large numbers.
c- Conquer a stable food source. Cambridge, Gran Canaria... those are the most likely candidates.

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Wide awake in a world that sleeps, enduring thoughts, enduring scenes. The knowledge of what is yet to come.
From a time when all seems lost, from a dead man to a world, without restraint, unafraid and free.

Mostly retired Discovery member. May still visit from time to time.

[Dusty Lens]

I concur that Freeports doubtless serve as large commercial hubs, where goods and services from the borderworlds and the core may be exchanged.

My only argument was against the idea that the freeports were producing the foodstuffs in the bulk that some suggest as opposed to the breadbaskets of Sirius.