[gurps] Sub Trek

[Onno Meyer]

I don't have all of SeaQuest, and if I had it I probably wouldn't have 
the time to watch them for clues, but with the Marauder Suit nearing 
completion I started to think about what I could recall. 

The SeaQuest episodes had the look and feel of an underwater Star
Trek - you have one ship, supposedly one of many but we don't get
to see the rest of the fleet, doing a mixture of scientific, diplomatic 
and combat missions. In space, on an epic five-year mission, that 
makes some sense. You could build optimized warships, lab ships 
or VIP shuttles, but unless you send them out as a squadron all
the time the one you might need could be lightyears away. Hence 
multirole cruisers. 

But what about Earth? If the UEO had the resources for one ship 
the size of the SeaQuest, why couldn't they cover the oceans with
specialized vessels?

Of course there is pretty much conflict. Perhaps the UEO got tired
of detaching warships to cover their unarmed craft, and turned to
armed merchantmen/armed research cruisers instead.

How realistic is the assumption that the oceans overtake the land 
area in importance, anyway?

And disregarding the stated political background, could a combined
transport/combat/research craft find a niche in a corporate-state 
cyberpunk world? In that case, it is not really a warship, just armed
for self-defense.

Any thoughts?

Onno