[gurps] Tinker's Starship?

[Brandon Cope]

It seems to me that it might be more cost-effective for the planet to simply contract techs off-world, buy the materials for the start-up of as many minifacs as the planet wants. and charter a large transport to bring them all to the world.

The tranport off-loads the tech and equipment and leaves. The techs live on the planet, first setting up the minifacs, then operating them. They also train locals to run and repair the minifacs. When the techs' contract end, they get passage to the world(s) they came from. The locals fully take over operation of the minifacs. A small number of tech might be contracted to stay behind "just in case" and there may also be periodic visits by off-world techs to provide special maintainence or update the equipment.

If such an operation is illegal (I could see this in Star Wars, where the Empire wants to keep a world low-tech so it can better exploit (eg, steal) planetary resources), then the mobile factory is a better choice.

Brandon