[gurps] Farming without dry land

[Roger Burton West]

On Sun, Jan 25, 2009 at 11:43:13AM +0100, Onno Meyer wrote:
>* One option would be to eat fish, kelp and all 
>  that. Not exactly exciting, and it comes from
>  the alien biosphere - does it include all 
>  necessary nutrients and nothing harmful?

If the "nothing harmful" problem can be solved, it may well be a useful
source of bulk and energy (and dietary variation) even if it doesn't
contain all the relevant amino acids and vitamins.

>* The next option is halfway traditional farming
>  on floating platforms. The published rules for
>  farm modules are for space stations, 50,000 cf 
>  and 400,000 lbs. per person. Doing it in open 
>  air should be easier, but how much?

Hm. Given that life support is a separate cost anyway, probably not
_much_ easier. Perhaps one might look into the numbers for subsistence
agriculture as a baseline.

>* Finally, total life support provides food as 
>  well as air. It is available from TL7 up, at
>  200 cf and 2,000 lbs. per person or less. The
>  rules don't really say if that is algae glop 
>  or truly edible food, but I guess the quality
>  depends on the TL.

It might well be easiest to combine this for the vital things with local
diet for interest and bulk.

Roger