- Raveolution wrote:
Your access to reinforcements is limited by things like how many and how good your mages are - namely, if you can find some that teleport. And if your crew rocks, you can beat the bandits - much like the Americans beat the damned Somali pirates off their ship (hoo-ray!).
Summon your reinforcement will depend on the space available and the land when the mage will perform it will be difficult to summon an army or a giant creature in a tight corridor or on a small bridge. The most important than the reinforcement need to be ready 24 on 24 hours and 7 days on 7 days to protect only
one convoy it can be very excessive and expansive, it will become ridiculously expansive to the many and different convoy which travels at the same time. There is the condition too you don't have to face other mages.
Having the best team is very expansive and very difficult to obtain because the quality of the members will depend on the quality of their training and their experience more of their experience than their training and the value of the goods you want they convoy which will influence their price and if they decide or not to take the job. To be simple you won't have the same crew to convoy of Ascarlin than to deliver some vegetables to a small village of nekos deep inside the jungle
- Raveolution wrote:
- much like the Americans beat the damned Somali pirates off their ship (hoo-ray!)
The victories against the Somali pirates are very small victories next to the important number of daily aggressions and increasing number of people who are taken in hostages in Somalia. Because the military actions are not enough to resolve in long term the instability in Somalia due to the 10 years of civil war, which has divided the country and responsible of the development of the piracy. And the reasons why everyone sends their troops in Somalia it's due to the pressure of Saudia Arabia which is very angry against the Americans for letting the Sirius Star the greatest oil tankers in the world which was going to deserve the United States when it was seized by the Somali Pirates. But if no serious measures are not taken to help the economical development of Somalia you can be sure the situations will be similar to arrest some hackers thinking it will stop the illegal downloading on internet. It makes some good example to show but without attacking the real roots of the problems.
- Raveolution wrote:
Caravans don't need top level firepower all the time - what they need is to start off from a safer zone like Negav or the Miratan base, and fly in the stratosphere where Preds can't reach them, until they drop down in one of the other safer zones.
This solution is limited by the weight limit which is inferior to a terrestrial convoy or by the seas, and the weather conditions of the areas where you go can be a serious threats. The top of Frost Peak is know to its constant and violent cold wind. The other issue even if you are safe when you reach the stratosphere. The problem you are still vulnerable between the time you reach the stratosphere and when you leave it to land. Even if you can reach quickly when you takeoff, the landing is slower, you decrease progressively your speed and your height. During this two moves the airship can be intercepted.
There is problem you don't have the assistance of the satellite which will be very useful to watch the different flights when they are out of the range of radar of the airport which makes during the trip there is no way to know where the airship until it reach its destination you don't know what can happen to it.
It can allow many possibilities it can be attacked by an unknown creature (there is a rumor about creatures which travels thought the atmosphere to leave Felarya) or another airship or have a technical issue or trapped in a dimensional phenomenon. And the rescue party will be decided depending on the value of the goods or the people and where the place the crash happened.
Flying to the stratosphere can be risky because Felarya doesn't really have an atmosphere it borrow it from different world, by doing this there is the risk to be teleported to an unknown place without any possibilities to come back.
- Raveolution wrote:
And it is really feasible that humans might devise a way to teleport food and supplies, eliminating the need for caravans. Humans like safety, and will go to any extreme to maximize safety. If teleportation is indeed possible, it will be a subject of great research and magic/tech development. At some point the preds will HAVE to attack the Miratans, Negav, the Jungle Bowl, etc. to get food. Or they'll turn on one another. Nagas and fairies fighting over food - wouldn't that be a sight...
Humans likes money before safety. It doesn't matter to an human to take the minimum of safety if he knows he will be well-paid in the end. And the safety is more expansive because it's a long term and continue investment. To secure a solution can be more expansive than the solution itself.
This quote will answer you to the solution about teleportation issue :
[quote= "wiki"]31. Once, a mage tried to install a network of teleport gates as a means of transportation throughout Felarya. He gave up when half insane, the project hitting a serious snag due to the unstable nature of the world.[/quote]
The dimensional and unstable nature of Felarya make the teleportation very risky and unstable, you have to open a portal each time you travel because you can't maintain it too much without risking it becomes unstable. Until only the dimensional gate of Ur-Sagol are known to be stable, and its construction remain still mysterious. And only place like Negav, or the military organisations which will access to this kind of solution because they can take care of the important cost of development and maintenance and the securities of the network. If it's feasible to create this kind of network inside Negav or between an external world, but it's more complicated to link between two different zones of Felarya. If it's not the same technology use for the different networks there will be serious problem of compatibilities which can increase the price to travel from a network to another.
About the fact predators are fighting for food is already the case, so it won't change change many things. About the fairies some are master in dimensional and teleportation magic, and it's the case for many creatures in Felarya. The possibility a portal is intercepted or open to another place as expected is a strong possibility. Of course it's possible to secure that but you will have to pay a little more.
To conclude all your solutions are for VIP and high valuable goods due to their important costs. The needs of caravan will be still here because they are more accessible and more attractive when you convoy goods with low value.
Subject: Re: Trade routes, paths, etc. 
Fri Jul 17, 2009 12:24 pm
