Emptiness
Hard to believe how quiet it is, eh? I mean everyone thinks that the whole of RimCity is one teeming hive full of people like you always see in the movies. Especially when you hear that they reckon there’s half a billion people living here now. Estimate, natch, no ones worked out how to do a census. We might have half a billion living here but, hell, look at the size of the place. I’ve done the math and it averages at about 4,500 a square mile. Which sounds a lot ’til you find out that Manhattan gets by on over 70,000. So you know, we’re spread thin.
And most of the movies just use the LA basin and that was always on the busy side even before it got et. Shame to lose the sign, but I guess no one misses the freeways.
Once you start looking at the population spread you start to see patterns. People cluster into…towns, I guess you’d call them. And they leave a border, round them. Bigger or smaller, depending where they are and who the neighbours are. So you get these pockets of emptiness. Especially as you head away from, well, the LA basin, to grab an example.
At least that’s what most of them do. Some of the bigger groups, the Altcults, the corps, some large organisations, a few religious groups, some of the more methodical thugs. They lay claim to huge reserves and they make it stick. Mind you, by the standards of most of the Froth, these people are richer than god and dangerous as hell. If having a huge chunk of land keeps them happy and quiet, well let ‘em.
Mind you it’s not as ridiculous as the Gov back east. They still reckon they’ve got a claim on the whole thing.
-Mary N’toko
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I’m interested in what people do for food and water as these would be the reasons why people traditionally gather together. Do the buildings that the nanobots have made have the understructure to provide food and water? If not, are there water sources and food sources generally available such that individuals could wander off to live on their own?
Water supplies would be incorporated into the fabric of the buildings, just as they are now. But, the buildings were originally intended as quick and simple replacements for the previous city so no food dispensers. On the other hand they were supposed to replace the city so they do have areas where food production can take place. I’m thinking the sci-fi standard “food synthesis” plants for the low end and vertical farming for the discerning (and rich) consumer.
This means that food has to be either produced or bought from someone who does. Individuals can wander off as long as they are close enough to somewhere they can buy food, at least semi-regularly. Water and shelter wouldn’t be a problem and a car sized space of bulk foods will last a suprisingly long time….
I think one the things I’m wondering about is the following:
Is everything covered with the nanobats including the soil? Is it possible to grow anything in the soil? Perhaps it’s not accessible or too contaminated? From your description before I would imagine that the ‘farming’ is normally done by hydroponic methods.
The soil is mostly covered with concrete and buildings which is the problem with growing anything in it. Although the vertical farms are just that, farms – they grow crops in soil. There will be some hydroponics, probably paired up with aquaculture for growing fish etc. but mostly it’s soil based. It’s just in a skyscraper
There aren’t any free floating nanobots. Period. The materials of the buildings are formed using nanotech but it will be based internally in modules, in carefully controlled environmental conditions. When I say the buildings are grown think ‘extruded from centrally controlled processing modules’ rather than ‘independently created by co-ordinated nanites’
Hopefully that makes it a little clearer :-S