I really dislike using modern western "liberal democracies" as analogies to how things will be done in the 57th century.
Well, I could perhaps cite Han-dynasty shipbuilding, or maybe the Japanese example. Since I was referencing modern naval warship construction the Asian nations (aside from Japan) simply don't have the deep historical data. I could have cited the Russian shipbuilding, or the older Soviet Union/Warsaw pact (I don't think they would meet your "liberal democracy" definition), but they were woefully inefficient then and still today. Rarely does a modern navy have the challenges they have. The USN has been the pre-eminent naval power since WW2, and it had a naval defense industry to match it. Prior to that Great Britain had the most modern naval infrastructure in the world for centuries. They, too, have shrunk and are having challenges. The point I was making was that there's no reason why the Imperium might not have some of the these same issues.
Good point. The Imperium was fighting the Solomani a century ago and they remain a threat, Vargr raiders are a constant pain, and the Zhodani were fought inconclusively only a few decades ago. The Imperium knows the Solomani and Zhodani are making technological progress, the latest generation of TL15 ships the Imperium is building must be constructed with a mind to fighting peer opponents rather than a TL advantage.
The active engagement with an enemy, or the active threat of an enemy (similar to the cold war of the East v West) apparently are enough for a society to spend the necessary funds to maintain good military infrastructure. It would be interesting to do a deeper dive historically to see how other nations/states did the same. There may be further analogies here (unfortunately using more Western liberal democracies) in that you have the Imperium as being responsible for overall defense of the Imperium. That breaks down to the larger sectors (Such as the Marches), sub-sectors and then individual planetary systems. With the founding of NATO (and, to a lesser extent, the Warsaw Pact, ANZUS, SEATO, etc) you see some of the larger entities taking on the lion's share of the costs and building of weapons/ships/bases. The smaller powers often major contribution is forward basing. Using the NATO example we see the nations that are protected under the NATO umbrella spending far less of their GDP on defense, and often contributing little, if any, to the other parts such as the support infrastructure and R&D establishments. So one has to wonder if we look at the Imperial naval infrastructure would we see much the same? Would the planets invest only minimal credits in their local navies, or perhaps build and maintain some token system defense capabilities and be able to offer up little to much larger conflicts?
One would think those systems on the edges that have seen previous incursions would invest more heavily, but with human nature being what it is, I think it's questionable whether or not such expenditures and investment would stay at constant levels without some raids or other issues happening to constantly prod the politicians into spending those credits on defense rather than in something else for society. From a game perspective you could say simply "yes" and everything is linear from that point. Or, you could say it's gonna vary widely, and adventures set farther away from any frontier that abuts a hostile power may much more lackadaisical about their establishment, bribery more common, encounters with modern equipment rare. All depends on how you want to play the setting. But knowing about these things makes it far easier on the ref and helps the creative juices of players looking to make a quick credit or a safe getaway.
There is a reason western universities were flooded with Chinese students from the 70s onwards, and if you follow the scientific literature it is noticeable that a lot of original research and engineering is now taking place in China.
I think there are many reasons for that. After Reagan asked Mr. Gorbachev to tear these walls down, and you saw the collapse of the Communist side of the Cold War, there was the inevitable flood of people coming to the West to take advantage of generally better education systems. People did come to take knowledge back, but a lot also stayed (i.e. the brain drain). It's only been in the last few decades where there have been changes in the political winds that have started to slow down, or even reverse this trend. Some of these countries also, smartly, worked very hard to build up their own education system because they felt it put them at a weaker point by not having strong institutions locally.
There is much debate going on to the point of how much original research is occurring in China. Much technology has been stolen from the West to help them jump start their economy. I find it rather ironic, historically speaking at least, that the US has bemoaned the fact that China has stolen so much from the West to build up its domestic industries when the early US colonies had done the same to the UK and older European nations from which they originated. Different tech and issues (example - the US was paying a bounty of seeds of different types that could be smuggled out of Europe, and the US was trying hard to get access to the milling technologies of the UK), but the process is the same.
China is also the worlds leader in fake research. The Economist ran an article earlier this year about a study of retracted scientific papers. Of the 50,000 papers that were part of the survey, almost half originated in China. Fake research has become rampant over the last few decades, and China is leading the pack in the creation. Chinese researchers have the same publish or perish pressures Western scientists have. Though I think they have less of a historical or cultural pressure to NOT do such things than those in the West. I'm sure it's a far more nuanced thing than just that though.
The only reason those components are sourced from all over the world is globalist complacency. Whensanctions were placed on the Chinese and their access to microchips was limited they invested in the infrastructure to make their own - go look at the Chinese chip export market...
The US has the resources to be industrially self sufficient, the EU, China, India similarly. What they may not have access to are the raw materials...
choices
trade
war
space industry
I would have to disagree here. Modern technology and the world economy is far more intertwined today than at any other point in human history. Capitalism, love it or hate it, seeks out lowest costs regardless of the other aspects of is it secure or in the best national interests. As we've seen time and again, technology and products escape sanctions and with enough money they still make it through to enemies of one state or the other. North Korea, Russia, Iran (to name a few) have continually been able to obtain chips, parts and other things from the West.
Sanctions on China and their chip industry have had mixed results. It's definitely slow down their domestic production (and without the very stupid Western companies who were transferring tech to China while relocating production facilities there), but it's not stopped it. The US has pressured the Dutch ASML to not export the lithographic chip making machinery, and TSMC doesn't allow their tech to go to China either. The West COULD be self-sufficient in the manufacturing, but that would require a decade or more to reverse things. That train left the station a long time ago when companies were chasing profits over all else. Intel processors are mostly made outside of the US in places like Malaysia because it's cheaper. There is no TV manufacturing in the US anymore, or, I think cell phones. All of it has been outsourced to lower-cost production nations. That's a concept that is supposed to be integral to the Imperium as well - trade. I just don't see that as a reasonable thing to expect the Imperium to do. MAYBE a planet that was xenophobic, but even then it would never be able to match the rest of the Imperium in research or production. Trade makes for some very interesting bedfellows.
As an aside, a point of trivia on space and China. back in the mid 90s Hughes helped the Chinese figure out their rocket launch shroud issues. The Chinese hadn't had a lot of success in their designs and models for the shrouds and their rockets had issues with payloads making it space. Hughes was looking to China to save millions on launch fees so they helped them out to make their rockets better. Hughes got busted by the US government for helping a foreign nation with improving dual use mil-civ technology and, stupidly, helped China become a competitor to the US rocket industry. Hughes was a consumer of launch services, so if they could save a few million on launches they were all for it. They didn't really care (or think) about all the other implications.
A TL15 Industrial High Population system is unlikely to need anything from another world for its industries.
Why would you say that? There is no evidence to support such a statement if you look at human history. While access to an entire star system would give any society access to vast amounts of materials, I think it's a pretty big stretch to think that every material is going to be present in commercially viable quantities.
That's the thing about trade. You may have a TL-8 world next door teeming full of people who can more cheaply build your widgets. So TL-15 world ships in parts, TL-8 world assembles them and ships back finished goods. Both worlds benefit. This is the entire point of Smith's book The Wealth of Nations. While scale is certainly not the same (small nations vs a star system), the tech at the time was equivalent as the most sophisticated things were food, wood & iron. Quantities were smaller, too, since populations were smaller.
Skunk Works, every depot includes a Skunk Works... or Phantom Works, or DARPA.
Quite possible. The research stations seem to all work on specific areas or functions. The Imperium is so vast that there are probably specific research installations spread all over. The Depots in the deeper core may not work on as much as those on the frontier simply because there isn't as much need. And those Depots closer to the edges of Imperium probably have specific areas they are working on since their potential enemies may have weapons and tactics that are localized. How the Vargr fight would be different than say the Zhodani, or the Aslan or Solomani.
