It appears to me that low tech worlds in Traveller are in trouble. Their own development is going to be stifled by the presence of more advanced worlds nearby able to produce high technology goods that they can import, who would want a TL-8 camera if you can import a TL-12 one instead?
Economics are going to be important, shipping goods by starship is going to add to the price, probably quite a lot but I have not done the maths.
Helping a very low tech world is going to be in the producers interest – giving them the infrastructure to have a market for the goods and the ability to distribute them – a radio is no use unless you can get a source of power for it and someone is broadcasting something to listen to. However after an initial boost the low tech planet is going to have a harder time getting aid and loans to help raise itself any further as it might become a competitor, not a market and the high-tech would is going to want it to stay as a market and producer of raw materials.
Economic questions like this even have some use in game for scenario creation. Suppose planet A and planet B are economic rivals. Planet C is a lower tech world in the sphere of influence of planet A, a useful market and source of raw materials. Planet B sells planet C at a give-away cost a factory for manufacturing microchips – and the training for using it. You can get some plots from that yourselves but it seems to me that economic warfare between planets, even within the imperium, is going to be quite interesting.
Another question is about the role of the Imperium itself, is it going to take any role in this or will it pursue a laissez faire policy? What might get it interested is the deliberate attempts to keep a planet disadvantaged – on the other hand the high tech, high population worlds are the important ones so the low tech ones might be largely ignored – just as long as the high-tech planets do not try to turn economic domination into something more overt.
Economics are going to be important, shipping goods by starship is going to add to the price, probably quite a lot but I have not done the maths.
Helping a very low tech world is going to be in the producers interest – giving them the infrastructure to have a market for the goods and the ability to distribute them – a radio is no use unless you can get a source of power for it and someone is broadcasting something to listen to. However after an initial boost the low tech planet is going to have a harder time getting aid and loans to help raise itself any further as it might become a competitor, not a market and the high-tech would is going to want it to stay as a market and producer of raw materials.
Economic questions like this even have some use in game for scenario creation. Suppose planet A and planet B are economic rivals. Planet C is a lower tech world in the sphere of influence of planet A, a useful market and source of raw materials. Planet B sells planet C at a give-away cost a factory for manufacturing microchips – and the training for using it. You can get some plots from that yourselves but it seems to me that economic warfare between planets, even within the imperium, is going to be quite interesting.
Another question is about the role of the Imperium itself, is it going to take any role in this or will it pursue a laissez faire policy? What might get it interested is the deliberate attempts to keep a planet disadvantaged – on the other hand the high tech, high population worlds are the important ones so the low tech ones might be largely ignored – just as long as the high-tech planets do not try to turn economic domination into something more overt.