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Congratulations, after a lengthy application process, your grant proposal has been approved by the Federation's Department of Colonial Affairs. Your potential colony will be transported to a suitable class M planet by the USS Bonchune and 2 Antares class freighters.

For this voyage, you will have access to the guest quarters and 2 cargo bays of the Bonchune(same size and dimensions as the Enterprise-D's cargo bays), as well as the cargo capacity of the two freighters.(For reference, Kasidy Yates's ship, the Xhosa, is one of the ships).

The Federation will supply you with what request on your form(within reason), but there is limited space available.

Starfleet requires you to pack a long range communications device in case of emergency.

It will be two years before your world receives another resupply of material and personnel.

What kind of colony do you design? How many people will you bring? What do you pack? Where on an Earth like planet do you plan to settle?

I presume my colony will be under Federation jurisdiction, and thus subject to its laws?

How much leeway does the Federation give its members regarding how they set up their government?

Well, since we see that the Federation includes a wide range of species and cultures that presumably did not all abandon all their own traditions upon joining the Federation, I'm going to assume that I have a fair amount of leeway as long as I don't act against the Federation/Starfleet, obey the Prime Directive, and respect the basic rights/liberties that the Federation gauruntees.

With that in mind, I shall seek to set up my government as a socialist direct democracy via referendum, with an elected Chief Executive for when it isn't practical to put a decision to referendum immediately. I shall also implement a Sentient Bill of Rights that affords AIs better protections than Federation standard. Finally, I will institute a generous asylum/refugee policy if permitted. Lots of wars in the late TNG era, and I want a diverse society.

Since an outlying colony might have to wait for Federation aid, I will want to have at least a minimal security force of my own, both for internal policing and for seeing off aggressors. How many times has the Enterprise responded to a distress call to find a colony already in ruins with all the locals dead? No, I will have my own bloody (or hopefully not bloody self-defence force, if permitted by law to do so. Probably a small core of security officers (a dozen officers or so) with phaser pistols, and a reserve volunteer militia composed of anyone who is willing to join and go through periodic training. If I can afford it, I'll also see about purchasing two or three outdated shuttles/Runabouts as system patrol craft.

That means I'll need something of value. I will probably establish my colony on a world with access to some sort of valuable resource which I can extract for the Federation (would Federation regulations permit me to trade it in limited quantities to non-Federation neighbours as well)? However, the primary goals of the colony will be scientific research and the foundation of a new civilization. The resource extraction will be simply to facilitate that.

In terms of what I'll bring:

1. What is the minimum number of people I will need to ensure a healthy gene pool? Probably want a little more than that, minimum. I mean, I'm sure I will get more immigrants, but just in case we get indefinitely cut off by some bizarre phenomenon or something like that.

2. I will take only healthy, preferably young adults with no criminal record, no families to begin with (too risky to have children on a new frontier colony, though I expect children will be born sooner or later). The ratio I'm looking at is probably about half engineers, most of the rest scientists, plus the necessary medical and security personnel (no more than 20 or so).

I will look to take ex-Starfleet for my command staff/security personnel.

3. For structures, I'm thinking a main control centre (will also contain a detention centre, transporter pads, and a medical bay), and a sort of multi-purpose community centre as the main building (will contain two full holodecks, one for training/simulations and one as a backup/for recreation), with small prefabricated individual dwellings laid out around that. Sensors around the perimeter. All utilities and life support systems will have redundancies.

4. Some actual bloody ground vehicles, even if its only that dinky jeep from Nemesis, to give me more mobility and transport capability independent of transporters on the planet's surface.

5. Since we won't get resupply for two years, we should have at least that in all essentials in storage.

As to where to settle on the planet, semi-tropical or temperate sounds nice. Not too hot, not too cold. Actually, a little above the sea side (to avoid storms/flooding) in a region with a similar climate to south western British Columbia sounds lovely.

I will, of course, research all aspects of the location and any potential threats carefully in advance.

Edit: Actually, if I have the resources and replicators, and qualified personnel, I might not need to purchase shuttles/Runabouts. Voyager built its own top-notch shuttle when stranded far from home. I ought to be able to do likewise.

Other factors regarding defence:

Their are instances in Star Trek of certain natural phenomena blocking transporters/sensors, aren't their?

It might be useful of something of that sort were located near my colony. Make a handy bolt hole to evacuate to if anyone hostile came calling and got past my defences before reinforcements could arrive.

I contemplated shielding, but considering the rarity of planetary/theatre shielding in Star Trek, figured there's probably a reason its hardly ever used, even if I can't think what it might be.

Edit: Since I didn't state it before, I'll add that my end goal includes the colony becoming a Federation member world.

If you want to become a member world, I suspect you need to become economically vital at the very least, which will involve serious resource extraction in some fashion.

Better stock up on glowing sticks to point at the ground, huh?

Yeah, I'm intending to set my colony up where there's some valuable resource to mine in order to fund its development, as I stated above.

So yes, extraction equipment will be part of the cargo manifest.

As for supplies. You don't necessarily need that much in the way of supplies; investigate your planet ahead of time. If it's OK for human/Federation-norm-humanoid habitation, it will hopefully have plants and animals that are edible. Regardless, if you can dedicate power to replicators-- power generation certainly doesn't seem to be a huge issue in Trek-- you can probably use pretty much any organic raw material that fits the parameters needed by the replicators.

I'm trying to build in as much redundancy as I have room for/resources for, because, well...

How many times in canon has some outlying colony got whacked by some unexpected catastrophe/attack?

Add to that that if this is in the late TNG era timeframe, as appears to be the case, then their are either major wars ongoing, or soon to happen.

And if its two years before resupply, this is probably a fairly remote colony.

Security is definitely something I need to take very seriously, more so even than usual.

I won't argue with that.

If you are able to choose your world though... why not stack the deck as much as you're able. Give yourself the benefit of a world that comes pre-packaged with foods and other resources that can either be used as is or require only minimal reprocessing. Ideally one that has been observed for some time in order to get some idea of what weather patterns over an extended period of time will look like, as well, not to mention any existing primitive cultures or nearby stellar phenomena.

But if it's a "here's this world, go there, good luck" situation... that's a little more difficult.

Well, obviously I will pick a hospitable world.

Edit: Presuming I have a choice, of course.

If not, then I guess I have to hope for the best, and at most choose where on the world to settle.

It's more of a Here's your world, good luck", situation. The UFP's Department of Colonial Affairs has plenty of applications, this world has been slotted to you. And there's nothing on it so far about trying to recreate Risa, Scotland, Luddite Irish, traditional homes for Native Americans, etc, so class M to take all for yourselves is what you get.

To be fair, if you want to make a theme park planet, put in the request for environmental control technology, if you have the room.

And we'll place this in 2379, two weeks after Nemesis.

Hmm. So post-Dominion and Borg wars?

Okay then, I have to ask: Are we treating Star Trek Online as canon for this scenario? That'll affect just how worried I have to be about the galactic situation in coming years. Though caution is advisable either way, of course.

Either way, though, we know there's the destruction of Romulus cluster fuck coming shortly.

Where in Federation space am I going to be located? Any specifics on the planetary environment you can give me beyond M class (and thus presumably habitable without space suits)?

Glad to know that I have a lot of leeway as to local culture (and hopefully, therefore, government).

Badlands frontier space, now that the Cardassians are incapable of holding their borders, which went to the DMZ, the UFP is swooping in and in a colonization rush of the sectors.

Oh goodie, I'm in the galactic powder keg.

Definitely going to try to invest in some Runabouts, unless the situation has serious stabilized since DS9. Might also see if I can get authorization for my security force to have access to pulse phaser rifles.

The Romulan Republic wrote:With that in mind, I shall seek to set up my government as a socialist direct democracy via referendum, with an elected Chief Executive for when it isn't practical to put a decision to referendum immediately.

Not interested in trying out the variation of the One Man, One Vote system developed by a certain Havelock Vetinari?

(Hint for non-Pterry fans; he's the One Man, he's got the One Vote...)

Most times, the one man isn't as capable or honest (in his own twisted way) as Lord Vetinari.

Edit: In any case, I don't think the Federation would look very favourably on Vetinari's approach to government.

FaxModem1 wrote:Congratulations, after a lengthy application process, your grant proposal has been approved by the Federation's Department of Colonial Affairs. Your potential colony will be transported to a suitable class M planet by the USS Bonchune and 2 Antares class freighters.

For this voyage, you will have access to the guest quarters and 2 cargo bays of the Bonchune(same size and dimensions as the Enterprise-D's cargo bays), as well as the cargo capacity of the two freighters.(For reference, Kasidy Yates's ship, the Xhosa, is one of the ships).

The Federation will supply you with what request on your form(within reason), but there is limited space available.

Starfleet requires you to pack a long range communications device in case of emergency.

It will be two years before your world receives another resupply of material and personnel.

What kind of colony do you design? How many people will you bring? What do you pack? Where on an Earth like planet do you plan to settle?

A few shuttlecraft or a runabout or two.

An industrial replicator and power supply system / generators.

A few food replicators.


In theory that's all you need to "get going". Anything you need can more or less be made from that.

Janeway and Chakotay showed what "temporary accommodation" looks like in the 24th century - pre-fab stuff. But the two of them managed to make a bath, do science experiments etc - seems ok from a survival point of view.

60-70 people should be enough to get going (not on about genetics here, we're not a lost outpost lol). A few families, get a school up and running.

I'd set it up as a science and observation colony - exploring the planet is the goal.

FaxModem1 wrote: What kind of colony do you design? How many people will you bring? What do you pack? Where on an Earth like planet do you plan to settle?

Primarily an agrarian settlement, to maximize self sufficiency

2,000 colonists to start

Seeds for crops, livestock, prefabricated shelters (like the one seen on Voyager), about 200 Argo buggy's, 48 Type 6 shuttlecraft, 24 Type 9/Class 2 shuttlecraft, and bulk food replicators with 8 month power supply.

Temperate zone, near flowing consistent freshwater source (I need cold winters to alleviate pests and diseases and obviously a habitable spring/summer for agriculture, a good river simplifies sewage until I can get a sewage plant constructed/delivered.)

The Argo's (assuming a civillian utility variant) would be used to assist with farming practices (plowing fields, hauling harvest, etc.)

The Type 6's would be fitted to serve as crop dusters and exploration craft (charting the rest of the planet and solar system.)

The Type 9/Class 2's would be defense craft. (responding to any pirates, etc.)

That's a hell of a lot of shuttles for an agrarian colony of 2,000.

What are you planning to do, fight a war?

If the planet is chosen for me, would depend of available local resources on how you'd set up. Dilithium or Latnum rich? You mine. Mineral poor, farm. Go with some prefab buildings, one or two industrial replicators, half a dozen food replicators, couple portable or small power generators (I have no idea what the Fed's use for this sort of thing, small fusion power plants?), and one or two shuttles or hoppers. I would prefer a runabout for emergencies or for in system flights but not sure if that is allowed.

I'd want in the neighborhood of a dozen or so families with approximate half dedicated to the primary function of the place, farm/mine/whatever. A quarter for maintenance and maybe one or two families with field science background, rest with administrative duties. Set up base camp in a good spot depending on our focus with good water supply. Either bring with us or use industrial replicators to make some small communications and GPS style satellites and use the shuttles to seed them in orbit. Maybe a rudimentary proximity alarm for warp signatures so we know when someone comes a knocking. Field scientists can do exploration on the planet, geology, biology. Farmers/miners can farm/mine. Maintenance keeps it running and admin keeps it on track.

Latinum

Revised plan (in brief), taking into account some of the stuff posted above, including the new information on location:

Objectives:

Short Term: Become a mostly self-sufficient major resupply station for Starfleet, if I can work out such an arrangement. Given the location (a historically unstable area near a strategically key means of trans-galactic travel and the major border fortification that defends it), their is likely to be a lot of Starfleet activity. Acting as a base for Starfleet will make me a bigger target, but also ensure that my defence is higher priority, and ensure that we will regularly receive ships and trade.

Like Knife said, that probably means farming if lacking in minerals, probably mining otherwise. When my colony gets a bit bigger, I'll try to set up more recreational facilities to make it an appealing stop for shore leave.

Medium Term: Establish a new, diverse society along semi-direct democratic lines, with refugee/immigration and AI rights policies that are as liberal as Federation law permits. I will actively encourage immigration to the colony to boost our initial population.

Long Term: Become a Federation member world. This will likely be a multi-decade, maybe even multi-century, endeavour.

Colonists: Same as before. Preference will be for young, healthy couples (no children), about half engineers, most of the rest scientists, with some security and medical people. Some entertainers, like Quark, especially once we get a bit bigger. We will specifically recruit ex-Starfleet people, particularly for the security and medical posts.

Ideally, I'd like to take at least several hundred, but that is contingent on the cargo capacity of my transports.

Supplies: Ideally, I'd like to have enough essentials to last the full two years until resupply, just in case some local disaster prevents us from living off the land and we get cut off from immediate Starfleet aid. Redundancies for all critical systems. Buildings will include small prefab. dwellings (about the size of the typical quarters for a Starfleet officer, maybe), a couple larger prefab. buildings (a command centre/medical bay/customs, and, less essentially, a community/recreation centre), some industrial replicators if available, and sensor arrays to put around the colony's perimeter. Plus the mandated communications equipment, of course.

Vehicles/Ships: On the ground, some Nemesis-style buggies, if available to civilians. In space, I'd like three warp-capable shuttles minimum (so I always have at least two available even if one breaks down). Armed if possible, though I don't know what weapons are permitted for a civilian colony.

Minor note, if you state that you're building a specific cultural colony(random example, a colony of Ancient China, with appropriate climate and wildlife), or if you have a valid reason why an Earth like world won't suit your needs, the Department of Colonial Affairs will try to cater to your needs, but it will more than likely mean that you will either be on a more suitable world that is still in the DMZ, somewhere else in the frontier, or failing that, move you to the bottom of the queue and encourage you to seek private funding elsewhere.

IE, wait another few months or years while a colony of Vulcan artists, Bolian farmers, or Trill mountain climbers take your spot in line.

I'm not terribly picky.

Basically all I ask, beyond an atmosphere and climate that does not require a space suite or breathing equipment, is that their is some extractable resources that's of use to people who might come and trade with me.

Though my preference would be a coastal colony with a temperate climate and land suitable for farming.

In practical terms, the 'Planet of Hats' thing is pretty darn silly anyway. There's no real reason to allow people to indulge in such things unless they can make it work for people who *don't* have the added encumbrances of a 'hat' (whether cultural, technological, social, whatever). The fact that such exist in the Federation, largely in the TOS/TNG era, indicate a different period with less concerns about the viability of such concepts.

Weren't most of the "hat planets" the homes of extremely humanoid aliens? Or places where a colony world had gone horribly wrong in ways the Federation would probably not have approved of (e.g. almost everyone dying and a handful of survivors being mass-reproduced by cloning)?