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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Eltab" data-source="post: 7307203" data-attributes="member: 6803337">You might get more (and more positive) reaction if you also post this in the Starfinder section.I think you are trying to do too many changes at once:- near-future IRL timeline- Starfinder-style "Memory Gap"- computer AIs- Alpha Centauri- terraforming of worldsI would dump the whole Alpha Centauri idea (for now - when somebody discovers hyperdrive, the god-AIs have been busy...).  I also would move the beginning of "The Gap" to almost 2120.  Reference that the first AI drew reactions as if it was Skynet from the Terminator movies.  The resulting "war" between AIs and various pro- and con- human groups was destructive of records, much like Twilight:2000's Third World War or the Star Trek alternate-Earth where Khan becomes an open ruler.  "The Gap" closes when the wars are over; the AIs are no longer threatened with destruction and there are several consolidated human nations working to rebuild themselves.  (This lasts more than a human lifetime.)Do not juggle the worlds' place in the Solar System.  Prospective terraformed worlds: Venus.  Moon / Luna: breathable atmosphere in some craters.  Mostly-underground bases and installations.  Big radio telescope at the point directly opposite Earth for low-interference observations.Mercury has an AI-enforced "no trespassing" sign; huge solar panel arrays spread across the Sun-facing side and buildings are on the dark side - this is known from telescopic observation.  Mars has a too-thin atmosphere which is CO2 heavy; multiple national installations and AI installations are working on that.  The gas giants remain gas giants.  Io, Europa, Ganymede, Calisto are all open for colonization; an abandoned effort placed a monolith-shaped HQ building (as in 2001 and 2010) on Europa.  Titan is an AI terraforming work in progress, just barely started.Pluto and Charon host large scientific bases, researching astronomy and super-cooled physics.Several asteroids have bases of various types.  One project to be started "in the near future" is inspired by Farmer's Asteroid in Larry Niven's Known Space series.XL cargo ships which never land on any planet do not have to be streamlined.  These ships might use 'transfer orbits' to take long slow low-energy trips between worlds.  You can therefore use Traveler deck plans for them.Passenger ships MUST be faster than that, hence the rockets you are designing.  How about a 'ring ship' like 2001's space station?Cargo rockets - somebody has designed a standard 20-foot cargo container that can be stood on its nose without all the cargo smashing out.  Normal grippers and locks can hold the container in place, hexagon-formation around a very strong central core.  (A given container has a weight / mass limit.)  Mount aerodynamic sheathe around the outside.  Standardized rocket motors exist that can carry 6 / 12 / 18 / &c containers into low orbit.  The largest such might be descendant-rockets of the Saturn V.A book for your perusal: Space Resources: Breaking the Bonds of Earth.  The AIs will have thought about the contents, implemented some, and experimented with most.Your efforts are very ambitious - good luck to you !</blockquote>

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