Visiting Terra

[Iceweb]

So in 3056 my merc group got a garrison contract on Rigil Kentarus which is under 4 ly from Terra. 
I figured that visiting humanity's birth place would be high on the list of anyone who reasonably could. 
So the CO made a promise to the unit that anyone who came on the garrison contract would get a 2 month paid vacation on Terra when they were done. 

I was wondering how hard it was for an outsider to actually visit Terra? 
Getting  ride shouldn't be that hard, I figure the Sol system would want to import large amounts of resources, and would turn out the best high tech and luxury stuff in the galaxy, and be worth a good profit if you could fill your hold with the goods. 

Still I can't imagine there wouldn't be security protocols in place so that no one showed up and cause trouble or blew stuff up. 
Also at that point the peace with the clans was starting to fray and while clan honor wouldn't have them raiding Terra or sabotaging their stuff, there had to be security plans to prevent such actions in case they decided to do so. 
That said while I assume most clanners don't get vacations, some warriors might want to visit Terra. 
In addition there might be reason for the Merchant caste to trade with Earth. 
Were any of these ever touched in the fiction? 

Speaking of which are there exciting new things to do on Terra that a tourist draws in the 31st century? 
I would guess with the mech fever of the setting people would try for tours of the various mech factories on the planet. 
Does Detroit MechWorks give tours of the factory? 
Would tourism allow visiting Mars or other places in system or would it be reserved for the ultra rich? 

Also I would guess people would try to purchase mechs from Terra.  Is there any fluff on the customs or other procedures for buying military hardware from the Sol system?


What about other time periods? 
I would think the Chaos of the Jihad would have made anyone trying to visit Terra much harder. 
I would think ComStar would have kept visitations low during the stone ages of the Succession Wars to prevent anyone from leaving with knowledge of the higher tech base that they had. 

 

[Syzyx]

Prior to the whole mess of the Jihad, ComStar kept Terra as a no-go zone. It was a big deal when Hanse and Melissa were given permission to have their wedding there. Getting into Terra wasn't too terribly hard, but once there you basically never left. And if you did manage to leave then ROM had a grand adventure hunting you down and getting rid of you.

[Nav_Alpha]

There’s a mention in Jihad hot spots: Terra that Focht opens Terra up a little bit during that Truce era. That all came crashing down in 3058 when the Word took over.
Check out JHS: Terra. It has everything you need

[Iceweb]

Prior to the whole mess of the Jihad, ComStar kept Terra as a no-go zone. It was a big deal when Hanse and Melissa were given permission to have their wedding there. Getting into Terra wasn't too terribly hard, but once there you basically never left. And if you did manage to leave then ROM had a grand adventure hunting you down and getting rid of you.

Wouldn't preventing people from leaving Terra be too detrimental to their intergalactic trading and their economy.  Then again FASAnomics maybe I shouldn't be surprised. 

After Tukayyid there seems little reason to keep such a tight hold on Terra. 
As Nav_Alpha says Focht opened it up some. 
Sounds like 3057 being when the contract ends and the planned vacation would be the perfect time for Mercs with some cash to throw around and a big need for R+R to come play tourist. 
With over a year to plan the visit I think they might be able to bribe their way there.

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

Wouldn't preventing people from leaving Terra be too detrimental to their intergalactic trading and their economy.  Then again FASAnomics maybe I shouldn't be surprised. 

Terra didn't have an economy based on interstellar trade.  The Sol System was pretty much completely self-sufficient.

[cray]

Prior to the whole mess of the Jihad, ComStar kept Terra as a no-go zone. It was a big deal when Hanse and Melissa were given permission to have their wedding there. Getting into Terra wasn't too terribly hard, but once there you basically never left. And if you did manage to leave then ROM had a grand adventure hunting you down and getting rid of you.

Per the ComStar SB p. 86-87 and Fall of Terra p. 56 to 58, the Terran System was actually a major trade hub. Yes, accessing the planet Terra was "by invitation only," but it wasn't that hard - Max Liao (secretly) met with the Wolf Dragoons on Terra to secure their contract.

And while Terra proper might've been hard to access, "Terra generates a surplus of goods that are sold to trading consortiums across the Inner Sphere. Despite being of no better quality than goods produced elsewhere, items labeled 'Made on Terra' sell for a premium....The manufacture of military weapons remains a major Terran industry. Only since the battle of Tukayyid has Terra's exports dropped, and that only briefly because of the need to replace ComGuard losses. ... [after WoB's takeover] the cities of Berlin, Chicago, Calcutta, and Wuhan are major black-market centers."

Aldis Industries, famous for numerous combat vehicles like the Behemoth, Demolisher, and Schrek tanks, operated from Terra throughout the Succession Wars.

Terra didn't have an economy based on interstellar trade.  The Sol System was pretty much completely self-sufficient.

The Terran System was self-sufficient, but it was a noted exporter of combat vehicles and a major trade hub throughout the Succession Wars. People might not have gotten many visas to land on Terra proper, but it wasn't a walled off, sacred garden. It's standard jump points were major, neutral trade zones.

[Iceweb]

Thanks Cray
You always have the best stuff. 

Is there anything in the books about what level of bribes you might need to get a travel visa between 3055 and 3058? 
Its sounding like if you had mechs and money you could definitely get a visit to Earth, if you were tenacious enough. 

Since you couldn't always visit Terra were there other places in the Sol system that you could travel to easier to say you were in Sol, or just lie and say you did go to Terra when you really just visited Mars or something? 
Or did ComStar have them just as locked down?

[cray]

Is there anything in the books about what level of bribes you might need to get a travel visa between 3055 and 3058? 

Between 3055 and 58? Nothing specific, but that was a period when Focht had significantly eased travel restrictions to Terra.

In that period, you wouldn't need much except the ability to reach Terra. JumpShip travel is decidedly rare.

Since you couldn't always visit Terra were there other places in the Sol system that you could travel to easier to say you were in Sol, or just lie and say you did go to Terra when you really just visited Mars or something? 
Or did ComStar have them just as locked down?

I don't know. The available sources are vague. Mars, Venus, etc. get lighter treatments than Terra, so there's even less material to extrapolate from.

[Frabby]

From how I understood it (can't cite sources, should be working) the planet was basically under ComStar lockdown, and all traffic from/to Terra went through ComStar.

The Terra (Sol) system may have been a trading hub, but again, JumpShips that weren't part of ComStar's fleet would need a special permission (that they wouldn't normally get). A lot of JumpShip "bus lines" traffic probably went through, but those would have been ComStar JumpShips where you could book a hardpoint. And you weren't supposed to undock either.

Crossing Great House/State borders wasn't a trivial thing, not for regular traffic anyways. I recall encounter tables... somewhere... where crossing a Great House border incurred a hefty penalty. And there is little point in traveling through the Sol system unless you're going to cross state borders (even when you're not counting ComStar/Terra as a state unto its own).
Also, we know of near-Terra systems that served as hubs or entryways into the Successor States, such as Outreach.

[omega2010]

Since Max Liao met with the Dragoons on Terra, I wonder if Comstar deliberately allowed it so that ROM could observe them?  This sounds like the period Comstar got really paranoid about the Dragoons.

[skiltao]

When Melissa takes a cruise ship from Tharkad to New Avalon in 3027, the cruise includes an excursion on Terra. Booking the ticket seemed trivially easy.

I recall encounter tables... somewhere... where crossing a Great House border incurred a hefty penalty.

In DropShips and JumpShips, crossing House borders more or less quarters the number of DropShips willing to make the trip. Other modifiers would apply to Terra, though, which more than making up for that; and from 3030 to 3057, if you're moving from one part of the FedCom (Rigil Kentaurus, for instance) to another, you're not crossing borders at all.