Hyp: The farcaster network vs Ships

[Ian]

I don't think this is a spoiler because its pretty much talked about in the Consul's thoughts in the prologue, but here was my take (I'm rereading and just started so its fresh in my mind)

- the farcaster network isn't established on Hyperion (because its too remote I think?)
- farcasters work both ways so because of the Ousters and other enemies, wherever you put one you need to be able to defend it so the bad guys don't use it to invade the core worlds so there is a reason why they aren't everywhere and therefore ships are still viable/needed.
- they talk about potentially building a farcaster on Hyperion from scratch because of the potential invasion, but this would take time because you need to send ships with the materials to build it - ie there isn't one there at the moment

I think its a very valid question though!

[Rik]

Hyperion is not a full member of the Hegemony yet so they aren't in the farcaster network. You'll find out the reasons why and all the background in the Soldiers tale which comes right after the Priests tale.

[David Sven]

In the prologue they were sending a farcaster constructor by ship in response to the Ouster threat and the expanding time tides but had no guarantee it would arrive in time. Once arrived the farcaster could be assembled within 10hours? from memory and then they could start evacuating the planet in bulk from there.

[Justin]

One thing I also caught in what I believe was the first chapter, there's a number thrown out that (not completely sure) like only 10 percent of Hegemony citizens will ever use ship-based travel.

It would seem the farcaster web handles most of the travel needs without the need for long periods in cryogenic fugue and messy time-debts.