I think the answer to the OP all depends on the physics.
Without some sort of transportation even close to light speed, I would say the answer is no. Systems might be colonized, and may even get re-visits, but they would be basically independent.
With close to light speed, or even slightly higher, so that journeys are months to years for close systems (10 lys, not 100s or 1000s), I could see an empire sort of like the Earth empires of the 16th and 17th centuries.
If the journey decreased to days or less, unless there were other limits, the answer is definitely yes.
IsaacKuo raises a very interesting variation - no FTL or even close to light speed (and the invader has the same technology), but we have to develop some sort of contingency. I could see something like he discusses, where plans are developed that are carried out over generations. He still, I suppose a given world could not participate, at least for some period of time, since it would take centuries for the other human worlds to "punish" them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Radiation_Specialist
Argos,
I was actually thinking of posting about this exact issue. It seems due to the finite and slow speed of light when put on the galactic scale that any central governance would fail. It would take tens of thousands of years to send a message from one side of the galaxy to the other . . .
Will we ever find FTL transfer of information? |
Ursula K. Le Guin had a device called an
ansible in several of her science fiction stories. She postulated a human civilization based on sub-light travel, but close to instantaneous communication. IIRC, it was not an empire, planets were independent in governance, and even developed rather different cultures, but did trade and a small number of people traveled from one to another.