>>>and basically set human progress back a couple of thousand years by
>>>basically turning every human nation back into an island.
>>
>>A couple of thousand years might be a bit of an
>>exaggeration—it's not as if all the advanced technology on Earth
>>stopped working—but it certainly did no economic or geopolitical
>>good.
>
>It occurs to me that, if things got sufficiently bad, they wouldn't be
>able to launch anyone on those one-way trips offplanet. Apollo-era
>rockets would be enough, especially if there are galactic passenger
>liners waiting in high orbit (which would make sense) but Apollo-era
>rockets still require a pretty hefty industrial capacity.
>
>Also, how screwed you are by losing access to the ocean and to
>intercontinental trade, depends very much on where you are. The USA
>is in trouble initially because we went and exported all our
>manufacturing base to China, but could probably recover with native
>resources. Japan, on the other hand? Completely screwed.

Keep in mind that by the time of the Fog Interdiction and the Hundred Day War, the nations of United Earth (tm) had access to the galactic stage since late 1999. That's nearly 40 years of access to advanced technologies (if albeit not widely distributed) and even with Earth getting a lockdown on galactic imports, that still leaves enough examples lying around (along with technical specifications and blueprints) that we clever monkeys probably whipped together suitable substitutes of our own. So I don't think we'd have been knocked back to Saturn V boosters for escaping our gravity well, but anything that did get built for that purpose wasn't likely to be returning.

--- Philip

	Philip J. Moyer Contributing Writer, Editor and Artist (and Moderator) -- Eyrie Productions, Unlimited CEO of MTS, High Poobah Of Artwork, and High Priest Of the Church Of Aerianne -- Magnetic Terrapin Studios "Insert Pithy Comment Here" Fandoms -- Fanart -- Fan Meta Discussions