Mmm, new plot, faster pacing, new characters, I’m enjoying this.
Really though, can you not just automate the gathering of resources in order to manufacture an FTL comms device and/or spacecraft reactor? Iris said they’d need decades if not centuries of development of a unified planet to do so, hence the interference with the planet’s politics, but I don’t understand why that scale is so large.
Grey goo the planet, Alan. It’s for the greater good.
When they first talked about the schedule, comparing the level of development of the indigenous civilization versus the Empire Alan came from, the most reasonable explanation I can think of is simply the difference in development.
In summary, the technologies for the things they want to build will require significant quantities of material, much of it industrial grade synthetics which require whole industries, laboratories, and factories to produce. For most of them, raw materials like ores, radioactive material, exotic rare-earth minerals and metals, things the locals can't even find in significant quantities, have understood how to use, or even gather. Then there are the facilities needed to fabricate them all. All of which require the support of whole industries to be able to develop the technology to produce them cost-effectively, which don't exist yet on this world. Even the replicators may likely only be able to do so much, and even that is just limited to construction, so Alan and his group have to build everything from scratch. Take Starcraft for example...you begin with a Command Center and a few drones, then you have to explore, gather materials, build facilities to unlock certain technologies, and build up. Same thing they're doing here.
Politics coming into play in this context, will actually open relations with other territories, which opens trade, and more options for prospecting, income for their new territory, and purchasing to acquire all the materials he'll need for his projects. Being able to spread out their influence will also enable them to place monitoring stations and assets at long distance away from their home base to increase their monitoring and observational capabilities, as well as scientific facilities, military bases, launch pads for spacecraft, etc. All that will come with having to make friends and allies abroad, so they can establish themselves while antagonizing locals as little as possible, which will take time. It's only quicker as we know it because of advances in technology for transport and communications, which is something that world doesn't possess in abundance. And Alan is skipping our stage to build a civilization that's far more advanced.
