A fictional liner's advantage depends on the propulsion rules of its setting. With inertia and continued acceleration, high speed depends on how long a ship can accelerate, so extra range does not necessarily give a transport the same freedom from convoys as a fast ocean liner. Planetary evacuation also requires moving populations far larger than conventional naval transports handle. Glenn Stewart gives a Starship's Mage example in which a massive effort rescues about 80 million people from a planet of two billion. The operation saves many lives while still reaching only a small share of the population.
Notable Point · 6:00:04-6:01:26
Space liners depend on propulsion rules and evacuation scale
Ocean-liner analogies change when spacecraft gain speed through sustained acceleration, while planetary populations make even enormous evacuations incomplete.