I'm having a hard time putting together an economic system

>>54297740
Hyper Specialisation, each planet exports only one or two key resources to other planets. They can produce others but it's not worth the effort on a galactic scale though if you zoom in then there's local economies for herbs or whatever.

No raw resource in existence justifies interstellar travel.

http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/macguffinite.php

>>54297740
I think it would be just like the economy now: "I could grow/do this, but it's much easier and less expensive if that guy does it for a living and I just buy it from him." A good example would be tea. Countries get tea from other countries all of the time either becuase they live somewhere where they don't have the proper conditions to grow it en masse or because they just don't have the space to.

>>54297740
>Spice
>Technology
>Entertainment
>Genetic material to prevent inbreeding

>>54297740
Trade data over laser communications links.

>>54297826
Only true if you're restricted to modern human lifespans; instead of a hard-SF scale from hundreds of thousands to hundreds of millions of years.

>>54297740
>lack metal and trade with others that lack water or something, but that's just contrived.
Why do you think that? Trade and conquest are the basis of all human interaction. The laws of economics apply to 2 people in a house as much as to 200 trillion spread across a galaxy. Look up "comparative advantage" for details:

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/comparativeadvantage.asp

>>54297826
Not at present costs, obviously. But if FTL-capable ships can ferry goods inexpensively enough, then why not?

>>54297826
It is when Interstellar travel is Powered by Reallyfuckingcommontanium.

File: Ravipede.jpg (15KB, 480x363px) Image search: [Google]

15KB, 480x363px

In my 2600CE game, trade is often limited to hand-crafted, or rare, items. A chair made by the Glauweh Sentience is far more valuable the farther you get from Alpha Centauri, and anything from Earth Herself is terribly expensive, what with the Kil-Sat enforced Homeworld Ban. If you just want a normal chair, go to Wal-Mart on the space station, but if you want a specific culture's chair, you will pay a high price.