With Nikita on this. Intelligent pre-fab components (see: smartfab units), top tier materials, rapid orbital deployment capability (just watch the Tyrannis login screen), nanofacture (see: armor reps, nanopaste); these parts of PF come together to make the automation thing reasonable within the setting. Of course, the installation process for PI infrastructure isn't what bugged
me about this chron...
I think we're all in agreement that once installed, these facilities are operated by flesh-and-blood employees/slaves with or without a compliment of drones, yes?
As for the CONCORD planetary development treaty, I think Svetlana's got it right in that last post. The treaty serves the capsuleer community and the empires by permitting our wealth to be expended directly into planetary economies. It's good for business. Omvistus' behavior is bad for business regardless of whether he actually drops processing units on top of unsuspecting cities, which I don't think he would have in the first place. He's not developing any longer, but rather threatening genocidal destruction. He's gone from being an impossibly rich and powerful real estate developer and construction mogul (what empire PI really should be about, for now) to being a terrorist with a god gun pointed at you.
The problem is that the chron
never shows us the consequences of dealing with people that way. (For that, see
Vieve's short story on the EVE Fiction forum.)
Finally,
I demand a simulacrum NOW!
Seconded, Graan.