[quote=TheUnknowable]
I completely forgot about Banished. We could do something like that, with each of our groups negotiating trades using the leaders (us).A few hundred years in the future the groups would have changed enough that we don't need to know a lot about them. Just read a wikipedia article on them, and we'll have the basics.Or we could be new groups, completely made up.Edit: Ok, plot idea so far:It's 2157. Only Mars and the moon are colonized, because the government couldn't control anything in the outer system given current technology.I own a ship-building and research facility in the asteroid belt that is trying to design ships for deep space exploration. I detect a signal from an old NASA probe in the Centari system. It detected a planet in orbit of Alpha Centauri that has liquid water, is in a decent orbit, has 22% atmospheric oxygen, but at less than half Earth pressure, and Chlorophyll using lifeforms. 59% probability it can support human life, given the much worse technology of when the probe was launched. I only detected the signal because I built equipment to pick up signals from all of the old satellites and probes, something only the government is likely to still do.I design a ship, using my prototype warp drive (50c, so just over a month to get there), and build it, while contacting various oppressed groups on the planet and asking them if they want to join us. Some (you guys) agree. I build a ship for each group (overextending my corporation's resources in the process, but who cares, I'm abandoning it) and we leave. For groups like the Amish, I merely take you there, as you reject the idea of owning something as advanced as a starship. My group is made up of 1000 or so asteroid miners and other "spacer" types who already don't need a government.Some time after we leave, the UN (now a planet-wide oppressive government) realizes where we went, recovers what they can of my research, and launches ships to go after us.
[/quote]

Ehh... I'm a sucker for sci-fi, and totally obsessed with the Alcubierre Drive. however, even that has a maximum speed of 10c. Of course, I would honestly go with an antimatter rocket for this, maybe even an Orion Drive. Even then I certainly wouldn't say there's a habitable planet around Alpha Centauri, I would say it's a moon of a gas giant or something. Of course, I would choose something in the solar system if we've only got to Mars. Speaking of the setting, it's actually quite similar to an absolutely ancient short story I wrote. Kind of nice to be reminded of it.

Also, have you ever read Escape from Terra? I think you would like it, might even give you an idea for this (The history of the universe, especially places like the belt and Mars, is pretty close to what you;re going for here.)