captainjack23
Cosmic Mongoose
As promised:
Some thoughts on Speculative Trade and Cargo, and Freight to a lesser extent
I should note that Aramis did lots of basework here, and is the coauthor; [/b]he disagrees about some of the Meta trade issues I posit, but is fine with these rules. Thanks to all else for input and feedback. To begin.
I. The speculative trade
From the players perspective, they will be less involved in the system of interworld trade on a major level, or the planned/contract trade (unless they get good steady safe jobs with a shipping line...how likely is that?)
I go into this in more detail, as do others on the forums, but the main premise I work from is this: That players will have more of the spec side in front of them, and the cargo that's available for that (and freight) the is most likely to be excess or last minute loads not accounted for by regular shipping.
So, I'll suggest that the freight lots only have to be considered a fraction of what would likely exist; and the spec lots similarly considered -but with more available than freight.
So, yes, a hi pop industrial tech 15 planet may only have a few tons available - for the players. On this planet, for this week, the merchant marine is very efficient, and the brokers too. This is what missed the boat (the boat being the half gigaton freighter that just left).
Also, I’d have the available lots change every week to increase variability. A sudden giant surplus (great roll, blazingly good effect) could be because a ship is late, and brokers have no interest in waiting to get the synthicaf bean harvest moving... and the captain knows a guy (who knows a guy, who has this dude who owes him a favor in charge of the ministry of trade...)
That said, unless I misunderstood the rules in 3.2, the spec trade cargo is essentially open ended – once a price is agreed on, the trader can just start shoveling till his hold is full. While simple, this pretty much kills the incentive for passengers and really limits the desirability of freight. So, I think there should be limits to availability – but since I’m positing a volatile spot market for players, it need not be too balanced or effected by the planets actual trade economics beyond what items are available.
That said, I'm thinking that the limits should be similar to the freight lots. The actual types of items would be generated as in 3.2, with a few small changes noted below. The freight rules work very well, are easy and quick, and give players some (often) hard choices. So, first, I’d propose making the spec rules work similarly; with the obvious difference that one knows what’s in the containers, and where they are delivered to is unspecified.
Additionally, looking at just the available cargo (freight and spec) from a spot market perspective can allow less worry about destination/source interactions.... a smaller sample of the cargos will be much less reflective of the actual trade - so, as long as there’s lots of variance in what the players may get, balancing isn't as much of an issue (particularly using a basic model for the basic version of the game)
Some lots perhaps should be small - do we want 600 tons of diamonds or sci-fi gem equiv? So, they'd use the above ranges (d6x100, d6x10, etc) but in cubic meters instead of dtons; perhaps even Kg for lots that will never fill even one container or subcontainer
Most of the small lots seem to specialty goods in any case -limited to specific trade codes, so probably just having some as size S and the rest unchanged should do without stretching credulity too much ("you bought six-hundred displacement tons of TL15 micro cpu chips.... and then sold them? All as one lot? ...That’s it, I quit ")
I'm not sure how much it is needed to try and balance the lots by type – for instance metal in smaller lots, grain in bigger ones; given that these are the spot loads, they may represent partial lots that overfilled the regular freight hull or lots that came up too short (profit or space) to be worthwhile for the mega freighters to lift. So, there are probably 10000 and 100000 dTon lots - they just aren't available or practical for character traders.
Standard container discussion goes here for lack of a better place:
Standard containers are likely to be a major part of interstellar trade; so from several campaigns, and my own, this design seems to work well with the basic freight and mail lot sizes, which one assumes are sealed and point to point shipping. YMMV
So, to start with the first goal:
Make it more consistent with the freight table.
Assume that both spec and freight are the spot market - mainly leftovers and late arrivals. Works if the system is explicitly identified as being aimed at characters as small opportunistic carriers. (Classic tramp freight)
Step 1: Figure out how much is likely to be there.
Assumption: these are the lots of commodities on the quayside, or in brokers warehouses -they are containerized and ready to go -generally terms are as delivered to docking bay; cost includes container, which are owner openable.
Stuff, in custom lots, probably requiring transport and packing, seem more of an event-driven roleplaying issue.
Use the TI table from Aramis (above): for any planet
SPOT MARKET LEVEL = (TI+ 1d6-3)
The spot market level is the fancy term for total number of lots available…
Notes on volitility
The variable dice (1d6-3) for initial TI allows for some variance due to planets being more or less productive, diversified, and /or unusually resource rich. I'd also optionally suggest that it not be rolled till the players get there (the base pop*Tech is in the traders guide book) which allows for assumption of cyclic production, trade booms and failures & screwing with players heads and pocketbooks. You’ll get some oddities, the TI 1 planet suddenly jumping to Spot marketlevel4, for instance, but write those off to an oil strike/dotcom boom or some such. Overall, we don’t want don't want too many lots (make the players make hard choices), but do want some variability -plus, only the worst planets should have the potential for no lots.
Important: as with freight, available lots work as in freight & can't be broken up for purchase. Unlike freight, they have no set destination, and can be broken up for sale at the new owners discretion.
Step 2. Determine the actual contents of the lots as in MGT 3.2 (d66);
One change suggested: allow repeat rolls to stay - but roll lot size separately for each. The lots are separate.
Step 3. Determine the size of the Lots:
Use the following tables for the size determinant (remember - we are dealing only with player size loads):
Some goods will be defined as small lots: -3 to size. Any result below 0 is in lots of d6 x1/10 dTon (1.4 cubic Meters).
The above mods by TI are pretty much optional, depending on how much one wants the complexity of the source culture to effect the lot size.
I’d keep the small lot mod in any case.
I'm tempted to add bulk lots (+5), but anything at all in the 1000dTon range is likely out of range for the players hold space. To some extent, I included that as a booby prize for high TI worlds -their leftovers are pretty damn big, often as not.
Explanation and assumptions:
For the mods to the size table break points are vaguely described as: high stellar+(TI 12+) space using (TI 9-11), basically not industrialized (TI 3-5) and primitive (TI 0-2)
Assumptions: primitives (TI 0-2) have either very little, or very small hand made lots of interest. Not industrialized planets (not necc the trade code rather TI 3-5), seldom produce big lots of much anything due too either small population, or low tech.
Space using planets (TI 9-11) are integrated into the imperial economy and standardized trade habits, and high stellar + (TI 12+) just plain has easy mass production of anything. (Note that for a TI of 12, the minimum is 10 pop, 14 tech; for a 13, the minimums are 16 tech, 10 pop.)
The non-modified TI range (6-8) represents the backwaters that don't produce much for trade, or are just starting to get integrated into the economy.
Step 4.determine final price per lot as in spec trade rules in MGT 3.2
-Keeping in mind that the amounts are not open ended.
Step 5: Find yerself a sucker.
II. The passenger trade
Thoughts on Passenger travel
There seem to be several serious problems with passenger travel as presented in 3.2 MGT[/b]
1. It’s a loss compared to all other kinds of cargo and freight when support costs are included (Stewarding requirements, mostly).
2. Even if it wasn’t a loss, it needs to be enough better than freight (1Kcr/Ton) to be worth the hassle. Typically passenger profit needs to have a substantially higher margin than cargo to be worth the extra trouble (cargo doesn't snore, sing, argue politics, practice the electocordian, talk back, demand better food, get sick, sue the captain, or hijack the ship)
So, my goal is to make it profitable both in terms of the basic freight costs, and then some more to make it worthwhile.
I'm using freight largely as presented in 3.2, and the above CaptainJack/Aramis trade model for spec trades as profit comparison. Again, most of the info is in the thread on passengers x distance. The main point is that profit decreases more quickly than a simple linear increase in passage cost (1x 2x 3x 4x etc) mainly due to the increase in fuel volume per jump. Small ships feel the pinch faster than larger ships (around 600 dTons); in fact J2 is the max profit jump for the small ships; after that it starts running at a loss. Bigger ships top out at J3 before the loss starts.
Suggestions for profitable passengers
1. Increase the passengers per steward.
I'd suggest at a minimum that a steward should be able to handle is (level +1)*2 high passage passengers. With a minimum of one level 1 steward on the crew. lev 0 stewards are basically porters, maid service and cabana boys. They need a manager & the ship needs a purser as a minimum.
Count Mid passengers as 1/4 a passenger each. (Round up if needed - make those S/C work if they want to have passengers).
In most cases, stewards should double bunk. Obviously, with bigger crews, the head passenger would have his own bunk as a senior officer (purser); and probably the highly-strung Chef d’quisin, also…
Assuming a steward 2 able to support 6 passengers, we have income of 36000 Cr for 24 tons + 2 tons (steward will half bunk); (This is ignoring overhead which we’ll finesse; and see below for the effects of luggage).
We get 36000 for 25 tons for 1.36 kCr per ton of passenger, which means 36% more profit than freight, and cash up front. That’s a good incentive to not use the space for freight. Plus, when one has loaded all the freight and spec, the only way to make money is passengers. See notes below about the luggage allowance.
2 Reconfigure the ticket prices some.
Increase and rescale the cost of a passage by range
Set the base HP cost for a J1 ticket at 6000Cr
J1 and J2 passages are unchanged per parsec. They sell for 6Kcr and 12kcr respectively.
Above J2, the trip becomes a premium ticket, as the time saving is substantial enough that carriers will charge for it; plus the profit numbers start to get tight at J3 for most ships. (Details on the forum thread “passengers x distance” I think…)
I'd suggest that a J-3 ticket cost 20Kcr sold as a "direct ticket";
J4 and 5 are sold as "express" tickets for 30K and 50kcr;
J6 is courier class, and heck- 75Kcr? 100Kcr?
Note that a standard ticket can be purchased for any of the above routes - as multiples of a J-1 ticket. You get there slower, but cheaper.
3. Mess up the elegant simplicity of HP/MP by restructuring types of passage.
I'd say making mid passage cost 4000 to make it work (as a loss reducer), and allow a special economy mid at 2500 allowing double occupancy.
Mid passage has less luggage allowance and messes like the crew.
Econ have rationed water, and either pay as you go or vended food or are expected to carry their own (bus model)
High passage has its own food and dining, at least the equiv of a good restaurant.
I'd suggest that Hp bump econ mids before they bump standard mid passengers. The ticket brings in a bit less, but having only one passenger to support probably brings it up to a push. And all else being equal, one frugal passenger is likely less trouble than 2 stinky crowded MRE eating passengers any day.
One additional bonus of passengers becomes apparent when the trade rules are considered. Since characters only have access to a limited number of lots of freight and spec (with the changes above), passengers allow a stacked revenue source - in short, one can't get more freight once the lots are gone, and if you have no cabins, you've topped out your profit/ton for this run.
Notes on luggage space.
Mid passage has (for convenience) a 1/10 dTon (1.4 cubic meters) luggage allowance included in the cabin.
Econ mids share it, so be nice!
The problem here, as ever, is the HP luggage allowance: 1dTon per. I'm loath to change it, so I won’t, too much. If one assumes the 1-ton luggage allowance for a HP is extra to the cabin space, the profit/ton hits 1.12. Which, with overhead might bring it down to somewhat less than 10% more profit than freight. This may not be enough to justify carrying High passengers, and I'm unwilling to raise the basic price much more (see below on cost vs. income).
One solution is to bury the extra dTon in the deck plan as part of the living space...not the best solution for a variety of reasons, but a solution that is quick and easy.
Another is to have a basic HP include 1/4dton separate from the cabin with the option to upgrade to a full dTon for 500 extra credits. Any more is charged at standard freight.
6 Standard HP = 24 tons +1.5 tons +2 tons = 1.31Kcr/ton.
If they all upgrade, getting a break on freight costs, (essentially a 250cr discount over freight) we have 24 +2 +6 tons with 36000+ (.5*6) =39000Kcr for 32 tons =1.22Kcr/ton. Not a bad bonus over freight. Plus, it's cash up front, its profit stacks with freight and cargo, and you get to space any hijackers if they fail (no doubt always amusing in a world that has a low passage lottery)
Thoughts on cost vs. income
I considered upping the ticket price more, but looking at the cost of living table, 5000 is a months expenses for a soc C (12) character. This suggest to me that high passage is indeed first class, and that there should be sufficient people to support it, if one assumes 1/36 of the population can dump one months rent and food and fun into a passage at will. Less well heeled folks (game designers, scientists) can probably save for more or less months and get a Mid passage if even soc 7 & up (or less time for an econ double). Below that, we have steerage & the dread low berth for the lowborn…
My overall goal was to treat it much less like modern airplane or train travel, and more like a very early steamship or sail route: one does not commute or take quick jaunts.... unless one is rich. But, it’s possible for most people to travel, eventually (say, to colonize or just emigrate, or for a once in a lifetime trip), just not frequently. That’s for the rich, the important, and the people with business expense accounts (the category that I suspect will be source of the unbumpable J3 & up high passages w/. limited luggage.)
Okay, enjoy !
And Avast, ye lubbers ! That thar be a sealed 32/a 40 dton environment bioactive timed delivery container t' rgina highport, so handsomely, lads, handsomely does it.....
Cap
Some thoughts on Speculative Trade and Cargo, and Freight to a lesser extent
I should note that Aramis did lots of basework here, and is the coauthor; [/b]he disagrees about some of the Meta trade issues I posit, but is fine with these rules. Thanks to all else for input and feedback. To begin.
I. The speculative trade
From the players perspective, they will be less involved in the system of interworld trade on a major level, or the planned/contract trade (unless they get good steady safe jobs with a shipping line...how likely is that?)
I go into this in more detail, as do others on the forums, but the main premise I work from is this: That players will have more of the spec side in front of them, and the cargo that's available for that (and freight) the is most likely to be excess or last minute loads not accounted for by regular shipping.
So, I'll suggest that the freight lots only have to be considered a fraction of what would likely exist; and the spec lots similarly considered -but with more available than freight.
So, yes, a hi pop industrial tech 15 planet may only have a few tons available - for the players. On this planet, for this week, the merchant marine is very efficient, and the brokers too. This is what missed the boat (the boat being the half gigaton freighter that just left).
Also, I’d have the available lots change every week to increase variability. A sudden giant surplus (great roll, blazingly good effect) could be because a ship is late, and brokers have no interest in waiting to get the synthicaf bean harvest moving... and the captain knows a guy (who knows a guy, who has this dude who owes him a favor in charge of the ministry of trade...)
That said, unless I misunderstood the rules in 3.2, the spec trade cargo is essentially open ended – once a price is agreed on, the trader can just start shoveling till his hold is full. While simple, this pretty much kills the incentive for passengers and really limits the desirability of freight. So, I think there should be limits to availability – but since I’m positing a volatile spot market for players, it need not be too balanced or effected by the planets actual trade economics beyond what items are available.
That said, I'm thinking that the limits should be similar to the freight lots. The actual types of items would be generated as in 3.2, with a few small changes noted below. The freight rules work very well, are easy and quick, and give players some (often) hard choices. So, first, I’d propose making the spec rules work similarly; with the obvious difference that one knows what’s in the containers, and where they are delivered to is unspecified.
Additionally, looking at just the available cargo (freight and spec) from a spot market perspective can allow less worry about destination/source interactions.... a smaller sample of the cargos will be much less reflective of the actual trade - so, as long as there’s lots of variance in what the players may get, balancing isn't as much of an issue (particularly using a basic model for the basic version of the game)
Some lots perhaps should be small - do we want 600 tons of diamonds or sci-fi gem equiv? So, they'd use the above ranges (d6x100, d6x10, etc) but in cubic meters instead of dtons; perhaps even Kg for lots that will never fill even one container or subcontainer
Most of the small lots seem to specialty goods in any case -limited to specific trade codes, so probably just having some as size S and the rest unchanged should do without stretching credulity too much ("you bought six-hundred displacement tons of TL15 micro cpu chips.... and then sold them? All as one lot? ...That’s it, I quit ")
I'm not sure how much it is needed to try and balance the lots by type – for instance metal in smaller lots, grain in bigger ones; given that these are the spot loads, they may represent partial lots that overfilled the regular freight hull or lots that came up too short (profit or space) to be worthwhile for the mega freighters to lift. So, there are probably 10000 and 100000 dTon lots - they just aren't available or practical for character traders.
Standard container discussion goes here for lack of a better place:
Standard containers are likely to be a major part of interstellar trade; so from several campaigns, and my own, this design seems to work well with the basic freight and mail lot sizes, which one assumes are sealed and point to point shipping. YMMV
Code:
Containers, ImpMerchSpec, owner transportable, single use.
Bulk =100dton
Standard =5ton
Small = 1ton
subcontainer = 1/10 dTon (1.4 cubic meters) (the mid passage allowance for luggage, I believe)So, to start with the first goal:
Make it more consistent with the freight table.
Assume that both spec and freight are the spot market - mainly leftovers and late arrivals. Works if the system is explicitly identified as being aimed at characters as small opportunistic carriers. (Classic tramp freight)
Step 1: Figure out how much is likely to be there.
Assumption: these are the lots of commodities on the quayside, or in brokers warehouses -they are containerized and ready to go -generally terms are as delivered to docking bay; cost includes container, which are owner openable.
Stuff, in custom lots, probably requiring transport and packing, seem more of an event-driven roleplaying issue.
Use the TI table from Aramis (above): for any planet
SPOT MARKET LEVEL = (TI+ 1d6-3)
The spot market level is the fancy term for total number of lots available…
Notes on volitility
The variable dice (1d6-3) for initial TI allows for some variance due to planets being more or less productive, diversified, and /or unusually resource rich. I'd also optionally suggest that it not be rolled till the players get there (the base pop*Tech is in the traders guide book) which allows for assumption of cyclic production, trade booms and failures & screwing with players heads and pocketbooks. You’ll get some oddities, the TI 1 planet suddenly jumping to Spot marketlevel4, for instance, but write those off to an oil strike/dotcom boom or some such. Overall, we don’t want don't want too many lots (make the players make hard choices), but do want some variability -plus, only the worst planets should have the potential for no lots.
Important: as with freight, available lots work as in freight & can't be broken up for purchase. Unlike freight, they have no set destination, and can be broken up for sale at the new owners discretion.
Step 2. Determine the actual contents of the lots as in MGT 3.2 (d66);
One change suggested: allow repeat rolls to stay - but roll lot size separately for each. The lots are separate.
Step 3. Determine the size of the Lots:
Use the following tables for the size determinant (remember - we are dealing only with player size loads):
Some goods will be defined as small lots: -3 to size. Any result below 0 is in lots of d6 x1/10 dTon (1.4 cubic Meters).
Code:
Roll Lot size by DTonnage
0- = d6 x 1/10dTon
1,2,3 = d6x1 ton
4,5 = d6x10 ton
6-7 = d6x100 ton
8+ = d6x1000 ton
+2 if TI 12+
+1 if TI 9-11
-1 if TI 3-5
-2 if TI 2-
-3 if designated as small lotI’d keep the small lot mod in any case.
I'm tempted to add bulk lots (+5), but anything at all in the 1000dTon range is likely out of range for the players hold space. To some extent, I included that as a booby prize for high TI worlds -their leftovers are pretty damn big, often as not.
Explanation and assumptions:
For the mods to the size table break points are vaguely described as: high stellar+(TI 12+) space using (TI 9-11), basically not industrialized (TI 3-5) and primitive (TI 0-2)
Assumptions: primitives (TI 0-2) have either very little, or very small hand made lots of interest. Not industrialized planets (not necc the trade code rather TI 3-5), seldom produce big lots of much anything due too either small population, or low tech.
Space using planets (TI 9-11) are integrated into the imperial economy and standardized trade habits, and high stellar + (TI 12+) just plain has easy mass production of anything. (Note that for a TI of 12, the minimum is 10 pop, 14 tech; for a 13, the minimums are 16 tech, 10 pop.)
The non-modified TI range (6-8) represents the backwaters that don't produce much for trade, or are just starting to get integrated into the economy.
Step 4.determine final price per lot as in spec trade rules in MGT 3.2
-Keeping in mind that the amounts are not open ended.
Step 5: Find yerself a sucker.
II. The passenger trade
Thoughts on Passenger travel
There seem to be several serious problems with passenger travel as presented in 3.2 MGT[/b]
1. It’s a loss compared to all other kinds of cargo and freight when support costs are included (Stewarding requirements, mostly).
2. Even if it wasn’t a loss, it needs to be enough better than freight (1Kcr/Ton) to be worth the hassle. Typically passenger profit needs to have a substantially higher margin than cargo to be worth the extra trouble (cargo doesn't snore, sing, argue politics, practice the electocordian, talk back, demand better food, get sick, sue the captain, or hijack the ship)
So, my goal is to make it profitable both in terms of the basic freight costs, and then some more to make it worthwhile.
I'm using freight largely as presented in 3.2, and the above CaptainJack/Aramis trade model for spec trades as profit comparison. Again, most of the info is in the thread on passengers x distance. The main point is that profit decreases more quickly than a simple linear increase in passage cost (1x 2x 3x 4x etc) mainly due to the increase in fuel volume per jump. Small ships feel the pinch faster than larger ships (around 600 dTons); in fact J2 is the max profit jump for the small ships; after that it starts running at a loss. Bigger ships top out at J3 before the loss starts.
Suggestions for profitable passengers
1. Increase the passengers per steward.
I'd suggest at a minimum that a steward should be able to handle is (level +1)*2 high passage passengers. With a minimum of one level 1 steward on the crew. lev 0 stewards are basically porters, maid service and cabana boys. They need a manager & the ship needs a purser as a minimum.
Count Mid passengers as 1/4 a passenger each. (Round up if needed - make those S/C work if they want to have passengers).
In most cases, stewards should double bunk. Obviously, with bigger crews, the head passenger would have his own bunk as a senior officer (purser); and probably the highly-strung Chef d’quisin, also…
Assuming a steward 2 able to support 6 passengers, we have income of 36000 Cr for 24 tons + 2 tons (steward will half bunk); (This is ignoring overhead which we’ll finesse; and see below for the effects of luggage).
We get 36000 for 25 tons for 1.36 kCr per ton of passenger, which means 36% more profit than freight, and cash up front. That’s a good incentive to not use the space for freight. Plus, when one has loaded all the freight and spec, the only way to make money is passengers. See notes below about the luggage allowance.
2 Reconfigure the ticket prices some.
Increase and rescale the cost of a passage by range
Set the base HP cost for a J1 ticket at 6000Cr
J1 and J2 passages are unchanged per parsec. They sell for 6Kcr and 12kcr respectively.
Code:
Basic HP costs, by parsecs per Jump.
J1 6000Cr
J2 12000Cr
J3 20,000Cr
J4 30,000Cr
J5 50,000Cr
J6 market price, ask your server.Above J2, the trip becomes a premium ticket, as the time saving is substantial enough that carriers will charge for it; plus the profit numbers start to get tight at J3 for most ships. (Details on the forum thread “passengers x distance” I think…)
I'd suggest that a J-3 ticket cost 20Kcr sold as a "direct ticket";
J4 and 5 are sold as "express" tickets for 30K and 50kcr;
J6 is courier class, and heck- 75Kcr? 100Kcr?
Note that a standard ticket can be purchased for any of the above routes - as multiples of a J-1 ticket. You get there slower, but cheaper.
3. Mess up the elegant simplicity of HP/MP by restructuring types of passage.
I'd say making mid passage cost 4000 to make it work (as a loss reducer), and allow a special economy mid at 2500 allowing double occupancy.
Mid passage has less luggage allowance and messes like the crew.
Econ have rationed water, and either pay as you go or vended food or are expected to carry their own (bus model)
High passage has its own food and dining, at least the equiv of a good restaurant.
I'd suggest that Hp bump econ mids before they bump standard mid passengers. The ticket brings in a bit less, but having only one passenger to support probably brings it up to a push. And all else being equal, one frugal passenger is likely less trouble than 2 stinky crowded MRE eating passengers any day.
One additional bonus of passengers becomes apparent when the trade rules are considered. Since characters only have access to a limited number of lots of freight and spec (with the changes above), passengers allow a stacked revenue source - in short, one can't get more freight once the lots are gone, and if you have no cabins, you've topped out your profit/ton for this run.
Notes on luggage space.
Mid passage has (for convenience) a 1/10 dTon (1.4 cubic meters) luggage allowance included in the cabin.
Econ mids share it, so be nice!
The problem here, as ever, is the HP luggage allowance: 1dTon per. I'm loath to change it, so I won’t, too much. If one assumes the 1-ton luggage allowance for a HP is extra to the cabin space, the profit/ton hits 1.12. Which, with overhead might bring it down to somewhat less than 10% more profit than freight. This may not be enough to justify carrying High passengers, and I'm unwilling to raise the basic price much more (see below on cost vs. income).
One solution is to bury the extra dTon in the deck plan as part of the living space...not the best solution for a variety of reasons, but a solution that is quick and easy.
Another is to have a basic HP include 1/4dton separate from the cabin with the option to upgrade to a full dTon for 500 extra credits. Any more is charged at standard freight.
6 Standard HP = 24 tons +1.5 tons +2 tons = 1.31Kcr/ton.
If they all upgrade, getting a break on freight costs, (essentially a 250cr discount over freight) we have 24 +2 +6 tons with 36000+ (.5*6) =39000Kcr for 32 tons =1.22Kcr/ton. Not a bad bonus over freight. Plus, it's cash up front, its profit stacks with freight and cargo, and you get to space any hijackers if they fail (no doubt always amusing in a world that has a low passage lottery)
Thoughts on cost vs. income
I considered upping the ticket price more, but looking at the cost of living table, 5000 is a months expenses for a soc C (12) character. This suggest to me that high passage is indeed first class, and that there should be sufficient people to support it, if one assumes 1/36 of the population can dump one months rent and food and fun into a passage at will. Less well heeled folks (game designers, scientists) can probably save for more or less months and get a Mid passage if even soc 7 & up (or less time for an econ double). Below that, we have steerage & the dread low berth for the lowborn…
My overall goal was to treat it much less like modern airplane or train travel, and more like a very early steamship or sail route: one does not commute or take quick jaunts.... unless one is rich. But, it’s possible for most people to travel, eventually (say, to colonize or just emigrate, or for a once in a lifetime trip), just not frequently. That’s for the rich, the important, and the people with business expense accounts (the category that I suspect will be source of the unbumpable J3 & up high passages w/. limited luggage.)
Okay, enjoy !
And Avast, ye lubbers ! That thar be a sealed 32/a 40 dton environment bioactive timed delivery container t' rgina highport, so handsomely, lads, handsomely does it.....
Cap
