Commercial Entity Rules

[rust]

I finally managed to buy a PDF of the Merchant Prince book, and the rules
for the commercial entity metagame seem very interesting and probably
would fit perfectly well into my favourite setting.
However, in order to use them I would have to spend some effort to play-
test and then to translate at least some of them to make it easier for the
players to comprehend them.
After some problems with other Mongoose Traveller rules subsystems (do
not ask me about Civilian Vehicles, it still hurts ...), I really hesitate to do
so without knowing in advance that this will not become another waste of
time.

So, did someone already use the commercial entity rules from Merchant
Prince, and did they work ?

Thank you.

 

[rust]

Ah ... it seems the commercial entity rules are not exactly among the
most often used rules sub-systems of Mongoose Traveller ... :shock:

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

I have used the Commercial Entity rules to create a small group of trading companies.

The initial set up does take some time, about 1/2 hour each.

Once that is done, playing out the quarters can be done pretty quickly.

I don't know if it was just how I picked the initial stuff or what but the companies seemed to be VERY profitable; adding a lot of wealth each quarter.

I like these rules very much.

 

[rust]

Thank you very much for the info.

 

[Galadrion]

The Rank 0 entities don't tend to pay out much for the directors - takes a bit of finagling or selling off of Wealth to get the payouts up to the point where it'll pay their social upkeep - but it gets better rapidly. But the Megatrade rules seem a little questionable to me - far too easy to pull in large amounts, particularly if you've unbalanced your entity skills a bit...

 

[rust]

... and we proudly present: The Pandora Cooperative.

Pandora will be my next colony setting, of course another water world,
although this time one with a couple of archipelagos for a change.

The colony will be founded over 4 years, with an exploration mission in
the first year, a planning phase building upon its results in the second
year (decisions what equipment to buy, etc.), a preparation phase in the
third year (construction of the basic infrastructure, for example the power
plant, etc.) and the arrival of the main group of 500 colonists in the last
year.

The 550 colonists have a total of 612 Colony Shares (converted ship sha-
res) with a value of 125,000 Credits each, for a total capital of ca. 76 mio.
Credits.
According to my current calculations the colony (equipment, wages, trans-
port to Pandora) will cost approximately 50 mio. Credits to establish, and
2.25 mio. Credits of this are used to start the Pandora Cooperative.

This commercial entity, owned by the colonists, will be responsible for the
future economic development of the Pandora Colony.
With an employee pool of 125 it will be active in aquafarming and seafloor
mining (to produce food for the colonists and some resources for its own
manufacturing line as well as for export), manufacturing (basic equipment
for the colony) and the civil engineering required to expand the colony on
Pandora.
The profits (if any) of the Pandora Cooperative will be used to expand the
colony as well as to start additional lines of business, with the aim to build
up an economy that becomes less dependent on imports.

The necessity of these imports, and also of those services not provided by
the Pandora Cooperative (education, health, etc.), is what the remaining
ca. 26 mio. Credits of the colony's funds will be needed for - in the hope
that the future profits of the Pandora Cooperative will contribute here, too,
before the colony has used up these 26 mio. Credits.

If this setup with the commercial entity rules works as planned, it should
provide an ongoing economic background story for the setting that can
easily be connected with the campaign events and can also provide futu-
re adventure hooks, for example if the characters who took part in the
planetary exploration and the colony preparation then become employees
(troubleshooters or thelike) of the Pandora Cooperative.

Edit.:
I just realized that the Pandora Cooperative is also useful to determine
the population growth of the Pandora Colony, because expanding the em-
ployee pool could model attempts to attract new colonists to Pandora.