Crew Salaries

[Terry Mixon]

The rules for crew salaries says this:

Salary can vary but the values on the Crew Requirements table shows a monthly average for skill level 1 crew, with the presumption that salaries will increase by +50% for every skill level above this.

A straight reading to me says that it bumps by 50% with each skill level. The design spreadsheet is more modest, using 50% of the base salary as the increase.

Which is it? Are there any official examples that could make clear which is correct?

 

[phavoc]

Salaries like that get tricky because a merchant is not going to want a highly skilled crew for normal cargo - it will skew his profit margins to the negative.

And most merchants only need competent crew, not exemplary crew. I would say the bump would be much smaller, say no more than 10% per skill level. Even that would make for questionable costs if the entire crew were lvl2 or greater.

Where you might find that sort of thing is on specialized merchants hauling expensive cargos, or as crew for wealthy yacht owners who can afford the best. Or, perhaps, for armed merchants who are acting the role of Q-ship or armed merchant raider. There having the military leveled skills could come in handy and can pay well.

 

[Condottiere]

If the flag the merchantman is operating under has crew qualification regulations.

 

[Arkathan]

Salaries like that get tricky because a merchant is not going to want a highly skilled crew for normal cargo - it will skew his profit margins to the negative.

And most merchants only need competent crew, not exemplary crew. I would say the bump would be much smaller, say no more than 10% per skill level. Even that would make for questionable costs if the entire crew were lvl2 or greater.

Where you might find that sort of thing is on specialized merchants hauling expensive cargos, or as crew for wealthy yacht owners who can afford the best. Or, perhaps, for armed merchants who are acting the role of Q-ship or armed merchant raider. There having the military leveled skills could come in handy and can pay well.

But we have the rule of 50% per level. The question is: Is it (.5+level*.5)*base OR 1.5*previous level salary.
The merchant wants the former, while the United Starship Workers Alliance wants the latter.

 

[MasterGwydion]

Unions are illegal in the 3I. They are a barrier to Free Trade... (/s)

 

[MasterGwydion]

But we have the rule of 50% per level. The question is: Is it (.5+level*.5)*base OR 1.5*previous level salary.
The merchant wants the former, while the United Starship Workers Alliance wants the latter.

To Me, it is way easier from a game playability standpoint to make it base+. It is just easier. 1,000 becomes 1,500, becomes 2,000, becomes 2,500. Easy. The other method 1,000 becomes 1,500, becomes 2,250, becomes 3,375, etc. It becomes sloppy and much harder to do in your head on the fly.

 

[Terry Mixon]

To Me, it is way easier from a game playability standpoint to make it base+. It is just easier. 1,000 becomes 1,500, becomes 2,000, becomes 2,500. Easy. The other method 1,000 becomes 1,500, becomes 2,250, becomes 3,375, etc. It becomes sloppy and much harder to do in your head on the fly.

Looking at how hard it is to get higher skill levels, I’m inclined to read the rules as written: 50% of what they were getting before. Truly skilled people can command a lot more money.

 

[MasterGwydion]

Looking at how hard it is to get higher skill levels, I’m inclined to read the rules as written: 50% of what they were getting before. Truly skilled people can command a lot more money.

One of the "assumptions" in Charted Space is that hard work is not enough to live on, so, the lower prices also make more sense for the setting.

 

[Condottiere]

You could have a really large family, train the offspring relevant skills, and give them chores.

 

[Terry Mixon]

One of the "assumptions" in Charted Space is that hard work is not enough to live on, so, the lower prices also make more sense for the setting.

Is that an assumption? If so, it’s a bad one.

 

[MasterGwydion]

Is that an assumption? If so, it’s a bad one.

It was quoted from published material in this forum, but I do not remember who quoted it, nor in which thread.

Why is it a bad one? It means that if you want to survive, you need to be corrupt, which fits very well with a Capitalistic culture like the 3rd Imperium. It is why regular people quit their jobs and become Travellers. They cannot survive on what they make at their jobs.

Look at the Profession skill. You can make 250Cr per level of Effect, per month.

So, let's do the math. Profession/1 with no skill bonuses. Roll 2D6, average of 7.

7+1=8

8= Effect 0.

0*250Cr = zero income for the month.

Now it is not an assumption anymore. Now it is mathematically proven fact.

This means that a majority of the population of Charted Space will starve to death if they work normal jobs.

 

[Terry Mixon]

It was quoted from published material in this forum, but I do not remember who quoted it, nor in which thread.

Why is it a bad one? It means that if you want to survive, you need to be corrupt, which fits very well with a Capitalistic culture like the 3rd Imperium. It is why regular people quit their jobs and become Travellers. They cannot survive on what they make at their jobs.

Look at the Profession skill. You can make 250Cr per level of Effect, per month.

So, let's do the math. Profession/1 with no skill bonuses. Roll 2D6, average of 7.

7+1=8

8= Effect 0.

0*250Cr = zero income for the month.

Now it is not an assumption anymore. Now it is mathematically proven fact.

This means that a majority of the population of Charted Space will starve to death if they work normal jobs.

It’s a guarantee of unrest and they is a bad thing. Base salary as lowest is KC1. That’s ~$5,000, right? $60,000 a year with 12 months like they have it. Not great, but livable. Skill 2 is KCr1.5 or $90,000 a year.

Even if the equivalency is less, which I’m not convinced of, it’s a livable salary.

The profession skill is a boondoggle and just needs to go away. It’s worthless.

 

[MasterGwydion]

It’s a guarantee of unrest and they is a bad thing. Base salary as lowest is KC1. That’s ~$5,000, right? $60,000 a year with 12 months like they have it. Not great, but livable. Skill 2 is KCr1.5 or $90,000 a year.

Even if the equivalency is less, which I’m not convinced of, it’s a livable salary.

The profession skill is a boondoggle and just needs to go away. It’s worthless.

Profession is how most of the setting earns a living though. Most people's income would come from the Profession Skill (or Electronics or Animals), so it is invaluable when worldbuilding to figure out the average income of a guy with Mechanic/3. So, by the rules, most people are broke unless they supplement their income with taking bribes and such. The Persuade skill backs this up. So do the Spec Trade Rules. How hard is it to find a Black-Market dealer? Diff 8? Finding dishonest people is an Average Difficulty check, but you can run it however you want in your universe.

The Crew Prices listed are only for those who work on ships or stations, not your average planetary worker. That 1k a month guy is a SOC 5 or so if you count living expenses as 50%. I don't usually use 50%. I use 25% as a base for living expenses. That makes the 1k a month guy, less than SOC 2.

Also means that, every guy on your ship who makes 1k a month will have a -2 SOC modifier, because they cannot maintain their social standing. If they never leave the ship, this is not a problem, but as soon as they rent an apartment, their SOC will fall until it matches how much they spend on living expenses.

Your 2k a month Steward? A SOC modifier of -2 or -1.

90% of every planet would technically be SOC 1-3 and therefore have a negative SOC modifier.

 

[Terry Mixon]

Profession is how most of the setting earns a living though. Most people's income would come from the Profession Skill (or Electronics or Animals), so it is invaluable when worldbuilding to figure out the average income of a guy with Mechanic/3. So, by the rules, most people are broke unless they supplement their income with taking bribes and such. The Persuade skill backs this up. So do the Spec Trade Rules. How hard is it to find a Black-Market dealer? Diff 8? Finding dishonest people is an Average Difficulty check, but you can run it however you want in your universe.

The Crew Prices listed are only for those who work on ships or stations, not your average planetary worker. That 1k a month guy is a SOC 5 or so if you count living expenses as 50%. I don't usually use 50%. I use 25% as a base for living expenses. That makes the 1k a month guy, less than SOC 2.

Also means that, every guy on your ship who makes 1k a month will have a -2 SOC modifier, because they cannot maintain their social standing. If they never leave the ship, this is not a problem, but as soon as they rent an apartment, their SOC will fall until it matches how much they spend on living expenses.

Your 2k a month Steward? A SOC modifier of -2 or -1.

90% of every planet would technically be SOC 1-3 and therefore have a negative SOC modifier.

Like I said, professional skill is a boondoggle. Set everyone with skill 1 earning KCr1 a month and be done with it.

As the setting doesn’t have vast hordes of starving people, the system doesn’t reflect reality (of a sort) on the ground. It’s broke and the rules need to change to reflect that.

 

[MasterGwydion]

Like I said, professional skill is a boondoggle. Set everyone with skill 1 earning KCr1 a month and be done with it.

As the setting doesn’t have vast hordes of starving people, the system doesn’t reflect reality (of a sort) on the ground. It’s broke and the rules need to change to reflect that.

Or just change the Difficulty of the Profession check to 4+. Then skill/1 averages 1k per month.

 

[Terry Mixon]

Or just change the Difficulty of the Profession check to 4+. Then skill/1 averages 1k per month.

Considering how much effort the general populace puts into their work, that might be accurate.

 

[MasterGwydion]

Considering how much effort the general populace puts into their work, that might be accurate.

I just figure that there is no way that average people are only paid 28% of the time. At least with a Diff of 4, they are paid 83% of the time.

 

[Terry Mixon]

I just figure that there is no way that average people are only paid 28% of the time. At least with a Diff of 4, they are paid 83% of the time.

Like I said, the profession skill is broken.

 

[MasterGwydion]

Like I said, the profession skill is broken.

90% of Traveller is broken. Thankfully, We live for the 10% of Traveller that is unbelievably awesome

 

[rinku]

Keep in mind crew salaries include room and board as well as the perk of travelling around. They'd have access to whatever entertainment is provided to the passengers, too. They're all well paid, even the Cr1000 per 4 week ones.

Before we paid off the mortgage I could have only dreamed of having $500 a fortnight left over after covering all my bills.

In relation to the 50%, put me down for simple. +50% of the base for each skill point above 1.