FreeTrav
Cosmic Mongoose
Sorry; missed the mention when I read your first message.
Further defining Starports
- Thread starter Anstett
- Start date
Micky
Cosmic Mongoose
Sorry; missed the mention when I read your first message.
great stuff that was.. and printed it all out and was one of the first things I put in my Traveller binder. That was some great work detailing Starports.
love your Magazine and website btw... well done and time and effort on your part that is MUCH appreciated.
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I think you will see a whole host of variations of starports and how each system prefers/demands that traffic within it operates. There will be at least some generic guidelines across all systems, but specifics are going to be up to each system and their ability and/or desire to enforce local regs.
On the idea of ships having to physically dock with a port, I think you'll see ships that will hold in orbit waiting for a customs cutter to come by just as often as you'd see a ship physically land - especially so for a ship that might transport down it's own cargo, or it's just passing through and not needing/wanting to dock anywhere. Again, many possible variations here.
I came up with this as sort of a checklist of activities. Obviously timing and such will also vary depending on a ship's needs, it's captain and it's crew willing to put up with such rules. A free trader with a crew of PC's is going to operate differently than a corporate-owned ship, or even a military one. I tried to keep it generic so that it's not specific to either a high port or a down port.
I) Arrival Activities
Prior to jump arrival
1. Beginning within the window of earliest estimated jump arrival, crew begins minimal staffing rotation on bridge, engineering and weapons stations (if applicable)
2. Minimal crew manning remains for all stations until arrival in real-space.
First hour of in-system arrival
3. All crew report to duty stations immediately upon arrival
4. Begin scanning local area for nearby traffic
5. Establish contact with orbital control and transmit identification data, cargo and passenger manifest, download local traffic data, shipping paths and local sensor data.
6. File flight plan with traffic control for preferred destination. Engage drive and head to planned destination.
7. Begin downloading electronic mail, local market data and in-system news.
8. Request contact/rendezvous with customs if required.
9. Allow passengers/crew to transmit personal messages to planet/system data-net.
Remaining flight time (variable)
10. Continue transit to destination.
11. File preliminary out-bound flight plan, estimated departure date, estimated available cargo space and available cabins with appropriate agencies.
12. Arrival at destination, clear customs and immigration as required.
II) Port Activities
First 24hrs of arrival
1. Disembark passengers (high & middle), deliver mail and priority cargo.
2. Revive and disembark low-berth passengers, arrange for pickup of cargo destined for arrival at port or speculative cargo that buyers can be found for.
3. Begin cargo unloading
4. Cargomaster begins looking for new cargoes (bulk, speculative, mail).
Day 2 – 5 (assumes 7 day stay in-system)
5. Begin refuel/repair activities.
6. Crew shore leave rotation begins
7. Steward begins looking for passengers
8. Begin pre-flight checks, begin loading bulk cargo.
9. Crew shore leave rotation ends.
48 hours prior to departure
10. Obtain updated flight/navigation information and charts.
11. File preliminary flight plan with traffic control, request departure slot.
12. Begin loading remaining cargo, low-berth passengers
13. Load shipboard supplies, food, perishables
24 hours prior to departure
14. Board middle, high passengers
15. Load mail & speculative cargo
16. Complete pre-flight lift-off checks
Last two hours prior to departure
17. Confirm departure window with traffic control
18. Load high-priority and any other special cargo
19. Seal ship and begin pre-liftoff tests
20. Liftoff!
On the idea of ships having to physically dock with a port, I think you'll see ships that will hold in orbit waiting for a customs cutter to come by just as often as you'd see a ship physically land - especially so for a ship that might transport down it's own cargo, or it's just passing through and not needing/wanting to dock anywhere. Again, many possible variations here.
I came up with this as sort of a checklist of activities. Obviously timing and such will also vary depending on a ship's needs, it's captain and it's crew willing to put up with such rules. A free trader with a crew of PC's is going to operate differently than a corporate-owned ship, or even a military one. I tried to keep it generic so that it's not specific to either a high port or a down port.
I) Arrival Activities
Prior to jump arrival
1. Beginning within the window of earliest estimated jump arrival, crew begins minimal staffing rotation on bridge, engineering and weapons stations (if applicable)
2. Minimal crew manning remains for all stations until arrival in real-space.
First hour of in-system arrival
3. All crew report to duty stations immediately upon arrival
4. Begin scanning local area for nearby traffic
5. Establish contact with orbital control and transmit identification data, cargo and passenger manifest, download local traffic data, shipping paths and local sensor data.
6. File flight plan with traffic control for preferred destination. Engage drive and head to planned destination.
7. Begin downloading electronic mail, local market data and in-system news.
8. Request contact/rendezvous with customs if required.
9. Allow passengers/crew to transmit personal messages to planet/system data-net.
Remaining flight time (variable)
10. Continue transit to destination.
11. File preliminary out-bound flight plan, estimated departure date, estimated available cargo space and available cabins with appropriate agencies.
12. Arrival at destination, clear customs and immigration as required.
II) Port Activities
First 24hrs of arrival
1. Disembark passengers (high & middle), deliver mail and priority cargo.
2. Revive and disembark low-berth passengers, arrange for pickup of cargo destined for arrival at port or speculative cargo that buyers can be found for.
3. Begin cargo unloading
4. Cargomaster begins looking for new cargoes (bulk, speculative, mail).
Day 2 – 5 (assumes 7 day stay in-system)
5. Begin refuel/repair activities.
6. Crew shore leave rotation begins
7. Steward begins looking for passengers
8. Begin pre-flight checks, begin loading bulk cargo.
9. Crew shore leave rotation ends.
48 hours prior to departure
10. Obtain updated flight/navigation information and charts.
11. File preliminary flight plan with traffic control, request departure slot.
12. Begin loading remaining cargo, low-berth passengers
13. Load shipboard supplies, food, perishables
24 hours prior to departure
14. Board middle, high passengers
15. Load mail & speculative cargo
16. Complete pre-flight lift-off checks
Last two hours prior to departure
17. Confirm departure window with traffic control
18. Load high-priority and any other special cargo
19. Seal ship and begin pre-liftoff tests
20. Liftoff!
- III) Departure Activities
First hour after Liftoff
1. Clear immediate area around departure port
2. Contact in-system traffic control and request departure course for jump
3. Man all stations for outbound departure (engineering, weapons, bridge)
2nd hour after liftoff & onwards (variable)
4. Begin maneuvering towards departure point
5. Finalize any last-minute data transmission to/from planet or stations.
6. Scan jump area to verify no ships or objects in the immediate vicinity
7. Power up jump drive
8. Notify traffic control of imminent departure
9. Jump!
See, this is more what I was wanting from the Starship Operator's Guide. A good, practical layout of routine operations for when everything goes more or less according to regular events. (I can come up with deviations as needed... well, that I happen to need. How the players feel about them can vary considerably...)
MarkAlexander
Banded Mongoose
I wouldn't force a player to have a mortgaged ship. There are many alternatives. Won it in a card game, borrowing it from a wealthy patron (counts as the company truck) etc. Or ownership could be shared between the whole party. If 4 characters got a 25% share each in character generation, that would work well.Yeah, obviously a law abiding ship will notify the authorities of their presence and intentions. No one wants to be an unidentified vesselBut actually *going* to Earthport when my destination is Mars or, worse, one of the moons of Saturn? Nah. That's days of extra stay just driving around in system, which is back breaking if your ship is trying to function as a trader and also have time for regular adventures.
I develop all the systems in the two subsectors that comprise my campaign (I run in a highly customized Islands subsectors, so pretty contained). But there's always space for a new space station or asteroid outpost. So there's a lot of action away from the mainworld.
I don't much like the mortgage system in the game. So if my players have a ship at all, then its either subsidized or a non merchant vessel that's paid off.
The difficulty is that Traveller's operating costs are relatively trivial. Which is useful when you have a non commercial vessel. But if you have a merchant ship and you don't have a mortgage, a merchant ship makes a lot of money very easily just from freighting. A basic free trader brings in about 250k per month and has expenses around 30k per month without the mortgage. The rules are set up that way because the mortgage on that ship is about 190k.
Is the mortgage the most interesting way to account for all the myriad expenses that makes tramp trading a marginal enterprise? Not at all. But waving it without replacing it with something else, you have millionaires within 6 months. Which is fine if that's what you want to play, but it skews the balance between adventuring and running spreadsheets in terms of player income for most folks.
Is the mortgage the most interesting way to account for all the myriad expenses that makes tramp trading a marginal enterprise? Not at all. But waving it without replacing it with something else, you have millionaires within 6 months. Which is fine if that's what you want to play, but it skews the balance between adventuring and running spreadsheets in terms of player income for most folks.
MarkAlexander
Banded Mongoose
I see your point. Although my D&D party have their own inn, so I suppose I'm just really generous with financial rewards.
MasterGwydion
Emperor Mongoose
I always figured that if the party is only motivated to adventure by money, then they are just a group of bad people anyhow...lol...
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
You tend to need a staging area.
