How Much to charge for Long-haul Freight?
- Thread starter Zarpaulek
- Start date
Reisender
Cosmic Mongoose
Do the characters know that it is a priceless Ancient artifact that they are transporting or is it disguised as standard freight?
MasterGwydion
Emperor Mongoose
I hope they don't get inspected. Smuggling is a crime. Since it is actively disguised, the authorities will have a much easier job prosecuting the Travellers. lol
As to your original question, you have to know the number of jumps required for the route and the length of each of those jumps. Add up the prices for each individual jump and you have your correct total transport cost. (Although since it is an Artifact, it would likely count as hazardous cargo. Hopefully your players are shipping it as Hazardous Cargo instead of regular cargo, so the authorities can't tack on fraud to the list of smuggling offenses. lol)
I'd go with a charter rate. All costs (including mortgage*) paid plus a good monthly wage and a one off bonus for delivery. The amount would depend on how much you as referee want them to have.
* if the mortgage is already paid off then give them the equivalent of the payments that would have been due in that period
* if the mortgage is already paid off then give them the equivalent of the payments that would have been due in that period
agentwigggles
Cosmic Mongoose
Also a the freight isnt a measure of distance, its a measure of time. Can you deliver this good in one week 6 parsects away?
Which is why the price bbaloon at J5 and J6.
As far as much they should get paid for an ancient device. That depends on the value of the ancient device and if the person/group that is paying for the delivery wnat exclusive use of the ship. If they want exclusive use of the ship, then its the entire cost of the run plus 10-15 percent.
If they dont want exclusive use of the ship, then 20-40 percent of the value of the ancient device.
Its not normal freight, and shouldnt be treated as normal freight.
Which is why the price bbaloon at J5 and J6.
As far as much they should get paid for an ancient device. That depends on the value of the ancient device and if the person/group that is paying for the delivery wnat exclusive use of the ship. If they want exclusive use of the ship, then its the entire cost of the run plus 10-15 percent.
If they dont want exclusive use of the ship, then 20-40 percent of the value of the ancient device.
Its not normal freight, and shouldnt be treated as normal freight.
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
Space time.
Monojump drive is cheaper to obtain and maintain, than a factor six one.
So time would factor in as opportunity cost, salaries, and depreciation.
Monojump drive is cheaper to obtain and maintain, than a factor six one.
So time would factor in as opportunity cost, salaries, and depreciation.
MasterGwydion
Emperor Mongoose
Traveller doesn't use time as being a factor for the price of shipping cargo. It is strictly on a distance per jump ratio. The ship may have other stops to make if you didn't charter the whole ship.
Also, in Traveller, it doesn't really matter what you are shipping, it all uses the same cost per ton. I usually make the distinction between "regular" cargo and "hazardous" cargo, but that is My house rule as far as I know.
It cost the same to ship 50 tons of Raw Ore 6 parsecs as it does to move 50 tons of Cybernetics. So the relative values of the cargo do not matter either.
As Condottiere pointed out above, a TL12 J-1 drive is far more efficient and cheaper to run than a TL15 J-6 Drive. I will go a step further and say that, a TL12 J-1 drive is far more efficient than a TL12 J-3 drive, and a TL12 J-1 is more efficient than a TL9 or 10 J-1 drive. These make it cheaper for the operator of the vessel, but those savings are not passed through to the Shipper.
There does seem to be a mathematics sweet spot at TL13 J-2 being the optimal spot where the operating cost increase of lower jump engines is most offset by the efficiency of the advanced TL 13 J-2 engine.
Reisender
Cosmic Mongoose
So it is the players that are looking for a ship to transport the freight? Do the characters do not have their own ship or do they deem it too risky to transport it themselves? Or is the artifact too big to fit into the players ship?
Well, as long as the disguise holds, I guess Geir already answered your question about the price for standard freight.
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Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
The two factors involved would be:
1. How much it costs to ship cargo over interstellar distances
2. How much do you charge for it
If a cartel controls freight prices, and you could ship it cheaper yourself, vertical integration has got to be a great temptation.
1. How much it costs to ship cargo over interstellar distances
2. How much do you charge for it
If a cartel controls freight prices, and you could ship it cheaper yourself, vertical integration has got to be a great temptation.
Oy vey.
No, they're the ones being paid to ship it, the client is an archaeologist sending it back to their university and was very open about its nature. To try and avoid attracting attention the players thought of disguising it as a cold sleep capsule carrying an irradiated patient.
I guess I misread the table as total distance rather than jump distance. That takes the price down a lot.
Mind I might still need to know longer-jump costs considering it's a Hop drive.
Reisender
Cosmic Mongoose
Exactly my thinking. The standard freight cost might be a basis but considering the nature of the freight the price should be considerably higher.
MasterGwydion
Emperor Mongoose
I have found using a "Hazardous Cargo Fee" for transporting unusual or dangerous cargo helps tremendously. Depending on the Hazardous Material Level (I made that up) 1 through 5, I tack on a +50% mark-up for each level, so something extremely hazardous could be up to +250% more expensive to ship.
Hootenheimer
Mongoose
Woah, a recent thread that is about a topic I was thinking about! Forgive me for hijacking the thread with my own question, but I'm preparing to run a mini-campaign around Islands in the Rift, and bulk freight mechanics are a little bit on my mind.
For people who don't remember Islands in the Rift off the top of their head, the ship the Travellers get access to is a Fat Trader with a J1 drive that can fill up a modified cargo hold with fuel to potentially make up to five consecutive J1 jumps (one from it's regular fuel stores, four from it's modified cargo bay).
I think this answers my question, but just to rephrase it with an example, if the Travellers are on New Home (1925) and poke around for bulk freight to be shipped to Colchis (2026), that would involve two J1 jumps over two(ish) weeks for their spaceship and thus the price should be Cr2000 (2 X Cr1000) per ton? This is opposed to Cr1600 per ton the Passenger and Freight chart on page 239 of the Core Rule Book would indicate be charged "two" parsecs travelled.
I guess... I have thoughts and follow up questions if I'm understanding that correctly.
For people who don't remember Islands in the Rift off the top of their head, the ship the Travellers get access to is a Fat Trader with a J1 drive that can fill up a modified cargo hold with fuel to potentially make up to five consecutive J1 jumps (one from it's regular fuel stores, four from it's modified cargo bay).
I think this answers my question, but just to rephrase it with an example, if the Travellers are on New Home (1925) and poke around for bulk freight to be shipped to Colchis (2026), that would involve two J1 jumps over two(ish) weeks for their spaceship and thus the price should be Cr2000 (2 X Cr1000) per ton? This is opposed to Cr1600 per ton the Passenger and Freight chart on page 239 of the Core Rule Book would indicate be charged "two" parsecs travelled.
I guess... I have thoughts and follow up questions if I'm understanding that correctly.
- Is there any documentation or rules about what the timelines for freight delivery are? I see the rules on page 241 about late delivery, which can reduce payment between 50% to 100%(!) if the bulk freight is late. Makes sense to me, but what determines if the delivery is late to begin with?
- This is half a question and half me just thinking out loud: why are 2 and 3 parsecs travelled less expensive per parsec than just 1 parsec travelled? From the thread I think I understand why 4 parsecs and higher command increasingly higher prices, and it makes sense to me that you'd pay a premium to have a ship with a J4 or higher drive deliver freight in one jump when a ship with "lesser" jump drive would take multiple jumps and multiple weeks. I just don't understand why the same premium (if to a lesser degree) wouldn't apply to J2 and J3 drives?
