Merchant Ship Design (and some economic ramblings)

[Vormaerin]

It is hard to judge, because we have examples of the Old Expanses table of battle in Imperial Navy and there's the older Sector Fleet (which is 3rd party, but by a regular contributor to official material) which gives a lot of info on the Spinward Marches fleets. But we don't know how that compares to the strength of their neigbhors. I suppose I could bust out my Fifth Frontier War game and count counters

I do think it was deliberate that the Imperium was not a military conquest Empire. They do have warfighting ability, but I don't think that the Navy was ever designed for conquest. Even the Pacification campaigns were a highly divisive deviation from prior (and subsequent) Imperial policy from what was written.

Doesn't mean there isn't also some Worf effect going on. Or just a desire to sell wargames that both sides have a chance to win

 

[Emeketos]

We know from the Equipment chapter in Core 2022 that a “Good” standard of living (SOC 7) costs Cr1,500 per month, Cr18,000 per year. Starship pilots make Cr6,000 per month, Cr48,000 per year which equates to a “Very High” standard of living (SOC 10). Gunners and Stewards, both at Cr24,000 per year, can maintain a “High” standard of living (SOC 8). This presumes no time off but traditionally (in CT) a ship’s annual maintenance provided two weeks paid time off per year.

but remember standard of living does not include
savings, vehicles or any purchase that isn't housing and food (or air & water) so unless the pilot wants to just live in the moment he will never have any cash to cover miscellaneous expenses.

 

[fvcoulter]

It's interesting reading about how slow travel is in Traveller. Yes, compared to now. Usually. But this is a very recent development.

In the cruise subreddit, someone asked if anyone had taken a cross-Atlantic cruise. (Nowadays there's only one ship that makes a regular cross-Atlantic cruise. It's considered a luxury and takes about a week one way.) I responded that I had crossed the Atlantic by ship three times. My parents moved to France soon after my birth and stayed about six years. I only flew across the Atlantic once; flying was very new and expensive.

Less than ten years before that, my grandfather had reconnected to a family member in Greece. He decided to bring his family to Greece to meet the family member. There was a strike, so my grandfather drove his family to New York from Michigan during pre-Interstate days, then hopped on a freighter that went straight to Greece.

How long ago was this? My mother is still alive and living on her own. She was too friendly to the third-mate, so my grandparents forced her to play bridge with them and the captain. All the way to Greece, which would be longer than a 1 parsec jump in Traveller. (She still plays bridge, with various color master points, etc.)

When comparing travel times in Traveller, a better approximation would be looking historically. And you may not have to look all that far back.

By the way, even today it's not hard to find places in the world that take days to get to. It's not as bad as Traveller, but it's not "just jump on the Concorde" close.

 

[Condottiere]

It was mentioning gambling that reminded me.

 

[NOLATrav]

Tru

but remember standard of living does not include
savings, vehicles or any purchase that isn't housing and food (or air & water) so unless the pilot wants to just live in the moment he will never have any cash to cover miscellaneous expenses.

True. I suspect most pilots live on the ship they fly most of the time, so probably a little more wiggle room than might be expected.

My post was simply trying to point out an economic metric in the setting, for whatever that may be worth. Like all things under Emperor Strephon, the picture gets fuzzy if you look too closely.

An alternate response is that standard of living should and does include those things, otherwise your standard of living is actually much lower than lower than implied. But probably the rules in Core that I cited are geared towards adventurers, and as you say, cover only the basics of existence.

To which I say, not IMTU. I’m actually thinking about using the Wealth stat from the Companion, or maybe a version of how money works from The Expanse rpg (which is basically a Wealth stat as well). Trade, mortgages and credit-counting have definitely taken a backseat IMTU lately so it’s sort of a no-brainer to just abstract it.

but remember standard of living does not include
savings, vehicles or any purchase that isn't housing and food (or air & water) so unless the pilot wants to just live in the moment he will never have any cash to cover miscellaneous expenses.

 

[NOLATrav]

It was mentioning gambling that reminded me.

The Steamboat Natchez still makes some leisurely jazz brunch/dinner runs up and down the Port of New Orleans area. At this point I’d say she gave up her jump drive for more passenger accommodations, focusing on in-system points of interest.

 

[Condottiere]

Comparatively, factor one acceleration is slow.

And if you can't influence time experienced in hyperspace, passengers have a week of leisure time, though nowadays, distractions could include the gym and virtual reality.