EDG said:
So, what really needs fixing here? We've now got another week to look at this, and I'm mildly interested in this and don't really want to see it lose momentum... can we identify the major issues that are problematic?
I've wrestled with starship economics for years and here's my opinion:
Pricing travel costs per jump, rather than per parsec is economically absurd. However, it's better than a flat rate per parsec. Worse, the problem cannot be addressed until the starship design and financing system is finalized. Failure in this area will result in a system where players find it too easy or too hard to make money.
The cost of travel is going to be very dependent on what it costs to send a starship to that destination. This would include starship payments, crew salaries, fuel expenses, life support expenses, and an allocation for maintenance/depreciation, plus a reasonable investment return. Until we know how much ships will cost--and how they will be financed--we can't price travel effectively.
The reason that a flat rate per parsec won't work is that the
operating costs per parsec aren't proportional. Most starship expenses are fixed, regardless of how far the ship jumps. The main proportional cost is jump fuel, which is relatively modest (and free if skimming is allowed).
The real cost of high jump ships is the opportunity cost of allocating tonnage to fuel rather than cargo.
And in any market economy, people will pay more to travel further faster.
All these factors combine to require the following:
1. A high jump ship will be most profitable when jumping to its maximum range.
2. All else being equal, a high jump ship cannot compete with a low jump ship on low jump routes, due to the fact that the high jump ship must allocate considerable tonnage to fuel. (This changes dramatically if something like collapsible fuel bladders are allowed).
Also, pricing will always be variable in a market economy. See current air travel prices for example. If pricing is artificially limited by government fiat, then
availability will vary. If prices are lower than what the market would demand, tickets will be scarce (and probably only regularly available at higher prices on the black market). If prices are higher than what the market demands, tickets will be plentiful (and probably available cheaper on the black market. So even in the case of government fiat, we must determine the market pricing, if only to set black market rates.
I built a pricing model from an analysis of common starship costs in Classic Traveller. You can see the results at http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?t=10749
It has worked well in my campaigns.
I can re-run the analysis for MGT ships, but I'll need the following information:
1. Typical financing terms for starships.
2. Typical maintenance costs.
3. Data for standard ships: cost, cargo capacity, passenger capacity and jump capacity.
4. Data for standard Jump-1, Jump-2, Jump-3 and Jump-4 ships.
Warning--you can't use my numbers as is because starships are a LOT cheaper in my campaigns (1/10 of current prices). They are financed over 10 years rather than 40 years and operating costs are the same as in Classic Traveller.
), it looks like the cost for J drive and Power plant is the same per ton for every TL, though I guess the tonnage required is less as you go higher?
