Penalty for Lost Cargo/Post Transport?

[markus_d]

My players got robbed by a pirate vessel.
They had post containers and freight containers on board.
The pirates took them all.
How much is the penalty they have to pay?
Or is this insured somehow?

 

[bluekieran]

Hmm, making them liable for anything is a bit like telling them what contract they signed way back when; it would be reasonable to assume that expensive goods are insured for transit, but that they'll need to make a full report to the authorities to make sure they're off the hook and that they'll have more trouble picking up cargo/passengers in that area for a while, particularly if they haven't been around there much in the past to establish a trustworthy history.

For the post, in particular, the authorities may be keen to hunt the pirates, but piracy is a fact of life and no unarmed, unescorted vessel would be keen to offer any guarantees.

 

[phavoc]

Mail vessels are supposed to be armed, so the authorities might ask questions about why they didn't shoot in defense. In any case there wouldn't normally be a financial penalty associated to be pirated. The shippers would request payment from their insurance, the mail service would simply pay it's own expenses.

The downside is that this would be a potential black mark against them as far as insurance rates, and reputation. They may be prohibited from receiving a mail contract until they increase their armament.

And, if their cargo wasn't totally legit, Guido the Hutt may expect them to pay back the cost of the cargo PLUS the cost of shipping PLUS a fee for his troubles PLUS... well, you understand how those things can work...

 

[PsiTraveller]

For all electronic mail, could there be an electronic backup of all mail sent? Could the ship redeem itself by going back to the previous system and getting another copy of the mail and delivering it? The mail would be a couple of weeks late, but it would get there eventually.

Just wondering since storage is essentially infinite an archive could be maintained on all mail servers in each system.
This opens up adventure opportunities to hack the Deep Space communications relay or the central server in the mail system and read everyone mail to gain intel.

 

[Reynard]

Considering the average trader/freighter sticks to safe routes and don't stray too far from the 100D limit AND there are only two pirate encounters of sixty possible encounters on a 16% chance for encounters, I'd say people see very little reason to buy a lot of insurance if they get any at all. Happens in real life until something that one time goes wrong. Highly valued cargos might expect the shipper to be bonded or there be a contract of insurance between the two entities. At some point, someone is going to be responsible.

 

[phavoc]

Considering the average trader/freighter sticks to safe routes and don't stray too far from the 100D limit AND there are only two pirate encounters of sixty possible encounters on a 16% chance for encounters, I'd say people see very little reason to buy a lot of insurance if they get any at all. Happens in real life until something that one time goes wrong. Highly valued cargos might expect the shipper to be bonded or there be a contract of insurance between the two entities. At some point, someone is going to be responsible.

Insurance would still be bought. However if it was uncommon, it would be relatively inexpensive.

 

[Reynard]

You think there would be an insurance table in the core book for a cost per ton of cargo with variations for value and potential local threats. No one at the trader level seem to ever get insurance while loading their ship.

 

[phavoc]

From a player perspective, unless they are playing merchants without their own ships they wouldn't be buying much insurance on cargo. Buying insurance for their ship should cover both damage to their ship and the cost of their cargo. Thank goodness for umbrella policies!

 

[Condottiere]

Due diligence and duty of care.

If mail is electronic, it probably erases itself, either through detection of unauthorized tempering and/or the captain frying the memory transistors.

Packages delivery and physical letters would need insurance, or should be insured. The insurance company determines if the mailship has to be armed, and how safe the mail run is.

 

[phavoc]

Due diligence and duty of care.

If mail is electronic, it probably erases itself, either through detection of unauthorized tempering and/or the captain frying the memory transistors.

Packages delivery and physical letters would need insurance, or should be insured. The insurance company determines if the mailship has to be armed, and how safe the mail run is.

Wasn't the rule that mail ships are required to be armed in order to get the contract in the first place? I would suspect most mail is physical mail rather than electronic. It wouldn't take big containers to carry electronic mail - and even if it did, it would be easy enough to pull another copy from the 'post office' in the system it was coming from to resend.

 

[Condottiere]

You wouldn't need to on a safe route, and it might be economically cheaper to allow hijackers to take the cargo, rather than paying for potential combat damage.

 

[JMISBEST]

All good or very good suggestions. Maybe put some kind of chart or table relating to this in the 2nd edition version of The 1st Edition Book Merchant Prince

 

[locarno24]

I'd definitely agree that recently having a cargo 'jacked should have an impact on your ability to get contracts - certainly it should disqualify/discourage 'secure' contracts like mail drums or so forth.