MasterGwydion
Emperor Mongoose
and a GURPS Starports book as well.This might help:
Starport - Traveller
wiki.travellerrpg.com
There's also a Mongoose book for Starports.
Powers of a Starport?
- Thread starter Shardan13
- Start date
Fluffy Bunny Feet
Cosmic Mongoose
There is if the GM wants there to be.
Of course if the GM wants there to be they will finally get through the wall and find a brand new wall constructed right against it with a note from the Warden "Nice try".
IanBruntlett
Emperor Mongoose
There is also, by Mongoose:This might help:
Starport - Traveller
There's also a Mongoose book for Starports.
* "Referee's Briefing 3: Going Portside" - I liked it.
Click here...
* "Supplement 14: Space Stations" - I'll buy the PDF one day...
Click here...
Given that the player ships are more likely to be the space equivalent of a tramp freighter registered in Liberia, I'm not so sure that Imperial Starports (let alone non-Imperial ones) would do much active oversight apart from customs inspections unless there was an actual incident. At which point, yes indeedy it might really matter that the ship wasn't crewed to standards or had gotten behind on their maintenance...
And I can't see the starport much caring about the mortgage... but if the port fees aren't paid, they'll get REALLY interested.
But having said all that, if you need a particular Port Authority type to use the powers at their command (or exceed them) to be a stick for the plot, go for it. And even with a Class E port there may be planetary authorities who need to be dealt with on matters such as customs and immigration (or not. That's going to very a lot but a Bureaucratic, technological world is likely to, while a low tech tribal one may not).
And I can't see the starport much caring about the mortgage... but if the port fees aren't paid, they'll get REALLY interested.
But having said all that, if you need a particular Port Authority type to use the powers at their command (or exceed them) to be a stick for the plot, go for it. And even with a Class E port there may be planetary authorities who need to be dealt with on matters such as customs and immigration (or not. That's going to very a lot but a Bureaucratic, technological world is likely to, while a low tech tribal one may not).
Last edited:
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
On the other hand, public records would be scanned by repo agencies.
As well... it's not like the crew are likely to be idiots that just take whatever cost cutting the owner tries to get away with. Except for the robots, I guess.
If a crew is under-staffed, NPC crew will generally not be happy since presumably the work needs to be done anyway. If maintenance is skipped, they won't be overjoyed to be riding in a potential deathtrap. If the mortgage has been skipped and they find out they're crewing a fugitive ship without their consent, they might even have just cause to mutiny in order to turn the owner over to the authorities.
When you get into grown up businesses (as opposed to ones run by space murder hobos) these are proper concerns. Unhappy staff leave or look at industrial action. Government regulations, even local planetary ones, may be enforced.
If there have been actual incidents such as crew or passenger injury, inquiries might be held and legal action taken.
If a crew is under-staffed, NPC crew will generally not be happy since presumably the work needs to be done anyway. If maintenance is skipped, they won't be overjoyed to be riding in a potential deathtrap. If the mortgage has been skipped and they find out they're crewing a fugitive ship without their consent, they might even have just cause to mutiny in order to turn the owner over to the authorities.
When you get into grown up businesses (as opposed to ones run by space murder hobos) these are proper concerns. Unhappy staff leave or look at industrial action. Government regulations, even local planetary ones, may be enforced.
If there have been actual incidents such as crew or passenger injury, inquiries might be held and legal action taken.
My take would be that Imperial star ports are also there to show the flag. Enforcing standards are part of that. If the most obvious sign of Imperial control doesn't enforce every easily enforceable rule then it just encourages the idea that some rules can be broken.
It is far easier and cheaper for a star port to send a few people aboard every ship to check for contraband (even if they don't check that hard), kick the tires and check the registration documents while it is in port and the crew are effectively isolated than trying to do it via space intercept with a cutter.
If you have a corrupt system then why miss a valuable opportunity to tax/extort credits from off-worlders.
Capturing a skip jumper will result in a hefty reward from the bank (10% of the value of the ship wouldn't be unreasonable).
Ports that don't enforce safety standards cost insurance companies money, and will be put on a blacklist along with any businesses based in that star port.
If the port doesn't conduct safety inspections then it wont be feeding its shipyard regular maintenance work. The ship yard will probably not be able to get a license from big government.
Even if there is no incident the next port that does conduct checks will see that the previous port failed in its duty. Other star ports are competition. An incompetent or corrupt star port administrator will need to be replaced and that means promotion opportunities for diligent staff. Ports will tend to be incentivised to identify failings in other ports (either for blackmail opportunities or because other people take their jobs seriously and don't want others to get away with it).
Ships arriving from known lax ports will be subject to even more scrutiny than ships from compliant ports (probably long before they might endanger other shipping and the planet itself). They will be subject to routine customs checks at the 100D limit. That will result in delays, costs (e.g. fines for not having exit documentation in date) and passenger/shipper dissatisfaction.
The only costs the star port incurs from doing its duty are staff costs. Additional costs for compliance will need to be met by the ships not the port. Given the low costs vs potential revenue streams it seems unlikely to me that failure to enforce regulations would be more profitable for the port.
Most flag of convenience ports are cheaper as they offer tax breaks rather than because they allow lax safety standards (this used to be the case, but not so much now due to PSC and other legislation that recognised that unsafe or polluting ships don't just affect their port of registration). In Traveller this is reflected in lower berthing fees based of class and a random dice roll. I have presumed that fee is fixed once it is rolled once (rather than rolling each time a ship lands). For the average berthing (with a ship with fuel processors and that doesn't require repairs) there isn't much to justify the potential Cr5990 between some class A and Class D ports.
Last edited:
Similar threads
