DFW said:
In reality, no sane bank would loan for a new Type A either. Unless, you put about 30+% down AND had excellent, relevant references.
Hmm? Type A has excellent income to expense ratio. Even paying all crew positions (and in practice many operate with the crew as shareholders, not salaried employees):
Pilot, Engineer, Medic, Steward/Gunner, Navigator/Sensors = -Cr21,000 pm
Mortgage: -Cr3048 pm
Life Support: -Cr22,000 pm
5 High passengers x2 trips = Cr60,000 pm
10 low passengers x2 trips = Cr40,000 pm
80 tons cargo* x2 trips = Cr160,000 pm
(*High passengers take up 5 tons, allow 3 tons for other purposes)
That gives a monthly profit of about Cr214,000, or MCr2.5 per annum. Even without saving crew costs or speculative trade.
I fully agree that no bank is going to loan to anyone with a bad credit rating or of dubious character, but this is loaning to a business, not buying real estate. The bank is going to be looking at the business plan and profitability of the venture, and a Type A is an established cash cow design. The fact that it's only J-1 and thus hard to skip with does not hurt, but *honestly* who would bother to avoid paying 1.4% of the monthly profit? It's the paramilitary ships that they're going to be careful of.
Getting back to the OT, unless you're railroading the players into the scenario, you have to offer an attractive payoff. This does not have to be cash. If they're going to lose a potential of Cr200,000 profit for a month running errands somewhere, but are not actually cash strapped at the moment, perhaps some unusual gadget, or the personal thanks of the Duke of Regina, or a pardon from that unfortunate incident back on Terra might be the payoff. If the job is to transport something or someone from A to B, normal charter rates appropriate to the ship may be all they need (mark it up at 150% of their nominal income or something).
Edit: Err, to simply answer the original question, it's 1-2k per ton of cargo for the party as a whole. As my breakdown of the income/expense for a Type A above indicates, the issue is offering the *party* enough incentive to offset the *party's* normal costs. However, if the job doesn't involve disrupting the trading cycle or involve travel expenses (i.e. a side mission) it can be priced however you want - it's an additional income source.
If they're not trading, it's still the same principle. They are going to ignore most jobs that don't cover their costs and seek out ones that do, so design jobs to suit. If these turn out to be high renumeration ones, make the risks or difficulties involved match to suit
Edit2: Oops, I forgot to add in the actual mortgage cost, didn't I, which is Cr152,000 or so. Need more coffee. Still, that leaves an expected profit of around Cr61,000 per month, or Cr732,000 per annum. The bank has their cut, the crew have their wages and the shareholders have a tidy return. Type As remain highly profitable ships, especially with a little speculation and reduced crews run by shareholders and/or working passage dudes.
