Question on trade tables (pg 161)

[DPSteve]

I'm a little confused about some of the directions for using these tables.
First, the entry for passengers says to "add the current planet's Population value to the Passenger Traffic modifiers for the current and destination worlds on the Passenger Traffic table ..."

So, if I'm looking for passengers on a Pop 5 world, I add 10 to the total? Wouldn't be easier to just say "add twice the current planet's population to the Traffic Volume modifier"?

Secondly, for the freight table, there's four types of entries: positive numbers, negative numbers, None, and -. I understand the first three, but what is the significance of a dash? If it's simply no modifier, would it not be expressed as a +0 the way other entries are done?

 

[AKAramis]

What you look up on the table is the

destination's Population UWP value
+ modifiers from Trade Codes for local world
+ modifiers from Trade Codes for destination world
= Freight Traffic Value

So it only adds once.
The FTV tells you how many lots of each size to roll.

 

[DPSteve]

What you look up on the table is the

destination's Population UWP value
+ modifiers from Trade Codes for local world
+ modifiers from Trade Codes for destination world
= Freight Traffic Value

So it only adds once.
The FTV tells you how many lots of each size to roll.

Right, got that for freight. The double was listed for passengers though.

Also, any idea on the difference between a dash and a +0, or None and No Freight?

Something tells me each pair is synonymous but it doesn't make sense to break it up that way.

 

[AKAramis]

# Local Population UWP Value
+ Local Trade Code Modifiers from Current Column
+ Destinations' Trade Code modifiers from Destination Column
+ half effect of Carouse or Streetwise (average
= Passenger Traffic Value

Which is looked up.

Note that Freight is based mostly upon the destination, while passengers are mostly upon the source.

The dashes in the modifier column are to indicate that the trade code is already included due to UWP inclusion, so don't add it again.

That is, for Passengers, dashes occur for Low Pop and High Pop trade codes, but only in the source column; since the whole pop is included, having a modifer would be duplication.

For freight, the dashes appear in the destination column, and again, they are Lo & Hi codes, for the reason that the destination world's UWP is the basis for the Freight Value.

 

[DPSteve]

# Local Population UWP Value
+ Local Trade Code Modifiers from Current Column
+ Destinations' Trade Code modifiers from Destination Column
+ half effect of Carouse or Streetwise (average
= Passenger Traffic Value

Which is looked up.

Note that Freight is based mostly upon the destination, while passengers are mostly upon the source.

The dashes in the modifier column are to indicate that the trade code is already included due to UWP inclusion, so don't add it again.

That is, for Passengers, dashes occur for Low Pop and High Pop trade codes, but only in the source column; since the whole pop is included, having a modifer would be duplication.

For freight, the dashes appear in the destination column, and again, they are Lo & Hi codes, for the reason that the destination world's UWP is the basis for the Freight Value.

Gotcha, thanks. So with the passengers it's just a matter of confusing wording. Thanks for clearing it up.

I see what you mean with the dashes. I think a +0 would've served the same purpose though, and potentially been less confusing (or I could just be slower than most)

Anyway, thanks again for the clarification.