Speculative Trade

[Red Bart]

I am new to Traveller and am currently working my way through the core rulebook. The rules about speculative trade have got me scratching my head somewhat. I'll break my question into two parts:

1. 'determine purchase price' (page 163)
It tells me to apply: "+ the largest DM from the purchase DM column" and "- the largest DM from the sale DM column". First of I'm confused what the sales column is doing in the purchase paragraph. Secondly I'm confused what this means exactly. The example in this paragraph seems to indicate that I should just apply "+ the DM from the purchase DM column for the world trade code". And forget the whole "- ...sale DM...." bit. Is that correct, or does it work in another way?

(sub question: does the Broker DM include his intelligence/social standing? The text "+ the character's Broker skill (or the local broker's skill)" makes me suspect that it doesn't, but the height of the DM (up to +6) makes me suspect that it does.)

2. 'selling goods' (page 164)
First I think the same question as before can be asked: what is a purchase DM doing in a selling paragraph. Secondly in the sentence "add the largest sale DMs for the world trade code", why is sale DMs plural? Isn't there only one sale DM per trade good? And why is "the world trade code" added here but not in the purchase paragraph?
Thirdly the example indicates that Erik is going to an industrial world which has a +2 sale DM for precious metals. However the example indicates a +3 sale DM. Is this a typo, or am I missing something?

I get the feeling that either I'm completely overlooking something, or this chapter could do with a little more explanation

 

[nDervish]

The rules mean exactly what they look like: When buying, add the biggest purchase DM and subtract the biggest sale DM. When selling, do the opposite.

As for the logic behind that, let's say you're on a Rich, Non-Industrial world and you're buying some Basic Electronics. Basic Electronics have a +1 Purchase DM from Rich and a +2 Sale DM from Non-Industrial, so your net DM for buying them there would be 1 - 2 =-1. Why? Because, as a Non-Industrial world, they want to buy up all the Basic Electronics they can get their hands on, so they're going to be reluctant to sell what they already have.

Conversely, to sell Basic Electronics there, the DM would be 2 - 1 = +1; as a Non-Industrial world, they want to buy more Basic Electronics, but, as a Rich world, they already have more of them than a more typical Non-Industrial world might.

 

[Red Bart]

Thank you. That makes so much sense. I completely overlooked the fact that a world has two world trade codes, not one.

The example on page 164 under selling goods is wrong though, isn't it? There's no way to get a +3 sale DM from an industrial world selling precious metals, is there?

And the broker DM on page 163, does that include the intelligence or social standing of the broker, or is it just his skill?

 

[nDervish]

The example on page 164 under selling goods is wrong though, isn't it? There's no way to get a +3 sale DM from an industrial world selling precious metals, is there?

Personally, I would vote "typo" on that one, but I'm not aware of any official statement or errata.

And the broker DM on page 163, does that include the intelligence or social standing of the broker, or is it just his skill?

The list on p.163 of things modifying the purchase price roll includes both "+ the character's Broker skill (or the local broker’s skill)" and "+ the character’s Intelligence or Social Standing DM, whichever is higher", so the Int/Soc modifier should be included, although that's not explicitly mentioned in the examples. I guess Erik's Int and Soc must both be 8 or less (with one of them at least 6), since the better of the two modifiers is apparently +0...

 

[Red Bart]

That's probably right from looking at the text. A broker with a +6 skill would seem a bit overpowered though. Looking at page 51 "Skill levels and what they mean" it appears that even a skill of +4 would be extremely competent, let alone a +6. I'll probably just house-rule that to either your skill + your int/soc, or just the broker's skill. If the players want good brokerage, they'd better learn it themselves