Steward Skill in Mrechant Prince

[Egil Skallagrimsson]

In my setting someone who wants a bank loan for a merchant vessel has
to undergo a thorough background check and to present an economically
viable business plan for a specific trade route or region, and the bank ma-
kes sure that the ship's computer is programmed accordingly - leave the
specified region or try to tamper with the computer, and the ship's black-
box transponder will cry bloody murder while the engines will shut down.

There are rumours that some banks even go further than that, and that
they would rather have a ship destroyed by some kind of hidden device
than to have a ship stolen ...

Agreed, certainly on the first part, though I tend to be slightly more flexible, a flight plan along the lines of Mora to Strouden and back would be enough.

Remember the traders have to make their mortage payments, and may be several sub-sectors away from where they took out the loan, the bank will require them to nominate planets which they are passing through to pay the monthly instalment.

Tend to think that the transponder will also be very high tech and very hard to tamper with. Obviously the, near forgery proof, paper work needs to be produced at any star port classed C or better.

Egil

 

[AndrewW]

All good points for the prospective starship thief.
Still you need someone to keep all those bounty hunting adventurers in work, no criminals to chase, no rewards to collect.

Ah, they can chase after other types of crimals, doesn't have to be starship thiefs.

 

[Egil Skallagrimsson]

All good points for the prospective starship thief.
Still you need someone to keep all those bounty hunting adventurers in work, no criminals to chase, no rewards to collect.

Ah, they can chase after other types of crimals, doesn't have to be starship thiefs.

Yes, for practice. The big payouts are for recovering stolen starships.

(A game the Navy has been known to play from time to time as well, anti-piracy patrols can be very lucrative)

Egil

 

[DFW]

Trouble is, if starships are really that easy to make off with, a 20% deposit is still no deterrant, if, as you seem to be saying, you can sell it for the best part of 100%.

Nope, fencing of high value goods RARELY nets >20%. Hence the 20% D.P. requirement. BTW - I NEVER said anything over 20%. Reread the thread...

 

[Egil Skallagrimsson]

Trouble is, if starships are really that easy to make off with, a 20% deposit is still no deterrant, if, as you seem to be saying, you can sell it for the best part of 100%.

Nope, fencing of high value goods RARELY nets >20%. Hence the 20% D.P. requirement. BTW - I NEVER said anything over 20%. Reread the thread...

There are not really a lot of real world comparisons. If it is as easy to make off with a starship as you suggest and change its identity, with the only protection for the purchaser being a 20% deposit, then the resale value (what you call fenced, but that implies a recognition that the purchaser and retailer is likely to get caught) will be a much higher % of the "book price".

Of course, with effective measures to locate such vessel (as outlined above in various posts, including mine, please read) then resale will be much lower. I suggested 2%, but that might be far too high. Some property is so hot it cannot be sold on.

Egil

 

[rinku]

Another consideration re skipping is that every crew member is going to be branded criminal. Mutiny is a real concern for any skipper who goes down this road, so you'd better be damned sure everyone on board is *on* board with the plan.

Re: Sword Worlds... well, they may be half-mad space vikings, but they have banks too. And any significant ones will have relationships with the Imperial ones. After all, they are going to want help tracking any SW skipper who skips to the 3I...

The SW governments aren't going to care anything about small merchant ships on the run from a tech or military point of view, and you can bet that bounty hunter is a real popular profession over there in the Sword Worlds.

Re: The Extents... yep, that's the zone to flee to, but you'll find it harder to adopt a new identity in alien space (though not impossible), and the 3I Megacorps all have significant operations in that area anyway, but less restrictions on what they can get away with. In the 3I you'll face arrest and ship impoundment. In the Extents you'll face assassins and attack ships. Or maybe just a bomb in the cargo bay.

Better have a DAMN good forger.

 

[Captain Jonah]

Another point to consider with those forged documents. What about the serial numbers on every major component on the ship and many of the minor ones. Gives the game away a bit on your next maintenance when some tech replaces a part and updates the serial number only to get it flagged as stolen.

Anyway to get back to the theme of this thread from back in the depths of time. Tramp merchants don't train in steward or medic as such, if they need one they hire some down on his luck traveller. Pilot, engineer and other such jobs related to flying the cargo they learn from each other. More than that, go hire some barely qualified drifter in the starport.
What discount do you demand for taking passage on a ship with no steward. Do we call it low middle passage, steerage class etc. Two people to a stateroom. Coffee machine and autochef are over there, help yourself. There should be a level of transport between middle and low to allow tramp traders to do it.

Perhaps 1D6 more than middle passengers, Cr1500 per trip, no cargo allocation. Double allocation in a stateroom. Steerage class income will be lower than middle passage but balanced by no need for stewards.

 

[rust]

There should be a level of transport between middle and low to allow tramp traders to do it.

Traveller New Era had a steerage passage, and I use something similar
in my settings, for example for the transport of colonists or for the pas-
sengers from the poorer frontier colonies.

However, it would make no sense if I would give the prices, I use a dif-
ferent system for passages, based on the duration of the passage, not
on the distance travelled.

 

[DFW]

Do we call it low middle passage, steerage class etc. Two people to a stateroom.

Call it Economy Class.

We also have "express" passage for J-4+ VERY pricey.

 

[Egil Skallagrimsson]

Another point to consider with those forged documents. What about the serial numbers on every major component on the ship and many of the minor ones. Gives the game away a bit on your next maintenance when some tech replaces a part and updates the serial number only to get it flagged as stolen.

Agreed

Egil

 

[DFW]

Another point to consider with those forged documents. What about the serial numbers on every major component on the ship and many of the minor ones.

So true. I can see the Vargr tech running to report to the Imperium even now...

 

[Egil Skallagrimsson]

Anyway to get back to the theme of this thread from back in the depths of time. Tramp merchants don't train in steward or medic as such, if they need one they hire some down on his luck traveller. Pilot, engineer and other such jobs related to flying the cargo they learn from each other. More than that, go hire some barely qualified drifter in the starport.
What discount do you demand for taking passage on a ship with no steward. Do we call it low middle passage, steerage class etc. Two people to a stateroom. Coffee machine and autochef are over there, help yourself. There should be a level of transport between middle and low to allow tramp traders to do it.

Perhaps 1D6 more than middle passengers, Cr1500 per trip, no cargo allocation. Double allocation in a stateroom. Steerage class income will be lower than middle passage but balanced by no need for stewards.

Agreed about the thread!

Good point about cheaper passage, there are the working passage options, but that is only going to be any use to a shipless PC, not one who wants passangers. It is conceivable that some ships might have a dormitary like barracks, but not sure what to charge. Never changed the rule about middle passage traveller getting one room per person, though tempt to at times (after all, players and military usually double up).

Of course, much depends on your take on low passage. If it is as dangerous as the MonT traveler suggests, then "steerage class" may well be attractive. I changed the rules a while ago, making survival virtually certain unless the passanger has a very low end or is the victim of a plot device.

Egil

 

[AndrewW]

Good point about cheaper passage, there are the working passage options, but that is only going to be any use to a shipless PC, not one who wants passangers. It is conceivable that some ships might have a dormitary like barracks, but not sure what to charge. Never changed the rule about middle passage traveller getting one room per person, though tempt to at times (after all, players and military usually double up).

Barracks is covered in High Guard, half the tonnage and cheaper but only 1 person per.

A barracks may only be used to carry marines or passengers (few will willingly pay for passage in such cramped conditions, so such passengers will be colonists or prisoners).

 

[DFW]

Barracks is covered in High Guard, half the tonnage and cheaper but only 1 person per.

HG says that it is 2 tons per person. Double occupancy in a stateroom is the same. Although, the "barracks" is cheaper. You'd think that you could have racks like in a sub. MUCH smaller than 2 tons per person.

 

[Egil Skallagrimsson]

And low berths are much cheaper to buy and run, per passage. for most passangers space flight in jump would be pretty booring, better to sleep through it, unless low berths are so dangerous that there is a good chance of you not waking up.

Egil

 

[rust]

You'd think that you could have racks like in a sub. MUCH smaller than 2 tons per person.

I took my steerage accomodation from GURPS Traveller Starships' bunk-
rooms, which hold 16 persons per 4 dtons. To me this seems just right
for colonists and passengers who cannot afford any better passage, es-
pecially since I do not use low berths in my setting.

 

[AndrewW]

Barracks is covered in High Guard, half the tonnage and cheaper but only 1 person per.

HG says that it is 2 tons per person. Double occupancy in a stateroom is the same. Although, the "barracks" is cheaper. You'd think that you could have racks like in a sub. MUCH smaller than 2 tons per person.

Agreed. I was just meaning 2 tons versus 4 tons for a stateroom.

There's the 1.5 tons / person cabin space for small craft or .5 tons for acceleration couches.

 

[DFW]

Thanks guys. I like the GURPS bunks.

BTW - I've been playing Mega for YEARS and just recently (a few months) been working up a MGT game. I can't find the specs for an "escape pod".

 

[AndrewW]

Thanks guys. I like the GURPS bunks.

BTW - I've been playing Mega for YEARS and just recently (a few months) been working up a MGT game. I can't find the specs for an "escape pod".

Traveller Core Rulebook page: 110 has a description, Page 111 has a table with the tons/cost,

 

[DFW]

Thanks guys. I like the GURPS bunks.

BTW - I've been playing Mega for YEARS and just recently (a few months) been working up a MGT game. I can't find the specs for an "escape pod".

Traveller Core Rulebook page: 110 has a description, Page 111 has a table with the tons/cost,

Thanks, I was looking for more detail but that'll have to do.