Travellers, Banks, and Character Finances

[ottarrus]

I've been reading the CSC 23 regarding PC finances, credit, and banking and a couple of thoughts occur to me.
The difficulty in banking in the OTU is, of course, travel time. Travellers, information, and monetary units [that is, the physical resources that back the Imperial Credit] all travel at the same speed. This can lead to some serious problems when one is trying to make major purchases. I mean, it isn't as if the Rhylanor First Planetary Bank is gonna advance some SOC 5 Traveller a 100K line of credit, even if the the Traveller has that much deposited in the bank. And it would be reasonable for the seller of goods to confirm a line of credit for major purchases, a process that would take 3 weeks at minimum [One week in Jump, each way, and several days to generate the request at one end and respond to it at the other].
Now it's certainly true that brokers can help the situation along, as they carry insurance that guarantees the seller the purchase price of goods.
But I think I have a simpler solution for player characters.
Simply put: Your ship's black box.
Every ship has a transponder and log system that is fiendishly difficult to hack and is almost impossible to physically access. That doesn't mean that it cannot be subverted by very determined and highly skilled group, but the people with those skills, much less a team of them, are rarer than oxygen in vacuum.
The system could theoretically work like this:
-- Ship crews could have their finances uploaded in the transponder, which is updated at every port of call. All a seller would have to do is query the Starport main frame and apply the debit or credit transaction.
-- Passengers could arrange for a hardcopy of their finances to be delivered to a departing ship by courier and picked up, also by courier, at the destination port.
-- This should work fine at all A, B, and C class ports, which will accommodate 99% of all ships, crews, and passengers. At the D and E class ports, individual arrangements will have to be made on a case by case basis.

 

[Condottiere]

Letters of credit, even intrabank, probably is the safest way to transfer personal funds.

Informal parallel institutions, like hawala.

We're probably back to the High Middle Ages, with the Templar Order acting as bankers, or the Renaissance, with banking dynasties.

 

[Sigtrygg]

The whole point of the Imperial credit is it is a currency you take with you and can be used anywhere in the Imperium.

It doesn't matter which bank on whatever world you deposit your money, it becomes part of the Imperial credit system.

Yes this means credit records have to be part of your passport/ID.

It also means credit updates are carried from world to world - you think the xboat network and all those subsidised mail contracts are for birthday cards?

Otherwise it is back to carrying a suitcase full of cash from world to world... (which is what the rules originally suggested).

 

[WHULorigan]

Of course, for the average "traveller" (as opposed to "Traveller"), they can always instruct their Banking institution to send finances ahead of a trip (via X-Boat communique) to a Branch Bank or partner Institution so that the Credit is available on arrival.

 

[Condottiere]

 

[ottarrus]

The problem is that most traveller ID's will not be updated with the most current status. Deposits will have been made at the banking institution and the traveller will have made withdrawals on their ID 4 or 5 parsecs away. The traveller knows what they ought to have based on expected income, but any number of things can happen to throw off this delicate system. Stock market fluctuations, disasters, or several other Very Bad Things can destroy a financial institution... not just the buildings but their solvency. Look at how many well-respected and presumed to be rock-solid institutions died during the Great Recession. Names like Merrill-Lynch and Barclays ceased to exist over night.
Imagine if your ship was purchased through the First Planetary Bank of Rhylenor. The Zhodani raid the world and destroy the corporate HQ. How does the Imperium handle it when EVERY SINGLE depositor hits the ATM and withdraws their money? Oh, Zirunkariish and Hortalez et Cie. will be thrilled with the additional deposits, but a major bank in the Marches, one of the banks that's financing the 5FW, goes belly up.
Meanwhile, way down in Trin's Veil or Tobia, it's two or three months before you even find out and in that time you've transacted hundreds of thousands of credits in purchases, sales, payments etc. ... and suddenly an X-Boat pops into system and you find yourself millions of credits in debt with just what's on your ID to pay for it all.

 

[Condottiere]

This has more to do with safeguarding their liquid assets while Travelling.

If you pack your rucksack with actual, physical, starbux, then it's more a question whether the recipient believes they are genuine, not counterfeit.

However, that does create the risk that they may be lost, in whatever form that takes, and you cannot reclaim their value from any institution, insurance, financial, governmental.

One exception might be Traveller's Cheques, which is tied to the purchaser's identity.

 

[WHULorigan]

This has more to do with safeguarding their liquid assets while Travelling.

If you pack your rucksack with actual, physical, starbux, then it's more a question whether the recipient believes they are genuine, not counterfeit.

However, that does create the risk that they may be lost, in whatever form that takes, and you cannot reclaim their value from any institution, insurance, financial, governmental.

One exception might be Traveller's Cheques, which is tied to the purchaser's identity.

This for the Traveller expecting to be moving in Lower TL circles.

Or the equivalent in electronic Credit can be uploaded onto either an Imperial Standard Credit Card (ISCC) or onto one's Universal-ID/Comm, or alternatively one may carry Bank or Corporate Chipcards or Imperial Solars and convert them to Credits later.

 

[ottarrus]

Traveler's Checks work fine for small purchases, say under 100k credits. Larger numbers are gonna require a more robust system.

 

[NOLATrav]

IMTU the TAS offers banking and credit services to its members in addition to the other benefits. The TASCard is basically a holographic crystal with the account holder’s identifying characteristics, account balance and transaction records, useable at any TAS facility to access local currency or interface with the local banking institutions, brokerages and port/ship facilities. Most ports on the Mains have a TAS facility but there are certainly quite a few that don’t and so still care must be taken not to outrun your finances.

 

[Condottiere]

I always thought that ShadowRun actually had the correct notion, which way transactions are going to be financed.

It's likely that most transactions will be paid for by credit card, verified and confirmed by an independent financial institute.

Or maybe not so independent, since you might have an additional social credit score, controlled by the government, that tracks your transactions, and may limit the amount that can be transacted, and what form that takes.

So parallel forms of currency will be created.

Like laundry detergent.

If Credit Imperiale is a form of cryptocurrency, then it would be like a Traveller's Cheque, and trackable.

 

[Arkathan]

Since storage is effectively infinite, it does not take up much room to have a 1 Google-digit encryption validating your current credit balance, updated every time the ID or device is used or accesses the planetary or starbase database.
At least, that's how I explain it to my players.
Doesn't sound as hand-wavium that way. It just works, because they've had 5,000 years to MAKE it work.

 

[Terry Mixon]

Since storage is effectively infinite, it does not take up much room to have a 1 Google-digit encryption validating your current credit balance, updated every time the ID or device is used or accesses the planetary or starbase database.
At least, that's how I explain it to my players.
Doesn't sound as hand-wavium that way. It just works, because they've had 5,000 years to MAKE it work.

I like this idea. It's timely and I'm going to drop it on one of my players right now.

 

[Condottiere]

Counterfeit Cash: When Gersen retrieves what's left of "Mr Hoskins", he finds what at first appears to be a mathematical riddle. Only later does he discover its significance; it's the verification pattern for the galactic currency, and anyone who has informed possession of it can print themselves as much money as they want. Gersen later makes use of the knowledge to get himself out of a tight spot, and to thwart Kokor Hekkus's plans.

 

[WHULorigan]

Since storage is effectively infinite, it does not take up much room to have a 1 Google-digit encryption validating your current credit balance, updated every time the ID or device is used or accesses the planetary or starbase database.
At least, that's how I explain it to my players.
Doesn't sound as hand-wavium that way. It just works, because they've had 5,000 years to MAKE it work.

BTW, a bit of Trivia:

If by "1 Google-digit" you mean 10¹⁰⁰ digits, THAT "Google" is spelled "Googol".

Googol - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[ColinD]

The whole point of the Imperial credit is it is a currency you take with you and can be used anywhere in the Imperium.

It doesn't matter which bank on whatever world you deposit your money, it becomes part of the Imperial credit system.

Yes this means credit records have to be part of your passport/ID.

It also means credit updates are carried from world to world - you think the xboat network and all those subsidised mail contracts are for birthday cards?

Otherwise it is back to carrying a suitcase full of cash from world to world... (which is what the rules originally suggested).

I didn't know this about the original rules. Were credits on paper or coins?

 

[Arkathan]

BTW, a bit of Trivia:

If by "1 Google-digit" you mean 10¹⁰⁰ digits, THAT "Google" is spelled "Googol".

Googol - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Thanks. Last time I sat in a math class, Mega Traveller had just been published. And the naval instructor did not go into exponents that high.
Now, I can't remember what I had for lunch last week, so I will accept that hit.

 

[rinku]

I generally handwave it all if the players are jumping around a civilised cluster, assuming that a combination of personal credit, bank verification and cash gets them through routine financial matters, and that the banks are *constantly* sending financial data through the usual channels. A stable balance at the major world gets the mortgage debited, local banks allow purchases up to a limit and reconcile with the major bank within a few weeks and so on.

I'd also be happy with funds transferred ahead to an appropriate system (usually Type A or B starport, but a bank might have a presence on other worlds. Heck, some of these banks may well OWN the system, and it would not matter that it was only a type D). The deposit might even arrive at the destination before the players do.

If the players are transporting mail, there's no reason their transaction can't travel with them, unless that's considered prone to interference by the bank (some institutions might ONLY transfer by their own vessels or the IISS).

It's when they head out to the wilds that things get interesting.

Because mine did exactly that, I made them state how much they were leaving behind to service the ship's mortgage (Bank doesn't much care as long as the money's paid... and in this case it's mostly paid off anyway), and how much they were actually taking with them as cash.

 

[ottarrus]

I generally handwave it all if the players are jumping around a civilised cluster, assuming that a combination of personal credit, bank verification and cash gets them through routine financial matters, and that the banks are *constantly* sending financial data through the usual channels. A stable balance at the major world gets the mortgage debited, local banks allow purchases up to a limit and reconcile with the major bank within a few weeks and so on.

I'd also be happy with funds transferred ahead to an appropriate system (usually Type A or B starport, but a bank might have a presence on other worlds. Heck, some of these banks may well OWN the system, and it would not matter that it was only a type D). The deposit might even arrive at the destination before the players do.

If the players are transporting mail, there's no reason their transaction can't travel with them, unless that's considered prone to interference by the bank (some institutions might ONLY transfer by their own vessels or the IISS).

It's when they head out to the wilds that things get interesting.

Because mine did exactly that, I made them state how much they were leaving behind to service the ship's mortgage (Bank doesn't much care as long as the money's paid... and in this case it's mostly paid off anyway), and how much they were actually taking with them as cash.

Oh, I absolutely handwave 99% of this kind of stuff. The players don't need to be slapped around with a wall of text every time we sit down just so I can show how much of a lore monkey I am.
A lot of us like to get down to the nitty-gritty of how the OTU works the same way that gearheads like to parse out how much power it takes to run the lights in the cargo bay of a Type A2 free trader. And financial matters brought down the Rule of Man, so between that and the text of the CSC, it got me thinking.
While this stuff might be a worthwhile plot device for a referee, this whole thread is more of a 'huh, I wonder how that works' rather than information that players must know and understand in order to play the game.

 

[Condottiere]

The process of virtual mining allows computers across the galaxy to effectively compete with one another in solving various maths-related problems, for which their owners are then rewarded with money. While virtual mining software can be run on almost any computer, most portable systems simply do not have the processing power to crunch through the maths quickly enough to generate enough Credits for the process to be worthwhile. However, with the massive resources available to a ship’s computer, substantial profits can be made over time.

The cost listed for a Virtual Mining software package is per point of Bandwidth. A computer running this package will generate a number of Credits per day equal to the Bandwidth of the software, multiplied by the Tech Level of the computer it is running on.

Rumours that this software is actually part of a government-based surveillance network are likely to be completely unfounded.