Universal Mail Container rates from Book 7 Merchant Prince

[Chernobyl]

Merchant Prince allows you to negotiate the rate paid for transporting Universal Mail Containers.

page 68:
It is possible to negotiate a higher fee from the mail system but the actual skill check used by the spokesperson, calculated in the same way as with hauling freight, is made with a –2DM and has the following adjustments on fees based on its Effect.

all of that is fine, except that the target number for hauling freight varies with the Freight Traffic Value, which is a table lookup, Which shows freight traffic value from 1 to 16+, corresponding to a broker/persuade difficulty of 6+ to 10+.

It is possible to have negative Freight traffic values though. When hauling freight this doesn't matter because with such a low value you don't have any freight available to negotiate the rate for. It is possible however, to have a negative FTV and still roll high enough for a mail container to be available to haul (since all you need is a 12+ on a 2d6 roll...FTV of -10 or worse only modifies this roll by -2, which can be easily overcome with an armed ship or a good scout rank, for instance.)

My question is, since the Broker/Persuade difficulty table (page 67) doesn't go into the negative values of FTV, what is the base difficutly for this roll as it applies to negotiating transporting mail fees, when the FTV value is lower than the Broker/Persuade difficulty table?

Chernobyl

 

[atpollard]

Good question. I have no idea of the correct answer.

I like simple - like Classic Traveller simple.
Roll 8+ on 2D6. Every sucessful roll adds 10% to the mail rate. A failed roll cuts the rate in half and allows no further negotiations. Have fun.

 

[Chernobyl]

I wish all the rules mechanics were edited more thoroughly in these products sometimes.

 

[Chernobyl]

It also appears there's a misprint in the Merchant book regarding middle passage. Page 70, "Available Passengers"
PTV
5.......2D6-1D6
6.......2D6
7.......3D6-2D6

The progression made no sense; 7 has a lower average than 6.

referring back to the core book shows that entry 6 should be "3D6-2D6" just like 7.

I'm not sure of the logic in rolling dice and then subtracting dice...why not say its all 1D6? On average its all the same.

 

[far-trader]

...I'm not sure of the logic in rolling dice and then subtracting dice...why not say its all 1D6? On average its all the same.

The average is the same yes, and no. The D-D results in a higher probability of the average AND a possibility of greater variation. 1D6 will average 3ish with a range of 1-6 while 3D6-2D6 will average 3ish more often and allow a range of 0-16*. A possibility of 10 more passengers.

...actually something about that is bugging me. I've got a feeling I'm forgetting my basic probability mechanics and the 1D6 roll is flat, an equal chance of rolling any number and therefore no average on any one roll. While the multiple die roll being a subtractive operation may also not produce a curve. I'm really not sure and too busy/tired to think about it right now

* edit, right you are, 0 is possible, a senior moment or old house rule half remembered about no zero result

 

[Chernobyl]

The statistical average is exactly the same.
The variation is much wider though with 3D6-2D6, as 22% of the time you come out with 0 or less, and 22% of the time you come out with more than 6.
I just hate rolling that many dice for what comes out to (on average) the same as 1D6. You're rolling 5 times as many dice as before, and you have to split it up or have two different colors of dice. Not a problem for most gamers, granted, but I think a much more logical progression could have been arrived at. the KISS principle, if you will.