I'm just an old Jack-of-all-Trades, doing the best that I can through research and extrapolation.
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I think that describes most of us here.
In this case, though, I'm not sure you've made allowance for the scale and limitations of trade in Traveller (particularly communications lag and laissez faire Imperial policy), so I'm probing to see whether my rationale still holds up once we agree on the premises.
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I try to factor that into the overall game which drove some players crazy because they are used to instant communication. [that was 1977 to about 1985 -- with cellphines and e-mail the effect is far worse. I tell them to imagine the world before the telegraph. A hard thing to do]
Imperial laissez faire certainly in world governments but not in interstellar travel. The US government's love affair with the commerce clause and the early caselaw protecting federal admiralty jurisdiction show that each state could regulate certian types of trade unless it crossed state or international boundaries.
"Traveller already strongly implies (through the existance of skipping, hijacking, and piracy) that "arresting" deadbeats in this setting is often easier said than done -- in fact, it was deliberately designed that way, since this promotes player initiative (and thus adventure) in other areas as well."
And it's not that easy on planet Earth either. I have chased vessels halfway arounnd the world and waited up to two years before the ship returned to a US jurisdiction where it could be arrested. I guess I should have said that it was possible but not easy. I use the Scout Service to hunt them down sometimes.
"That being the case, the bond or collateral which would be required to support a bare-hull charter has to very nearly equal the value of the ship itself."
Actually in real world terms a bond can be had for a relatively small percentage of payment..it's the bond company that puts up and gets burned. But yes, demise charters are generally used more by larger corporations and you migh t be surprised at how often those charters are breached.
There is a technical term for individual shipowners who charter their vessels to other individuals, without their own crew aboard or the assets to support extensive skip-tracing: they are called "suckers."
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Agreed. an intelligence level of 5 or 6 is usually called for.
"I had never run across the term "demise charter," or I might have used that instead of "bare-hull.""
A minor quibble really. Demise charter is used more often in legal texts and documents and not so much in daily use or by non-laywer vessel brokers. Several years of admiralty law practice --
Before I lost access to this site last week I tried to post more info -- inlcuding mention of the older treatise -- Gilmore & Black -- Admiralty Law. [1975]. An excellent overview of all aspects od admiralty law and some of it quite useful in adapting to Traveller.