Classic Traveller does state, both directly and implied, that passage for both cargo and passengers is on a per parsec rate. This change, apparently deliberate, in T20 changes the nature of the Traveller Universe economically. Cannon Traveller uses the per Parsec rate and I highly recommend it if you want to be more realistic. Speculative cargo will only go so far to making up the difference. A typical bank does not take serious risk. Looking at the trade and speculation chart, (which is the virtually identical to CT) is still going to leave you short on a regular basis with a multi-jump freighter. So it would be virtually impossible to finance a freighter with a jump drive higher than Jump-1. In the T20 Universe, aside from military and scout vessels jump-1 would be the norm and anything more would be a rarity. (SO the concept of a standard ship design far trader or liner wouldn't work.)
If you want to amke money on the speculative trade, you could always find a rich world, have the broker skill yourself and buy low and sell high without ever leaving the planet.
There is nothing that says the goods have to be shipped anywhere. Buy a wharehouse and store it for a week if you aren't allowed to sell it the same week you buy it. Cheaper than a starship.
What goods can you purchase, without investing more than 20% of the cost of the ship each stop, that can reasonably expect to turn an income of more than 300,000 per month? (And lets not forget that you have only 66 tons of cargo space.)(Plus salary, broker's fees and actual profit.) Maintenence and payment alone comes in at just under Cr300,000. Even with great brokering skills and the right two planets you are unlikely to be able to clear more than a 50% profit (Consistently) Since the table of what you are allowed to buy is random, you can't always carry what you want, you can't always find the right cargo on the right world. And you can't ensure that your cargo that you bought is going to fill your hold. If you stick to class A starports, if you stick to high population worlds you actually have enough rolls on the speculative cargo table to get a shot at something you want. (8% max) You would have to invest more than Cr600,000 per month (And find cargo that you can invest Cr600,000 per month in 66 tons every month) or you will lose your ship. (After rolling the tables a few times you will find that you can't consistently keep the ship ahead of the payments and in less than a year the bank owns the ship. That they can't turn a profit on either.)
So lets see your business plan so we can discuss your loan Mr. Merchant Prince, Sir.
Oh and remember you have to make this money, every month, including maintanence months, for 480 straight months. It will take you, if it could be done, almost 50 years to make your 20% down back.
Passage, charged on a per parsec rate, with a full load at standard rates, (Good luck at keeping your ship with a full loads.) would require a Far Trader to average 3 parsecs per month to break even. With 4 parsecs per month and full ship each trip, you can actually earn back your 20% down in about 10 years. You still aren't making a profit. Trade and speculation will add to your profit margin if you are any good at it but since it is so random will not add consistently, significantly, to the full load rates.
Now I don't know about you but every time I have played traveller it isn't exactly in the safest neighborhoods. Pirates are expensive.
Now to look at it from the point of view of the customer, instead of the ship owner. Is the reality, of today's world, that if it doesn't matter how long to get there it is cheaper? If it absolutely, positively has to get there overnight then it is more expensive. In T20 if it takes longer to get there it is more expensive! Not only do you have to pay for each leg of the trip, you have to pay someone at each leg to make sure it keeps going in the right direction and you have to pay to wharehouse it while it waits for another ship. If I could get a shipment there in one jump instead of two I would gladly pay the same price for shipping without an intervening stop. (It saves me money.) It also saves me time.
Passengers, well lets look at the typical passenger. What is the typical traveller. A retired Admiral makes less retirement pay than the price of a High Passage in a year. Casual travel is unheard of. YOu are going to be dealing with the rich and the business traveller. For those people time is money. SO paying the same price to go two parsecs without an intervening stop (And the delay in finding another ship for the next leg.) in less than half the time is again a bargain.
Economically the model set up in Classic Traveller is much more realistic than T20 and it actually makes the Universe work. Without it then there is virtually no trade off the Main, it just isn't profitable.
Have a great day,
Bruce
Originally posted by Morte:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Zephyrus:
I'm not sure exactly how transporting cargo 'more than 1 jump' works. As I've been told you need to deliver them roughly within a week. that you dont do multi-jump cargo's. Thats what your higher jump rated ship's are sapposed to be for.
With the exclusion of priority freight, no time limit is mentioned in T20 but the pay is per delivery rather than per parsec. If it's needed 3 parsecs away, you get Cr 1000/ton whether that takes you one jump or three. Having J3 does increase your list of options.
Unless a is paid per parsec jumped their's no way to finance a far trader or similar vessel as revenue they generate wont be able to pay its own morgage and maintence.
It's very hard, speculative cargo is really the name of the game. A wanderer wants 200-400 tons, J1 or J2, 1g, a bunch of hi-pop worlds, a good broker, a qualified chief steward, and as little time on the tarmac as possible. The ship eats Cr 10000/day in finance and salaries just sitting there. Do not go adventuring, you can't afford it.
Me, if I were a businessman (rather than an adventurer) then I'd find two planets, two identical ships, three crews (pilot, astrogator, engineer, chief steward), and put a broker at each planet with a warehouse and a fuel purifier. The crews work two weeks on and one week off, the ships do thirty-nine jumps a year between the planets on a nine day cycle, and the brokers have all nine days to buy/sell/book cargo and pax.
The brokers have the Connections (Budget Travel Agencies) feat to fill those high margin low berths. You get a contract with a local nursing agency to defrost your lo-pax on arrival, rather than hiring a medic you only need one day in nine. You hire somebody to come in for a few hours each week and work your fuel purifier if the broker can't handle it.
Do some advertising, since you have a permanent presence on planet. Use your two slowest fortnights of the year for annual maintenance.
Beats free trading any day...
Or be a detached scout. With free maintenace and no monthly finance charge, it's less important to keep moving. You get time to scoop/slurp fuel and pick off the good cargoes. A T20 scout with 20 ton hold makes a very nice spec trader. </font>[/QUOTE]
