CT Only: Long Night Trader

[kilemall]

We all know there's some form of price cartel in interstellar passenger and freight rates.

One speculation could be that's it's the government subsidizing it, but instead of using the rates to ensure trade and communication affordability, it's forcing the customers to actually directly subsidize it.

My view is the per jump pricing of CT is a compromise among several competing agendas, and setting agnostic for the most part except for the pro-trade agenda.

Giving an absolute floor to pricing keeps the local J1/J2 distribution of goods and resources in business and not subject to destructive price wars between each other or sector plus lines. It gives a guarantee to servicing debt that makes bank loans for ships viable.

Giving the same as ceiling helps shippers’ commodities to travel farther, giving them bigger markets and an edge to megacorps production at IND planets.

Another factor is financing ships- large lines are either rich enough to commission their ships outright without financing, or gain lower/no interest loans from the megacorps wishing to expand their tonnage/routes. Without that cost albatross, J3+ becomes far more viable.

Finally, compensation for services at a level far beyond that able to be accessed by even a local line. Megacorps and megalines are probably joined at the hip and the lines can make bank in other ways to subsidize high-J routes. The aforementioned financing for capacity, a cut of 1000s of tons of speculative cargo for minor markets, and possibly a cut of sales from products moved or money moved through shells- plenty of margin for a system geared to the multi sector interests.

 

[Spinward Flow]

Without that cost albatross, J3+ becomes far more viable.

My own analysis from my 310 ton J3/3G @ TL=10 Long Night Clipper has a rather interesting financial profit tier profile.

1. Bank Financing can break even/make a profit when operating with high volumes of freight @ J1
2. Paid Off can break even/make a profit when operating with moderate volumes of freight @ J2
3. Subsidized can break even/make a profit when operating with small volumes of freight @ J3

You can "stray" from the above default yield assumptions with the "assistance" of occasional speculative cargo arbitrage.

The thing that I like about this outcome is that it means that if an operator starts heading towards bankruptcy, they can (potentially) recover their fortunes by "shifting tack" in what they are wanting to transport (and where). You just need to be able to "hold out long enough" for that speculative opportunity to appear ... and have enough capital reserves to be able to take advantage of it when it happens.

Being able to crawl out of a financial death spiral by altering your operations strategy seems like a VERY nice capability for a starship (and crew) to have.

 

[Condottiere]

I don't see a market for manufactured goods beyond the subsector level.

You'd really need a niche like luxury or really high tech.

 

[kilemall]

I don't see a market for manufactured goods beyond the subsector level.

You'd really need a niche like luxury or really high tech.

I disagree. All you need is undercutting local goods for universal desired goods at a high enough per dton value to travel well.

Starship parts, computers, high value electronics, grav vehicles, medical equipment, etc. Anything Cr100000 per dton retail will do.

Radioactives are a special case as that will be more a function of asteroid belts and unless fabulously rare a good chance it will be produced somewhere in the subsector.

 

[Condottiere]

Cheapest is information, so I do think that you could be watching Vargr telenovelas in the Solomani Confederation.

However, I doubt that even with megafreighters, you could make it affordable, at current rates, beyond subsector distances.

 

[Spinward Flow]

I doubt that even with megafreighters, you could make it affordable, at current rates, beyond subsector distances.

Doubt is good.

Proof is better.

 

[Condottiere]

We could draw up the trade flows around the Spinward Marches, the most documented of Marches.

 

[Grav_Moped]

Radioactives are a special case as that will be more a function of asteroid belts and unless fabulously rare a good chance it will be produced somewhere in the subsector.

Slight digression:

What's the point of radioactives in a universe that has fusion power?

Ok, medical tech uses. But otherwise, the 3I won't let you weaponize them, and they're only useful for indigenous power production at a couple of tech levels.

 

[kilemall]

Cheapest is information, so I do think that you could be watching Vargr telenovelas in the Solomani Confederation.

However, I doubt that even with megafreighters, you could make it affordable, at current rates, beyond subsector distances.

Ooooooo a challenge!

Slight digression:

What's the point of radioactives in a universe that has fusion power?

Ok, medical tech uses. But otherwise, the 3I won't let you weaponize them, and they're only useful for indigenous power production at a couple of tech levels.

Where do you think handwavium and unobtanium comes from?

A more serious answer- raw material for nuclear damper based processes that can alter them to exotic artificial elements for uses our primitive TL8 knowledge cannot conceive.

 

[Condottiere]

First off, we can forget the technological level sixteen Darrian goods, those are one off artifacts.

 

[Condottiere]

They can't build technological level fifteen starwarships, and have to import them from Imperium shipyards.

So that's definitely a pull for technological level fifteen goods from the Darrian Confederation.

Though that does beg the question, what is the technological industrial base for them?

 

[Spinward Flow]

that does beg the question, what is the technological industrial base for them?

Industrial world (Zamine) TL=10.
Type A starport worlds (Mire) TL=12 and Jacent TL=13.

that does beg the question, what is the technological industrial base for them?

TL=10-13.

 

[Condottiere]

I'm going to start with the Darrians, because they know what they are missing.

They probably do have a relatively strong mercantile culture, which is where I suppose their auxiliary naval ships come from, and their merchant captains would know what to prioritize.

We figure out what those priorities are, and where they can get them from.

Free traders and Imperium (mega)corporations would try to compete on those routes.

And we have to work out if the Darrians export anything, for trade balance of payments, or if they have accumulated a large stash of cash that they can utilize.

 

[Spinward Flow]

This starship design is being retconned out of existence and "de-canonized" (for whatever that's worth) by the author (me), in favor of a superior design that I will be posting ... Soon™.