Mustering out with a Ship...A good thing?

[Luddite]

After creating my first character, I got a ship in the mustering (a yatch from being a noble.)

So looking at the finances, it seems that my character is now stuck with a 300kCr/month debt. It seems that the ship could barely pay for itself, if used for commerse. Assuming that I don't pay for my crew and other expeneses.

Only the Far Trader seems like it could actual net some cash with out dabbling into specultive trading or risking hazardous cargo.

How do others deal with this? What happens to the characters that get the Lab ship or even the Mercenary Cruiser?

-The Luddite

 

[DrSkull]

That is a problem. And what happens when one player has a Yatch and another a Free Trader and a third has a Lab Ship? One thing would be to immediately sell the ship, and probably pick up 10% of its value (20% equity, but 10% depreciation), that's a nice stake.

The way I've always dealt with it is instead of handing out a ship, I give a voucher for the Imperial Surpluss Starship Acquistion program. Basically its a 10 Mcr voucher, not saleable or transferable, which is useable only for a downpayment on a used starship from the Imperium.

I make the ships 30-40 years old, purchaseable for 1/2 of list price at standard loan rates (this is an imperial program for getting more ships into commercial service and out of the impound lots). There is a 1 in 20 chance of something breaking down each month. But the result is that the players can club all their "ship" benefits together and get the ship they really want. The other benefit is that they need not get the ship right away, but can pick the moment they already have a grub stake.

 

[GypsyComet]

I rather liked the way TNE did it, but your way also works.

The trick to making money with a Yacht ("T" at the end, there, Doc...) is to hire yourself out either as a "beyond high passage" luxury passenger service, or do high-price charter work...

 

[savage]

TNE had the best system for this. Combining player stakes and role on a chart for the ship they end up with. There are a lot of ways to pay off a yacht. Although I always felt some of these character types should have regular incomes.

I did revamp the TNE chart to include several popular ships that it didn't mention.

One of my friends ran players with a mild starting problem. They were payed to the end of the month on the ship but annual maintenance was due...sink or swim. I was kind... 6 months.

Savage

 

[themink]

Let the annual mainatance pass - There are lots of ships out there who are passed the "fix by" date. A wise passenger would probably ask to see a maintaince schedule (if they knew what they were looking at)

 

[Liam Devlin]

Originally posted by DrSkull:
That is a problem. And what happens when one player has a Yacht and another a Free Trader and a third has a Lab Ship? One thing would be to immediately sell the ship, and probably pick up 10% of its value (20% equity, but 10% depreciation), that's a nice stake.

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IMTU, it was one player had an 800dtn Merc cruiser, one had a Scout ship, one had a Patrol Cruiser. (out of eight players, three ships- though technically I made the married couple playing scouts have the same ship to prevevnt "instant fleet" from happening.

The Broadsword was way too expensive for them to upkeep and man, so they "leased it back to govt service..which in the RC, meant it got used a lot fer Raids.
The PC made the mistake of signing completely back over in lieu of her annual mtce, and lost whatever shares of salvaged technology the vessel brought in thereafter(under salvage/ ownership laws). Wiser, but poorer. They made due with the T-class and Scout fer a long while.