General Problem with assumption: Why would players be 1 week in starport?

[McPerth]

Would it redeem me reembering you english is not mi first (not even second) language ?

 

[Grav_Moped]

Would it redeem me reembering you english is not mi first (not even second) language ?

No redemption needed!

Obvious typo/auto-mis-correct, which made for an amusing mis-interpretation.

I had no idea your English wasn't native!

 

[bookwyrm]

Even domed colonies are less cramped than ships,

A doomed domed colony will become less & less cramped over time until there is more space than a visitor knows what to do with with no one to direct the visitors to where the fun places used to be. Probably a terrible change in nearby trade routes becoming further away.

 

[Condottiere]

Undergoing a Domesday Book taxation valuation.

Possibly, after a Harrying.

 

[Badenov]

I have to say, if we had gotten a week inport after every week underway, the Navy would not have sucked nearly as much.

 

[Commander Truestar]

So, this is an issue which comes from CT and MT....Not Mongoose
And it has absolutely nothing to do with trading, though trading will be blamed

Ultimately, when you land in port and those members of the crew start working on selling the cargo, cleaning out the passenger staterooms and the going out shopping, cargo hunting and seeing the sights....

The ship's Engineer (or engineers) have work to do.
In fact, they "Always" have work to do.

After you lift from a world and burn for the 100d limit - you make a jump.
After that, the engineering staff have time while the maneuver drive is off line to spend the week in jump doing minor maintenance

As soon as the ship exits jump on the other side..
1) The engineering team have to bleed off the jump capacitors and begin maintenance and reset work on the jump drive
2) After the ship makes port - and assuming it is berthed in an internal space where the ship's systems can be powered down, the team have to begin maintenance on all that. Power plant, jump drive, live support....etc.


A ship is not a ground car, which can be put on a lift every few thousand miles.
This is the thing that is either gonna be well maintained and kept working by a responsible engineering team

Or it is an less than well maintained craft which will suffer break downs which can damned well kill you all

Now, based on "That Scheduling".....the trade system has been "1 Roll per week in port"
Which is why the trade system gets the blame

 

[aramis]

I'll note that age of sail, typical port times in several US ports were 1-2 weeks. (there are port records in the National Archives microfilm collection; your local NARA branch office or presidential library can get those if you want to actually math it out.)

Keep in mind: the 4 days for delivery is also facing the 4 days for the buyer of your cargo to get it out of your way. So, if engaging the cycle without a local factor¹ one has day 1 being selling, day 2 buying, cargo sold gone by EOB day 5, delivery by day 6. To/from 100 diameters is half a day... quick 7 day progress, with an assumption of some inexpensive at-the-dock handling space.

 

[Timerover51]

Not just the engineers will have work to do. Whoever is in charge of replenishing consumables like food, water, and air, disposing of the ship's gray water/dehydrated garbage, and doing checks on the ship's life support system are going to be busy too. Then you have the maintenance on the cold berths, if any are carried. There are a lot of unreported jobs that have to be done in that week in port.

 

[Spinward Flow]

A ship is not a ground car, which can be put on a lift every few thousand miles.
This is the thing that is either gonna be well maintained and kept working by a responsible engineering team

Or it is an less than well maintained craft which will suffer break downs which can damned well kill you all

Either YOU schedule downtime for routine maintenance ... or the machinery WILL DO THE SCHEDULING FOR YOU.
Pick your poison.

Not just the engineers will have work to do.
There are a lot of unreported jobs that have to be done in that week in port.

Cleaning stations alone will give everyone "something to do" on a daily basis, whether parked/berthed, maneuvering or jumping ... even if it's only for an hour or so, daily.

Every crew skill (pilot, navigator, engineer, steward, medic, gunner) for crew positions will have mundane routine things they'll need to do every day as part of the daily upkeep of a starship.

Personally, I like to think that part of the reason why (in LBB2) the berthing fees are Cr100 for the first 6 days, but after those 6 days are up the price for "hangar queens" rises to Cr100 per day.
The reason WHY is that if a crew is "absent" for 6+ days, then the routine maintenance work that the crew ought to have been (present for and) doing falls upon starport support staff to do so the starship remains in fit condition to launch when the crew returns. So that Cr100 per day after 6 days isn't just for renting the berth ... it's also to pay for the starport staff to do the work that the crew on payroll might not be there to do (otherwise, why would a starship need to remain berthed for more than 6 days?).

 

[Condottiere]

Diagnostics, especially on a Scout/Courier, should be constantly updating.

And Roombas.

 

[altidiya]

Thank you to all people that has answer this!

I start to get more clear perspective around the week in real space.

I do feel similar to Daidoji [this word has activate my L5R brain] in that I'm lacking ways to encourage players to do more than study in these four weeks of travel of their fast moving schedule. But I will try to make some more long term/stay in port more time.

 

[King Midas]

(otherwise, why would a starship need to remain berthed for more than 6 days?).

Redline: "Your ship is not leaving port until the safety inspection is passed."
Similarly: "Your ship is dead in space until the needed widget shows up. We don't have one: We've notified the people most likely to have the widget. We should hear from them in a week or two."
Missed connection: You were to pick up your patron today. A message came in, "Delayed. Expect me in two weeks." Damn.
The only speculative trade available is something with a tiny profit margin and a going price of 200%. Yeah, better to sit in port for a week and see if anything shows up.

 

[whulorigan]

A doomed domed colony will become less & less cramped over time until there is more space than a visitor knows what to do with . . .

Plenty of opportunity for crew decompression . . .

 

[Badenov]

Thank you to all people that has answer this!

I start to get more clear perspective around the week in real space.

I do feel similar to Daidoji [this word has activate my L5R brain] in that I'm lacking ways to encourage players to do more than study in these four weeks of travel of their fast moving schedule. But I will try to make some more long term/stay in port more time.

The best motivator for spending time in port is cash. Side jobs, bounty hunting, maybe hiring out to another ship that needs help?

 

[Condottiere]

Sailors.

Port call.

 

[Grav_Moped]

Sailors.

Port call.

STREETS FULL OF WATER.

PLEASE ADVISE.

 

[Condottiere]

Raw fuel storage.

 

[Badenov]

Sailors.

Port call.

I've never been on liberty to a place that nice while in uniform. My recollection of Brazil was counting the dead dogs floating in the water as we pulled in. (Only 2, but still...). Djibouti was like an armpit in so many ways. You have to have it, but that's no reason to go there. Hong Kong wasn't awful, but so crowded. Pattaya Beach had no actual dock, we had to take off our shoes and socks and wade ashore after the liberty boat ran in toward the beach as far as it could (only about 12-18 inches of water, so not awful, but...), the mosquitoes were awful, and every bar was an outdoor bar. Canada was nice, as was Maui, but it felt like 1965 in 1994. About one TL behind. Pattaya was about 1-2 TLs behind. Djibouti was 2-3 TLs behind except for certain specific things.

I imagine most player-owned freighters are going to pull into working ports, not pretty ports like cruise ships do. First class passengers for mixed-use ships almost certainly board by shuttle unless they go to a working port specifically for the thrill of the unusual.

 

[Spinward Flow]

But I will try to make some more long term/stay in port more time.

Don't forget the fact that interstellar travel ISN'T the only game in town.
Your Travellers could be hired (have their ship chartered) to make an interplanetary run inside the star system ...

 

[Condottiere]

The potential is there, but very little write ups of complete star systems.