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

[Badenov]

I liked Pattaya Beach. We anchored out and put in a 1/3 watch schedule with a shore patrol office at the beach front hotel. The boat got rooms for us there but honestly, who sleeps in the "barracks".

The ride through the surf to the beach. The jump off the liberty boat with my shoes tied around my neck and my liberty bag held high felt like a very strange version of storming the beaches at Normandy. I pulled 4 straight days of liberty, followed by two days back on the boat running the nuke plant. At the end of day 6, we pulled a few hours early since a gator-freighter had pulled in and ruined the bar scene and the weather guessers were talking about a storm coming up into the Gulf of Thailand.

The run back out was at Full Speed Ahead with dynamic control on the stern planes to control the rolling. It still got ugly. I remember pulling 24 hours straight on watch 'cause the off duty watch standers were too sick to relieve us. The Engine Room Lower Level watch was wearing a trash bag around his chest to puke into. I kept bringing him liquids to pretend he was hydrated. We may have fudged the rules about food in the engineering spaces a little when the cook brought food aft to the folks who could still eat.

I still remember the relief when we got past the 100 fathom curve and could actually dive beneath that crap. I was off watch for 5 shifts before they woke me up again.

I went to Pattaya in a FFG, but I was TAD to the FFG and they never checked me into a duty section (and I followed the Never Again Volunteer Yourself rule). The rest of the crew was in 3-section duty. So I had 5 days in a hotel, with a check in to the shore det each day. I gained an appreciation for Thai whiskey there, which was very smooth. And I was prevailed upon to take a shipmate to a fancy restaurant (Italian, amusingly, and quite fancy, most of the locals were in shirt and tie), which he failed to retain. A good time was had by all. So yeah, there were upscale parts if you looked, but the overall mood was 'TL5, beer and people are inexpensive to rent.'

 

[DeepBrine]

"... people are inexpensive to rent..."

Story on that was one of the crew members was in the hotel, a bit drunk and dialed room service for services. They sent up three options. He looked at the three of them and kept them all. Bit of a bill but he was heard to say he could not bear to disappoint any of them.

Then there was the story about the crew member who discovered the "she was a he" problem.

I remember being a bit shocked at the British Family who was at the hotel. Mom, Dad and three daughters. Youngest was 15? Oldest was 19? Dad was determined to buy drinks non-stop for any sailor talking to his daughters. It took me a drink (maybe three) to figure out his approach was to put the sailors drunk on the floor before we could damage his daughters. I think he was successful.

Interesting times. 1987 or there abouts.

 

[Badenov]

Interesting times. 1987 or there abouts.

1994 was when I got there. Don't think it had changed much. I hear there's a pier now, though.

But back on topic, I think players should be in port for a week because that's how long it takes to blow a month's pay.

 

[Mustache Man]

I'm guessing 1 week in jumpspace 1 week in star port is how most Travellers behave in universe, players, being players and not actually having to live in jumpspace for a week. You can remedy the problem by locking your players in the house for a week everytime they jump in the game*


*Disclaimer, don't actually lock people in your house for a week, that was a joke

 

[Badenov]

I'm guessing 1 week in jumpspace 1 week in star port is how most Travellers behave in universe, players, being players and not actually having to live in jumpspace for a week. You can remedy the problem by locking your players in the house for a week everytime they jump in the game*


*Disclaimer, don't actually lock people in your house for a week, that was a joke

A week underway was a typical jaunt for us. My record for consecutive days underway was over 30, which was rare for smaller ships (destroyers/frigates) when the ship that was supposed to relieve us on interdiction duty didn't show. I understand some submarines are underway for months? They say time flies when you're having fun, but it all feels like ancient history now. (It was in 1994, so I say that with a grain of salt.)

Truth be told, with fire and combat drills, watches, and your actual job to do, the time does fill up. It's not like you're watching TV for hours.

 

[Enoki]

If you need excuses to keep players in a port for a week, or more, it shouldn't be hard to invent something like:

It is an Imperial class A starport. The authority there tells you that you haven't visited that port before or like in the last year. You can't leave until the ship undergoes a "Class C inspection." The earliest they can get you in is five days from now, oh, and it's a 500 cr charge...

You arrived at the starport in the middle of the night. It's mostly closed and all the daily business stuff and the like are closed. You have to wait until tomorrow to do anything, including scheduling your refueling. That will take say, 3 days minimum to get a tanker out to refuel your ship. Do it yourself? Nope. Illegal and you likely will end up in jail if you try.

You arrived on the local equivalent of Friday at 10:30 pm. NOTHING is open on the weekend except for a few convience stores or the like. You will be waiting until Monday morning to start doing business. The ruling local theocrats say so and if you buck the system you are going to prison.

Your merchant / starship driver's license (or whatever it is) is expired or about to expire. The authorities won't let you leave until you get it renewed.

Something in your cargo is verboten on this planet, BIG TIME! The authorities are putting a security team to watch your ship. Until they are in place and you can arrange for a secure transfer of cargo you are allowed to unload and load locally, you are not going to be able to open your cargo bay and every time anyone leaves the ship they get checked to make sure they aren't smuggling that item, even in the smallest quantity, off the ship.

This sort of thing is endless. You want the players to stay put? It isn't hard to come up with reasons.

 

[Black Vulmea]

I shaved the mustache off, so that should help.

Whereas I AM the Mirrorverse version of me.

 

[Badenov]

You arrived on the local equivalent of Friday at 10:30 pm. NOTHING is open on the weekend except for a few convience stores or the like.

And every bar on the planet. There are tons of things to do. Just none of them will support you making money.

 

[Enoki]

Then there's things like...

This is what you imagine your ship's engine room looks like:

This is what it actually looks like:

Maintenance is going to take longer than expected...

 

[Enoki]

And every bar on the planet. There are tons of things to do. Just none of them will support you making money.

And, in Traveller, you can pretty much be assured that a fight will break out and somebody's going to jail...

 

[Enoki]

"... people are inexpensive to rent..."

Story on that was one of the crew members was in the hotel, a bit drunk and dialed room service for services. They sent up three options. He looked at the three of them and kept them all. Bit of a bill but he was heard to say he could not bear to disappoint any of them.

Then there was the story about the crew member who discovered the "she was a he" problem.

I remember being a bit shocked at the British Family who was at the hotel. Mom, Dad and three daughters. Youngest was 15? Oldest was 19? Dad was determined to buy drinks non-stop for any sailor talking to his daughters. It took me a drink (maybe three) to figure out his approach was to put the sailors drunk on the floor before we could damage his daughters. I think he was successful.

Interesting times. 1987 or there abouts.

Or, the crew goes to a 'hostess club,' like in Japan. This is the sort of place run by the yakuza and where a businessman or salesman for a corporation on an expense account takes a prospective client that will be signing a big contract. The crew doesn't know that, and doesn't ask the prices that aren't on the "menu." When the bill comes, it's just shy of 20,000 cr and they have like 2000 cr... Somebody's going to jail after a beating...

Funny how these things seem to always end in 'somebody's going to jail...'

 

[whulorigan]

This is what you imagine your ship's engine room looks like:

You know, as an aside, just imagine how many Energy Points/Power Points you could recover for your systems or combat allocation just by turning off all of those ridiculous extraneous glowing light panels that serve no function . . .

 

[Grav_Moped]

You need to save that energy for the most important device in the universe -- the Blinking Tubes Without Function.

... and note that it's video #1 of at least 3...

 

[GypsyComet]

You know, as an aside, just imagine how many Energy Points/Power Points you could recover for your systems or combat allocation just by turning off all of those ridiculous extraneous glowing light panels that serve no function . . .

Under the two editions that dive down that rabbit hole in the most detail, the only part of life support that uses much power at all is the grav plates, and even they are peanuts to M Drives and energy weapons

 

[gchuck]

A week? Most of the time 'my' people are in and out in 48hrs or less.
After reading through this thread, I am so thankful that I run a 'Scout' campaign! Trading is at an absolute minimum, other than the odd lot of coffee beans, or some other small cargo lot that the players are jones-ing for!

 

[Enoki]

A week? Most of the time 'my' people are in and out in 48hrs or less.
After reading through this thread, I am so thankful that I run a 'Scout' campaign! Trading is at an absolute minimum, other than the odd lot of coffee beans, or some other small cargo lot that the players are jones-ing for!

I can keep scouts in port too.

You land your scout ship at the scout base. Yea, the gas and "maintenance" are "free..." The base administration tells you they're 'borrowing' it for an important mission. You don't have the need to know and aren't qualified. Get your $h!+ off the ship and you can have a room in the transit barracks until a ship becomes available...

You land at the scout base. They have work for you and your ship. Standby to standby...

You land at the scout base. You'll be taking on four 'crew' that are doing something important. They have a pile of equipment that they need to do important stuff with. Modifications will take X number of days to finish. Rumors are you and they are going to die shortly...

The Scout Service is a big bureaucracy. YOU are still a Scout. That means the bureaucracy will never let you go and the gears are greased with sand. Also, expect somebody's going to jail!

 

[Condottiere]

Change the license plate.

 

[kilemall]

A week? Most of the time 'my' people are in and out in 48hrs or less.
After reading through this thread, I am so thankful that I run a 'Scout' campaign! Trading is at an absolute minimum, other than the odd lot of coffee beans, or some other small cargo lot that the players are jones-ing for!

This is how you get the lethality of the scout service. Do months of that and the old SAN checks should be getting harder.

 

[DeepBrine]

I'm guessing 1 week in jumpspace 1 week in star port is how most Travellers behave in universe, players, being players and not actually having to live in jumpspace for a week. You can remedy the problem by locking your players in the house for a week everytime they jump in the game*


*Disclaimer, don't actually lock people in your house for a week, that was a joke

So, is it OK to lock them in the cellar? They have clean running water, a hot plate, a fridge and a bucket.

Thats enough for a week, right?

 

[Mustache Man]

So, is it OK to lock them in the cellar? They have clean running water, a hot plate, a fridge and a bucket.

Thats enough for a week, right?

Totally okay*

*Not okay