Starship Economics and StarCraft

[atpollard]

Revenue vs Expenses in CT

Frankly, I never had a problem [in actual play] with the cost of starships. They are hard to afford on a military pension (or even a pilot's salary) but so is a Boeing 727 or a commercial Fishing Trawler.

Several times per year, the Classic Traveller speculative trade rules generate a trade deal that can not merely make the monthly payments, but frankly could pay off half the cost of the ship.

The regular passenger/cargo rules can defray most of the cost of the ship - requiring the crew to get creative in accepting side jobs to make ends meet.

Between these two extremes lies any possible campaign style that a referee and group of players might want.

One weakness (pointed out many times before) is the poor fit between the fixed revenue for any jump and the J1 to J6 range of operating expenses for the ship. But a 6 parsec range of Buy and Sell modifiers should still allow a ship to cover expenses on two or three great trade deals per year ... leaving lots of time for other adventures.

YMMV, but mine hasn't.

 

[PFVA63]

Hi

Although its been years since I've messed around with Traveller, I do recall that when I 1st got ahold of CT I did a very little side solo-type adventure just to kind of familiarize myself with the mechanics of the game. For that, I think I had rolled up a merchant character who somehow ended up with a used Seeker (I think I might have assumed he was able to sell off his partial ownership of a Free Trader to make the down payment on the used ship).

Anyway, the character didn't start off with a whole lot of money left over. I also believe that he either had some sort of Admin or Broker skill to assist in die rolls, allowing him to make some good buys or sales, including a couple that would have paid off handsomely, if he had enough money to fill the ship's hold. Unfortunately though, he didn't really have much money to spare and so when he got the chance to pick up something valuable, he couldn't buy much. And at times he would have to sell off whatever he did have in his hold (at whatever deal he could make) to make his monthly payments.

As such, I guess that my experience has been that it takes money to make money, and that if you start off without much it may be a challenge to make headway.

Anyway, just wanted to share some additional thoughts.

Regards

PF

 

[aramis]

having run many merchantile campaigns, a solo character with a ship likely has little money... most merchant characters with cash have Cr40,000 and a 40 year debt...and that 40K needs to be saved or spent pretty much right off on a decent cargo. If you can't find a decent cargo, ship freight.

Once you get a good item, with healthy lowering DM's at source, go where you can sell it best (within a single jump).


Find the total reduction on the source, and add the total increase dm's at sale end, and find the modifier total. If the source is worse than the sale, don't buy. Sure, some times it pays off, but the only reason for doing so is to avoid a cash tax...

if you don't have a net 3 point difference between buy and sell within your jump range, counting broker and also source and destination modifiers, it's not a passable item; its a risk. Don't spend more than 10% on risky stuff.

If the modifier spread is 4-6, it's a low risk... buy and go.
If the modifier spread is 7+, it will be hard to not make a profit if the trip itself is made. Buy as much as you can.

By doing just that, you can make plenty of money with the CT system. But generally, unless you've got a 7+ spread, don't spend more than 25% of your cash on hand.

And since the CT mortgage makes no provisions for early payoff, it also has no bonii nor penalties for making payments early... doesn't shorten the loan, just pays the next X payments... so any MAJOR windfalls where you can pay ahead, do so... with about half the windfall. And keep making payments on schedule. And after a few, you've upped the working capital. And if you don't make enough profit for a payment during a bad run, you don't of need lose the ship.

I've found a good starting working capital to be Cr10,000 per Td of cargo space, and a long term of Cr50,000 per Td of cargo space.