T5.10 Speculative Trade

[Spartan159]

Pg. 221 of book 2, Identifying a Cargo

Can someone run me through selling cargo? Specifically I'm running spec cargo between Efate (A646930-D, Hi, In) and Louzy (D422A88-8, Hi, In Na, Po)

If I understand this correctly, my Efate cargo identifies as:
D-Hi In Cr 2,300
How much does it sell for on Louzy?

my Louzy cargo identifies as:
8-Hi In Na Po Cr 1,800
How much does it sell for at Efate?

 

[The Pakkrat]

Hi In and You

Pg. 221 of book 2, Identifying a Cargo

Can someone run me through selling cargo? Specifically I'm running spec cargo between Efate (A646930-D, Hi, In) and Louzy (D422A88-8, Hi, In Na, Po)

If I understand this correctly, my Efate cargo identifies as:
D-Hi In Cr 2,300
How much does it sell for on Louzy?

my Louzy cargo identifies as:
8-Hi In Na Po Cr 1,800
How much does it sell for at Efate?

Selling the Efate cargo on Louzy will land base Cr10,500 per ton before rolling on the Actual Value Table.

Selling the Louzy cargo on Efate will land base Cr3000 per ton before rolling on the Actual Value Table.

It is the difference in Tech Levels that does this to the price of a cargo per ton. It's great to find those Hi In worlds that are within one jump of each other. But if their Tech Levels are too far apart, then it's time to simply run Freight between the worlds if the value of speculatives drops below Cr1000 per ton.
Don't forget to check for Passengers. Those can be valuable too, especially if your starship has a Demand bonus. Mail too if the difference in Importance {Ix} is 2 or more between the source world and the destination.

Efate is especially valuable as one of your stops as it is Starport-A and there is at least one Naval Base and zero Corsair Bases in the route.

Trade and Commerce is by far my favorite aspect of T5.10. I scour the Vargr Extents and Vargr Enclaves for that golden, one-jump circuit route that will net the big payoffs while dodging Corsair Bases. And no one dodges Corsair Bases like the Logaksu Vargr.

Side note: I give out walkthroughs on Voice channels in the COTI Traveller Discord for T5.10 topics such as Character Generation, World Creation, Starship Construction and my favorite, Trade and Commerce.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

If I understand this correctly, my Efate cargo identifies as:
D-Hi In Cr 2,300
How much does it sell for on Louzy?

Buy on Efate, sell on Louzy:

Buy:  Efate (A646930-D, Hi, In)
Base:     3 000 Cr
Hi:      -1 000 Cr
In:      -1 000 Cr
TL:       1 300 Cr
===============
Sum:      2 300 Cr


Sell:  Louzy (D422A88-8, Hi, In, Na, Po)
Base:     5 000 Cr
Hi > Hi:  1 000 Cr
In > Hi:  1 000 Cr
In > In:  1 000 Cr
==================
Part Sum: 8 000 Cr
TL:       4 000 Cr     (13 - 8) × 10% × 8000 = 4000
==================
Ask:     12 000 Cr
Roll on Actual Value and multiply the asking price, e.g. roll +1 to get 110%:
Actual:  13 200 Cr     12000 × 110% = 13200

my Louzy cargo identifies as:
8-Hi In Na Po Cr 1,800
How much does it sell for at Efate?

Buy on Louzy, sell on Efate:

Buy:  Louzy (D422A88-8, Hi, In, Na, Po)
Base:     3 000 Cr
Hi:      -1 000 Cr
In:      -1 000 Cr
Na:           0 Cr
Po:      -1 000 Cr
TL:         800 Cr
===============
Sum:        800 Cr


Sell:  Efate (A646930-D, Hi, In)
Base:     5 000 Cr
Hi > Hi:  1 000 Cr
In > Hi:  1 000 Cr
In > In:  1 000 Cr
Po > Hi: -1 000 Cr
Po > In: -1 000 Cr
==================
Part Sum: 6 000 Cr
TL:      -3 000 Cr     (8 - 13) × 10% × 6000 = -3000
==================
Ask:      3 000 Cr
Roll on Actual Value and multiply the asking price, e.g. roll +1 to get 110%:
Actual:   3 300 Cr     3000 × 110% = 3300

We can further complicate the process with Broker and Trader skill.

Broker: We can use our own skill, or hire a Broker at the starport (p220).
Each positive DM on he Actual Value table costs 5% or the final price.
Example:
Asking price is Cr 3 000. We hire a Broker-4 (DM +2). We roll Flux = +1 plus DM +2 = +3, which gives us 130% on the Actual Value table. Selling price is 3000×130% = Cr 3 900. The Broker get a commission of 3900×10% = Cr 390. The seller recieves 3900 - 390 = Cr 3510.

Trader: Trader skill (any level apparently) allows us to roll one die on the Actual Value table before we decide to roll the other die and finalise the sell. This gives us a good idea if the market is good or bad currently, and we can abort a sale into a bad market (potential low roll on the Actual Value table).


Also look at Imbalance Items (p211).

 

[Spartan159]

Gentlemen, thanks for the replies.

AnotherDilbert, that breakdown was exactly what I was looking for, thanks for walking me through it, and you caught my error on Louzy cost as well, I missed the poor -1,000 mod.

Pakkrat, how did you come up with 10,500 for selling on Louzy?

 

[esmdev]

How do you generally determine how many types of cargo and how many tons of each are available? It says up to 100 tons. Do you just decide or is there a roll that I am missing?

 

[AnotherDilbert]

How do you generally determine how many types of cargo and how many tons of each are available? It says up to 100 tons. Do you just decide or is there a roll that I am missing?

According to the D Freight table (B2 p220) you check every day in port and find 100 Dt goods for sale, as you have noted. Presumably we re-roll specific cargo type every day (p218-9).

100 Dt is available every day. Unlike freight we can break up the lot and buy as much as we desire, hence "up to 100 tons" can be bought.

I believe...

 

[esmdev]

Works for me just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something. Thanks.