Nathan Fletcher -- Our Captain and Hero:
Merchant 1st Officer 686CE9 Age 46 7 Terms Cr 46000
Administration-1, Bribery-1, Electronic-3, Gunnery-1,
Medical-2, Navigation-1, Pilot-1, Vacc Suit-2, Merchant-0
Blade, Low Passage x2
Linda Stone -- The Engineer:
Merchant 2nd Officer 685599 Age 34 4 Terms Cr 75000
Electronic-1, Engineering-2, Gunnery-1, Pilot-2, Steward-1, Merchant-0
Gun x2, Low Passage
Notes: In my game, I assume an average human lifespan that's easily twice as long as today's and plenty of anti-aging drugs are available meaning that aging rolls don't come up as soon as they normally would. I also give everyone a [Service]-0 skill which basically acts as a Jack-of-all-Trades skill for anything that you might expect an average member of a given service to know. So everyone with Army-0 can shoot a gun, for example. In this case, Merchant-0 basically means knowing how to use a VaccSuit, being able to make crash landings in ship boats, repair small technical problems and just generally be useful aboard ship and on shore leave. Although Nathan and Linda are both pretty damn competent, the [Service]-0 skill makes everyone not a complete doofus at things they really should know how to do (even if it's without any real skill).
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Home Inspection
“Well, Lin, what do you think?”
“I think it looks like a fat trader that got its fat ass shot off, Nate.”
“Well, that’s not too far off from the truth,” I said. I nosed the launch through the marked channels of the shipyard and did a slow fly-around of the trader. Normally, I’d let Linda drive, she’s a solid pilot, but it was her engineering experience I needed so she got to ride shotgun.
“The worst part is the rear end. The pirates shot it all to hell. But their gunners were good, they crippled the ship without blowing it wide open.”
“Just what I like, carefully spaced, clean-cut holes in my drive engines.”
“It just means that it’s going to be easier to pull it out and replace it. I think the basic framework is still sound and everything forward looks good.” I rolled the launch and pulled it over the top of the trader. “Here, take a look.”
I did a long slow orbit of the ship to give Lin a chance to see the whole thing from front to back.
“Well, you’re right about the structure,” she said reluctantly. “Everything forward of the engines looks to be in good shape. A couple of blaster gouges, but those will be easy to clean up. But I won’t know for sure how bad it is until we step inside.”
“So start suiting up, I’ll bring us in.”
A few moments later, I docked with the temporary door ring attached to the trader’s side. I went back to join Linda and get my own suit on. Linda Stone was a fellow UFTA employee who’d be let go in the recent downsizings. Aside from being a good pilot, she was a great engineer. Back when I was doing tech work, she’d bring in the electronics that needed fixing to me and we’d get them running again. Whatever skills I lacked in running a spaceship, she could definitely cover. As soon as I came up with this scheme, I knew that Lin had to be my engineer.
Fully suited up, we did our mutual check-overs and stepped through the airlock into the trader. These fat traders were all laid out the same way, so we went downstairs from the crew cabins and into the cavernous cargo hull. Our flashlights were lost along the length of the bay.
“So the shipyard lists this as the C. W. McCall. She got hit a couple of years ago and the backers decided to write it off. The bank’s been looking to get rid of it ever since then. Even after all the repair work, I feel like we can get this thing up and running without spending too much money.”
“We’re not spending any money,” Lin reminded me, “we’re hoping this angel investor of yours can convince the Imperium that we’d make a good spy ship.”
“It won’t be that bad. I’m just playing off all the war scare that’s going around. I seriously doubt the Zhodani will try and get a fleet all the way around the edge of the reach. We’ll make steady, boring, uninteresting reports back home and they’ll be happy. Besides, if they decide to pull the plug on us, then they’re stuck with the ship.”
We reached the far end of the deck. There were disturbing gaps where you could see the stars outside. For an old spacer like myself, you never wanted to see stars except though the windows. Anywhere else was bad, bad news. Lin had already peeled off to check over the engines.
“Yeah, these are pretty much shot. We can slot in some bigger jump drives, but I’ll have to widen the drive wells from here on back and that’ll cut into the cargo space,” said Lin.
“I accounted for that. I also realized while I was talking to Ms. Scolnik that rather than build a hard bulkhead for extra fuel, we could just install a collapsible tank. That’ll save us more cargo space when making smaller jumps. There’s plenty of spots where we can make little jump-1 trips, it’s just reaching those spots that requires the extra fuel.”
“All right, I think I’ve got a handle on things here. Let’s go back upstairs and check out the other drives.”
We made our way back upstairs and squeezed into the small power room at the back of the crew cabins. There were a few lights still working here and Lin hooked a small diagnostics pad in her suit up to the drives.
“Well, these guys didn’t suffer too badly,” she said, “That’s the good news there. The maneuver drives got shot up pretty hard too, but most of that damage is in the electronics, the drive itself appears to be pretty intact. Looks like you’ll get to do some work on your pet project after all.”
“I’ve got a hell of a lot of work to do and rewiring the engines is the least of it. I’ve already checked out the cabin, the controls and computer systems appear to be in good shape. Just dusty and without power. A good cleaning and they’ll be ready to go.”
I took a deep breath, “So. What’s your opinion, Lin? Can we get this bird fixed and flying?”
“All it’s going to take is money, Nate. Money and about 2-3 months to blow it all on this boondoggle. But it’ll fly. It’ll fly like a pig, but it’ll fly.”
“So are you in to be my engineer and 1st Officer?”
“I’ve got nothing better to do. This seems like fun.”
“Great. Thanks, Lin.”
“So, Nate, if you can get the money to buy this bucket, what are you going to call it?”
“No question there. I’m calling it My Other Option.”
“Heh, funny. Well here’s to our other option.”
“I think it looks like a fat trader that got its fat ass shot off, Nate.”
“Well, that’s not too far off from the truth,” I said. I nosed the launch through the marked channels of the shipyard and did a slow fly-around of the trader. Normally, I’d let Linda drive, she’s a solid pilot, but it was her engineering experience I needed so she got to ride shotgun.
“The worst part is the rear end. The pirates shot it all to hell. But their gunners were good, they crippled the ship without blowing it wide open.”
“Just what I like, carefully spaced, clean-cut holes in my drive engines.”
“It just means that it’s going to be easier to pull it out and replace it. I think the basic framework is still sound and everything forward looks good.” I rolled the launch and pulled it over the top of the trader. “Here, take a look.”
I did a long slow orbit of the ship to give Lin a chance to see the whole thing from front to back.
“Well, you’re right about the structure,” she said reluctantly. “Everything forward of the engines looks to be in good shape. A couple of blaster gouges, but those will be easy to clean up. But I won’t know for sure how bad it is until we step inside.”
“So start suiting up, I’ll bring us in.”
A few moments later, I docked with the temporary door ring attached to the trader’s side. I went back to join Linda and get my own suit on. Linda Stone was a fellow UFTA employee who’d be let go in the recent downsizings. Aside from being a good pilot, she was a great engineer. Back when I was doing tech work, she’d bring in the electronics that needed fixing to me and we’d get them running again. Whatever skills I lacked in running a spaceship, she could definitely cover. As soon as I came up with this scheme, I knew that Lin had to be my engineer.
Fully suited up, we did our mutual check-overs and stepped through the airlock into the trader. These fat traders were all laid out the same way, so we went downstairs from the crew cabins and into the cavernous cargo hull. Our flashlights were lost along the length of the bay.
“So the shipyard lists this as the C. W. McCall. She got hit a couple of years ago and the backers decided to write it off. The bank’s been looking to get rid of it ever since then. Even after all the repair work, I feel like we can get this thing up and running without spending too much money.”
“We’re not spending any money,” Lin reminded me, “we’re hoping this angel investor of yours can convince the Imperium that we’d make a good spy ship.”
“It won’t be that bad. I’m just playing off all the war scare that’s going around. I seriously doubt the Zhodani will try and get a fleet all the way around the edge of the reach. We’ll make steady, boring, uninteresting reports back home and they’ll be happy. Besides, if they decide to pull the plug on us, then they’re stuck with the ship.”
We reached the far end of the deck. There were disturbing gaps where you could see the stars outside. For an old spacer like myself, you never wanted to see stars except though the windows. Anywhere else was bad, bad news. Lin had already peeled off to check over the engines.
“Yeah, these are pretty much shot. We can slot in some bigger jump drives, but I’ll have to widen the drive wells from here on back and that’ll cut into the cargo space,” said Lin.
“I accounted for that. I also realized while I was talking to Ms. Scolnik that rather than build a hard bulkhead for extra fuel, we could just install a collapsible tank. That’ll save us more cargo space when making smaller jumps. There’s plenty of spots where we can make little jump-1 trips, it’s just reaching those spots that requires the extra fuel.”
“All right, I think I’ve got a handle on things here. Let’s go back upstairs and check out the other drives.”
We made our way back upstairs and squeezed into the small power room at the back of the crew cabins. There were a few lights still working here and Lin hooked a small diagnostics pad in her suit up to the drives.
“Well, these guys didn’t suffer too badly,” she said, “That’s the good news there. The maneuver drives got shot up pretty hard too, but most of that damage is in the electronics, the drive itself appears to be pretty intact. Looks like you’ll get to do some work on your pet project after all.”
“I’ve got a hell of a lot of work to do and rewiring the engines is the least of it. I’ve already checked out the cabin, the controls and computer systems appear to be in good shape. Just dusty and without power. A good cleaning and they’ll be ready to go.”
I took a deep breath, “So. What’s your opinion, Lin? Can we get this bird fixed and flying?”
“All it’s going to take is money, Nate. Money and about 2-3 months to blow it all on this boondoggle. But it’ll fly. It’ll fly like a pig, but it’ll fly.”
“So are you in to be my engineer and 1st Officer?”
“I’ve got nothing better to do. This seems like fun.”
“Great. Thanks, Lin.”
“So, Nate, if you can get the money to buy this bucket, what are you going to call it?”
“No question there. I’m calling it My Other Option.”
“Heh, funny. Well here’s to our other option.”
The Man with the Plan
"Mr. Fletcher?"
"Yes, are you Ms. Scolnik?"
"Please, call me Maggie."
"And feel free to call me Nathan."
"Great, shall we order then?"
The Grand Central was a small eatery located off the main arteries of the spaceport on Eshadi. Nothing too touristy, but not so deep into Startown that you felt the need to accessorize with a pistol. Still, the woman sitting across from me was really here for my pitch, not the salad she ordered. I had to make this good.
"So let me get right to the point," I said, "The Trojan Reach sector is one the main trade corridors between the Imperium and the Hierate and most of that trade moves out of the Tlaiowaha subsector, through the Borderland subsector and into the Imperium here at the Tobia subsector. Because of the lower stellar density in the Borderland subsector, most of this trade is carried out with Jump-3 liners.
These liners only make two stops in the Borderland subsector. They're not really there to trade with any of the worlds in the Borderland they're just passing through. The other worlds in the subsector have a little bit of trade between themselves and they can tap into the main trade route if they're lucky, but for the most part they are woefully underserved.
That's where I come in. My proposal is to convert a fat trader into a Jump-2 capable vessel. With that kind of range, I can easily make short, but profitable trading runs into the Borderlands from the Imperium. I can also facilitate trade between the two main starclusters of the Borderland (something else which the present trade routes don't really facilitate)."
"So you want me to buy you a starship is that it?"
"Well, not a new starship. A rather ungently used starship. It turns out that the local shipyard has a fat trader that got hit by pirates. During the ensuing battle, the jump drives were blown out (along with some other stuff). The pirates looted the ship and took off. The Tobia trade council decided to just write it off as a loss and it's been parked in the Eshadi system ever since. For my purposes, it's perfect, the ship has been heavily discounted because it's already been in service for a decade and it's been shot up. But since I'm replacing the jump drives anyway, it doesn't matter to me. The ship can be had for a song."
"But then you have install the new jump drive and repair the ship."
"I also have to install a new weapons suite. The old one is pretty much gone and I don't want to be the second captain to get jumped."
"A distinct possibility out beyond the border."
"I'll get to that in a bit. But let's talk about the raw numbers. I figure the ship itself can be purchased for 17.5 mega-credits. The repair and refit will come to 56 mega-credis for a grand total of 73.5 all told. That's over 25% less than a new trader right out of the shipyards (before you tack on any weapons) and even with the bigger fuel tanks, it still has over 3 times the cargo capacity of a far trader which are the only ships that even bother to take a chance out there.
So that's the initial investment. In one month, we figure that the expenses will run to just over 400k a month. If we're making full loads on every run and making two runs a month, we pull in about 470k. The practical numbers are all here in this data file, I'm sending it over to you now to take a look at."
Maggie glanced at her wrist display, "Very nice, but you have to be certain that you have a full cargo. There's not a whole lot of wriggle room here. You have to be 75% full at all times just to break even. That extra fuel really eats into your profit margin."
"I'm working on a variant where I use a collapsable fuel tank instead. This would allow me to make the big 2-parsec jumps to get into the Borderland (while still hauling a sizeable cargo, but gain increased cargo capacity and cut down on fuel costs when I'm operating in one of the starclusters. But for now, let's assume that we're going with my original idea and less available cargo. I still think that we can meet or beat our break-even numbers. It's true that most of the planets in the Borderland region have fairly low populations which aren't expecting a lot of traffic, but the region also contains a number of high-tech worlds and b carefully planning my routes, I can ensure that high-demand good are being shipped to eager recipients. When cargoes aren't full, it should be possible to indulge in some speculative trading that has a better than average chance of being profitable. There's almost always a high demand for medical supplies on any planet and with the SuSAG factories on Pandora, and my considerable medical expertise, I feel confident that I can always supplement my regular trading activity with some medical deliveries."
"Unless pirates wise up and hit your ship," said Maggie.
"A good deal of the funding is going towards outfitting the ship with a full weapons suite. Both hardpoints will mount double-turrets. The upper turret will sport two beam lasers for pinpoint strikes while the lower turret holds a missile rack and sandcaster for defense. Although we will be operating beyond the border where the assistance of friendly patrol craft may not always be handy, the distances involved and the generally poor pickings out in the Borderland suggest that actual pirate activity will be fairly low. Certainly we'll be ready to put up a fight and if we can make jump, our increased range makes it harder to track us to our destination."
"That may be so, but you've never actually had command of a ship, correct?"
"It's true that I've never worn the captain's hat, but I've done just about everything else on board a starship. I can act as pilot, navigator, medical officer and gunner. The only thing I can't do is fix the engines and I know just the guy to help me with that. I've spent over 25 years making the Imperial-Hierate run for the United Free Traders Association. I speak fluent Aslan and know the subsector like the back of my hand."
"Is that why UFTA let you go? You were too experienced?"
"Perhaps. UFTA has taken a beating from the Aslan concerns in the area and the recent border tensions with the Zhodani have caused them to re-evaluate the operations in the Spinward part of the Imperium. I'm not privy to all the details concerning their business operations. I just know that both UFTA and the Aslan only see the Borderland as a trade route rather than a profitable center of trade in its own right."
Maggie reviewed her wrist display one more time, "It still seems like an awfully big gamble for only average returns at best."
Looks like it was time to go for broke. "There's one other potential benefit to funding a long-haul fat trader in the Borderland," I said.
"What's that?"
"Well, those border tensions with the Zhodani are making things real hot this side of the Imperium. They might even boil over into another conflict. Even if it's just a few small border clashes, the Borderlands might form a flanking front. The Zhodani might act through one of their client states, such as the Floria League. The League has a number of long-haul merchant ships that occasionally enter the Borderland and might serve as a spy ship or the Zhodani might actually make a flanking maneuver into the Trojan Reach. Perhaps an aggressive Aslan clan will decide to take advantage of the tensions to expand their influence into the Borderland region. Certainly their trading companies have been aggressively pushing on UFTA. The Borderlands are the backdoor into the Imperium and at a time like this it'd be real smart to have a friendly pair of eyes keeping watch over things and reporting back on anything unusual."
"Mr. Fletcher, I'm just a venture capitalist, I hardly care about the foreign policy or Imperial security concerns."
"I'd certainly never suggest that you do, Ms. Scolnik. However, there are others who do and they might be willing to help, well, subsidize this subsidized trader. I'm sure a financier of your stature knows a lot of people who might take an interest in this venture. Unofficially of course."
"Of course. Well, I'll talk to a few people I don't officially know and see what they think about it."
"That's all I ask."
"Well, Nathan, it's been a very interesting lunch. Give me a few days and I'll see what we can do. In the meantime, I'd work on that collapsable fuel tank idea you mentioned earlier. Raw cargo capacity does a lot for the bottom line."
"I will. Thanks again."
"You're welcome. I'll be in touch."
As Maggie left, I let out a huge sigh. My contacts had been right. Maggie did have ties to Imperial Intelligence. Getting in bed with the government wasn't exactly my first choice, but they have deep pockets and a few extra reports home to a bureaucrat wasn't too high a price to pay for ship. I just hope they go for it.
"Yes, are you Ms. Scolnik?"
"Please, call me Maggie."
"And feel free to call me Nathan."
"Great, shall we order then?"
The Grand Central was a small eatery located off the main arteries of the spaceport on Eshadi. Nothing too touristy, but not so deep into Startown that you felt the need to accessorize with a pistol. Still, the woman sitting across from me was really here for my pitch, not the salad she ordered. I had to make this good.
"So let me get right to the point," I said, "The Trojan Reach sector is one the main trade corridors between the Imperium and the Hierate and most of that trade moves out of the Tlaiowaha subsector, through the Borderland subsector and into the Imperium here at the Tobia subsector. Because of the lower stellar density in the Borderland subsector, most of this trade is carried out with Jump-3 liners.
These liners only make two stops in the Borderland subsector. They're not really there to trade with any of the worlds in the Borderland they're just passing through. The other worlds in the subsector have a little bit of trade between themselves and they can tap into the main trade route if they're lucky, but for the most part they are woefully underserved.
That's where I come in. My proposal is to convert a fat trader into a Jump-2 capable vessel. With that kind of range, I can easily make short, but profitable trading runs into the Borderlands from the Imperium. I can also facilitate trade between the two main starclusters of the Borderland (something else which the present trade routes don't really facilitate)."
"So you want me to buy you a starship is that it?"
"Well, not a new starship. A rather ungently used starship. It turns out that the local shipyard has a fat trader that got hit by pirates. During the ensuing battle, the jump drives were blown out (along with some other stuff). The pirates looted the ship and took off. The Tobia trade council decided to just write it off as a loss and it's been parked in the Eshadi system ever since. For my purposes, it's perfect, the ship has been heavily discounted because it's already been in service for a decade and it's been shot up. But since I'm replacing the jump drives anyway, it doesn't matter to me. The ship can be had for a song."
"But then you have install the new jump drive and repair the ship."
"I also have to install a new weapons suite. The old one is pretty much gone and I don't want to be the second captain to get jumped."
"A distinct possibility out beyond the border."
"I'll get to that in a bit. But let's talk about the raw numbers. I figure the ship itself can be purchased for 17.5 mega-credits. The repair and refit will come to 56 mega-credis for a grand total of 73.5 all told. That's over 25% less than a new trader right out of the shipyards (before you tack on any weapons) and even with the bigger fuel tanks, it still has over 3 times the cargo capacity of a far trader which are the only ships that even bother to take a chance out there.
So that's the initial investment. In one month, we figure that the expenses will run to just over 400k a month. If we're making full loads on every run and making two runs a month, we pull in about 470k. The practical numbers are all here in this data file, I'm sending it over to you now to take a look at."
Maggie glanced at her wrist display, "Very nice, but you have to be certain that you have a full cargo. There's not a whole lot of wriggle room here. You have to be 75% full at all times just to break even. That extra fuel really eats into your profit margin."
"I'm working on a variant where I use a collapsable fuel tank instead. This would allow me to make the big 2-parsec jumps to get into the Borderland (while still hauling a sizeable cargo, but gain increased cargo capacity and cut down on fuel costs when I'm operating in one of the starclusters. But for now, let's assume that we're going with my original idea and less available cargo. I still think that we can meet or beat our break-even numbers. It's true that most of the planets in the Borderland region have fairly low populations which aren't expecting a lot of traffic, but the region also contains a number of high-tech worlds and b carefully planning my routes, I can ensure that high-demand good are being shipped to eager recipients. When cargoes aren't full, it should be possible to indulge in some speculative trading that has a better than average chance of being profitable. There's almost always a high demand for medical supplies on any planet and with the SuSAG factories on Pandora, and my considerable medical expertise, I feel confident that I can always supplement my regular trading activity with some medical deliveries."
"Unless pirates wise up and hit your ship," said Maggie.
"A good deal of the funding is going towards outfitting the ship with a full weapons suite. Both hardpoints will mount double-turrets. The upper turret will sport two beam lasers for pinpoint strikes while the lower turret holds a missile rack and sandcaster for defense. Although we will be operating beyond the border where the assistance of friendly patrol craft may not always be handy, the distances involved and the generally poor pickings out in the Borderland suggest that actual pirate activity will be fairly low. Certainly we'll be ready to put up a fight and if we can make jump, our increased range makes it harder to track us to our destination."
"That may be so, but you've never actually had command of a ship, correct?"
"It's true that I've never worn the captain's hat, but I've done just about everything else on board a starship. I can act as pilot, navigator, medical officer and gunner. The only thing I can't do is fix the engines and I know just the guy to help me with that. I've spent over 25 years making the Imperial-Hierate run for the United Free Traders Association. I speak fluent Aslan and know the subsector like the back of my hand."
"Is that why UFTA let you go? You were too experienced?"
"Perhaps. UFTA has taken a beating from the Aslan concerns in the area and the recent border tensions with the Zhodani have caused them to re-evaluate the operations in the Spinward part of the Imperium. I'm not privy to all the details concerning their business operations. I just know that both UFTA and the Aslan only see the Borderland as a trade route rather than a profitable center of trade in its own right."
Maggie reviewed her wrist display one more time, "It still seems like an awfully big gamble for only average returns at best."
Looks like it was time to go for broke. "There's one other potential benefit to funding a long-haul fat trader in the Borderland," I said.
"What's that?"
"Well, those border tensions with the Zhodani are making things real hot this side of the Imperium. They might even boil over into another conflict. Even if it's just a few small border clashes, the Borderlands might form a flanking front. The Zhodani might act through one of their client states, such as the Floria League. The League has a number of long-haul merchant ships that occasionally enter the Borderland and might serve as a spy ship or the Zhodani might actually make a flanking maneuver into the Trojan Reach. Perhaps an aggressive Aslan clan will decide to take advantage of the tensions to expand their influence into the Borderland region. Certainly their trading companies have been aggressively pushing on UFTA. The Borderlands are the backdoor into the Imperium and at a time like this it'd be real smart to have a friendly pair of eyes keeping watch over things and reporting back on anything unusual."
"Mr. Fletcher, I'm just a venture capitalist, I hardly care about the foreign policy or Imperial security concerns."
"I'd certainly never suggest that you do, Ms. Scolnik. However, there are others who do and they might be willing to help, well, subsidize this subsidized trader. I'm sure a financier of your stature knows a lot of people who might take an interest in this venture. Unofficially of course."
"Of course. Well, I'll talk to a few people I don't officially know and see what they think about it."
"That's all I ask."
"Well, Nathan, it's been a very interesting lunch. Give me a few days and I'll see what we can do. In the meantime, I'd work on that collapsable fuel tank idea you mentioned earlier. Raw cargo capacity does a lot for the bottom line."
"I will. Thanks again."
"You're welcome. I'll be in touch."
As Maggie left, I let out a huge sigh. My contacts had been right. Maggie did have ties to Imperial Intelligence. Getting in bed with the government wasn't exactly my first choice, but they have deep pockets and a few extra reports home to a bureaucrat wasn't too high a price to pay for ship. I just hope they go for it.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
It takes money to make money
So much money.
I've got the basics of a plan. I've even got a line on the ship I want to outfit. But even given the condition she's in she's gonna cost a bundle before you add in the repair work and modifications. But my severance package mostly consisted of free coupons for luxurious cryo-tube transport anywhere in the reach. Even when cashed in they won't amount to much. Certainly they won't be enough to make a down payment. I need to figure out how to get some funding and to do that, I really need to sit down and thrash out this business plan I've been working on.
Besides, it'll be good for me to run the numbers. I'm pretty sure I can make this work, but I don't want to let my desire to wear the Captain's hat overcome good judgment. If I can't make ends meet, it's no good. Even my other option has other options.
I've got the basics of a plan. I've even got a line on the ship I want to outfit. But even given the condition she's in she's gonna cost a bundle before you add in the repair work and modifications. But my severance package mostly consisted of free coupons for luxurious cryo-tube transport anywhere in the reach. Even when cashed in they won't amount to much. Certainly they won't be enough to make a down payment. I need to figure out how to get some funding and to do that, I really need to sit down and thrash out this business plan I've been working on.
Besides, it'll be good for me to run the numbers. I'm pretty sure I can make this work, but I don't want to let my desire to wear the Captain's hat overcome good judgment. If I can't make ends meet, it's no good. Even my other option has other options.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Real-Time Traveller
No game player with commitments to school or work ever has enough gaming opportunities. Large blocks of free time are rare. Congenial opponents with matching schedules are even rarer, especially for campaigns, which require several players to show up regularly. Too many games end before they are properly resolved.
The boardless nature of Traveller, however, permits greater flexibility. With some small adjustments, a satisfying solitaire Traveller campaign can be conducted on the basis of a few minutes each day, by playing the game in "real-time" terms. Make one day in your life match one day in the game. After breaking down Traveller events into daily steps, most actions (a patron search, selling cargo) can be handled in the few minutes it takes to throw dice, consult a table, and note the result in a continuing log.
Such a procedure can do more than just add flavor to your coffee-break, however. Both referees and players can gain empathy with their characters by experiencing their lives in real-time terms; long days in hyperspace, the excitement of planetfall, anticipation of that next encounter with the unknown.
The real-time player soon learns that time hangs heavy while in vacuum. Maritime sailors took up scrimshaw and the hornpipe for good reason; space travellers will do the same. Some obvious shipboard pastimes include music, crafts, the martial arts, gambling, and language study (an as-yet untapped feature of the Traveller universe). Some of these mesh easily with existing skills (gambling, brawling), others imply new ones, perhaps minstrelsy as a career, or as a source of casual work. Something like twenty in-flight weeks of successful practice seems reasonable per level of expertise, success achieved by a die-roll measured against the UPP (throw dexterity or less for musical skill, for example, intelligence for languages, and so on). One might similarly generate existing skills on mustering out, one throw per service term.
Days spent planetside will be just as long, especially for the action-oriented ersonalities assumed in Traveller. In addition to self-improvement, characters without patrons will soon turn to gambling, money-making schemes and even crime to pass the time. One could even assume that a character without work will ship out after two to three weeks in a prospectless backwater; the real-time player will certainly be ready to leave. Obviously, the points made have implications for regular Traveller as well.
Real-time play also offers the opportunity for as much attention as the player wishes. There is ample time to generate planetary descriptions and maps of upcoming ports. Incorporate necessary bookkeeping into the game by drawing up landing papers, bills of lading, registration forms, and so on. These can lend flavor as well as provide clear records as playing aids. One can also fully develop non-player characters met as encounters, passengers, or crew.
Some attention to detail becomes necessary in real-time play, in particular the day-to-day sequence of starship operations and commerce. The following chart covers the typical two-week travel cycle, broken down into daily actions, and suggests activities for both passengers and crew:
Day 1: Pre-launch actions. Passenger boarding. Lift-off and begin flight to jump-point (this may take several days depending upon the system's geometry). Check for possible hi-jacking attempts.
Day 2-5: Jump to hyperspace (whatever day it occurs). Work out crew and passenger UPPs as needed, resolve any possible encounters and misjumps.
Day 6: Throw for self improvement.
Day 7: Seek possible patron among crew or passengers.
Day 8: Leave hyperspace. Resolve any ship encounters, hi-jack attempts, and so on.
Day 9: Flight to port (may take several days). Prepare landing papers.
Day 10-12: Land, debark, pay crew, maintenance work, and other costs. Sell cargo, deliver any messages. Ship's masters assess cargo awaiting shipment, contract as carriers and accept fees. Crew to starport bars, hotels, etc. Resolve possible encounters.
Day 13: Ship's masters seek passengers to next port of call. Load cargo. Pick up possible messages for delivery.
Day 14: Buy or generate navigation tapes. Buy and load fuel. Buy cargo for speculation, if any space left. Last visit to bars for possible encounters.
Day 1: Cycle repeats.
Real-time adaptation of Traveller works best where the player most carefully controls his own actions; a foot-loose wanderer, or the operator of a starship. It is less suitable for static situations, or those in which a character is merely a subordinate, for example, in a mercenary campaign played at an abstract level. Of course, such situations could also be broken down into daily events, if desired.
Sometime in the third week or so, the new real-time player may experience an overwhelming urge to accelerate the pace, perhaps to skip over five days in flight to reach the next port. Resist this temptation. You began this whole thing with the idea of experiencing real-time play, stick it out.
Real-time play may not be suitable for all Traveller players, but for the solitaire player, or the player with no time to engage in a regular campaign, it can provide an insight and appreciation of the size and complexity of the universe that few games can.
- Steven Sowards Journal of the Traveller Aid Society #13
The boardless nature of Traveller, however, permits greater flexibility. With some small adjustments, a satisfying solitaire Traveller campaign can be conducted on the basis of a few minutes each day, by playing the game in "real-time" terms. Make one day in your life match one day in the game. After breaking down Traveller events into daily steps, most actions (a patron search, selling cargo) can be handled in the few minutes it takes to throw dice, consult a table, and note the result in a continuing log.
Such a procedure can do more than just add flavor to your coffee-break, however. Both referees and players can gain empathy with their characters by experiencing their lives in real-time terms; long days in hyperspace, the excitement of planetfall, anticipation of that next encounter with the unknown.
The real-time player soon learns that time hangs heavy while in vacuum. Maritime sailors took up scrimshaw and the hornpipe for good reason; space travellers will do the same. Some obvious shipboard pastimes include music, crafts, the martial arts, gambling, and language study (an as-yet untapped feature of the Traveller universe). Some of these mesh easily with existing skills (gambling, brawling), others imply new ones, perhaps minstrelsy as a career, or as a source of casual work. Something like twenty in-flight weeks of successful practice seems reasonable per level of expertise, success achieved by a die-roll measured against the UPP (throw dexterity or less for musical skill, for example, intelligence for languages, and so on). One might similarly generate existing skills on mustering out, one throw per service term.
Days spent planetside will be just as long, especially for the action-oriented ersonalities assumed in Traveller. In addition to self-improvement, characters without patrons will soon turn to gambling, money-making schemes and even crime to pass the time. One could even assume that a character without work will ship out after two to three weeks in a prospectless backwater; the real-time player will certainly be ready to leave. Obviously, the points made have implications for regular Traveller as well.
Real-time play also offers the opportunity for as much attention as the player wishes. There is ample time to generate planetary descriptions and maps of upcoming ports. Incorporate necessary bookkeeping into the game by drawing up landing papers, bills of lading, registration forms, and so on. These can lend flavor as well as provide clear records as playing aids. One can also fully develop non-player characters met as encounters, passengers, or crew.
Some attention to detail becomes necessary in real-time play, in particular the day-to-day sequence of starship operations and commerce. The following chart covers the typical two-week travel cycle, broken down into daily actions, and suggests activities for both passengers and crew:
Day 1: Pre-launch actions. Passenger boarding. Lift-off and begin flight to jump-point (this may take several days depending upon the system's geometry). Check for possible hi-jacking attempts.
Day 2-5: Jump to hyperspace (whatever day it occurs). Work out crew and passenger UPPs as needed, resolve any possible encounters and misjumps.
Day 6: Throw for self improvement.
Day 7: Seek possible patron among crew or passengers.
Day 8: Leave hyperspace. Resolve any ship encounters, hi-jack attempts, and so on.
Day 9: Flight to port (may take several days). Prepare landing papers.
Day 10-12: Land, debark, pay crew, maintenance work, and other costs. Sell cargo, deliver any messages. Ship's masters assess cargo awaiting shipment, contract as carriers and accept fees. Crew to starport bars, hotels, etc. Resolve possible encounters.
Day 13: Ship's masters seek passengers to next port of call. Load cargo. Pick up possible messages for delivery.
Day 14: Buy or generate navigation tapes. Buy and load fuel. Buy cargo for speculation, if any space left. Last visit to bars for possible encounters.
Day 1: Cycle repeats.
Real-time adaptation of Traveller works best where the player most carefully controls his own actions; a foot-loose wanderer, or the operator of a starship. It is less suitable for static situations, or those in which a character is merely a subordinate, for example, in a mercenary campaign played at an abstract level. Of course, such situations could also be broken down into daily events, if desired.
Sometime in the third week or so, the new real-time player may experience an overwhelming urge to accelerate the pace, perhaps to skip over five days in flight to reach the next port. Resist this temptation. You began this whole thing with the idea of experiencing real-time play, stick it out.
Real-time play may not be suitable for all Traveller players, but for the solitaire player, or the player with no time to engage in a regular campaign, it can provide an insight and appreciation of the size and complexity of the universe that few games can.
- Steven Sowards Journal of the Traveller Aid Society #13
Sunday, March 23, 2008
So much for Company Loyalty
I spend nearly 30 years busting my hump for UFTA, working my way up the corporate ladder, and learning everything there is to know about running a trading vessel and now they've turned me loose. The company hasn't been doing well and I was part of their "restructuring" program. They think that by chopping runs and slicing staff they can save their way to profitability. Well the Aslan are going to eat their balance sheets for lunch. There's a ton of money to be made out there in the Reach, but the big boys only care about the mainline run from the Hierate to the Imperium.
I've always said that if I had my own ship I could show those bean counters in the office how much more they could be making off the Reach. Looks like now I've got my chance to prove it.
All I have to do now, is come up with the money for a starship...
I've always said that if I had my own ship I could show those bean counters in the office how much more they could be making off the Reach. Looks like now I've got my chance to prove it.
All I have to do now, is come up with the money for a starship...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)