Re: [TML] Mongoose 2nd edition trade Phil Pugliese 30 Nov 2016 19:38 UTC

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Works for me!

p.s. I first concluded that the original (LBB) rules were too 'player/trader friendly' when GDW forced the adventuring team to use a broken-down FarTrader capable of only J1 in the CT LBB Adv3, instead of a regular J1 FreeTrader. The reduced cargo capacity vs a FreeTrader working the Spinward Main made it all the more challenging.

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On Wed, 11/30/16, Ethan McKinney <xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [TML] Mongoose 2nd edition trade
 To: xxxxxx@simplelists.com
 Date: Wednesday, November 30, 2016, 12:15 PM

 Just assume
 that Mongoose screwed everything up and you either have to
 go back to the LBB systems, or make up something of your
 own.

 On Nov 28, 2016 9:55 AM,
 "Timothy Collinson" <xxxxxx@port.ac.uk>
 wrote:
 Hi
 there,

 I thought I
 would finally sit down with the rules to get my head round
 the trade rules in the 2nd edition Mongoose book. 
 Accountancy never was my strong point, so I'm afraid
 I've got a few questions if anyone has the
 time/knowledge please?!

 1. Am I doing something wrong?  Even
 ignoring speculative trade, I easily seem to be able to make
 a profit just on freight and passengers.  I thought this
 was supposed to be marginal to drive PCs to speculative
 trade?  (Workings below)

 2. Am I missing something, or surely I
 should be taking four Basic passengers in a stateroom
 (paying Cr2200 each for 8800) than a High or Mid (for Cr8500
 or Cr6200 respectively).  Assuming they're available. 
 And assuming Jump 1.

 3. I'm sure this is right, but might
 as well check, the Passage and Freight Costs table (p.207)
 are what the PCs are *getting* not spending on those for a
 Jump?!

 4. I'm not
 sure I understand the Mail 'Freight Traffic DM'
 (p.209) at all.  I've been adding up *all* the DMs from
 my Freight rolls - for Major, Minor and Incidental Lots -
 which seems to produce sensible numbers.  Or am I missing
 something.

 5. Freight
 is per ton, isn't it?  Not per lot.  It doesn't
 say anywhere I can see and I have to go back to 1st edition
 rules to find a statement on the subject.  But if I'm
 wrong, that would help make cargo more marginal, but not
 entirely.

 6. The
 passenger and freight DMs are dependent on the *origin*
 world, aren't they?  not the destination world?  The
 logic of some of them seems to suggest that (e.g. an Amber
 Zone increasing passengers wanting to leave), but surely the
 destination world should figure somewhere in desirability
 etc?

 OK, here's my working,
 I'm assuming a standard Subsidized
 (p.184) (400 tons, Jump 1, Thrust 1).
 Cost: MCr81.2683 (I'm assuming
 the comma in the book is a typo)
 Cargo
 199 tons, 19 staterooms, 9 low berths
 Crew: Pilot (skill 3), Astrogator (skill
 2), Engineer (skill 2), Medic (skill 3), Steward (skill
 2).  None are ex-navy or ex-scouts.

 So I figure monthly costs as:
 Mort: Cr338,617 (total cost of ship
 / 240 months)
 Maint: Cr6772 (as per
 p.184)
 Fuel: 83 tons x 500 =
 Cr41,500   (Here I assume the monthly fuel costs are the 3
 tons as the Jump is 40 tons, and we'll be making two
 Jumps in the month)
 Life Support
 - this is complicated by the fact it varies per Jump
 depending on the number of bodies you carry and how many you
 put in a stateroom but the p.145 gives monthly figures which
 is unhelpful.  So I'll take the higher of the two
 values.  (Anyone do it differently?)
 So:
 Life
 Support: Staterooms: Cr19,000 for the staterooms on the
 first Jump and Cr34,000 for the second Jump (due to 12 Basic
 Passengers - although p.145 charges Cr3000 for double
 occupancy, it doesn't mention four people in a stateroom
 as allowed on p.206, but let's be mean and double it
 again to Cr6000 per stateroom)
 Life Support:
 Bodies: 19,900 for Jump 1 (full staterooms - 19 sophonts)
 and 9 low berths.  Cr28,900 for Jump 2 (16 staterooms with
 1 person, 3 with four people) and 9 low berths.
 Monthly life support (highest of the
 figures above): Cr62,900
 Crew
 salaries: Cr20,000 (Pilot 6000, Astro 5000, Eng 4000, Medic
 3000, Steward 2000) [didn't there used to be a
 differential for skill levels?]
 Berthing fees: Palindrome Cr500, Theev
 Cr5000

 TOTAL COSTS:
 475,289

 OK, because I
 couldn't be bothered to get another book of the shelf, I
 just used a couple of worlds in Core Rulebook.  First Jump
 of the month from Palindrome (B433334-B Po Ni Lo   G)
 -> Theev (A434500-E Na Ni Ht   Amber G)
 Second Jump of the month Theev -> Vume. 
 I'm assuming a week on each world refuelling and finding
 the passengers.

 So if
 I've got this right, with Broker 1 as best skill of crew
 and each of the 5 crew occupying a stateroom each:

 Palindrome: Passengers
 Available
 High - roll 7 (DM +1 Broker
 effect, +2 Steward, -4 High Pass, +1 Starport = 0) = 3D = 6
 high passengers
 Mid - roll 6 (DM +2 Broker
 effect, +2 Steward, +1 Starport = +5) = 4D = 11 mid
 passengers
 Basic - roll 5 (DM -3
 Broker effect, +2 Steward, +1 Starport = 0) = 2D = 2 basic
 passengers
 Low - roll 3 (DM -1 Broker
 effect, +2 Steward, +1 Low Pass, +1 Starport = +3) = 3D = 9
 low passengers

 Now,
 as we can't fill a cabin with Basic passengers, I think
 the best option here is:
 5 staterooms
 for crew
 6 staterooms for High
 passengers = Cr51,000
 8 staterooms for
 Mid passengers = Cr49,600
 9 low
 passengers = Cr6,300
 Passengers =
 Cr106,900
 (oh, and rolling on the
 'exciting passengers' one of them is a Bounty
 Hunter)

 Palindrome: Freight Available
 Major lots - roll 6 (DM +1 Broker
 effect, -4 Major lots, +1 Starport, +2 TL = 0) = 3D = 11
 major lots of 50 tons
 Minor lots - roll 3
 (DM -2 Broker effect, +1 Starport, +2 TL = +1) = 2D = 3
 minor lots of 20 tons
 Incidental lots - roll
 4 (DM +1 Broker effect, +2 Minor lots, +1 Starport, +2 TL =
 +6) = 4D = 15 Incidental lots of 5 tons

 I can't see a better way of
 filling 199 tons of cargo space than
 3 Major lots = 150 tons
 2 Minor lots = 40 tons
 1 Incidental lot = 5 tons
 195 tons = Cr195,000

 No mail
 available

 TOTAL
 RECEIPTS 1st JUMP: Cr301,900

 Threv:
 Passengers Available
 High - roll 9 (DM -3
 Broker effect, +2 Steward, -4 High Pass, +2 Starport, +1
 Amber Zone = -2) = 3D = 12 high passengers
 Mid - roll 4 (DM -4 Broker effect, +2 Steward,
 +2 Starport, +1 Amber Zone = +1) = 2D = 9 mid passengers
 Basic - roll 9 (DM -2 Broker effect, +2
 Steward, +2 Starport, +1 Amber Zone = +3) = 5D = 13 basic
 passengers
 Low - roll 6 (DM +2 Broker
 effect, +2 Steward, +1 Low Pass, +2 Starport, +1 Amber Zone
 = +8) = 5D = 17 low passengers

 This time we could take 12 Basic passengers in
 3 cabins as most optimal:
 5 staterooms for
 crew
 3 staterooms for Basic
 passengers = Cr26,600
 11
 staterooms for High passengers = Cr51,000
 9
 low passengers = Cr6,300
 Passengers =
 Cr83,900
 (rolling on the 'exciting
 passengers' one of them is a Hijacker!  yay!)

 Threev:
 Freight Available
 Major lots - roll 6 (DM +1
 Broker effect, -4 Major lots, +2 Starport, +2 TL, -2 Amber
 Zone = -1) = 2D = 5 major lots of 60 tons
 Minor lots - roll 11 (DM -1 Broker effect, +2
 Starport, +2 TL, -2 Amber Zone = +1) = 5D = 12 minor lots of
 20 tons
 Incidental lots - roll 5 (DM -1
 Broker effect, +2 Minor lots, +2 Starport, +2 TL, -2 Amber
 Zone = +3) = 3D = 8 Incidental lots of 4 tons

 So we can take:
 3 Major lots = 180
 tons
 4 Incidental lots = 16
 tons
 196 tons = Cr196,000

 No mail
 available
 TOTAL
 RECEIPTS 2nd JUMP: Cr279,900

 TOTAL RECEIPTS for
 the month: Cr581,800 against total costs of Cr475,289

 Profit:
 Cr106,511

 Or am I doing something wrong?!

 many thanks for any
 help or pointers.

 Tomorrow - speculative trading if I
 feel well enough...

 tc

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