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On Sat, 12/3/16, Timothy Collinson <xxxxxx@port.ac.uk> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [TML] Mongoose 2nd edition trade
 To: "xxxxxx@simplelists.com" <xxxxxx@simplelists.com>
 Date: Saturday, December 3, 2016, 11:55 AM

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 Phil wrote:
 >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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 Yes, I probably
 ought to try a Free Trader under the same rules for
 comparison.

 I've been
 running the March Harrier on the Aramis Trace to keep things
 limited and focused.  (One of the reasons I've not done
 this before is because I boggle at all the options -
 ships/locations/routes etc.)  After just four Jumps
 I've gone from Cr100,000 to Cr900,000.  But have met
 some interesting folk along the way (I always roll once on
 the Exciting Passengers table and try to invent something of
 interest about then), and have been intrigued by what cargo
 becomes available and what's worth taking (or what can
 be afforded).  And I love running the Low lottery and
 seeing who survives.  9 low berths and Medic 3, one per
 trip still dies on average. 

 It's kind of become a bit more fun than I was
 expecting.  Passengers and Freight I can knock off in about
 10 minutes which feels reasonable.  Doing the cargo tables
 takes nearer 1/2 hour which I'm not so sold on - but I
 do one Jump a day and its not too bad.  Does anyone want
 the two page 'worksheet' I've developed to
 smooth things along?  (Not a spreadsheet, just a Word doc
 with blank tables to fill in and some of the necessary
 tables.)  Email me.

 tc

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For some reason, the abilities of the PC's to 'munchkinize' the rules always seems to elude the game designers.
Just look at some of the MT&later ship designs that have popped up on this list.
Anyway, when GDW published the CT 'Merchant Prince' LBB they offered to mail a floppy w/ the AppleSoft BASIC prg they used as a design aid to anyone who requested it. Which I did.
First thing I noticed was a bug that reversed the DM when carrying cargo from a higher TL to a lower one & vice versa.
I sent them a ltr & they quickly replied w/ a bug fix.
It made me wonder if they actually had used the prg as a development aid in that condition.
Anyway, the prg already had data for the CT Spinward Marches & a number merchant ship.
It was fun running various size merchant ships around.
My favorite was the passenger liner w/ limited cargo space.
As I recall, it was easy to make more than enough money &, at first, that did bother me.
But then I thought about it for a while & I figured that it probably should be that way.
Most merchants probably  just wanted to live a plodding uneventful life.
But PC's?
While that's quite a different subject, isn't it?
They won't ever really get to do that even if it's what they want, will they? (says the slyly smiling GM!)

p.s. another idiosyncrasy of the prg was that if you skipped annual maint & something went wrong, you were given the option to ignore it. however misjumps were a different story & seemed to happen much more often than the rules would indicate (however, you always wound up w/i the 'Marches).
There seemed to be one misjump for every ten attempts, no matter how well maintained or manned the ship was! Consequently, I modified the prg to allow an option to ignore misjumps.