*** I am forwarding this discussion for my husband, J.S. Higginbotham ***
In response to 2301 and related entries,
I have a hard time with the comments about the number of starships in the
Imperium.
Dragging out TCS, Mercenary, and diverse other sources (like my calculator and
varoius sector listings), i note that the average starship costs between $500K
and $2M per ton (displacement, of course).
1) Trin produces a Naval budget in the general range of $5000,000,000,000.
2) Using the assumptions in TCS campaign rules, they would be able to
maintain ten years production as the value of their local fleet.
3) Using $2M/ton as cost, this translates to ABOUT 25,000,000 tons of
starships maintained by the Trin defense forces.
4) At about 100,000 tons per ship, this gives Trin 250 major warships.
5) Using the assumption that there are 11,000 Imperial worlds, of which 8.3%
are high pop (at half of Trin's pop on average - a bad assumption - a better
one would be twice Trin's pop - a lot of A worlds out there ((Gad, that was
run on and confusing))), produces an Imperium wide Naval force of AT LEAST
115,000 major warships (100,000 tons or so).
This assumes that most, if not all, Imperial naval ships are a) expensive (on
a per ton basis), and b) 100,000+ tons. A better assumption for AVERAGE
tonnage would be less than 50,000 tons apiece, therefore 230,000 ships (or
more). Estimating the effect of the other 10,000-odd world should add about
ten percent more to the total fleet strength - 253,000 ships.
Note that this number is a minimum based on an assumption that the averagee
ship tonnage is about 50,000 tons. Based on all published modules, there is
every likelihood that the average is as low as 25000 tons (double that number
AGAIN! - 500,000+ warships.)
6) merchant ships - Using Striker, Trin has an estimated GWP of 300 trillion
credits. Assuming that about 0.1% of the GWP is invested in ship-building,
and that the TCS campaign assumptions still apply, Trin maintains a fleet of
about 12,000 ships similar in size (and cost) to a Tukera long-liner.
This is a terrible assumption, as Trin is close enough to it's neighbors to
only need jump-2 ships for most local commerce. A better assumption would be
20,000+ ships of similar size (or perhaps 100,000 small, cheap ships like the
free ttrader or fat trader).
7) again, estimating the Imperial population from published data, the number
of merchant ships in the Imperium at any given time should be between
6,000,000 and 10,000,000, with an upper limit of perhaps 50,000,000.
8) Note that the fraction of the USA's GNP devoted to internal transportation
systems (trucks, barges, planes) i s rather higher than 0.1%. Note that
interstellar trade is a major factor in the Imperium, at least based on the
number of IMMENSE corporations that invest heavily in the field.
9) Note also, that a planet like Trin probably has upwards of 10,000 ships in
port at any given time, excluding non-starships. Busy, eh? Note also that
Terra system would make Trin look like a Ghost town (50,000+ ships in port on
any given day, and 1000+ ships travelling to or from the jump points at any
given instant)
Just thought I would share a few thoughts on the commonness of starships in
the Imperium. Comments?
JSH (RT & RA - kibitzer)