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** TRADE & COMMERCE DIGEST: Cargo, freight, and passenger issues. **
** **
** All followups on this topic should be sent to **
** [email removed]. They will be edited for clarity **
** and resent to the Traveller Mailing List in a following digest. **
** For my benefit, if you would include the word TRADE or COMMERCE in **
** your SUBJECT: this will help me track these articles for inclusion to **
** this digest. Thanks, Greg Givler **
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TRADE & COMMERCE DIGEST VOL.3
CONTENTS:
1. LETTER FROM EDITOR - GREG GIVLER
2. IDEAS FOR SPECULATIVE TRADE - MARK A. POWER
3. SYSTEM SURVEILLANCE - JCUNNING?
1. LETTER FROM EDITOR
Hi, and welcome to VOL.3 of the Traveller Trade and Commerce Digest. Anyone
who missed volumes 1 and 2 and are just dying to get caught up, let me know
and I will be glad to send out back issues. We are still light on articles, and
need more input from all over. Before I took over this job it seemed that
every other article on the mailing list was talking about Trade and Commerce.
Now nothing, if we have covered everything let us know and we can always go
back to cluttering the net waves with tons of useless information, I know I
enjoy reading it. :-) If you have any ideas let us know, if they are silly we'll
let you know. If they are good, we'll let you know that too. I am an
information gatherer, a packrat if you will. I don't want to lead a discussion
that should lead itself. But I dont think that we on the net, who run Traveller,
have come to the conclusion that everything is fine with the system.
Let's hear what you have to say!
The contents of the digest this time consist of Mark Powers reply to the reply
in digest 2 from Edwin Wiles, which was a reply to Marks original system
suggestions. I think that Mark's orginal statements showed alot of thought and
Edwin's reply gave very contructive criticism, and added good points to expand
on. Mark has some thoughts on what Edwin said last time. So read and if
something strikes you (like a 2-TON weight) then get on your soapbox and
pontificate a bit, (like this :-)
About the Structure of the Digest, I have tried to set the contents up
so that you can use search functions in you respective editors to get around
the digest more easily. I will have the title of the article which you can
search for or the authors name. That way you can avoid my ramblings.
Greg
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2. From: "MARK A. POWER" [email removed]
Subject: Re: Ideas for Speculative Trade
My original remarks (from Digest #1) are quoted as
'>>', Ed's comments are marked '>'.
Before my detailed response, I'd like to say one of my biggest
complaints with both the Book 2 and Merchant Prince/MegaTraveller
systems is the that both are exercises in rolling dice -- there is not
much call for role-playing in the process. Adding steps where the
referee could slip in an adventure, and in general keep the players on
their toes, could only help.
Mark
>> PURCHASING
>> ------------
>> 4) Contact owner (or agent) and haggle over price.
>
> I don't know. I've never been one to enjoy haggling over price, ...
[stuff edited - Greg]
I agree this step should be at the players option. My idea was to add
an opportunity for role-playing into the process, as well as a place
to use that Broker-3. If the players don't have anyone with suitable
skills, they might be best to skip this.
Re: Bidding. I don't have any other player ships around. I think it
would be adequate to play the NPC's intelligently. If the players are
prepared to buy a cargo at Cr 10,000 per ton, knowing they have a good
chance to sell it J-1 away at Cr 25,000 per ton, then it is probable
that another captain will be willing to pay Cr 15,000 per ton. The
main purpose of this is to adjust for unusual conditions, and to
attempt to reflect market forces. Perhaps the referee could generate
a random ship type for the competitors, and range of available capital
for each type. This would give you a general idea of their resources,
and give the players a chance to make those large profits, without
losing to some clown with an unlimited bank account.
>> 6) Determine delivery date. Allow rush delivery at [some premium]
This is one of the few good ideas I stole from MegaTraveller. I
believe MT gives a standard delivery date as 4 days from the date of
the purchase.
> Rush delivery?
> About delivery dates:
> - Roll for the 'expected delivery date'.
> - [ Allow captain to specify rush delivery, at price. Allow
> chance of seller telling captain to stuff it. ]
> - ...Allow captain to ask for 'Delayed Delivery' [at no penalty].
Note that it if the cargo is sitting in a warehouse, it is to the seller's
benifit to deliver it ASAP - warehouse space costs money! If he is
waiting on delivery himself, it's a different matter. I do like the
way of handling perishables.
> - Roll for the 'actual delivery date' which should be a "bell curve"
Overall, I like this. I think this would be a good place to start.
>> SALE
>> ------------
>> 1) Find a buyer.
> Depends! On some worlds, ...
Hmm.... I've been assuming we would produce a system optimized for
small ships - free traders, 400-ton subsidized merchants, and so on,
though workable for larger ships. I would think that, while factors
might be waiting when you arrive, he'd be interested in a commission,
not in purchasing your (rather small) cargo. Another factor (:-) is
role-playing -- I see this as another opportunity for role-playing, as
well as one for starting adventures. If the players never have to leave
the ship, it's a lot more difficult to get them in trouble. Comments,
anyone?
>> 2) Determine base offering price.
> I should think that the captain/owner would have a great deal to say about
> how much he'd sell his cargo for!
Sure, he'd have final say on how much he'll sell for; he just doesn't
have any say over how much he's offered.
>> 3) Select buyer and negotiate price. See step 4 above.
>
> ...Perhaps there are multiple buyers present and willing to bid?
Seems reasonable.
>> 4) Decide to sell or not.
>
[ Good details on auctions omitted...]
> Attempting to run an auction on your own, on a mid to high population world,
> is virtually guaranteed to get a captain/owner in trouble....
There's the sort of thing I like to see -- something to provide some
variety.
>> 5) Deliver as appropriate.
>
> [ More excellent ideas ommitted ]
I wouldn't use this very often - just enough to keep things interesting.
Mark
=========================================
3. From: [email removed]
Subject: System Surveillance
Cc: [email removed]
[editors note: I didn't know who to give credit to this article to,
but I am including it anyway. This may not seem like a Trade and Commerce
discussion, but I think it applies. Basically the question is this, how
do you determine how well a star system is patrolled, and how fast help
will arrive to a distress call. I have it suit my needs, in other words if
the players look like they NEED help, it arrives just in the nick of time.
If they are doing OK without "my" help then they won't get it. Conversely
what if you have a group that is getting into pirating, my present group is
leaning that way, how do you handle it when the good guys are now the bad guys!
If you think this article is way off line let me know and I wont go off on a
tangent grasping at straws. Let me know what you think.]
I am in the process of writing an adventure for Digest Group
which deals with ship operations in the Old Expanses sector,
my old High Passage stomping ground, which is now under
Solmani control. I would like some opinions as to how difficult
it would be to operate a ship in the system without being
detected. Part of this is solved by having only a small occupation
force in the system (how convenient!), and certain areas (such as
the main world and gas giants) would be impossible to get near
without being detected. The question is how much of the system
is being watched. Is there a sort of equivalent to the current
air traffic control system? How easy would it be for the Solomani to
set up such a system? Any ideas?
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END OF DIGEST VOL.3
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TRADE AND COMMERCE DIGEST VOL.3 | ****This*SPACE*intentionally*left****
Greg Givler, Editor | *************************************
James Perkins, List Administrator | ************FULL*OF*STARS************
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