<me>
:>Had a group of players about ten years ago, who it seemed, wanted
:>nothing more than to get hold of subsidized vessels (mechants,
:>retiring scouts, etc)..and then skip on the payments. By the time
:>all the "forms" had been observed (serving notice, forclosure, and
:>so on) the ship had been renumbered, repainted, and sold ofr a *VERY*
:>tidy profit.
:
<Nick Sylvain>
:You must have been a very lenient referee, Richard. I see things haven't
:changed that much in ten years. :->
:
:Seriously, that just begs the question, just how stupid ARE the banks that
:are responsible for the loans on these criminal capital machines? (With the
:related question, if they were that stupid, why are the banks still in
:business? Hmm. Sounds like another Hard Times reason. Everybody got bored
:and greedy, applied to each other's banks for subsidized ships, then they
:all skipped out and sold the ships.... Hmmm...)
:
:Anyway, I would refer you to JTAS#16: "Giving the Bank a Fighting Chance."
:I quote: "Banks finance ships knowing the risks involved, and *they do
:everything possible to push the odds over into their favor.*" It goes on
:to detail some easy preventative measures (credit checks, collateral,
:full background review, intended use plan) as well as some more effective
:measures (a timer built into the ship's computer which must be reset by
:a bank official after each payment has been made). "Most banks, however,
:find it simpler to deny the loan application in the first place."
:
:This is in addition to the difficulty inherent in tampering successfully with
:a black box and the computer anyway. The subsidized ships aren't THAT much
:alike so that you can't tell them apart. Besides, even if they DID sell
:the ship, they should have hordes of bank personnel and bounty hunters hot
:on their trail, unless they repainted and renumbered themselves too! :->
:
:Plus, if I were the bank, I would repo first and tend to the formalities
:later (which would be legally justifiable given the high value and mobility
:of a starship).
Funny you should mention that. It was a (player character) bounty hunter
that did in that particular party. Took a long time, (about a year real
time) and the (original) survivors were pretty jumpy before they figured
out why people kept not returning from shore leave.
This campaign was part of my original attempts at double-blind GM'ing.
The player really liked it, but it was too much work for me. I burned
out for a few years.
- --
Richard Johnson [email removed]