The fun part is when you look at the Travellermap and the
Vilani Main.
The thing that sticks out like a sore thumb is ...
Vland/Vland ... when it comes to 1G maneuver drives.
Vland is a Size: 9, Atmosphere: 6, Hydrographics: 7 world ... so a bit of a "super Terra" that is slightly higher gravity (because it's larger).
Out of all the "nearby" worlds on that part of the
Vilani Main, only ONE can be seen as being Size: 8+ ... and that's
Zhattar/Kasear (at Size: 8).
This means that in the "close abroad" around Vland, the classical J1/1G Free Trader makes perfect sense, since Size: 8+ worlds are most definitely the exception, not the rule. The only place that J1/1G Free Traders would be incapable of landing under their own power within "a decent range" of Vland itself would be at ... Vland itself. For an interstellar merchant ship, that works perfectly fine. You only need to rent orbital shuttle services at the homeworld ... which will have them.
So from a "historical archaeology" perspective, the J1/1G Free Trader is as "lean" an operator as was needed for the region of space within which it originated. It would have to have been constructed in orbit at a highport shipyard at Vland, but then once built such a J1/1G Free Trader would be able to land on and conduct business at 42 of the 44 worlds visible on the above map of just a portion of the
Vilani Main, which sounds like a bargain to me!
By "outsourcing" the need to maneuver to a downport on Size: 8+ worlds, you keep the construction costs as low as possible while also keeping the revenue tonnage fraction as high as possible, putting the overall design on a glide path towards profitability that makes the whole venture viable for low end operators to enter the market.
Of course, the classical J1/1G Free Trader still has the pesky problem of needing to buy refined fuel (to avoid misjumps) and the risks of piracy
when operating in such a "low drive performance" starship ... but in terms of minimal costs to enter the interstellar trading game, it's hard to do much better than the "ol' rusty bucket" of the J1/1G Free Trader.
So naturally I'm going to have to see if I can "one up" the classical Free Trader design with a "modernized" version that includes a fuel purification plant and a regenerative life support system setup, that also includes a collapsible fuel tank for optional range extension. Might even revise the cargo hold (Cr0 per ton) into being a hangar bay (Cr2000 per ton) so as to enable an option for small craft containerization to enable surface to orbit interface options that way.