A better subsidized merchant

[AnotherDilbert]

And yet the phrase "a parsimonious reading of...." is used in legal circle to mean an-uncharitable interpretation, for example a supreme court justice one wrote "“Once again, the ball is in Congress’ court. As in 1991, the Legislature may act to correct this Court’s parsimonious reading of Title VII.”

That would be highly specific to that field.

In science it can be used to mean something like Occam's Razor, the simplest description is preferable. Again highly specific to that field.

In general English it means frugal, miserly, or possibly a small amount, as far as I can tell.

 

[mike wightman]

And yet the phrase "a parsimonious reading of...." is used in legal circle to mean an-uncharitable interpretation, for example a supreme court justice one wrote "“Once again, the ball is in Congress’ court. As in 1991, the Legislature may act to correct this Court’s parsimonious reading of Title VII.”

I think it is being used to mean frugal in these examples.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

And yet the phrase "a parsimonious reading of...." is used in legal circle to mean an-uncharitable interpretation, for example a supreme court justice one wrote "“Once again, the ball is in Congress’ court. As in 1991, the Legislature may act to correct this Court’s parsimonious reading of Title VII.”

I think it is being used to mean frugal in these examples.

If I read a bit wider the Law of Parsimony is another name for Occam's Razor...

As a legal term it still seems to apply to a version of Occam's Razor:

But first, what is parsimony? ​

Parsimony is a historical legal concept that holds that the state should exercise only the most limited intrusion into a person’s liberty to achieve a broader societal goal.

https://www.nlc.org/article/2021/06...rsimony-to-criminal-justice-reform-in-cities/


Uncharitable or ungenerous can be used as synonyms for parsimonious, but in a monetary sense:
https://www.wordhippo.com/what-is/another-word-for/parsimonious.html

 

[spank]

High specific to the reading of laws or rules.....

That would be highly specific to that field.

In science it can be used to mean something like Occam's Razor, the simplest description is preferable. Again highly specific to that field.

In general English it means frugal, miserly, or possibly a small amount, as far as I can tell.

 

[spank]

I noticed I missed a few options for improving the amount of cargo a subsidized merchant can carry,
rather than removing the Launch entirely, you can replace it with something else, and most small craft give you some extra cargo space in the small craft.
Assuming you replace the C/C/C drives with B/B/B drive the price should start at 79.035 MCr.
With the launch the cost is 79.035 MCr, and you have 200+13 tons of cargo space
Replacing the Launch with a 30 ton Ship's Boat raises the price to 81.035 MCr and gives 190+13 Tons of cargo space.
Replacing the Launch with a 30 ton Slow Boat raises the price to 80.035 MCr and gives 190+19 Tons of cargo space.
Replacing the Launch with a 40 ton Pinnace raises the price to 85.035 MCr and gives 180+22 Tons of cargo space.
Replacing the Launch with a 40 ton Slow Pinnace raises the price to 83.035 MCr and gives 180+31 Tons of cargo space.
Replacing the Launch with a 50 ton Cutter raises the price to 95.035 MCr and gives 170+30 Tons of cargo space. Assuming you equip the cutter with a cargo module.
Replacing the Launch with a 95 ton Shuttle raises the price to 98.035 MCr and gives 125+71 Tons of cargo space.

Overall, if you want a small craft to operate separately from the ship, the Launch is still the best option. giving 200+13 tons of cargo space.
However, every one of these is more economical than the Subsidized merchant in the Book.

 

[Spinward Flow]

Assuming you replace the C/C/C drives with B/B/B drive the price should start at 79.035 MCr.

You may want to reverse engineer the Subsidized Merchant to verify if that assertion is correct.

Overall, if you want a small craft to operate separately from the ship, the Launch is still the best option.

Are you sure?
There's operating "separately" from the starship ... and operating "independently" from the starship.

If you've got 1 pilot for 2 craft (starship+small craft), in order to operate the starship "separately" you take the ONLY pilot away from the starship. You have an -OR- condition, not an -AND- condition.

In order to operate the small craft "independently" from the starship, you're going to need a 2nd pilot (1 for the starship, 1 for the small craft).



And then you have to beg the question ... what services does the 20 ton Launch provide that the starship "needs" but can't provide itself? As a small craft with 1G maneuver, it's not exactly going to be useful for an emergency evacuation while under attack by pirates. You can arm it with missiles or sandcasters ... but as a combatant it's practically worthless.

If you want to evacuate the starship, you've got (up to) 5 crew, 8 mid/high passengers and 9 low berths.

• 5+8+9 = 22 * 0.5 = 11 tons of acceleration couches and cargo space to move the low berths into when evacuating the starship

So what's the purpose of the 20 ton Launch?

 

[Grav_Moped]

So what's the purpose of the 20 ton Launch?

Narrative element (it's the "escape pod") and payload space consumption to raise the operating cost per payload ton.

In 1st edition when the maneuver drive was a fusion torch, it might have been a less-obnoxious means of getting around on a world than blasting off to fly somewhere.

 

[spank]

You may want to reverse engineer the Subsidized Merchant to verify if that assertion is correct.

Are you sure?
There's operating "separately" from the starship ... and operating "independently" from the starship.

If you've got 1 pilot for 2 craft (starship+small craft), in order to operate the starship "separately" you take the ONLY pilot away from the starship. You have an -OR- condition, not an -AND- condition.

In order to operate the small craft "independently" from the starship, you're going to need a 2nd pilot (1 for the starship, 1 for the small craft).



And then you have to beg the question ... what services does the 20 ton Launch provide that the starship "needs" but can't provide itself? As a small craft with 1G maneuver, it's not exactly going to be useful for an emergency evacuation while under attack by pirates. You can arm it with missiles or sandcasters ... but as a combatant it's practically worthless.

If you want to evacuate the starship, you've got (up to) 5 crew, 8 mid/high passengers and 9 low berths.

• 5+8+9 = 22 * 0.5 = 11 tons of acceleration couches and cargo space to move the low berths into when evacuating the starship

So what's the purpose of the 20 ton Launch?

By separately I mean when the ship is in port the players have another ship to flit about in, and do adventury stuff.

 

[Spinward Flow]

Narrative element (it's the "escape pod")

Problem with that idea is that under "most circumstances" you're actually going to be better off with a Shelter In Place option, rather than an evacuation. For one thing, the starship's life support systems will typically have a longer endurance than what an acceleration couch can provide.

In 1st edition when the maneuver drive was a fusion torch, it might have been a less-obnoxious means of getting around on a world than blasting off to fly somewhere.

If that's the case, then using an 8 ton GCarrier and a 6 ton Speeder would have been a better choice.
The GCarrier, like an air/raft, can reach orbit in (UWP world size) hours, has a sealed environment and can evacuate the crew and mid/high passengers all at once (in a gravity well).
The Speeder can reach orbit in 1 hour (and is mighty stylish too!).

By separately I mean when the ship is in port the players have another ship to flit about in, and do adventury stuff.

Um ... that's what vehicles are for ...
You don't need an entire 20 ton Launch in order to do THAT ...

 

[Grav_Moped]

under "most circumstances" you're actually going to be better off with a Shelter In Place option

It's a SF simulation, not a future-tech simulation.

Um ... that's what vehicles are for ...
You don't need an entire 20 ton Launch in order to do THAT ...

They didnt know that back then. Small craft were for intercontinental trips or going to and from orbit, grav vehicles were for local stuff because they were cars that flew, not "rocket ships". It's a conceptual-silo thing.

 

[spank]

You may want to reverse engineer the Subsidized Merchant to verify if that assertion is correct.

Are you sure?
There's operating "separately" from the starship ... and operating "independently" from the starship.

If you've got 1 pilot for 2 craft (starship+small craft), in order to operate the starship "separately" you take the ONLY pilot away from the starship. You have an -OR- condition, not an -AND- condition.

In order to operate the small craft "independently" from the starship, you're going to need a 2nd pilot (1 for the starship, 1 for the small craft).



And then you have to beg the question ... what services does the 20 ton Launch provide that the starship "needs" but can't provide itself? As a small craft with 1G maneuver, it's not exactly going to be useful for an emergency evacuation while under attack by pirates. You can arm it with missiles or sandcasters ... but as a combatant it's practically worthless.

If you want to evacuate the starship, you've got (up to) 5 crew, 8 mid/high passengers and 9 low berths.

• 5+8+9 = 22 * 0.5 = 11 tons of acceleration couches and cargo space to move the low berths into when evacuating the starship

So what's the purpose of the 20 ton Launch?

But I did make a mistake in my math, It should be 78.035 MCr, not 79.035. I think I started with 101.035 instead of 100.035. So all the prices should be 1MCr lower.

With a 30 ton Ship's Boat, 80.035 MCr and gives 190+13 Tons of cargo space.
With a 30 ton Slow Boat 79.035 MCr and gives 190+19 Tons of cargo space.
With a 40 ton Pinnace 84.035 MCr and gives 180+22 Tons of cargo space.
With a 40 ton Slow Pinnace raises the price to 82.035 MCr and gives 180+31 Tons of cargo space.
With a 50 ton Cutter & Cargo Module 94.035 MCr and gives 170+30 Tons of cargo space.
With a 95 ton Shuttle 97.035 MCr and gives 125+71 Tons of cargo space.

When rebuilding it, I can get close on the cost, but not exactly what the book says. I get a basic cost of 110.15 MCr, which would be 99.135 MCr discounted, It's very possible I've overlook something in the build. But the cost is within 1%

 

[spank]

It depends on where you want to flit off to, an what kind of trouble you'll get into.
Surface to orbit? An air raft will be fine.
Next planet over?
You probably need a ships boat or pinnace
at 5 or 6 G you've got plenty of time to zip on over for some thrilling heroics while the ship in being offloaded and re-load with cargo.
Just make sure you've got a laser or some missiles incase you need to blow a new hole in a little moon.......

Um ... that's what vehicles are for ...
You don't need an entire 20 ton Launch in order to do THAT ...

 

[Grav_Moped]

It depends on where you want to flit off to, an what kind of trouble you'll get into.
Surface to orbit? An air raft will be fine.
Next planet over?
You probably need a ships boat or pinnace
at 5 or 6 G you've got plenty of time to zip on over for some thrilling heroics while the ship in being offloaded and re-load with cargo.
Just make sure you've got a laser or some missiles incase you need to blow a new hole in a little moon.......

I went over the whole thing about the versatility of air/rafts a while back. Here's an example (link to post). And from a subsequent post in the thread, applying the corrections noted in the linked post (footnotes added to provide context):

Basically, given the stated capabilities of an Air/Raft, it could reach any point on Earth (20,000km distance) within 4 1/2 hours: 1 hour and 15 minutes to 100km altitude, 3 hours above the atmosphere* (would be 2 1/2 hours but escape velocity limits peak speed)**, and 15 minutes getting back down again†. Average ground speed is 8000kmh. Shorter trips would have lower average ground speed since the climb/descent would be a larger portion of the trip.

A speeder built like a scaled-down X-15 could easily go Mach 3+ in atmosphere. But then, when an Air/Raft can effectively travel at Mach 6+ over the longest distances, why would you need one?

And all of this discussion is about TL 8 grav vehicles that don't have much extra thrust left over after hovering -- once you get to TL9 and up designs, lack of thrust is no longer an issue.

* in near-vacuum so aerodynamic drag is nearly irrelevant
** that is, you need to not go so fast you don't fall back down again...
† Descent rate is limited to terminal velocity, but that velocity is reached via 1G acceleration (falling). A "hot" aerobraked reentry (needs heat shielding of some sort) can provide up to 3G deceleration along the orbital track at lower altitudes, much as today's re-entry capsules do.

 

[Grav_Moped]

Surface to orbit? An air raft will be fine.
Next planet over?
You probably need a ships boat or pinnace

An air/raft is kind of marginal for surface to orbit -- it works, but is tedious. Kind of like riding a Vespa scooter cross-country. Unless it's all you have, or you're trying to prove a point, almost any small craft would be better.

Note that small-craft cabins (2Td each, and each includes a control couch) are not suitable for extended living (days, not weeks). You'll want actual staterooms (4Td each) if you're anticipating interplanetary travel without insystem microjumps.

 

[spank]

Earth to Mars would be do-able in a ship's boat, 1.5 to 2 days, and there'd be room for a state room if you wanted.
And the 6G performance beats the heck out of the 1G of the Launch, or even the the ship itself.

 

[mike wightman]

Note that small-craft cabins (2Td each, and each includes a control couch) are not suitable for extended living (days, not weeks). You'll want actual staterooms (4Td each) if you're anticipating interplanetary travel without insystem microjumps.

Where are you getting that from?
A double occupancy stateroom is 2 tons per person and you can do so indefinitely.
A small craft cabin is 2 tons.
Where it gets tight is double occupancy for small craft cabins...

LBB:2 states:
"The small craft cabin is a small, one passenger stateroom for use on longer duration voyages. It can be used double occupancy in a pinch, but the crowding will increasingly affect the abilities of the crew to function as time passes."

HG80 says:
"(Small craft)Staterooms: Crew and passenger couches allow temporary transportation, up to a maximum of 36 turns in combat (12 hours), and 24 hours for routine operations. For longer periods, staterooms must be provided. Small craft staterooms allow sleeping and privacy at two tons each, Cr100,OOO. Such staterooms may allow double occupancy (each person has the facilities for half a day) on non-commercial flight..."