An Imperial Year Has 13 Months.

[Keklas Rekobah]

In another thread, the length of an Imperial month was mentioned in passing to another subject. I knew that I'd seen something about the length of a month somewhere in Classic Traveller canon, and this is what I've found:

"... Weeks of seven days and months of 28 days are used to refer to lengths of time, but rarely to establish dates...

Reference: CT S08 Supplement 08 Library Data A-M; 1980; pages 22-23, "Dating Systems".

...Weeks of seven days and months of about 28 days are used to refer to lengths of time, but rarely to establish dates...

Reference: CT S12 Supplement 12 "Forms & Charts"; 1983; pages 46-47, "Imperial Calendar".

QED: An Imperial year of 365 days, divided into months of 28 days, will have 13 months!

As a side note, the remaining day is "Holiday", which I imagine to be celebrated on Capital as sort of a blend of New Year's Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day, with drinking, feasting, fireworks, and gift exchanges.

 

[Spartan159]

I've been using the 13-month calendar for a while now, I even recalculated starship payments as divide by 260 for 20 years.

Annual maintenance is 75% of total maintenance cost, divide by 25 for bi-weekly set-aside, not including the 2 weeks of actual annual maintenance, and bi-weekly maintenance is 1% of annual maintenance, again not including the 2 weeks of annual maintenance. Holiday is not counted in calculations, as it is a free day.

Much easier to keep track of for me on the Imperial Calendar.

I know a lot of people go with the 13th month is a payment free month but I feel that banks are too greedy to let that go on.

 

[Carlobrand]

...

I know a lot of people go with the 13th month is a payment free month but I feel that banks are too greedy to let that go on.

A pity, since the ship's also supposed to get a 2-week overhaul every year. I always figured that was a good way to handle it 'cause, you know some players, they're likely to put things off till the last minute and then spend the two weeks before the overhaul scrambling to earn money for the overhaul.

 

[Timerover51]

Would not the Imperial year be based on the year for Capitol, and not the Terran 365-day year? Or is this an artifact to simply referring to the passage of time?

The Martian year of about 687 days is close to 2 Earth Years long, and the seasons are quite different in length. I do not have the data for Capitol ready at hand, but I would think that Capital's year would take precedence over any other year. Otherwise, Capital would have two years to deal with in any calendar: the Imperial Year and the actual orbital year.

 

[Major B]

Would not the Imperial year be based on the year for Capitol, and not the Terran 365-day year?

I think that would depend on how well established the Imperial calendar became on Sylea over the First and Second Imperium. I assumed the calendar was an artifact of the Vilani and maybe it matched pretty closely with the orbital period of Vland. I'm not sure but if Sylea went into the Long Night with an Imperial calendar they were used to it may have simply survived in use there until the Syleans started expanding back outward again.

Or it could be a match to the Sylean orbital period. I guess any guess is as good as another.

 

[aramis]

I've been using the 13-month calendar for a while now, I even recalculated starship payments as divide by 260 for 20 years.

I have used it for many years, and use the answer that GDW's early email account gave: month 13 is simply skipped for payments, as it's maintenance month.

 

[whulorigan]

Would not the Imperial year be based on the year for Capitol, and not the Terran 365-day year? Or is this an artifact to simply referring to the passage of time?

Capital/Sylea also has a 365-day year (actually an orbital period of 364.97 standard days, with a rotational period of 24h 4m 1s) about its G2 V sun, canonically.

 

[Lycanorukke]

I know a lot of people go with the 13th month is a payment free month but I feel that banks are too greedy to let that go on.

A possible benefit for the Bank is the extra month is used to 'sync-up' the books for the next earnings period.

Payment receipts could be scattered across half a dozen worlds with varying degrees of mail service. By having a 'down' month all records can finally reach the sector main office, be collated, payments confirmed, and then finalised updates sent back to branches, issue 'final notices', etc.

As for the greed factor, as the standard payment is a flat rate they probably wouldn't care as long as the projected repayment amount is on (or ahead of) schedule.

 

[kilemall]

I have used it for many years, and use the answer that GDW's early email account gave: month 13 is simply skipped for payments, as it's maintenance month.

Which would be in the bank's interest as having a working safe ship making money is much more likely to be cash in hand AND preserving the ship for repo if needed.

 

[Lycanorukke]

Which would be in the bank's interest as having a working safe ship making money is much more likely to be cash in hand AND preserving the ship for repo if needed.

How anal would the Bank be? While the AM period is an excellent time for the bank to keep tabs on the ship and it's performance, how much 'slack' would they cut you average Free Merchie?

Would the bank start growling if they skipped AM by a month or two, or would they go 'meh' until they had missed two in a row? And does it have to be an 'approved' service (eg: In some published adventures a free annual maintenance is often the reward)

 

[aramis]

How anal would the Bank be? While the AM period is an excellent time for the bank to keep tabs on the ship and it's performance, how much 'slack' would they cut you average Free Merchie?

Would the bank start growling if they skipped AM by a month or two, or would they go 'meh' until they had missed two in a row? And does it have to be an 'approved' service (eg: In some published adventures a free annual maintenance is often the reward)

Let's say the bank is at Aramis/Aramis...
Ship makes payment at Lanth/Lanth

16 parsecs — 5 jumps

4	Aramis	Spinward Marches 3110
4	Risek	Spinward Marches 2712
2	Pirema	Spinward Marches 2314
4	Quopist	Spinward Marches 2215
2	Sonthert	Spinward Marches 1918
	Lanth	Spinward Marches 1719

The ship's been gone 5 weeks before word arrives that the payment was made.

 

[Ulsyus]

I know a lot of people go with the 13th month is a payment free month but I feel that banks are too greedy to let that go on.

No no no, banks aren't greedy old chap. They simply have a responsibility to shareholders to be responsible custodians of the capital that has been invested in them, a duty to maximise the return to each trusting member of their banking family, a calling to live up to the charge entrusted to them...

A possible benefit for the Bank is the extra month is used to 'sync-up' the books for the next earnings period.
...
As for the greed factor, as the standard payment is a flat rate they probably wouldn't care as long as the projected repayment amount is on (or ahead of) schedule.

That's a good idea, though being mortgage holders they may have clauses in a ship mortgage that requires it to trade in a particular area/sub-sector/range where it could make its payments to a local branch that could keep track of monies owed. That's easier than hoping the records could reach across vast distances as Aramis pointed out.

How anal would the Bank be? While the AM period is an excellent time for the bank to keep tabs on the ship and it's performance, how much 'slack' would they cut you average Free Merchie?

Very. None. It's a financial contract, involving millions of credits and a capital acquisition that can be run away in. If there's any slack, it'd be in the contract. If it's not in the contract, it could be negotiated, but that, for the shipowners in such circumstances, would be done from a position of disadvantage.

It could be that any decision to give a little slack could be based on the demand for vessels and mortgages at each particular time and place. If a vessel could be repossessed and immediately sold to a promising venture seeking a loan and vessel, they may not be that sympathetic to Capt Jack's litany of woes. If there's few or no applications from reputable potential clients, the financial institution may be willing to be a little more flexible (in accordance to the clauses added to an updated mortgage document).

It hasn't come up in my campaigns, but if it did I think I'd be more inclined to give the players a chance of getting out of the hole by making their credits up by way of an adventure rather than being nice to them over the loan manager's desk.

 

[aramis]

I just realized I didn't complete the thought in my prior.

The realities of the Traveller Universe are that the bank's first inklings that it's lost a ship are coming at least a month after the ship first skips.

The banks will have ways to deal with this.

Specifically, if your transponder doesn't get the right "Payment made" and/or "Maintenance Paid" code from a suitable source in the right encryptions, it squawks "Payment due" or "payment overdue" upon arrival.
And having the annual maintenance done professionally is part of the contract for the loan. It's as much to ensure that the ship is actually maintaining value - an inspection - as to ensure it's working.

If the maintenance team finds something fishy, expect to be "grounded while waiting for parts" until the reply from the nearest rep for the bank can be contacted...

IMOTUV , when a payment is made, or annual maintenance is performed, there is a physical document which gets endorsed with a very dense muti-color 2D barcode when the payment is made, the ship's log is endorsed with a similar dataset (but with a different key-pair), the public keys for both, and the transponder gets instructed to keep going.

 

[kilemall]

Another ugly to consider is that the bank might show greater profit if it repos while the ship has value then if it gets paid off, because the ship can go right back on the market as a loan generator, at a lower price point (slightly used).

ESPECIALLY if you treat the first half of the loan as strictly interest, and only the second half is principal paydown and equity.

 

[Lycanorukke]

If there's any slack, it'd be in the contract. If it's not in the contract, it could be negotiated, but that, for the shipowners in such circumstances, would be done from a position of disadvantage.

The bank wont have an ounce of sympathy for ordinary late payments or missed AM of course. I was thinking more along the lines of Captain Joe finding out his scheduled maintenance has been bumped because Count Bling has pulled rank to get his yacht done first hence delaying AM by 2 weeks, or the local Navy commandeering the ship while a war is on.

...there is a physical document which gets endorsed with a very dense muti-color 2D barcode when the payment is made, the ship's log is endorsed with a similar dataset (but with a different key-pair), the public keys for both, and the transponder gets instructed to keep going.

Thinking along the lines if the ship sets up a business account and the bank draws it ship payments from that, does the PC Captain have to roll up to the bank, hand over his credit chit and get the codes/certificates? Or does the bank automatically deduct the cash from the ships business account and the Capt just has to pick up/get mailed the certificates before the old ones expire?

Does it have to be done at a branch of the '1st Imperial bank' or can approved local financial institutions handle it on their behalf?