mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
Steal smallcraft - it should be easier to fence them.
Cash in Traveller
- Thread starter GKar
- Start date
RainOfSteel
SOC-14 1K
IMTU
I run Imperial credits as impossible to reproduce perfectly. This does not mean that there are those who do not attempt it. On some worlds inside the Imperium merchants accept the ImpCr without batting an eyelid (and this is a major motiviation to attempt to inject counterfeit currency into circulation).
Counterfeiting the Imperial credit is a crime against Imperial laws. Typical punishments range from 10-20 years in a prison facility, to execution (for major masterminds).
Creating these notes requires large scale TL-15 nanofactories and specialists trained to operate the equipment. Constructing these machines requires access to a handful of high security SuSAG and Imperial Family (former elements of long-gone Zhunastu Heavy Industries) manufacturing facilities, plus data stored in dispersed Research Stations. The education required to design and build the machines independently would be the equivalent of education at the PhD level in inorganic and organic chemistry, molecular engineering, physics, and topology, at a minimum. Many top-notch specialists in these fields are required. Serial Number data is available only in high-security Bureau of the Mint (Ministry of the Treasury) facilities that are guarded not only by ministry personnel, but also by intelligence operatives and detachments of Imperial Marines.
However, there are counterfeiters. The most effective of these are typically intelligence agents of foreign nations or specialist enterprises of the Imperium's underworld. The unaided eye and finger cannot distinguish these notes from real Imperial Credits. Imperial agents of all stripes regularly pursue these criminal operations. They frequently locate and destroy caches of counterfeit goods, but they capture the criminals who make them far less often.
There are more amateurish operations, however the quality of notes they produce is so low that the fakes are usually spotted by ordinary merchants. Tips lead planetary authorities straight to the criminals (occasionally Imperial officials are notified directly and they are the arresting party). Extradition is usually rapid.
The various major nations of Charted Space are in similar positions, although each uses slightly different systems. For example, the Zhodani use far less cash than the Imperium, as they favor electronic systems.
Smaller nations face more significant difficulties. With fewer resources and usually a lower TL than the Imperium or one of the other major nations, the cash they can produce is easier to counterfeit. These nations often contract the Imperium to produce cash for them using their process.
I run Imperial credits as impossible to reproduce perfectly. This does not mean that there are those who do not attempt it. On some worlds inside the Imperium merchants accept the ImpCr without batting an eyelid (and this is a major motiviation to attempt to inject counterfeit currency into circulation).
Counterfeiting the Imperial credit is a crime against Imperial laws. Typical punishments range from 10-20 years in a prison facility, to execution (for major masterminds).
Creating these notes requires large scale TL-15 nanofactories and specialists trained to operate the equipment. Constructing these machines requires access to a handful of high security SuSAG and Imperial Family (former elements of long-gone Zhunastu Heavy Industries) manufacturing facilities, plus data stored in dispersed Research Stations. The education required to design and build the machines independently would be the equivalent of education at the PhD level in inorganic and organic chemistry, molecular engineering, physics, and topology, at a minimum. Many top-notch specialists in these fields are required. Serial Number data is available only in high-security Bureau of the Mint (Ministry of the Treasury) facilities that are guarded not only by ministry personnel, but also by intelligence operatives and detachments of Imperial Marines.
However, there are counterfeiters. The most effective of these are typically intelligence agents of foreign nations or specialist enterprises of the Imperium's underworld. The unaided eye and finger cannot distinguish these notes from real Imperial Credits. Imperial agents of all stripes regularly pursue these criminal operations. They frequently locate and destroy caches of counterfeit goods, but they capture the criminals who make them far less often.
There are more amateurish operations, however the quality of notes they produce is so low that the fakes are usually spotted by ordinary merchants. Tips lead planetary authorities straight to the criminals (occasionally Imperial officials are notified directly and they are the arresting party). Extradition is usually rapid.
The various major nations of Charted Space are in similar positions, although each uses slightly different systems. For example, the Zhodani use far less cash than the Imperium, as they favor electronic systems.
Smaller nations face more significant difficulties. With fewer resources and usually a lower TL than the Imperium or one of the other major nations, the cash they can produce is easier to counterfeit. These nations often contract the Imperium to produce cash for them using their process.
That is definitely a high tech solution to making money. The thing is, hard to counterfeit doesn't not mean hard to distroy. If the currency is made of polymer with lots of high tech countermeasures to prevent its duplication, if a firefight develops with one group of pirates taking cover behind a pile of Imperial Credits while the other group is firing plasma guns at them. All that has to happen is for the polymer notes to vaporize, to melt or to catch fire for those imperial credits to be made worthless. On the other hand if the pirates where taking cover behind a pile of gold coins, some of the gold might melt or be vaporized. The vaporized gold will recondense shortly on the walls and floors of the ship's compartments, the coins might melt and fuse together, but it is still gold.
But were the players, not the government! We're here to have fun! if the government made everything all nice neat and orderly, it would be a boring game. If you use all this technology to make life easier and unchallenging, where is all the adventure? We don't typically play characters who work 9-to-5 jobs and who just want to stay out of trouble. Its much harder for pirates to raid a ship and steal someone's bank account than it is to steal some gold.
RainOfSteel
SOC-14 1K
I call toting around Cr300K cash in a duffle bag thrown over my back fun.
I do not call moving an entire metric ton of gold around (Cr300,000 / Cr300/kg) "fun".
It would attract too much unwanted attention, not to mention the fact that I had something so heavy in such a small space (remember, 19.3 metric tons of gold fits into 1 cubic meter).
"Sir, what in space do you need with an Alpha-class grav-lifter when there is such a small box on it?"
No, there would be problems somewhere.
People use paper money today and we still seem to experience difficulties in relation to it.
At one time in Europe metal currency was king, and we also experienced problem related to it. The flavor of the problems was just different.
What's hard about stealing cash?
Maybe a LoC might be hard to steal, sure. However, unless you've got pre-established credit on the world's you're travelling to, it won't be accepted w/out a wait for round-trip verification from the source of the credit.
This is why starships carry cash.
You can specify that this would be metals in YTU.
Just remember to take into account that each Cr300K is 1 metric ton, and 13.5 cubic meters (a displacement ton) could hold 260.55 tons of gold (13.5 x 19.3). Hmm, I think I would rule that it would drop through any deck plating.
Perhaps only a few tons of actual gold per displacement ton, and the rest would be "packaging" volume taken up to keep the gold from slipping around to damage other parts of the cargo.
I think in your system, platinum at Cr3000/kg would be the currency of choice.
Gold would be viewed about the way silver is now, a "lesser metal". Silver would hardly be given the time of day.
That really depends on how maneuver drives work.
The T20 rules state that a given number of drive units of maneuver drive will accelerate a specified volume by a specified acceleration in Gs, there is no mention of the mass of the ship. Maybe that is how manuever drives work, maybe it just accelerates a nonaccelerated frame of reference, and all the cargo has to do is fit within the specified volume. The starship cargo area could be packed solid with gold, or maybe Osmium which at 22.61 g/cm^3 is even denser than gold. I don't think the jump drive takes mass into consideration (except where gravity is concerned), maybe the manuever drive is a similar sort of animal.
As for the deck plating, just lower the gravity a bit and it will hold up just fine.
RainOfSteel
SOC-14 1K
I am going to regret asking the following in so many ways . . .
What is the slave girls in cryotubes shtick?
I love this one. Current campaign started this way.
Here it is, a simple courier job for good pay. Pick up some frozen merchandise from a merchant (juba fruit) in the cryoyubes and deliver it to another location. Simple except the cargo is actually slave girls, some illegal drugs on the destination world.
Hitch one, a few of the cryotubes are faulty. In 40-50 hours at least three of them will malfunction beyond repair and wake up the slave girls automatically. They will plead for their lives in the strongest way a male referee can.
Here two. The seller is a corrupt Imperial starport official, the buyer a big time mobster, the problem is obvious. Could be millions, and reputation are on the line as well as the fact that the PCs are actually participating in the illegal slave trade now.
To make matters worse many have useful skills and want to be free of their violent former masters and don’t want to return home but to sign up.
Some problems . . .
Expose the starport official? He denies it all and blames the PCs issuing a warrant for their arrest. Don’t deliver and the mob boss is angry.
The cryotubes are totally faulty so they can’t be “repackaged”. If the mob boss finds out the PCs are wise to the plot he will try to whack them. The Starport official may attempt to do the same.
So many issue one simple job.
Here it is, a simple courier job for good pay. Pick up some frozen merchandise from a merchant (juba fruit) in the cryoyubes and deliver it to another location. Simple except the cargo is actually slave girls, some illegal drugs on the destination world.
Hitch one, a few of the cryotubes are faulty. In 40-50 hours at least three of them will malfunction beyond repair and wake up the slave girls automatically. They will plead for their lives in the strongest way a male referee can.
Here two. The seller is a corrupt Imperial starport official, the buyer a big time mobster, the problem is obvious. Could be millions, and reputation are on the line as well as the fact that the PCs are actually participating in the illegal slave trade now.
To make matters worse many have useful skills and want to be free of their violent former masters and don’t want to return home but to sign up.
Some problems . . .
Expose the starport official? He denies it all and blames the PCs issuing a warrant for their arrest. Don’t deliver and the mob boss is angry.
The cryotubes are totally faulty so they can’t be “repackaged”. If the mob boss finds out the PCs are wise to the plot he will try to whack them. The Starport official may attempt to do the same.
So many issue one simple job.
RainOfSteel
SOC-14 1K
How can illegal drugs on the destination world affect the situation? Are they the payment?
The players didn't examine the cargo containers before acceptance? "Sorry, sir, but these containers are faulty, we're not picking them up."
Sign up for what?
If the official is regularly involved with this, as the situation indicates to me at least, then the traces of his historical criminal activity will be there to find.
An investigation will eventually catch up with him/her.
Nothing to do about that except take out the mob boss and anyone who would feel badly about it.
Or, they could offer to sting the mob boss for Imperial officials. (Unlike the US government, in the Imperium, once the mobsters were captured and convicted, that would pretty much be the end of them.)
This is something here, they're really that faulty but all their external diagnostics read ok?
The starport official has paid assassins on tap?
Who got the PCs involved in this deal, and why haven't the PCs made that party turn against his/her master?
Plankowner
SOC-13
RoS, you are thinking about this like a old-time gamer!
As a newbie, they might not have checked the cargo that closely, after all, it was a standard 1000cr per ton freight job...
The slave girls want to sign up as CREW on your ship.
Eventually, things might get straightened out for the PCs, but there will be the persuit, jail time waiting for trial, lawyer's fees, court hearings, etc. If the Starport official is corrupt, maybe the judge is too.
The cryo tubes worked perfectly when delivered, but one of the regen coils broke during the jump to hyperspace. We all know that without a good regen coil that a cryo tube is unusable. When the regen coil broke, the auto-awake functions of the unit were activated so that the occupant didn't die. Perfectly logical, perfectly unusable again. Poor maintenance might have made several of the regen tubes break, or after the first broke, an inspection of the others reveals sever corrosion that might cause them to break during exit from hyperspace. Remember, the regen coils are buried inside the base of the unit and are not normally visible from the outside. Only when you start digging into the units using your Electronics skill, would you find the problem. The diagnostics are what saved that poor, scantily clad girls life!
As a newbie, they might not have checked the cargo that closely, after all, it was a standard 1000cr per ton freight job...
The slave girls want to sign up as CREW on your ship.
Eventually, things might get straightened out for the PCs, but there will be the persuit, jail time waiting for trial, lawyer's fees, court hearings, etc. If the Starport official is corrupt, maybe the judge is too.
The cryo tubes worked perfectly when delivered, but one of the regen coils broke during the jump to hyperspace. We all know that without a good regen coil that a cryo tube is unusable. When the regen coil broke, the auto-awake functions of the unit were activated so that the occupant didn't die. Perfectly logical, perfectly unusable again. Poor maintenance might have made several of the regen tubes break, or after the first broke, an inspection of the others reveals sever corrosion that might cause them to break during exit from hyperspace. Remember, the regen coils are buried inside the base of the unit and are not normally visible from the outside. Only when you start digging into the units using your Electronics skill, would you find the problem. The diagnostics are what saved that poor, scantily clad girls life!
Yep they missed that little wire that just happened to short out.
Readouts look good at the time. Besides they were being paid well not to ask those kinds of questions. There is a clever holo-projector screen making it look like fruit, there are seals on the tubes.
Sure Starports have assassins on tap. Who doesn’t? If a tramp freighter can have armed ships, contacts and guns so can a SA official.
“ If the official is regularly involved with this, as the situation indicates to me at least, then the traces of his historical criminal activity will be there to find.
An investigation will eventually catch up with him/her.”
Not in a corrupt organization like the Imperium. Corruption sucks.
The drugs are just there for fun. Makes them wonder. Heheheheh.
They knew something might go wrong but they didn’t know what. Just for fun some cargo runs are totally routine.
Yep, the mob boss gets it in the end. It took an entire real year of game play to finally take him out and blame it on somebody else. There were cheers and lots of extra cheese sticks that night.
The point is that the entire set up takes at most 20-30 min of real world time.
The cleanup took over a year of weekly play.
Suspicious cargos are the most fun anyway.
Readouts look good at the time. Besides they were being paid well not to ask those kinds of questions. There is a clever holo-projector screen making it look like fruit, there are seals on the tubes.
Sure Starports have assassins on tap. Who doesn’t? If a tramp freighter can have armed ships, contacts and guns so can a SA official.
“ If the official is regularly involved with this, as the situation indicates to me at least, then the traces of his historical criminal activity will be there to find.
An investigation will eventually catch up with him/her.”
Not in a corrupt organization like the Imperium. Corruption sucks.
The drugs are just there for fun. Makes them wonder. Heheheheh.
They knew something might go wrong but they didn’t know what. Just for fun some cargo runs are totally routine.
Yep, the mob boss gets it in the end. It took an entire real year of game play to finally take him out and blame it on somebody else. There were cheers and lots of extra cheese sticks that night.
The point is that the entire set up takes at most 20-30 min of real world time.
The cleanup took over a year of weekly play.
Suspicious cargos are the most fun anyway.
RainOfSteel
SOC-14 1K
If I can't check it during acceptance, then I'm being paid awfully well indeed!
Did someone mention something about 76 Criminal Activities?
I would check it the moment it was aboard and I was aloft.
Lots of people wouldn't.
Armed ships, contacts, and guns are one thing, but having assassins on tap is something else entirely and certainly not something a tramp freighter would have.
Not in a corrupt organization like the Imperium. Corruption sucks.
</font>[/QUOTE]Ah, the corrupt Imperium discussion.
Frankly, the entire Imperium can't be corrupt because when corruption reaches that extent, the entire systems crashes down upon itself, rapidly. (And no, the Rebellion is not an example of the type of crash I am thinking of, nor is it a counter to the above.)
The Imperium has been largely the same since after the Imperial Civil War and Arbellatra's ascension to the throne. If it is as corrupt as you say by modern times (I am assuming an 1100 era campaign for you, since no other identifiable references were made), then that corruption must have been there all along, except it wasn't.
Supplement 11 tells us that the Imperium's nobility are driven by a "very strong sense of honor" (or words close to that effect). If they are honorable (and we know this to be true because the creator of the milieu has told us it is so), and they are the government overseeing it all, and since it hasn't collapsed or otherwise ceased to function in the manner that a super-corrupt nation would, and the rulers are (for the most part) honor-driven, then we therefore know that corruption is not all-pervasive. Not non-existent, just not all-pervasive.
Basically, the majority of the Imperial Government and its associated branches are going to have to be functional rather than corrupt.
And then there are the players to consider.
In a milieu seized utterly by all-pervasive corruption, being a PC is terrible (at least IMNSHO), unless somehow you are running evil PCs*. Frankly, if I discovered a GM had dropped me in such a world, I would play along until my character died and then would simply refuse to make a new character. I might walk out of the game.
Being in a game like that would not be fun. A permanent state of never winning and never seeing any justice done? That sounds like misery to me and I don't game to inflict misery on myself (and hopefully I don't do it to others).
---------------------------------------
* If the PCs are an evil extension of the all-pervasive corruption of the milieu, then selling the slave girls into the hands of the mobsters is not a significant difficulty.
---------------------------------------
My argument goes beyond this, even to the foundations of the Imperium and Cleon I's vision of a new empire. Frankly I cannot imagine that Cleon would want to establish a nation that would eventually succumb to base corruption. I take this a step further and assert (IMTU only) that Cleon I engineered a number of mechanisms into the Imperium to assure that corruption would never completely grip the Imperium.
Also IMTU: It almost didn't work, resulting in the Imperial Civil War, and Arbellatra appeared at the end to set things upon a new course once more (marred only by her Solomani Movement prejudice).
There's nothing like a few good red herrings thrown into the story.
Well! I'm relieved to hear of it!
I might try a variant of it myself.
RainOfSteel
SOC-14 1K
That really depends on how maneuver drives work.
</font>[/QUOTE]It also depends on what way you mean about "working".
I'm not talking about the mass of the ship or its cargo in relation to the manuever drives (or jump drives) or even moving the vessel.
Yes, there is that. (Inside your ship only.)
However, this does haul in a discussion of manuever drives.
The problem is that this is so heavily dependent on the design sequence in use, that I really don't like to go down this path.
Ok, easy there. I write for the players. They expect a corrupt government so that is what they get. Play it anyway you want, not here to ruffle feathers. It was played as a tongue-in-cheek thing with a bit of humor. They expect bombs or guns and they get "Crystal the high enegry weapons tech".
