Charter Boats - Diver Down

[Patron Zero]

Just curious if this would be a viable 'enterprise' to include in a TU, charter services operating off small starships (100-200 tonnage) that offer 'day' excursions into fringe-frontier space.

The basic idea would be a charter boat that would offer 'tourists' short ventures into less populated-lesser traveled subsectors for the purposes of wreck 'diving' or limited exploration-salvage of any discovered space hulks.

Mind location would be a deciding factor where such businesses would be based; More likely such would be found at the outer edge of more settled-populated systems or where there would be a greater chance of locating lost vessels, merchant or possibly naval wrecks.

 

[spinwardpirate]

Neat idea. I wonder what the Imperium's take on "limited exploration-salvage" would be? It just so happens that I'm currently writing a paper on a similar subject, "Underwater Cultural Heritage and the Challenges to Nautical Charting", and while the US hasn't signed the UNESCO "Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage", we have plenty of our own laws on the books that offer protection to anthropogenic features.

Extrapolating this into MTU, I figure the Scouts and the Navy both have a hand in protecting Spaceborne Cultural Heritage. The players' characters or npcs have a had in breaking said laws.


Just the other day I rolled up an MGT scientist dude who, in his event roll got a does something against his conscience. I decided he was an archaeologist who started dabbling in illegal artifacts to fund his research. His research eventually wandered from archaeology to psionics. The rest of the story remains to be written...

 

[samuelvss]

I think that the analogy of wreck diving is a great one. I agree with spinwardpirate that there might be restrictions, as there often are in wreck diving. The exploration is the fun, or it could be in reconnecting. Imagine the naval veterans of a battle revisiting the hulks of some of their ships and the enemy's, or naval historians or even students. The sheer emptiness of space would make such visits a big hit.

I think the economics is in the tourism, or in the treasure hunters running it themselves. If the guides knew well enough where salvage was to be had, they would salvage it themselves.

 

[DaveChase]

Charter System Tours.

Some suggestions
Old ship yard, mothball fleet tours.
Be a spaceman for a day, and watch first hand at a space being built.

IMTU, I had a system that had a charter tour service run by scientist. They were using it to fund their research.
Took 1 1/2 days from the Spaceport (1G) to get the small moon station of a HUGE Gas Giant with large, awesome rings. You could stay either 2 days or 7 days before returning back to the Spaceport. It allowed for those who did not have business insystem to stretch their legs a bit.
Made for some very short adventures and encounters. They had grav carriers (used) and a few grav cycles (sleds) for rent.

The Gas Giant was unusal in the fact that it was so huge and that it sang. Radio waves, no set cycle pattern but did have recongizible songs (reference whale songs for similar types).
PSI individuals always had problems sleeping with in 100 dia of the gas giant. The only similar explanition was that they all said it was like trying to sleep with a radio on all the time.

IE natural phemenon might be another Charter service that would work.
Reference Hawaii, Guam, Virgin Islands, Japan, Belize for real world examples.
Because if it is successful enough others will jump aboard also and then the competition begins.

Dave Chase