THe USSR was somewhat corrput, especially on the low ranks of the beurocracy, though most other Stalinist nation were more so (e.g. Romania - that WAS "planned corrupt"). The USSR should be classified as "planned bureaucratic"; the real issues were total lack of democratic control over the system (police state, and production sometimes has nothing to do with the masses' needs) and gross inefficiency (about 20% waste due to bureaucratic issues). But there are also corrupt or "cronyst" MARKET economies. As I said before, Corruption and inefficiency are far less dependant on the economy's type than on the government type.
Economics in Traveller
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BruceatHillman
SOC-2
Instead of the Industrial if Pop 9+ and Polluted, why not make economics part of the profile?
Here is what I have so far, criticisms, critiques very welcome (although I have no idea what I am going to do with this yet so suggestions there would be good too)
I concur with your criticisms. I am running a merchant campaign, and I fail to understand the rationale of some of the trade system adopted since the LBB Merchant Prince.
Why is there a modifier for the difference in tech levels between the sourceworld and marketworld? This was not in the original first edition LBB of Books 2&3. The tech modifier which exists in Merchant Prince, MT, and T4 would always mean there is more freight/cargo and passengers flowing from higher tech worlds to lower tech worlds.
I'm not an economist but observations tell me that there is plenty of cargo (usually raw or processed resources) going from lower tech levels to higher tech levels. Also, while many tourists travel back to nature (low tech) to get away from the city (high tech), there are some tourists who seek out high tech playgrounds (i.e. Las Vegas, NYC, Disney, MGM).
Other passengers might include refugees fleeing from war, oppressive governments and law levels. There are the jobless or impoverished traveling TO industrial or rich worlds. Then there is the business traveller who goes where the business takes him.
For the availability of cargo/frieght and cargos, I prefer the GURPS Traveller modifiers I find in Far Trader. Positive DMs for cargo along the following pairs of routes: In-Ni; Ag-Na; Ag-Va; Ag-De; Ag-Fl. Positive DMs for passengers traveling TO: Ri worlds, Cp worlds.
Any thoughts???
Here is what I have so far, criticisms, critiques very welcome (although I have no idea what I am going to do with this yet so suggestions there would be good too)
I concur with your criticisms. I am running a merchant campaign, and I fail to understand the rationale of some of the trade system adopted since the LBB Merchant Prince.
Why is there a modifier for the difference in tech levels between the sourceworld and marketworld? This was not in the original first edition LBB of Books 2&3. The tech modifier which exists in Merchant Prince, MT, and T4 would always mean there is more freight/cargo and passengers flowing from higher tech worlds to lower tech worlds.
I'm not an economist but observations tell me that there is plenty of cargo (usually raw or processed resources) going from lower tech levels to higher tech levels. Also, while many tourists travel back to nature (low tech) to get away from the city (high tech), there are some tourists who seek out high tech playgrounds (i.e. Las Vegas, NYC, Disney, MGM).
Other passengers might include refugees fleeing from war, oppressive governments and law levels. There are the jobless or impoverished traveling TO industrial or rich worlds. Then there is the business traveller who goes where the business takes him.
For the availability of cargo/frieght and cargos, I prefer the GURPS Traveller modifiers I find in Far Trader. Positive DMs for cargo along the following pairs of routes: In-Ni; Ag-Na; Ag-Va; Ag-De; Ag-Fl. Positive DMs for passengers traveling TO: Ri worlds, Cp worlds.
Any thoughts???
Depends on alot of factors. Some polities/cultures (such as MTU's Alliance) prefer relatively self-supporting colonies and thus are avid supporters of wide-scale terraformation; others (such as MTU's Triumvirate) prefer their colonies to be dependant on the core worlds, and thus keep self sufficiency at the lowest possible level.
Also, a polity existing in a mostly frontier area (Alliance) would have a radically different economy from one with a long-established, large "core" (Triumvirate).
And all this is without going into the differences between the two polities' political and social structure as well as their level of centralization.
All in all, it's all in the details.
Also, a polity existing in a mostly frontier area (Alliance) would have a radically different economy from one with a long-established, large "core" (Triumvirate).
And all this is without going into the differences between the two polities' political and social structure as well as their level of centralization.
All in all, it's all in the details.
Ive been thinking about playing with the system details to automatically generate orbital details and I was looking over jimv's stuff on why would millions of people settle crappy environment planets when an eden planet is just the next jump away.
I was thinking that you could work out the industrial richness of a system by having some resource measure that contributes to population (and in the case of pregenerated stuff, you could work out the stat from the population).
Hopefully this would explain why your desert world with no gas giant has a population of 10billion
.... hmmm goooooold rush!
I was thinking that you could work out the industrial richness of a system by having some resource measure that contributes to population (and in the case of pregenerated stuff, you could work out the stat from the population).
Hopefully this would explain why your desert world with no gas giant has a population of 10billion
RainOfSteel
SOC-14 1K
If you'll see: UPP, the very best, you'll see Jim V's influence on my own thinking in the area of the need to designate the presence and exploitability of resources on a world.Originally posted by Research Station Korg:
Ive been thinking about playing with the system details to automatically generate orbital details and I was looking over jimv's stuff on why would millions of people settle crappy environment planets when an eden planet is just the next jump away.
I was thinking that you could work out the industrial richness of a system by having some resource measure that contributes to population (and in the case of pregenerated stuff, you could work out the stat from the population).
Hopefully this would explain why your desert world with no gas giant has a population of 10billion.... hmmm goooooold rush!
RainOfSteel
SOC-14 1K
You'd think it would work that way in the OTU, as well, but for some reason, it doesn't.
Core/Core has worlds in it in the 1110 Era that look like they stepped directly out of the Long Night.
Exactly! And that just as the system intended Trader Jim to be ...Originally posted by trader jim:
how about this for economics in traveller - Trader Jims always broke - no matter what world hes on!!!
For those who love crunchyness in their trading campaigns, the old GURPS Cyberworld sourcebook has a currency fluctuation system that can be adapted fairly easily to Traveller's, for added and unexpected details for the true Traders to deal with out there.
Nothing like it for suddenly having all those bounced checks returning from the subsector banks, just when your Traders think they made the score of a lifetime ...
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