tbeard1999
SOC-14 1K
Further progress on the revised starship economics…
NOTE: Updated to assume 20 days of holidays per standard year.
First, scratch all numbers in the previous post.
Assumptions:
- Each month is 30 days. A year is 12 months, plus a 5 day holiday at year end.
-A starship operates for 11 1/2 months. The remaining 1/2 month, (plus the holiday days) is used for maintenance, vacation, etc. In that 1/2 month, the only expenses are crew salaries and bank note payment. "End Month" will mean the month in which only 15 days are used for operations.
- 2 jumps per month for 11 1/2 months (25 jumps per year)
- Annual maintenance expenses amortized monthly
- Buying refined fuel
- Full load of middle and low passengers
- Full crew with 1 stateroom each, crewmen are also gunners, at no additional salary. Full salaries paid.
- Book 2 Free Trader and the Supp 7 Far Trader (I assumed it was a standard design and got the 10% discount). Re-ran the numbers on the Far Trader and found that Supp 7 had it significantly overpriced.
-Ship loses 10% of value per decade (per the depreciation suggested by book 2). This will change in my new system below.
-All calculations based on “new cost” use the new cost, *less* any discount for it being a standard model.
A summary of my problems with the current system (numbers redone to correct some mistakes):
1. Existing Traveller economics result in many starships (and especially my favorite ship) losing money -- and some losing a *lot* of money. Others make way too much money. Example -- a Free Trader can generate a monthly cash flow of cr44K. If the crew doubles up in staterooms, she can carry 2 more middle passengers per trip, adding (2 trips x 2 staterooms x [cr8,000-2,000 life support] = ) cr24,000 to the ship's monthly cash flow. Yet my poor Far Trader is bankrupt, even with a full load, losing cr67K per month. If the crew doubles up, she can carry 2 more middle passengers per trip, adding cr24k to the ship's cash flow.
2. In addition to the cash flow issues, too much money is more or less automatically available to creative players. Imagine the astute player whose Merchant character musters out with a Free Trader with 20 years of payments left. His loan payoff should be about cr23 million. (This the present value of the right to receive 240 more monthly payments, assuming a 5% interest rate). Yet, the ship is worth about cr30 million. By simply selling the starship, the character can turn a cr7 million profit. And how do new characters afford a share in this ship? They’d need to pay the current owner for the equity he has. So if 4 characters approached him to buy an equal share of the ship, each would have to pay him 1/5 of cr7 million! Or borrow the money from him.
3. If there are *no* payments, the starships can generate staggering cash flows. Our little Free trader can generate almost cr200,000 per *month* of profit if it has no bank note. This makes stealing a ship *far* more attractive than I think it should be.
4. This all means that the referee has to make rewards HUGE for adventures that require the ship to abandon its passenger/cargo route. A free trader making bank payments will lose about cr300k per month if it abandons its passenger route.
5. This system forces me into two unpleasant choices. I can either (a) screw my players at every turn by creating endless maintenance costs, or (b) let them quickly accumulate staggering wealth. I prefer to not be shoehorned into either role.
6. This system gives an unreasonable advantage to one profession.
7. Unless the GM buries the characters in wealth, it is effectively impossible for them to legally purchase a starship. A group would have to come up with 20% of the purchase price of a ship – mcr7.4 for the lowly Free Trader.
So here are my fixes:
1. Reduce the cost of all starships to 10% of current Book 2 prices. Reduce ship’s boats, fighters, etc., the same.
2. Banks will finance starships for 10 years at 10% interest. Normally, 20% downpayment required, though this will be waived if a suitable guarantor (wealthy patron for instance) is found. Payments will be cr13,215 per cr1 million actually financed (be sure to subtract any downpayment from the amount financed).
3. No down payment for merchants who get a starship via mustering out (their company guarantees the note, so no down payment necessary). Each additional starship benefit pays off 2 years.
4. Expenses:
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3. Revenue:
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5. A starship can be leased instead of purchased. No downpayment, typically, but if the characters look particularly shady, the finance company may charge a “handling fee” of whatever the characters can afford. Lease payments on a 10 year lease would be cr9800 per month per million dollars of value. Lease payments on a 20 year lease would be cr9000 per month per million dollars of value. At the end of the lease, the ship can be turned in or purchased for 70% of original cost if a 10 year lease, 50% of original cost if a 20 year lease.
6. Equity Tables
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“Value” -- how much the ship is worth to a buyer. If the ship is sold to a dealer, the dealer will only pay about 85% of the value listed.
These numbers are per cr1 million of original cost (reduce cost by standard design discounts on all calculations in my rules).
So you can see that a merchant who musters out with, say 6 years remaining on his ship has a very modest amount of equity (and very little if he sells to a dealer).
When you sell a ship, the bank must agree to the sale. The way you get their agreement is to pay them off when you sell the ship (agreement is typically conditioned on receipt of the payoff).
7. Examples
Assume a financed starship, paying monthly payments.
The Free Trader in this system now generates about cr6,200 per month after all expenses and salaries paid. Total expenses are about cr79,000 per month, so an adventure will have to pay more than cr85,200 if it takes the crew out of commission for a month.
The Far Trader does much better than in the old system, generating about cr11,000 per month, but only if it exclusively operates at Jump-2. If it operates at Jump-1, it loses cr32,500 per month. Total expenses are about cr94,000 per month, so an adventure will have to pay more than cr105,000 if it takes the crew out of commission for a month.
The Subsidized Merchant still needs a subsidy – it loses cr28,000 per month.
The Subsidized Liner still needs a subsidy – it loses cr6,000 per month on Jump-3 routes. On a Jump-1 route, it’s a disaster – it loses cr193,000 per month.
8. Hard Numbers
For referees who don't want to mess with all this math, here are the rounded monthly numbers for the two standard traders. Monthly cash flow will be equal to income, less operating expenses (fuel, life support, maintenance and insurance), less salaries (if applicable), less note payment (if applicable), less lease payment (if applicable). You will not have both a note payment and lease payment. Residual value is what you can buy the ship for at the end of the lease. All notes and leases are for 10 years.
Free Trader
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Free Trader
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--Ty
NOTE: Updated to assume 20 days of holidays per standard year.
First, scratch all numbers in the previous post.
Assumptions:
- Each month is 30 days. A year is 12 months, plus a 5 day holiday at year end.
-A starship operates for 11 1/2 months. The remaining 1/2 month, (plus the holiday days) is used for maintenance, vacation, etc. In that 1/2 month, the only expenses are crew salaries and bank note payment. "End Month" will mean the month in which only 15 days are used for operations.
- 2 jumps per month for 11 1/2 months (25 jumps per year)
- Annual maintenance expenses amortized monthly
- Buying refined fuel
- Full load of middle and low passengers
- Full crew with 1 stateroom each, crewmen are also gunners, at no additional salary. Full salaries paid.
- Book 2 Free Trader and the Supp 7 Far Trader (I assumed it was a standard design and got the 10% discount). Re-ran the numbers on the Far Trader and found that Supp 7 had it significantly overpriced.
-Ship loses 10% of value per decade (per the depreciation suggested by book 2). This will change in my new system below.
-All calculations based on “new cost” use the new cost, *less* any discount for it being a standard model.
A summary of my problems with the current system (numbers redone to correct some mistakes):
1. Existing Traveller economics result in many starships (and especially my favorite ship) losing money -- and some losing a *lot* of money. Others make way too much money. Example -- a Free Trader can generate a monthly cash flow of cr44K. If the crew doubles up in staterooms, she can carry 2 more middle passengers per trip, adding (2 trips x 2 staterooms x [cr8,000-2,000 life support] = ) cr24,000 to the ship's monthly cash flow. Yet my poor Far Trader is bankrupt, even with a full load, losing cr67K per month. If the crew doubles up, she can carry 2 more middle passengers per trip, adding cr24k to the ship's cash flow.
2. In addition to the cash flow issues, too much money is more or less automatically available to creative players. Imagine the astute player whose Merchant character musters out with a Free Trader with 20 years of payments left. His loan payoff should be about cr23 million. (This the present value of the right to receive 240 more monthly payments, assuming a 5% interest rate). Yet, the ship is worth about cr30 million. By simply selling the starship, the character can turn a cr7 million profit. And how do new characters afford a share in this ship? They’d need to pay the current owner for the equity he has. So if 4 characters approached him to buy an equal share of the ship, each would have to pay him 1/5 of cr7 million! Or borrow the money from him.
3. If there are *no* payments, the starships can generate staggering cash flows. Our little Free trader can generate almost cr200,000 per *month* of profit if it has no bank note. This makes stealing a ship *far* more attractive than I think it should be.
4. This all means that the referee has to make rewards HUGE for adventures that require the ship to abandon its passenger/cargo route. A free trader making bank payments will lose about cr300k per month if it abandons its passenger route.
5. This system forces me into two unpleasant choices. I can either (a) screw my players at every turn by creating endless maintenance costs, or (b) let them quickly accumulate staggering wealth. I prefer to not be shoehorned into either role.
6. This system gives an unreasonable advantage to one profession.
7. Unless the GM buries the characters in wealth, it is effectively impossible for them to legally purchase a starship. A group would have to come up with 20% of the purchase price of a ship – mcr7.4 for the lowly Free Trader.
So here are my fixes:
1. Reduce the cost of all starships to 10% of current Book 2 prices. Reduce ship’s boats, fighters, etc., the same.
2. Banks will finance starships for 10 years at 10% interest. Normally, 20% downpayment required, though this will be waived if a suitable guarantor (wealthy patron for instance) is found. Payments will be cr13,215 per cr1 million actually financed (be sure to subtract any downpayment from the amount financed).
3. No down payment for merchants who get a starship via mustering out (their company guarantees the note, so no down payment necessary). Each additional starship benefit pays off 2 years.
4. Expenses:
</font>
- Salaries – same as Book 2</font>
- Refined Fuel – cr50 per ton</font>
- Life support – cr250 per stateroom, cr10 per low berth</font>
- Maintenance – 1% per year for years 1-20; 4%+ per year for years 21+; pay this monthly and assume it’s being taken care of in spare time.</font>
- Insurance – Required by bank. 1% of new cost per year, paid monthly. For each cr1 million of new cost, monthly premium payment is cr850 per month. Annual deductible is 2% of starship new cost. Premiums go up *dramatically* if claims are filed (premium increases to 2% after 1 incident, 3% after 2 incidents, etc.).</font>
- Union rules require that starships must allocate 1 stateroom per crew member, regardless of whether the crewmember wants the stateroom. This can be ignored, but union agents do occasionally check compliance by booking passage incognito. The fine is stiff – cr20,000 per violation.</font>
3. Revenue:
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- High Passage – cr2500; cr4375 for Jump-2; cr5500 for Jump-3 Note: High passengers do not get a free ton for luggage.</font>
- Middle Passage – cr2100; cr3500 for Jump-2; cr4500 for Jump-3</font>
- Low Passage – cr350; cr575 for Jump-2; cr700 for Jump-3</font>
- Cargo – cr300 per ton; cr 525 for Jump-2; cr600 for Jump-3</font>
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- High Passage – cr2775; cr4875 for Jump-2; cr6125 for Jump-3 Note: High passengers do not get a free ton for luggage.</font>
- Middle Passage – cr2350; cr3900 for Jump-2; cr5000 for Jump-3</font>
- Low Passage – cr390; cr650 for Jump-2; cr800 for Jump-3</font>
- Cargo – cr350 per ton; cr 600 for Jump-2; cr675 for Jump-3</font>
5. A starship can be leased instead of purchased. No downpayment, typically, but if the characters look particularly shady, the finance company may charge a “handling fee” of whatever the characters can afford. Lease payments on a 10 year lease would be cr9800 per month per million dollars of value. Lease payments on a 20 year lease would be cr9000 per month per million dollars of value. At the end of the lease, the ship can be turned in or purchased for 70% of original cost if a 10 year lease, 50% of original cost if a 20 year lease.
6. Equity Tables
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- End
of
Year....Owed..........Value
1.......939,000.......970,000
2.......871,000.......940,000
3.......797,000.......910,000
4.......714,000.......880,000
5.......622,000.......850,000
6.......522,000.......820,000
7.......410,000.......790,000
8.......287,000.......760,000
9.......151,000.......730,000
10.........0............700,000</font>
“Value” -- how much the ship is worth to a buyer. If the ship is sold to a dealer, the dealer will only pay about 85% of the value listed.
These numbers are per cr1 million of original cost (reduce cost by standard design discounts on all calculations in my rules).
So you can see that a merchant who musters out with, say 6 years remaining on his ship has a very modest amount of equity (and very little if he sells to a dealer).
When you sell a ship, the bank must agree to the sale. The way you get their agreement is to pay them off when you sell the ship (agreement is typically conditioned on receipt of the payoff).
7. Examples
Assume a financed starship, paying monthly payments.
The Free Trader in this system now generates about cr6,200 per month after all expenses and salaries paid. Total expenses are about cr79,000 per month, so an adventure will have to pay more than cr85,200 if it takes the crew out of commission for a month.
The Far Trader does much better than in the old system, generating about cr11,000 per month, but only if it exclusively operates at Jump-2. If it operates at Jump-1, it loses cr32,500 per month. Total expenses are about cr94,000 per month, so an adventure will have to pay more than cr105,000 if it takes the crew out of commission for a month.
The Subsidized Merchant still needs a subsidy – it loses cr28,000 per month.
The Subsidized Liner still needs a subsidy – it loses cr6,000 per month on Jump-3 routes. On a Jump-1 route, it’s a disaster – it loses cr193,000 per month.
8. Hard Numbers
For referees who don't want to mess with all this math, here are the rounded monthly numbers for the two standard traders. Monthly cash flow will be equal to income, less operating expenses (fuel, life support, maintenance and insurance), less salaries (if applicable), less note payment (if applicable), less lease payment (if applicable). You will not have both a note payment and lease payment. Residual value is what you can buy the ship for at the end of the lease. All notes and leases are for 10 years.
Free Trader
</font>
- Income: 88,500 (44,250 for End Month)</font>
- Operating Expenses: 14,500 (6,250 for End Month)</font>
- Salaries: 15,000</font>
- Note Pmt: 49,500</font>
- Lease Pmt: 36,500 (residual value 2.3m)</font>
</font>
- Income: 108,500 (54,250 for End Month)</font>
- Operating Expenses: 17,000 (7,750 for End Month)</font>
- Salaries: 15,000</font>
- Note Pmt: 62,000</font>
- Lease Pmt: 49,000 (residual value 3.2m)</font>
</font>
- Income: 63,000 (31,750 for End Month)</font>
- Operating Expenses: 17,000 (7,750 for End Month)</font>
- Salaries: 15,000</font>
- Note Pmt: 62,000</font>
- Lease Pmt: 49,000 (residual value 3.2m)</font>
Free Trader
</font>
- Cost: cr1.87m</font>
- Down Payment: 374,000</font>
- Income: 88,000 (44,000 in End Months)</font>
- Operating Expenses: 18,000 (9,500 in End Months)</font>
- Salaries: 15,000</font>
- Note Payment: 24,000</font>
- Lease Payment: 19,500</font>
</font>
- Cost: cr2.34m</font>
- Down Payment: cr468,000</font>
- Income: 108,500 (54,250 in End Months)</font>
- Operating Expenses: 21,000 (12,000 in End Months)</font>
- Salaries: 15,000</font>
- Note Payment: 30,000</font>
- Lease Payment: 24,250 (cr1.638m residual value)</font>
</font>
- Cost: cr2.34m</font>
- Down Payment: cr468,000</font>
- Income: 63,000 (31,500 in End Months)</font>
- Operating Expenses: 21,000 (12,000 in End Months)</font>
- Salaries: 15,000</font>
- Note Payment: 30,000</font>
- Lease Payment: 24,250 (cr1.638m residual value)</font>
--Ty
