Free Traders - Tramp Steamers or Semi-Trucks
- Thread starter Quint
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Spinward Flow
SOC-14 5K
The difference between the two analogies is that the Tramp Steamer is more likely to have a mix of passengers+cargo, rather than just being cargo only ... which is definitely a Semi Truck.
The other thing is that trucks are limited to "roads" ... in the same way that trains are limited to "rails" in terms of where they can go.
By contrast, a water craft once she slips her moorings at the dock, can potentially "go anywhere" accessible by water rather than being confined to a specific (pre-determined) list of destinations. So there's more of a sense of "freedom of navigation" associated with the Tramp Steamer than you'll have with a Semi Truck, even if they can both go from the same origin to the same destination (by water vs by land).
I think the Tramp steamer is a better analogy, I would associate Semi-truck with semi-regular service. Most semi trucks either work for a carrier, or find work thru a broker. Even if they are independent they have a load lined up for them at at the next stop. Free traders are much more on the "see what they can find" paradigm.
I will totally grant the passenger thing, but I'm not sure how germane it is to the actual discussion.
When it comes to "roads" vs "water" the thing that strikes me is how much Free Traders aren't that free (again one of the classic discussion points around ACS economics). One of classic issues is that they are limited to the "roads" that are defined by their Jump-drive and the local astrography - they absolutely have a predetermined list of where they can go and where they can't (even if it's a huge sector-spanning Main).
D.
Spinward Flow
SOC-14 5K
This came up after reading an article on being profitable as an independent owner-operator (which is not horribly uncommon in the US), and then thinking through the economics (and thin margins) of being owning a Free Trader. Speculative trade is certainly the way make great money, but it's also not certain, and a "good" Free Trader is looking for as much of a regular cash flow as possible (as has been discussed ad infinitum).
D.
and re: limited to roads. originally jump cassettes/tapes/whatever were required unless you could afford the very expensive generate program (which costs Cr800,000. and just realized all the jump programs also cost credits. wonder if the ship analysis we've seen here factor in those costs, which compared to the ship are pretty small, though MCr0.8 is nothing to sneeze at).
Sorry - my point being without the generate you are on roads even more than as Spank mentioned above. Cost is in MCr, 2nd column. So a Jump 2 ship would need jump 1 (MCr 0.1), Jump 2 (MCr 0.3) and either Cr10,000 per jump or buy the generate pgm at MCr0.8. And yeah, navigation at MCr0.4.
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Sorry - my point being without the generate you are on roads even more than as Spank mentioned above. Cost is in MCr, 2nd column. So a Jump 2 ship would need jump 1 (MCr 0.1), Jump 2 (MCr 0.3) and either Cr10,000 per jump or buy the generate pgm at MCr0.8. And yeah, navigation at MCr0.4.
s
casquilho
SOC-13
Tramp Steamer is still my answer regardless of how cool one may think a truck is. Most truck drivers tended to just pick up a pre-packed trailer or load and drop it somewhere else. The way the Free Trader is portrayed in the rules fits the tramp steamer. Now could you make the game more like a trucker driving from LA to Dever and back several times a month? Sure, why not. But it is not the better real world model for how the game was presented. So no, the Semi is not the better analog.
I wasn't saying that I thought trucks were cool, just that they were a better analog based on how they actually operate. In that vein, the Free Trader is portrayed as the romantic, pulp-fiction, picturesque portrayal of Tramp Steamers not the actual reality. Which again, is fine, but not really what I what I was trying to say. I started out with "Free Traders are really more like panel vans/delivery trucks" and moved up to Semi-Trucks because I think that's actually more accurate from both a carrying capacity/distance travelled/cargo delivery perspective. In fact, when we look at the only CT adventure to really discuss operating a "Free Trader" (the eponymous Traveller Adventure) it's basically what you describe as "trucker driving" - a small network of "cities" (planets) that they are driving inbetween trying to make a living and hustle for some regular income.
But you could also say, only semi-jokingly, that what Free Traders are is really just the far-future gig-economy of Uber drivers and Doordash/Amazon delivery based on the actually economic margins portrayed.
D,
Spinward Flow
SOC-14 5K
Freelancer gig economy type work is probably a better (modern) analogy.
Actual free traders don't work for anyone other than themselves (except in a For Hire capacity, rather than as a permanent thing) in Traveller. So in that sense, they're more like wandering
casquilho
SOC-13
I understand your idea, I just do not agree with it. I do not believe Semi-Trucks fit the free or far trader analog better.
Now in this case, joke or not, I do believe there is some valid truth to this analog. It is more chaotic and somewhat random in its nature. Some drivers even mix pick up like run a DoorDash and Uber eats account at the same time to make more per trip. The Amazon freelance drivers maybe know the city they work out of (subsector) they too face a level of random chaotic chance each day and never really know where they will end up on any given day other than where they start their run (pick up).
So in this case, I would agree and support this analog more. all jokes aside.
Now in this case, joke or not, I do believe there is some valid truth to this analog. It is more chaotic and somewhat random in its nature. Some drivers even mix pick up like run a DoorDash and Uber eats account at the same time to make more per trip. The Amazon freelance drivers maybe know the city they work out of (subsector) they too face a level of random chaotic chance each day and never really know where they will end up on any given day other than where they start their run (pick up).
So in this case, I would agree and support this analog more. all jokes aside.
I think the huge difference is that a Free Trader, like a tramp steamer pre-radio and world-wide near-instant communications, doesn't know what conditions will be like at their destination until they get there. They have a minimum two-week information lag. A semi-truck driver has never existed in a time when the lag was worse than a day, and for decades now it's been effectively instant.
I think this is what drives the difference, more than anything else.
I think this is what drives the difference, more than anything else.
Spinward Flow
SOC-14 5K
And there's the microjumpers ... where it's more economical to spend 1 week in jump space getting to a distant orbit (including Far Companion stars) rather than spending 1 week accelerating under maneuver drive to get there and not reaching your destination during that time.
I even made a handy chart to determine the "1 week" breakpoints for interplanetary voyage time comparisons under continuous acceleration.
Knowing that kind of information can then be used to determine whether maneuver drives or J1 is the better option to reach a variety of destinations within a specific subsector map hex containing star(s) and planet(s) and moon(s) and belt(s) of planetoids.
They are tramp freighters IMTU: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tramp_trade
But you're conflating speculative traders with shippers. A shipper doesn't really care about the conditions of the destination (outside of the weather isn't awful, and it's not overrun with pirates). They're just moving cargo.
Now, its fair to argue that they may well be deadheading the cargo. They arrive and find that there's nothing worth shipping back. At which point they need to decide whether its worth making an empty trip back, or waiting for a new load.
But this is mostly (mostly) a problem for new traders, not experienced traders. Experienced traders get that way by not sending their vessel down unprofitable routes.
"We'd like you to move this cargo to the starport at Yosemite V" "Yea, I can do that but it'll cost you double. There's never anything there to bring back to make it worth the trip. If we get a load back, we'll refund you 25% when we get back."
But of course the LBB 2 system doesn't accommodate for those discrepancies.
Sure, but they need that experience. With near-instant comms they don't. They can just check and see if there's something that'll be there when they get there, or likely to be (if they're risk-takers). Which is another thing that makes a free trader more like an old-time tramp, and not like a tramp or a trucker of today - the free trader is out of communication for a week, and when they get back into comms, it's at the destination. A modern tramp or trucker is never out of it, so even if things change mid-trip, they'll know about it and can start yelling at their agent to fix it.
Both.... Kinda. Y'all should look at the dhow trade in the Indian Ocean.
A more apt comparison would be a Cargo Plane with a passenger section. Note these do exist, but one needs to access such flights through same channel as Charter services are brokered,
Sure they do.
If you'd like to try your hand at being a successful market day trader, you can do that right now. This instant. No experience necessary. Instant comms will happily tell you how much of your shirt you're losing, and how fast.
