High Passengers Baggage Allotments

[far-trader]

my bad, just skimmed-read and missed the first size/price line.

No worries

I have long felt that ELBs could be turned to passenger traffic, by a crew operating outside the safety/legal regs. And accepted by the truly destitute and desperate to escape a world. Figuring 4 passengers at Cr2,000 total, being half the price for each individual.

My take on ELBs is they are the original Low Berth, designed for livestock transport in the early days of expansion and settlement. After that need disappeared someone figured they could be used as ELBs in desperate need. Meanwhile improvements on the tech made much more reliable and safer versions which became the standard LB.

I also long ago figured that the "4 Low Berths" listed in the description of the Far-Trader were in fact a single ELB/Livestock LB. It has certification for passenger use only because it is grandfathered into the design. One of (if not the only) original designs still allowed that bit of tech for passenger use due to legal loop-hole issues. The Imperium would love to see the design plans killed to get that last vestige of old passenger transport off the starways.

 

[JustinInOz]

MT Refs manual page 82 page 9 section 9.

I also checked High Guard, and on page 33:

"Low berths require one-half ton per berth, at a cost of Cr50,000 each."

The clarification in the Consolidated Errata talks about:

"The volume of all accommodations was doubled from the original volumes given in High Guard to allow for access—what good does it do to put in a bunk if you can’t get to it?"

Wow. I did not know that. All those poor steerage class passengers would be stranded.

As a thought experiment, that could have contributed to the collapse of the 3rd I. All of the low passage travel dried up. No one would carry them if they could not turn a coin.

 

[atpollard]

Low passage has always been handled terribly in the game.
Especially once Medical Fast drug appears in the rules:

Cr 2000 gets 2 weeks life support for 1 person (14 person-days of LS)
0.5 dT & Cr 25,000 gets you a small craft couch
Cr 200 gets Fast Drug [Fast drug is named because it makes the universe (to its user) appear to move much more quickly; the drug slows down personal metabolism at a ratio of approximately 60 to 1. Users are extremely vulnerable because they are living at such a slow rate; but physical aging is also slowed, and the need for consumable supplies is reduced, thus allowing conservation of air and food. Fast drug takes effect immediately upon ingestion; one dose lasts for 60 days, making that time appear to be only one day.]

So purchase:
70 small craft couches (35 dT & MCr 1.75; or Cr 3646 per 2 weeks for mortgage).
14 person-days of life support (Cr 2000)
14 Dose of Fast Drug (Cr 2800)

TOTAL COST PER TRIP = Cr 8446

Place 70 ‘low passengers’ into the couches. Administer 1/5 of a dose of Fast Drug to slow their metabolism by 60:1 so that each will be slowed for the next 12 days and consume 0.2 person days (4.8 hours) of life support over those 12 days.

TOTAL EXPENSE PER LOW PASSAGE = Cr. 121.

A Ship’s Medic can administer the Fast Drug to 1 passenger every half hour filling the 70 seats over 2 days prior to departure. The drug will then begin wearing off 10 days after departure and passengers will revive at 30 minute intervals over the next 2 days and be given a meal to restore their strength before leaving the ship.

Set cost at Cr. 800 per passage. Lower initial investment. No risk of death. No ‘lottery’. Everybody wins except the undertaker.

IMTU
YMMV

 

[far-trader]

Riiight. And it's low berths that are badly handled?

There's no problem with letting effectively comatose people just sit for a week or two without attention. I'm also not aware of a rule allowing one to micro-manage the dosage. Why else would one need an antidote to cut it short then? Oh, and you're conflating the Medical Slow and Slow drugs with the Fast drug, there is no Medical Fast drug.

EDIT: In case I wasn't clear, you're missing the significance of this bit of the rule text you quoted:

"Users are extremely vulnerable because they are living at such a slow rate..."

Also, just curious, where are you going to find 70 "low" passengers??

 

[far-trader]

TOTAL EXPENSE PER LOW PASSAGE = Cr. 121.

You do realize that the recharge cost for the low berth is just Cr100?

And that by-the-rules getting Fast drug is not a given, you have to roll 8+ on a TL9+ world. Whereas there is no such restriction on low berths. I buy as many as I like when I build the ship and recharge them at any Starport (worthy of the name, class A-C in my opinion, though D might qualify)

 

[rancke]

There's no problem with letting effectively comatose people just sit for a week or two without attention.

Not according to the rules. PCs do it all the time (That is, all the time they take fast drug).

I'm also not aware of a rule allowing one to micro-manage the dosage. Why else would one need an antidote to cut it short then? Oh, and you're conflating the Medical Slow and Slow drugs with the Fast drug, there is no Medical Fast drug.

Well, it certainly sin't allowed if the version of fast drug from the rules is all that's available. OTOH, it's not that much of a stretch to imagine that if you can make one fast drug that lasts for 60 days, you can make another that lasts for 10 days.

Incidentally, someone once told ne that the Cr200 price tag was a mistake and that it should be Cr2000. I can't remember what reference he provided for that, but compared to other prices it's not implausible.

EDIT: In case I wasn't clear, you're missing the significance of this bit of the rule text you quoted:

"Users are extremely vulnerable because they are living at such a slow rate..."

I would require either the use of an antidote or a locked room at the destination starport where the passenger can sleep it off. OTOH, such locked rooms could be extremely small, little more than a locker.

Also, just curious, where are you going to find 70 "low" passengers??

Between Mora and Rhylanor, Mora and Trin, Trin and glisten, Rhylanor and Porozlo, etc. etc.

'Fast Passage' is definitely feasible. I take the fact that there is no mention of such in the setting material as evidence (not proof) that Low Berths are a lot safer than their reputation.


Hans

 

[rancke]

And that by-the-rules getting Fast drug is not a given, you have to roll 8+ on a TL9+ world.

If you're a shipping line that decides to employ fast passage, you simply order as much as you need from a reliable source. It's not like you're a casual passer-by who wants to find a source in the five days you're visiting the world.


Hans

 

[atpollard]

Riiight. And it's low berths that are badly handled?

*begin sarcasm*
Absolutely not. My Characters prefer to travel by Low Berth ... the low cost, the chance to win the lottery, the chance to die ... it all adds to the excitement of visiting new places. Low Passage is never just 'Ho, Hum. Another week, another planet.'

And it fits so well with Death during CharGen (since I get so many more chances at CharGen).

Low berths are PERFECT! Absolutely perfect.
*end sarcasm*

I'm also not aware of a rule allowing one to micro-manage the dosage. Why else would one need an antidote to cut it short then?

Nor is there a rule prohibiting it.
I am aware of no rules on reloading ammo clips, but I would not interpret the silence to imply that all ammo clips are purchased full and discarded after one use.

One use for Fast would be to slow the death of a sick character until you could reach help (at which point an antidote would be more useful than having to wait for the full 60 days to run out.)

Another use for Fast would be as part of the security system (to slow intruders) where a Fast antidote would be useful to an unaffected team member to rescue the affected team member.

How many real world long-acting drugs are not available in lower dosages for shorter durations? I simply assumed that this unknown drug works like other known drugs, rather than in an unprecidented way.

Oh, and you're conflating the Medical Slow and Slow drugs with the Fast drug, there is no Medical Fast drug.

Who are you calling a conflater?
Actually, there is no laser pistol either, but the creators told you how to extrapolate from known rules to fill in missing items. I simply applied the known Fast, Slow and Medical Slow to create a 'Medical Fast'.

EDIT: In case I wasn't clear, you're missing the significance of this bit of the rule text you quoted:
"Users are extremely vulnerable because they are living at such a slow rate..."

The significance is that if the ship is boarded by pirates while you are under the effects of Fast, you are in deep trouble. (unless you are a 60 times better shot than the pirate, so he will shoot and miss 60 times before you get off your 1 shot kill).

 

[atpollard]

You do realize that the recharge cost for the low berth is just Cr100?

...and Fast Passage LS is only Cr 29 per person plus Cr 40 for a 1/5 dose of Fast.

My Cr 121 per 'Fast Passage' included the drug, Life Support and the 1/240 Mortgage payment on the 0.5 dT small craft couch.

The Low Passage costs Cr 100 for LS plus Cr 104 for the 1/240 Mortgage payment on the 0.5 dT Low Berth.

Comparing apples to apples, that makes Fast Passage= Cr 121 vs Low Passage = Cr 204 (but dying was a bigger issue for me than price - 'coma' beats 'dead and can probably revive').