This reminds me of some of the small bush planes I have read about here on earth today. Small planes with special configurations (short take off and landing for example) that earn their living off small remote location delivery and retrievals. Too small and too remote for the Fed Ex and UPS' of the world.
Exactly.
![Index pointing up :point_up: ☝️](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/261d.png)
Depending on the environment/terrain, a niche role for "small bush operators" can open up which allows smaller/lighter operators to thrive where larger/heavier/higher capacity operators would struggle to survive (and probably go out of business).
Using LBB S3 The Spinward Marches as an example of this type of emergent behavior, where "bush league" tramp operators can turn a profit where the "bigger movers" cannot would be in the Aramis subsector (2 parsec range "required" to play) and along the Spinward Main running through Lanth subsector. These 2 subsectors have the lowest population out of all of the Imperial controlled subsectors in the Spinward Marches.
So what you want to do is create a "minimum crew" starship that will keep overhead expenses to the minimum (crew salary, life support, overhaul maintenance expenses, mortgage payments, etc.) which can wilderness refuel and refine its own fuel (to prevent misjumps) which can haul 5 tons of mail (guaranteed Cr25,000 revenue per port of call) and a modest amount of cargo capacity (enough to dabble in speculative goods arbitrage). If you can do that, you're all set.
![Cool :cool: :cool:](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
Since you're going to be venturing into "unprotected wilderness areas" that lack sufficient system defense patrols to chase off pirates, you're also going to need to be able to deal with the occasional "unwanted encounter" in open space. Being able to Break Off By Acceleration from unwanted intercepts is the safest way to deal with such encounters (by keeping them brief and reducing the risk of damage from exchanging fire).
For interstellar travel, G rating isn't that much of a differentiator to necessarily make it worth the tonnage to acquire. Jump is the dominant factor, getting to 100D is marginal. For earth, M4 reaches 100D in half the time of M1, but it's still only ~6hrs difference. All told, that could add up to 1 or 2 extra trips a year.
When everything is "boring/routine" all the time, this is completely correct. Powerful maneuver drives are "nice to have, but ultimately unnecessary" if the only thing you use them for is planetfall to jump point maneuvering for purely interstellar travel.
As soon as interplanetary voyages within the same star system become "useful places to go" ... that calculus changes.
Interplanetary Travel Distance by Time and Acceleration
Taking 8 days to accelerate to 8AU (so you might as well microjump it) @ 1G ... versus ... taking 4 days to accelerate to 8AU (faster than jumping) @ 4G ... can make quite a difference.
Being able to accelerate away from pirates, so they can't catch you while you're minding your own business is another angle.
Sure, you don't "need" all of those maneuver Gs just to transit 100D ... but if you need to escape from pirates with your ship intact and undamaged, it's better to have more maneuvering power than less (because that's a ship to ship combat scenario).
Cargo and passenger capacity is far more important to a merchant ship than saving a few hours on the trip into a planet from 100d.
If you're talking exclusively about transit times, you're correct.
If you're factoring in the possibility of "loss of entire starship due to it being commandeered and taken as a prize by pirates" because you couldn't fight back and got boarded ... well ... it sucks to be you.
If piracy is truly a problem, convoying and a naval escort--like a Spanish treasure fleet--are the answer.
The "big boys" can do that ... but not the little tramp starships operating as free traders. Small ACS that can barely turn a profit with a full manifest haven't got the margin to hire "protection" to follow them wherever they might want to go.
The closest you can come to that ideal is to bring your own high G, high agility fighter escort/screen which can act as "convoy escort" and can vector off to intercept (block and tackle engagement to trade fire) while the parent ship maneuvers away from the furball to safety (while remaining in the "reserve" position). It's the reason why I've been so keen on adding remarkably capable (light) fighter craft to my starship designs, rather than just "piling on the turrets" onto the main starship itself. When the objective is ESCAPE rather than SHOOT 'EM UP ... it makes more sense to invest in maneuver drives and power plants than it does to invest in power plants, turrets, gunners and life support (the latter 2 of which rapidly increase operational overhead costs).
Out gun 'em, not out run 'em!
While I appreciate the "Come and get them!" sentiment ...
... not to put too fine a point on things, but that's an inherently risky proposition. Any time that a craft is exchanging fire with an adversary, the opportunities for "bad stuff" to happen become NOT ZERO. Battle damage is expensive to repair and can easily wipe out a small time operator's profit margins for most of a year, depending on what got hit and what needs to be repaired.
Besides, if you're going "fight" unwanted interlopers, having a starship that "wallows like a garbage scow" does not make for the best platform to fight from. Taking crippling damage from an exchange of fire can bankrupt small time operators, who are then unable to recover.
So while it SOUNDS like a great idea to be able to "clear the sky" with your turrets and gunners such that NONE SHALL PASS ... there's also the
Black Knight Effect to worry about.
By contrast, this response tends to be more reliably successful (if you can do it).