gregcaires
SOC-12
Anyone have a good all time compilation of tickets and where they appear? (JTAS, 76 Patrons, Wanted: adventurers, etc.)
Mercenary Tickets
- Thread starter gregcaires
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gregcaires
SOC-12
very helpful, thank you.
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
For Classic or Mongoose or Traveller 5?
Does it matter? All of the tickets I've seen are pretty "system free", being basically adventure seeds.
"Mercenary Ticket -- Cadre. Small team to train and lead indigenous native transport crew used in impromptu boarding and landing actions. TL3. Pay is shares of booty and rum. Contact Capt. Kidd"
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
Actually, I was just curious of I would get a response from Robject.
As for mercenary tickets, I could put together a pretty long list just by drawing on historical examples. The American Volunteer Group in China in 1942, William Walker in Central America in the 1850s, Clive in India, Sir Samuel Baker's campaign against the Slave Trade in the Sudan in the late 1860s, the Conquistadors in Central and South America, the Condittieri in Italy, all are great starting points for tickets.
kilemall
SOC-14 5K
The Ever Victorious Army is the ULTIMATE Mercenary Cadre ticket-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ever_Victorious_Army
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Townsend_Ward
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
I considered mentioning both Chinese Gordon and Frederick Ward, but was not sure if enough people knew about them. Then there is also Homer Lea under Sun Yat-Sen. There were also some fairly high-ranking British naval officers serving with the Chinese Navy in 1894.
kilemall
SOC-14 5K
The Texas-Mexican-Yucatan naval battles, between San Jacinto and the Mexican War, involved British captains and crews commissioned to operate Mexican warships, and Americans serving on both sides.
kilemall
SOC-14 5K
Here's a simple system.
Figure the risk factor known to or at least agreed upon in the Contract, on a factor of 1-10 (1 being a milk run, 3 being a security mission against lightly armed opponents, 5 being a short sharp fight against functional opponents, 7 a month long conventional war, and 10 being all out maximum nuclear war).
Add up the cost of the salaries as detailed in the Mercenary book plus transport to the world.
Cost the salaries and profits on a scale of .4 above salary per risk factor (so you charge 1.4 times salary for risk factor 1, 3 times salary for risk 5, 5 times salary for risk 10 and bring the nuclear dampers).
On equipment, if the unit is providing it's own use the same scale with just .2 times risk factor, or if the ticket is open-ended warfare, repair and replacement as costs that the patron pays, with likely some adjudication process for 'operator error'. Or, the patron buys it and the merc ticket provides for a 10% bonus for all surviving equipment turned in (and charges for any the mercs keep), or the equipment IS the signing bonus.
Repatriation Bond, covering transport to the local starport and transport costs back to the mercenary base and 90% of the salary for time served, deposited in escrow and registered, in most cases before before the mercs even ship out.
Most intelligent combatants support the principles of Repatriation, and are usually trying to find out the circumstances under which it can be triggered short of an all-out destructive fight with the mercs.
If a merc ticket was underrated for risk factor, the merc company can demand an immediate upgrade in pay appropriate to the situation, and if not forthcoming they are entitled to stop fighting and execute their repatriation bond.
Of course, they are risking their reputation, but if it turns out the patron understated the risk to save on costs, the merc community and it's customers will support the repatriation as a matter of professional contractual honor and market value support.
Finally, top merc outfits can probably demand a 10-100% bonus over the above, and mercenary companies just starting out may have to forego a good deal of the standard profit, or possibly the repatriation bond itself.
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
This is what I would call the idea situation, but I am not sure how many mercenary tickets would be that good in terms of pay. Just the reparation bond of a small 125-man company at medium passage rates would run a Million Credits, assuming one jump between base and contract. As mercs would run a lot more expensive than local troops, if available, any hiring group is going to try to keep expenses as low as possible.
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
I am aware of at least one history of the Texas Navy that is around. And the British also ran the navy of the Honorable East India Company, often called the Bombay Marine. A writer named Ellis Meacham wrote a 3-book series on the Bombay Marine in the period circa 1805 to 1810 that was quite good. I would rate them on par with the C.S. Forester "Horatio Hornblower" books.
Then you have this one: The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Expedition to Borneo of H.M.S. Dido, by Henry Keppel and James Brooke.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/22903/22903-h/22903-h.htm
James Brooke ended up as Rajah of Sarawak on the island of Borneo.
kilemall
SOC-14 5K
I seem to recall the original Merc ticket repatriation verbiage including the offworld ticket.
Ok, went and looked it up, it is free passage to the starport and low passage off, so yes quite a bit cheaper for the sponsor/patron. But I wouldn't touch boot to planet without one.
But remember, the merc company is in this to make money too. I would venture to say that most tickets were not reasonably renumerative, and transport costs to 'the job' would eat up any profits built into them.
Heck, even having your own transport won't drop the costs that much, factor in life support costs then debt service on the craft AND the intermittent nature of merc work. May have to take some lowly merch jobs to keep that 800-ton cruiser at wodk.
And low passage for the troops at CT survival rates means losing X percentage of your force before you even land, possibly critical skill sets.
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
I cannot imagine any mercenary unit using low passage to get to a job, simply because of the chance of that. Whoever wrote that part of the rules was not thinking of how people actually act.
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