Originally posted by Genjuro:
The passenger numbers also need to include the cost of the berths themselves in order to compare them to cargo. At least for the purposes of paying off the loan.
Another good point, and the numbers point out something I noticed very early in my Traveller playing, lowberths are the best thing you can put in for revenue
No need for crew, no worries about hi-jack, and with that low lottery a chance for a little pocket change...
Which raises a point about how low berths will be handled in this exercise per MTU. First, no low lottery, how macabre. The things are really very safe in MTU. Only a roll of 12 on revival presents a problem and an attending Medic grants a -1DM. So any ship with a Medic will never* have a problem.
* barring other issues, such as damage to the casket or an overly long time in it before revival
Originally posted by Genjuro:
I'm not sure the bank will lend me the down payment
Addressed in the new and improved first post
Briefly, you've traded your interest in a type A (from mustering out) for the downpayment and architet fee to join this exercise for the chance to get something better.
Originally posted by Genjuro:
I wonder if any ship for this challenge can possibly make a profit. I have this suspicion that even on a dream (J2) route they can't actually turn a profit on freight and passengers (and I think almost certainly not on freight alone).
I'm convinced it can, since I've done it...
One Proof of Concept
Originally posted by Genjuro:
Am I right in assuming a jump takes a flat 7 days, and it takes 7 days to approach, dock, unload, take on new cargo and passengers, and get into position for the next jump? This would fit the 25 trips in 50 weeks, but I'm not sure how the time breaks down, especially time in jump.
It's closer to 6 days in jump with a half day at each end for space travel. Then 6-7 days berthed conducting business.
I touched briefly on it somewhere, and also in the new and improved first post in this thread.
My take on the transit system to system is a few hours to run to 100d, about 6 days in jump*, and then a few more hours to reach the mainworld from 100d.
Then once berthed the first order of business is offloading passengers and dealing with speculative trade. Speculative trade first because what you buy may influence your choice for your next port of call. Once you decide on your next port of call you announce it and begin attracting passengers and freight. While they trickle in over the 6-7 days in port you have time to offload your freight aboard and take care of fuelling and life support, as well as a hundred other little chores. Then you're off again. And a lucky merchie with a little skill, some credits, and hard work could be filled to capacity early and gain a day or two at each stop enabling more than the standard 25 trips a year.
* Still weighing the flat time idea, I like parts of it but I'm still partial to my old average 6 days with some variance for the actual real-space separation between two systems. For this exercise I'll probably just go with 7 days total transit to simplify.
