MGT Only: MgT 1: Are Luxuries Too Cheap?

[TheDark]

Working on the Druid Armed Yacht has led me to question if luxuries are too cheap. A Steward needs a stateroom (4 dTons, Cr. 500,000). Even if crew is double-berthed, the Steward takes up 2 dTons and has an up-front berthing cost of Cr. 250,000. Their monthly maintenance is Cr. 2,000 in salary and Cr. 1,500 in life support*, so Cr. 3,500 monthly.

The same 2 dTons devoted to luxuries provides the equivalent of Steward 2 (1 point per ton of luxuries), costs Cr. 200,000, and has a monthly maintenance cost of Cr. 16.67 (Cr. 200000 * 0.01% = Cr. 200 annually, divided by 12 is Cr. 16.67 per month). Over a year, the luxuries are Cr. 41,800 less expensive to maintain than keeping a Steward on staff, plus you saved Cr. 50,000 up front on reduced crew space (yes, it doesn't work exactly like that since there aren't "half staterooms," but for a volume/cost efficiency comparison I'm pretending there are).

Unless you have an extremely skilled Steward, luxuries are likely to be cheaper and more space-efficient than having a Steward on staff. My first impression is that the cost should be significantly higher, possibly as high as Cr. 1,000,000 per dTon to install, which would increase the monthly maintenance cost to Cr. 83.33 per dTon of luxuries. They're still quite a bit cheaper on the monthly cost than having a Steward, but now the up-front cost gives a reason for ships on a shoestring budget to not simply install a dTon of luxuries for every few staterooms so that they can carry High Passage passengers without needing a Steward on staff.

*While Life Support and Supplies on page 138 only mentions Cr. 2,000 per stateroom, the Costs and Maintenance table on page 137 lists in passing that double-occupancy staterooms pay Cr. 3,000 for monthly life support costs.

 

[Condottiere]

Depends on how you'd define luxuries.

Pretty sure that a eighteen carat toilet is manufactured and priced differently (considering that you could probably three dee print it and gold becomes dirt cheap), and that advanced technology wouldn't have that great a difference in fabrication costs for more or less the same function(ality).

Unless it now becomes completely automated.

 

[kilemall]

Two ways to go IMO-

Luxuries must be PER stateroom.

Must have steward in addition to luxuries for the lux to take effect.

 

[willtron3030]

Depends on how you'd define luxuries.

Pretty sure that a eighteen carat toilet is manufactured and priced differently (considering that you could probably three dee print it and gold becomes dirt cheap), and that advanced technology wouldn't have that great a difference in fabrication costs for more or less the same function(ality).

Unless it now becomes completely automated.

My daughter's alma mater had automated toilet/bidet/dryer systems in the student union. I knew tuition was high, but...

 

[coliver988]

My daughter's alma mater had automated toilet/bidet/dryer systems in the student union. I knew tuition was high, but...

considering how many students steal toilet paper - it may have actually been a cost-cutting measure!

edit: speaking for friend....

 

[Condottiere]

Next stage is probably deep clean.

Which is why user identification is going to be so important.

 

[TheDark]

Two ways to go IMO-

Luxuries must be PER stateroom.

Must have steward in addition to luxuries for the lux to take effect.

I like these, and they're both relatively simple. Working them out as mechanics:

Per stateroom is effectively doubling the size/cost of luxuries, since each dTon of them will allow 1 High Passage instead of 2. I don't think that's enough for me, but it is simple, easy to remember, and probably would work for other peoples' TUs.

Requiring a steward in addition to luxuries is a good idea but explicitly counter to rules as written, where luxuries allow Middle and High Passage "without carrying a trained steward on board" (MgT1 Core Rulebook, pg. 110). With that said, any change involves some punting of RAW, so it could work for universes where stewards are absolutely necessary and valuable. I could see it working one of two ways mechanically. First is that any level of Steward can use any level of luxuries, while the second is that only a number of luxuries equal to the Steward's skill level can be used (e.g. if the ship has 4 dTons of luxuries and a Steward-2, only 2 additional levels of Steward can be added).

I also thought of a couple ideas, both related to cost.

First, the pricing could be changed to Cr. 100,000 multiplied by the square of tonnage of luxuries, to reflect that more expensive items have to be acquired as the volume expands. In table form:

Tons	Price (Cr.)
1	100,000
2	400,000
3	900,000
4	1,600,000
5	2,500,000

This makes it relatively affordable to have a small number of luxuries on a mixed-type ship, but explains why large liners don't replace stewards with enough luxuries for 50 or 100 passengers.

The second idea I had was to alter the maintenance cost, justifying it as luxuries would get used up quickly and their relative scarcity would make replacement more expensive - where your "typical" supplies might be heavily preserved foods, luxuries are going to be fresh things that spoil (think of Kaylee's strawberries from Firefly). The simplest way to do this would be to take their .1% annual maintenance and make it a monthly maintenance (so instead of Cr. 8.33 per month, a dTon of luxuries would cost Cr. 100 per month to maintain).

As another rule not directly related to cost but still tied to maintenance, the luxury's equivalent Steward rating could decline by 1 for each month where the maintenance cost isn't paid, with the reduced rating remaining until all missed monthly payments are made up. Again, this fits into the idea of stuff spoiling/going bad and needing to be replaced in order to support the full number of passengers.

 

[McPerth]

All of this will depend on what do you consider luxuries. Of course, silk sheets on your bed are luxuries, but not in this sense, as it neither occupy so much space nor replaces stewardship...

As I understand them, they represent extra space used for entertainment or even food, be it a gourmet style dining room (maybe even automated), a home cinema equivalent, or even a swimming pool or garden if enough of them are installed. Of course, any of this will help entertain the passengers (one of the main stewards' duty, according MT:SOM (even while being MT, I guess most of the comments about ships' functioning are valid in other versions too).

Nonetheless, I'd put the limit for them to at most half of the steward levels, the other half (or more) having to be true sewards, as there are duties no luxury can replace (someone has to care for those luxurious facilites, just to give an example).

Must have steward in addition to luxuries for the lux to take effect.

Developing this idea (not sure if in the way kilemall thought about), I'd change the rule to each ton of luxuries adding 1 to a single steward's skill (and each steward can only benefit from 1 ton of luxuries).

As a related aside, I've always thought there should be a minimum of stewards, as they the service must be given 24/7, and even in the number of passengers is low, there will always be the pesky one that would avoid a single one (no matter how skilled) the needed resting time. I feel a minimum of 3 would be needed to keep this service at full time and having them rested. Of course, this would give a big advantage to the ships carrying more passengers, but I'm OK with this, as specialized ships should be more efficient.

Of course, luxuries may have more RPG and less "practical" effect, even with no steward. A Yacht should have a minimum of them, to give an example. Another example was in my own Jump Frame and Barges Freighter design, where two tons were installed on the jump frame to increase the comfort of a crew expected to stay long time without any planetfall...

 

[Spinward Flow]

As I understand them, they represent extra space used for entertainment or even food, be it a gourmet style dining room (maybe even automated), a home cinema equivalent, or even a swimming pool or garden if enough of them are installed.

Could also account for extra baggage capacity ...

 

[Grav_Moped]

or even a swimming pool

That's not a swimming pool. It's a unrefined-fuel storage tank.

 

[Condottiere]

Traveller has game mechanics to try and keep things balanced and flowing.

Having said that, you can probably duplicate a lot of stuff, including luxuries, in the cargo hold, for a lot less cost(s).

 

[TheDark]

Unfortunately, the mechanics end up being unbalanced by Trillion Credit Squadron, as I realized while flipping through it last night.

The problem is that TCS introduces Recreational Facilities, which (for 4 dTons and Cr.100,000) substitute for a level of Steward for Medium Passage only.

This is bad design. Luxuries have the same cost in credits, take up 1/4 as much volume, and count as a level of Steward for Medium or High Passage. Without some sort of errata/house rules to make Luxuries more expensive or much larger (or Recreational Facilities much smaller or much cheaper), there's no reason to ever install Recreational Facilities, because Luxuries do more for the same price and save you 3 dTons per installation.

 

[TheDark]

After thinking on this for a while, here's how I think I'll handle it IMTU:
Recreational Facilities are unchanged (4 dTons, Cr.100,000 for 1 level of Steward for Medium Passage)
Luxuries require 4 dTons and Cr.1,000,000 to count as 1 level of Steward for Medium or High Passage. They thus are less space-efficient than a double-berthed Steward and cost more up front, but are more money-efficient over time. They're equally space-efficient with Rec. Facilities, but cost more in exchange for being able to bring in more revenue.

Now I have a different but related question - are there any canon ships with Luxuries that I'd need to rebuild because of this change? I can't think of any, but that doesn't mean they aren't out there.