CT Only: Spinward Flex Courier

[Spinward Flow]

Vilis A593943 – A (Industrial) to Saurus D888588 – 7 (Agricultural, Non-industrial)
Vilis world size: 5 (8000km)
100 diameters: 800,000km

Origin (Vilis): Starport A, Size 5, Population 9
Destination (Saurus): Starport D, Size 8, Population 5
DM: +0 (passenger), +0 (cargo), +3 (tech level), +1 first die (speculative cargo)
Passengers: 3D-1D High, 3D Middle, 5D Low
Cargo: 1D+5 Major, 1D+6 Minor, 1D-2 Incidental
Starship Encounters: A 2D

Cargo
1D+8 = 2+8 = 10 Major (10, 10, 20, 50, 30, 20, 50, 40, 50, 50 ton lots)
1D+9 = 2+9 = 11 Minor (30, 10, 10, 20, 15, 10, 5, 10, 15, 25, 25 ton lots)
1D+1 = 6+1 = 7 Incidental (5, 2, 4, 4, 3, 6, 2 ton lots)

Speculative Cargo (buy)
66 Vacc Suits (TL=10). Cr 400,000 per ton (base price), DM: -3 price modifier. 30 tons
Buy price (2D-3=7-3=4): 70% base price (MCr 8.4)

Speculative Cargo (sell)
53 Computers (TL=6). MCr 10 (base price), DM: +0 price modifier. Broker-4 available at type C starports (LBB7, p41). 5x 1 ton model/1bis (MCr 20 actual total value)
Sell price (2D+0+4=2+4=6): 90% base price (MCr 18 total for 5x model/1bis, MCr 3.6 Broker-4 fee, Cr 400,000 profit not subject to subsidy)



Spinward Flex Courier

Breakout from jump at ~100 diameters from Vilis/Vilis occurs at 1h 162-1105, ~800,000km from Vilis.
Transit to Vilis downport is 800,000km, which at 6G takes 122 minutes (3 hours). During this descent to Vilis (2D6=3) there are no starship encounters.

By 4h 162-1105 the Spinward Flex Courier has touched down in their assigned berth at the starport planetside.
The Spinward Flex Courier has (up to 5 tons of) x-mail, 5 tons of speculative cargo (to send to a reputable broker to sell) plus an additional 35 tons of major and minor cargo to unload, all of which requires only 45 minutes (1 hour) to complete by 5h 162-1105.

Berthing Fees: Cr 100 for 6 days
X-mail Delivery revenue: Cr 25,000 (LBB2.81, p9)​

Fuel state aboard the Spinward Flex Courier is that 38.8 tons were used for a single jump-2 and the power plant has been operational for 12 days (5 tons), leaving only 6.7 tons of refined fuel remaining in the fuel tanks upon arrival at the Vilis starport. The captain decides to use wilderness refueling in the ocean on day 3 after arrival (165-1105), which will leave plenty of time for fuel purification to complete while waiting for x-mail and cargo to be brought to the starport for loading. Routine 16 hour drive maintenance will be completed while the captain negotiates for x-mail and cargo to be delivered to Saurus.

Since Vilis is an Industrial world with an average interstellar community level of technology (TL=A) with a type A starport, negotiations for x-mail and cargo bound for Saurus takes only 1 day, with cargo scheduled to arrive 4 days later at the starport by the morning of 167-1105, ship time (5 days after arrival planetside). All crew are to report fit for duty the morning of 167-1105, ship time.

On 162-1105 the Spinward Flex Courier captain makes arrangements through a highly reputable brokerage firm to sell the five model/1bis computers transported from Margesi. Sadly, the demand for starship computers of this type is decidedly soft at the moment and when auctioned off on 166-1105 the brokerage firm is not able to make a sale at 100% market value, with the highest bid being a mere 90% of market value. After brokerage commission fees (20% of sale price) are paid, the net profit on this speculative cargo (not including shipping) amounts to a mere Cr 400,000. Resolution of the transfers of funds to the Spinward Flex Courier captain are completed before departure from the Vilis downport on 167-1105.

Speculative Cargo sale: MCr 14.4 (not subject to subsidy)​

While negotiating for x-mail and cargo on 163-1105, the brokerage firm handling the auctioning of the model/1bis computers from Margesi notifies the Spinward Flex Courier captain of a large lot of vacc suits that are being offered for purchase at below market price. The captain takes advantage of the tip and purchases the 30 ton lot of vacc suits for sale on either Saurus, Lanth or if necessary, D'Ganzio (there's no market for vacc suits on Tavonni). Delivery of the speculative cargo to the downport will not delay departure on 167-1107.

The captain books (up to 5 tons of) x-mail, along with 30 tons of speculative cargo (which the captain has to "buy" cargo space for to balance the books on the subsidy) and a one minor cargo of 10 tons.

Life Support cost: Cr 4,000 (2 staterooms)
Cargo Transport revenue: Cr 40,000 (40 tons)
Speculative Cargo purchase: MCr 8.4 (30 tons)
Speculative Cargo transport cost: Cr 30,000 (30 tons)​

Cargo loading begins at 10h 167-1105 with all x-mail and cargo finished loading aboard the Spinward Flex Courier in 45 minutes (1 hour) by 11h 167-1105.

After a 1 hour liftoff delay due to congested flight traffic, clearance to liftoff from the Vilis starport is granted at 12h 167-1105, followed by transit to an outbound jump point, a distance of 800,000km, which at 6G takes an additional 122 minutes (3 hours) to complete. During this transit to the jump point (2D6=4) no starship is encountered.

At 15h 167-1105, the Spinward Flex Courier initiates jump-2 to Saurus/Vilis.
Time spent in jump will be 162 hours.
On 171-1105, the captain pays out the another half-month of crew salaries prior to breakout at Saurus.

Crew Salaries (2 weeks): Cr 3500​

Breakout from jump at ~100 diameters from Saurus/Vilis will occur at 9h 174-1105.

Total gross costs in Vilis system: Cr 8,437,600
Total gross revenue in Vilis system: Cr 65,000
Remaining revenue after subsidy: Cr 32,500
Speculative Cargo sale: MCr 14.4 (not subject to subsidy)
Net profit in Vilis system: Cr 5,994,900
Total net profit from 0h 001-1105 through 9h 174-1105: Cr 11,841,550​

 

[Spinward Flow]

Once again ... interesting results.

whartung's fears about interstellar price gouging potential ironically failed to come to pass when the price for the model/1bis computers at Vilis yielded a (2D=2) result before the brokerage modifier, the absolute worst possible outcome ... but which, as previously predicted still managed to yield a small profit (of Cr 400,000 not including transport costs) as anticipated. Curious how that happens when you buy at 70% market price and sell at 90% market price with a 20% brokerage fee based on the sale price. You still come out ahead on profit overall, but the margin is slim compared to the potential. Definitely a missed opportunity to realize a nice fat payday there, but any speculative cargo you can "walk away from" with a profit was not a bad choice. In other words, better luck next time.

Another interesting "feature" of the race that is popping up again is the fact that although the Far Trader is actually managing to liftoff with a completely full manifest from Vilis (7 high passengers, 4 low passengers, 61 tons of cargo!) yielding the highest gross revenue possible for the ship outside of speculative cargo considerations ... once again the drag on profits due to the lack of a fuel purification plant creating a necessity to purchase refined fuel at the starport is really hurting Team Far Trader's profit margins under subsidy.

Team Far Trader gross revenue (not including speculative cargo): Cr 135,570
Team Spinward Flex Courier gross revenue (not including speculative cargo): Cr 65,000
Advantage: Far Trader by Cr 70,570 in gross revenue (not including speculative cargo)

So the Far Trader is earning more than double the revenue of the Spinward Flex Courier.

And yet, because the Far Trader needed to buy refined fuel and had to pay for that refined fuel out of the 50% of gross revenue the Far Trader receives under subsidy, even with their more than double gross revenue advantage(!) the Spinward Flex Courier managed to earn a larger profit margin after paying operating overhead costs through the Vilis system ... despite booking no passengers at all and less total cargo (61 tons vs 40+5 tons).

Team Far Trader net profit in Vilis system: Cr 5,985,335
Team Spinward Flex Courier net profit in Vilis system: Cr 5,994,900
Advantage: Spinward Flex Courier by Cr 9565

This simply keeps happening in this race. :rant:
Even with Team Far Trader earning more than double the revenue on passengers and (bulk) cargo ... their higher overhead operating costs (life support, crew salaries, fuel) keep damaging their profit margin relative to the lower revenue but also lower (and therefore more efficient?) overhead operating costs of Team Spinward Flex Courier.

Of course, I figured this would happen before the race even started, but it's still remarkable to see the vindication of that prediction happening almost every single time Team Far Trader needs to buy fuel when Team Spinward Flex Courier can simply wilderness refuel for free.
That fuel purification plant is so TOTALLY paying for itself (and more) in terms of costs avoided! :coffeesip:

And as if that wasn't enough, Team Spinward Flex Courier is now running 8 days 13 hours ahead of Team Far Trader, and that time advantage is only going to grow as the Race To Profitability continues through the final four ports of call on the way back to D'Ganzio (and the finish line after completing annual maintenance). The irony, of course, is the fact that Team Far Trader managed to leave D'Ganzio at the start of the race 3 hours ahead of Team Spinward Flex Courier, because the Spinward Flex Courier started the race by navigating all the way out to the nearest gas giant to D'Ganzio (hydrographic code: 0) to fuel up (for free) for the jump to Lanth. The fact that the Spinward Flex Courier could fly 600,000,000km o: to the gas giant and back(!) in time to pick up x-mail and cargo and be only 3 hours(!) behind at the time of jump to Lanth is just ... remarkable.

That time differential is going to have an effect on the Profit Per Hour rate when discarding speculative cargo profits from the calculation by the bean counters in the Accounting Department in judging the relative merits of both teams and their starships. Most of those "hours saved" have been in transits to and from jump points (and the pirate attack at Choleosti didn't help Team Far Trader's time) but sometimes there's also an hour saved here and there due to the differences in cargo hold capacity. However, it's been rather ... educational ... seeing those hours slowly accumulate on Team Spinward Flex Courier's side of the ledger. When time equals money ... it can make a difference, particularly over the 40 year span of a starship's ownership. Being able to squeeze out additional entire extra circuits along a trading route over 40 years means that many more opportunities to land a sweet sweet payday on a speculative cargo arbitrage. Think about it.



So I can only hope that everyone still following developments in this race is as entertained as I've been watching both teams jockeying for position going into the tail end of this particular trading route.

See you next time, at Saurus!

 

[bookwyrm]

Jump-2 model

Trade in Traveller, as far as Players are concerned (with the smaller ships they usually have), is based on a jump-2 model (with a Maneuver 1-2).

another thing is the 1 week in jump and 1 week in port, or 14 days.

for those who are interested in a campaign where these details are important to the game, higher Maneuver Drives and 6 days in port instead of 7, you can save Credits from not paying for day 7, and keeping track of time to see how many extra jumps a year you can get. on the 25 jumps a year model, going to 6 days in port gives an extra 25 days, and if you can save enough time with higher M Drives for an extra 1 or 2 days, that's 2 extra jumps for extra revenue. for Merchants, I think you would want to find the minimum M Drive that would get you that 2 extra jumps for trade. for those who can only get that one extra jump, the extra time could be used for adventure, vacation, emergency repairs, fill in the blank...

once again, thanks to all the Posters on this Thread. everything shared has been greatly informative.

I wonder how an extra 1-2 jumps a year would affect Traders with Jump 3+? I see a long weekend with my calculator and T20. this could have interesting effects in all Rule Sets for Trading.

 

[Spinward Flow]

Trade in Traveller, as far as Players are concerned (with the smaller ships they usually have), is based on a jump-2 model (with a Maneuver 1-2).

There are multiple reasons for this default assumption ... and some of the most prominent among them are the LBB2 and LBB S7 trading starships that are "constrained" by having J1/1G drives (primarily because of the standard hull vs custom hull rules for drive sections in LBB2 starship construction).

There's also the fact that smaller/less powerful drives are both cheaper (always a factor!) and allow for a greater fraction of the starship's tonnage to be devoted to revenue generating features (staterooms, low berths, internal cargo bay, etc.).

Speaking just for myself ... if I were (re)designing the "default" baseline starships to be used in a Traveller setting as merchant ships, I would personally set a minimum drive performance of Jump-2, Maneuver-2, Power Plant-2 and if armament is to be added it ought to be limited to missiles and sandcasters only (since those weapons consume no energy and have no impact on agility). Computer is then either 1bis (cheapskate) or 2 (better for combat). After that, as a commercial ship priority, I would insist on a fuel purification plant (because wilderness refueling is a MASSIVE savings over time!) and choose the cheapest hull configuration that is streamlined for atmospheric landings and water ocean refueling (which is configuration: 6, flattened sphere). After that, it's mainly making sure that the cargo bay size is a multiple of 5, with a preference for multiples of 10 (to match major/minor cargo size rules). Beyond those imperatives, everything is negotiable.

another thing is the 1 week in jump and 1 week in port, or 14 days.

Yeah ... about that ...
The biggest constraint on faster turnarounds on time between arrivals and departures is the need to wait 4 days for cargo to arrive at the starport after booking it. That built in 4 day delay (unless if you want to pay more for a "rush" on the delivery to the starport) is the main factor keeping starships docked in port with downtime to burn every week.

As was pointed out in previous threads featuring my High-G Trader ship designs in this forum, the amount of time it takes to get from a world surface (or orbit) out to 100 diameters distant really isn't that long ... except around gas giants (as demonstrated at Choleosti in this thread). Still, an hour here, an hour there ... when Time Is Money that's going to add up over the useful lifetime of a starship.

Since the two teams are "racing" each other (kind of) I've tried to argue for shorter turnaround times than 7 days in dock then 7 days in jump, with 5-6 days berthed at starports being the more typical tempo of operations ... but a lot of that depends on factors such as starport type and technology level for ease of communications and the arrangements of commerce. Again, this is where underdeveloped "backwater" worlds have economic conditions that present greater "friction" to a faster pace of cycle in/cycle out timing as I've been at pains to detail (mainly since it makes the different mainworlds unique, rather than simply being interchangeable cookie cutters of each other).

If, as a Referee, you don't offer "local flavor" for different places ... are they really all that different from each other in the minds of your Players?

once again, thanks to all the Posters on this Thread. everything shared has been greatly informative.

Glad you've been enjoying the results of the Race To Profitability thus far. There have indeed been some consequences in the details of starship design choices which have had enormous knock on effects once the ships are actually "put through their paces" in an actual campaign style of setting. It has been a lot of fun for me too seeing all of those little details come into play, particularly since they're rarely "sexy" enough to warrant mentioning when designing starships at the Naval Architect's Office.

I wonder how an extra 1-2 jumps a year would affect Traders with Jump 3+? I see a long weekend with my calculator and T20. this could have interesting effects in all Rule Sets for Trading.

That's an exercise best left for the ambitious overachiever playing the home game.

However, as an extra credit challenge, one of the ideas I have been toying with is that with an inflatable fuel bladder and a sufficiently large cargo bay (with no cargo in it) so as to achieve 2J2 performance at times, it's possible to run a 12 star system (and 1 empty deep space parsec) route like this one from Lunion/Lunion to Heroni/Mora to Lanth/Lanth to Frenzie/Vilis.

3 Subsector Capitals Trade Route (imgur link)

• Industrial Worlds on route: 3
• Agricultural Worlds on route: 3 (one of which is also a Rich World)
• Subsector Capitals: 3 (Lunion, Lanth, Frenzie)
• Starports that are NOT type A or B on route: Saurus (D) and Tavonni (E)
• TL=11+ worlds with Starport type A or B: Lanth, D'Ganzio, Lunion
• TL=13+ worlds with Starport type A or B: D'Ganzio, Lunion
• Potential subsidy governments: Vilis, Heroni, Lunion
• Total number of Jump-1 on route: ONE ... Garda-Vilis to Vilis
• Total Star Systems: 12 (maximum for a subsidy)
• Total Distance: 23 parsecs (one way, reverse)

However, because there's a deep space hex to pass through (to get across the Lanth Abyss), use of an inflatable fuel bladder and a large enough empty cargo bay (40 tons minimum, I'm thinking) makes the 2J2 range performance a necessity to run this route from end to end (Frenzie to Lunion).

And it's precisely that kind of "freedom to navigate" away from the Jump-1 mains in search of new market opportunities on new trade routes that the 5G TL=11 Spinward X-Courier and the 6G TL=13 Spinward Flex Courier were designed and built to exploit in ways that help bind the different worlds on the frontier of the Third Imperium in the Spinward Marches together ... not just through commerce and trade, but also through correspondence and communications carried in their Mail Vaults.

 

[Spinward Flow]

Saurus D888588 – 7 (Agricultural, Non-industrial) to Tavonni E567000 – 0 (Barren, G) to Lanth ^X A879533 – B 2 (Non-industrial, Subsector Capital)
Saurus world size: 8 (13,700km)
100 diameters (Saurus): 1,370,000km

Origin (Saurus): Starport D, Size 8, Population 5
Destination (Lanth): Starport A - Naval and Scout Bases, Size 8, Population 5
DM (Saurus to Lanth): +0 (passenger), +0 (cargo), -4 (tech level), -1 first die (speculative cargo)
DM (Saurus to Tavonni): -3 (passenger), -4 (cargo), +7 (tech level), -1 first die (speculative cargo)
Passengers: 2D-1D High, 3D-2D Middle, 3D-1D Low
Cargo: 1D+1 Major, 1D+2 Minor, No Incidental
Starship Encounters: D 2D (Saurus, 9 is pirate)

Passengers (Lanth)
2D-1D-4 = 9-4-4 = 1 High
3D-2D-4 = 8-8-4 = 0 Middle
3D-1D-4 = 8-2-4 = 2 Low

Passengers (Tavonni)
2D-1D+4 = 5-6+4= 3 High
3D-2D+4 = 9-9+4 = 4 Middle
3D-1D+4 = 14-3+4 = 15 Low

Cargo (Lanth)
1D-3 = 2-3 = 0 Major
1D-2 = 2-2 = 0 Minor

Cargo (Tavonni)
1D+4 = 1+4 = 5 Major (20, 50, 60, 30, 10 ton lots)
1D+5 = 4+5 = 9 Minor (25, 20, 20, 25, 25, 15, 10, 25, 15 ton lots)

Speculative Cargo (buy)
53 Computers. MCr 10 per ton (base price), DM: +0 price modifier. 4x TL=7 model/2 computers (8 tons)
Buy price (2D+0=6): 90% base price (MCr 32.4)

Speculative Cargo (sell)
66 Vacc Suits (TL=10). Cr 400,000 per ton (base price), DM: +2 price modifier (no broker). 30 tons
Buy price (2D+2=12+2=14): 300% base price (MCr 36)



Far Trader

Breakout from jump at ~100 diameters from Saurus/Vilis occurs at 22h 182-1105, ~1,370,000km from Saurus.
Transit to Saurus orbit is 1,360,000km, which at 1G takes 389 minutes (7 hours). During this descent to Saurus (2D6=10) there is an encounter with a 200-ton Free Trader departing for a jump point. Rumors and trade gossip flow freely over the comm channels until the Free Trader captain divulges that there is a local manufacturer on Saurus that has a collection of locally made model/2 computers suitable for installation into starships for sale, which the Free Trader had to pass up due to insufficient liquid cash flow and being bound for Vilis/Vilis next (via 2 Jump-1) which would have been a poor market to sell those computers into, even with the type A starport shipyard at Vilis since Vilis is an Industrialized world.

At 5h 183-1105 the Far Trader is given landing clearance from their parking orbit and a descent trajectory for the Saurus starport on the ground. It takes 1 hour for the Far Trader to complete atmospheric entry and taxi to their assigned berth at the starport. By 6h 183-1105 passengers begin to disembark and the unloading of cargo begins. Of the 4 low passengers, their survival (5+ on 2D6) rolls are 3, 9, 3 and 6, resulting in 2 fatalities who cannot be revived to depart the starship under their own power.

Unloading of 36 tons of cargo will require 144 minutes (3 hours). All cargo unloading is completed by 9h 183-1105. The 30 tons of Vacc Suits are kept in the cargo bay pending potential offers from local buyers for the speculative cargo.
Once the unloading of passengers and cargo has been completed, the captain pays out the another half-month of crew salaries so the crew can afford to "waste their pay" on Saurus if they are so inclined.

Berthing Fees: Cr 100 for 6 days
Crew Salaries (2 weeks): Cr 6950​

Fuel state aboard the Far Trader is that 40 tons were used for a single jump-2 and the power plant has been operational for 13 days since the last refueling (4.7 tons), leaving 5.3 tons of fuel remaining. Since Saurus has a world size: 8 and a 1G surface gravity, the Far Trader is incapable of wilderness refueling on Saurus and must purchase fuel from the starport. The captain decides to purchase only 44 tons of unrefined fuel from the starport, which potentially could result in a misjump. Fuel loading takes 1 hour and is completed by 10h 183-1105.

Unrefined Fuel: Cr 4400 (44 tons)​

Since Saurus has a pre-interstellar tech level (TL=7) and a type D starport, it will require multiple days to negotiate for passengers and cargo to transport to Lanth (first priority) and Tavonni (standby priority). It takes 2 days to negotiate for the cargo and an additional 4 days for the cargo to arrive for loading onto the Far Trader. The captain schedules departure from Saurus by no later than 20h 189-1105 so as to not have to pay an additional Cr 100 for an extra day's worth of berthing fees. During this interval, routine 16 hour drive maintenance is performed and crew are given some leave time outside the starship (to waste some of their pay) provided they return fit for duty on the morning of 189-1105 (ship time).

On 183-1105 the Far Trader captain puts out a public notice that their ship has brought 30 tons of Vacc Suits from Vilis that are available for sale and within hours an inundation of offers to buy the Vacc Suits arrives from a multitude of possible buyers, ranging from marine sciences enterprises (for use underwater), private mining companies, public sector contractors in the local aerospace industries and many other various and sundry individuals and interests all clamoring with bids to buy the entire lot of Vacc Suits. By the following day, on 184-1105, the Far Trader captain accepts the highest bid for the speculative cargo, ultimately selling them for MCr 36 for all 30 tons to a consortium of aerospace industries that pooled their resources to make the winning combined bid offer.

However, once the aerospace industry consortium has won the bid for the Vacc Suits, one of the negotiators offers a partial trade of goods for them in the form of the lot of model/2 starship computers that the outbound Free Trader captain had previously mentioned they lacked the funds to purchase (and a suitable market at Vilis/Vilis to sell into). Since the consortium is willing to sell the computers at a wholesale price, rather than retail, to the Far Trader captain in partial trade/payment for the TL=10 Vacc Suits, the captain is able to obtain the lot of model/2 computers for only MCr 32.4, less than the MCr 36 bid for the Vacc Suits, so the captain is still making a profit on the trade and everyone is satisfied with the negotiated balance of the final transaction. Delivery of the computers to the starport for loading onto the Far Trader will be completed in time for liftoff on 189-1105.

The Far Trader captain accepts bookings for 1 high passenger bound for Lanth, 3 high passengers bound for Tavonni, 3 middle passengers also bound for Tavonni, 2 low passengers bound for Lanth, 2 low passengers bound for Tavonni, along with 8 tons of speculative cargo bound for Lanth (which the captain has to "buy" cargo space for to balance the books on the subsidy) and a single major cargo shipment of 50 tons bound for Tavonni.

Life Support cost: Cr 20,000 (10 staterooms), Cr 400 (4 low berths)
Passenger revenue: Cr 40,000 (high), Cr 24,000 (middle), Cr 4000 (low)
Cargo Transport revenue: Cr 58,000 (58 tons)
Speculative Cargo sale: MCr 36 (30 tons of Vacc Suits, not subject to subsidy)
Speculative Cargo purchase: MCr 32.4 (4x model/2 computers, 8 tons)
Speculative Cargo transport cost: Cr 8000 (8 tons)​

Cargo loading of 58 tons requires 232 minutes (6 hours), from 13h 189-1105 to 19h 189-1105, during which all passengers are brought onboard.

Clearance to depart Saurus starport is finally granted at 20h 189-1105 as previously scheduled for transit to an outbound jump point, a distance of 1,370,000km. The Far Trader requires 1 hour to ascend the 1G gravity well to a 10,000km orbit, followed by another 389 minutes (7 hours) at 1G to complete the transit to the jump point. During this transit to the jump point (2D6=10) there is a starship encounter with yet another 200-ton Free Trader, this time entering the system having come from Vilis. Rumors, gossip and tips about local eateries a little bit away from the starport are shared over comm channels.

At 4h 190-1105, the Far Trader initiates jump-2 to Tavonni/Vilis and (2D=11) there is no misjump.
Time spent in jump will be 164 hours.
Breakout from jump at ~100 diameters from Tavonni/Vilis will occur at 0h 197-1105.

Total gross costs in Saurus system: Cr 32,439,850
Total gross revenue in Saurus system: Cr 126,000
Remaining revenue after subsidy: Cr 63,000
Speculative Cargo sale: MCr 36 (not subject to subsidy)
Net profit in Saurus system: Cr 3,623,150
Total net profit from 0h 001-1105 through 0h 197-1105: Cr 9,434,410​

 

[Spinward Flow]

Saurus D888588 – 7 (Agricultural, Non-industrial) to Tavonni E567000 – 0 (Barren, G) to Lanth ^X A879533 – B 2 (Non-industrial, Subsector Capital)
Tavonni world size: 5 (8100km)
100 diameters (Tavonni): 810,000km

Starship Encounters: E 2D (Tavonni, 11-12 is pirate)
Gas Giant: Tavonni data entry contains no information on distance to gas giants (4) from the mainworld





Far Trader

Breakout from jump at ~100 diameters from Tavonni/Vilis occurs at 0h 197-1105.
Transit across 810,000km to the type E "starport" on the surface of Tavonni (a flat meadow space with a landing beacon) at 1G takes 300 minutes (5 hours). During this descent maneuver (2D6=7) no other starships are encountered. The Far Trader successfully sets down at the automated Tavonni "starport" by 5h 197-1105 for passengers and cargo bound for Tavonni to disembark and unload.

Unloading of 50 tons of cargo will require 250 minutes (7 hours). All cargo unloading is completed by 12h 197-1105. The 8 tons of model/2 computers are retained in the cargo bay for transport to Lanth.
Of the 2 low passengers due to disembark at Tavonni, their survival (5+ on 2D6) rolls are 10 and 3, resulting in 1 fatality who will be kept in stasis in their low berth for shipment to Lanth where the (now) corpse can be disposed of safely.

Once the unloading of passengers and cargo has been completed, the captain pays out the another half-month of crew salaries, even though there is no local economy or permanent population presence on planet for the crew to spend their salary on.

Berthing Fees: Cr 100 for 6 days
Crew Salaries (2 weeks): Cr 6950​

The Far Trader captain wants to spend as little time on Tavonni as necessary, so the standard 16 hour post-jump routine maintenance procedures are prioritized while the Far Trader remains at the "starport" (and some incidental purging and recharging of the air and water supplies aboard is performed to "freshen" the ship's interior). At 4h 198-1105 the Far Trader lifts off to spend 1 hour flying out to the Tavonni ocean for wilderness refueling, which takes another 1 hour to fill the fuel tanks back up to a full 50 tons of unrefined fuel.

At 6h 198-1105 the Far Trader lifts off from the Tavonni ocean, ascending to 810,000km out from Tavonni in 300 minutes (5 hours). During this ascent maneuver (2D6=9) a 100-ton Scout/Courier is encountered while on assignment to update IISS survey maps of the system. Notice of the passengers and cargo delivered to the Tavonni "starport" from Saurus is given to the Scout/Courier upon request, which reveals that the ground survey team the Far Trader delivered to the "starport" has been waiting almost a month for a starship to transport them and their supplies from Saurus to Tavonni so they can begin their long term survey assignment which is being supported by the Scout/Courier from orbit.

At 11h 198-1107, the Far Trader initiates jump-2 to Lanth/Lanth and (2D=10) no misjump occurs.
Time spent in jump will be 154 hours.
Breakout from jump at ~100 diameters from Lanth/Lanth will occur at 21h 204-1105.

Total gross costs in Tavonni system: Cr 7050
Total gross revenue in Saurus system: Cr 0
Remaining revenue after subsidy: Cr 0
Net profit in Tavonni system: Cr -7050
Total net profit from 0h 001-1105 through 21h 204-1105: Cr 9,724,360​

 

[Spinward Flow]

Saurus D888588 – 7 (Agricultural, Non-industrial) to Tavonni E567000 – 0 (Barren, G) to Lanth ^X A879533 – B 2 (Non-industrial, Subsector Capital)
Saurus world size: 8 (13,700km)
100 diameters (Saurus): 1,370,000km

Origin (Saurus): Starport D, Size 8, Population 5
Destination (Lanth): Starport A - Naval and Scout Bases, Size 8, Population 5
DM (Saurus to Lanth): +0 (passenger), +0 (cargo), -4 (tech level), -1 first die (speculative cargo)
DM (Saurus to Tavonni): -3 (passenger), -4 (cargo), +7 (tech level), -1 first die (speculative cargo)
Passengers: 2D-1D High, 3D-2D Middle, 3D-1D Low
Cargo: 1D+1 Major, 1D+2 Minor, No Incidental
Starship Encounters: D 2D (Saurus, 9 is pirate)

Cargo (Lanth)
1D-3 = 2-3 = 0 Major
1D-2 = 2-2 = 0 Minor

Cargo (Tavonni)
1D+4 = 1+4 = 5 Major (20, 50, 60, 30, 10 ton lots)
1D+5 = 4+5 = 9 Minor (25, 20, 20, 25, 25, 15, 10, 25, 15 ton lots)

Speculative Cargo (buy)
53 Computers. MCr 10 per ton (base price), DM: +0 price modifier. 4x TL=7 model/2 computers (8 tons)
Buy price (2D+0=6): 90% base price (MCr 32.4)

Speculative Cargo (sell)
66 Vacc Suits (TL=10). Cr 400,000 per ton (base price), DM: +2 price modifier (no broker). 30 tons
Buy price (2D+2=12+2=14): 300% base price (MCr 36)



Spinward Flex Courier

Breakout from jump at ~100 diameters from Saurus/Vilis occurs at 9h 174-1105, ~1,370,000km from Saurus.
Transit to the Saurus downport is 1,370,000km, which at 6G takes 160 minutes (3 hours). During this descent to Saurus (2D6=10) there is an encounter with a 200-ton Free Trader departing for a jump point. Rumors and trade gossip flow freely over the comm channels until the Free Trader captain divulges that there is a local manufacturer on Saurus that has a collection of locally made model/2 computers suitable for installation into starships for sale, which the Free Trader had to pass up due to insufficient liquid cash flow and being bound for Vilis/Vilis next (via 2 Jump-1) which would have been a poor market to sell those computers into, even with the type A starport shipyard at Vilis since Vilis is an Industrialized world.

By 12h 174-1105 the Spinward Flex Courier has landed safely and parked in their assigned berth at the starport. Unloading of (up to 5 tons of) x-mail and 10 tons of cargo will require 60 minutes (1 hour) and is completed by 13h 174-1105. The 30 tons of Vacc Suits are kept in the cargo bay pending potential offers from local buyers for the speculative cargo.

Berthing Fees: Cr 100 for 6 days
X-mail Delivery revenue: Cr 25,000 (LBB2.81, p9)​

Fuel state aboard the Spinward Flex Courier is that 38.8 tons were used for a single jump-2 and the power plant has been operational for 9 days since the last refueling (3.8 tons), leaving 7.9 tons of fuel remaining. The captain decides to use wilderness refueling in the ocean on day 3 after arrival (177-1105), which will leave plenty of time for fuel purification to complete while waiting for x-mail and cargo to be brought to the starport for loading. Routine 16 hour drive maintenance will be completed while the captain negotiates for x-mail and cargo.

Since Saurus has a pre-interstellar tech level (TL=7) and a type D starport, it will require multiple days to negotiate for x-mail and cargo to transport to Lanth (first priority) and Tavonni (standby priority). It takes 2 days to negotiate for the cargo and an additional 4 days for the cargo to arrive for loading onto the Spinward Flex Courier. The captain schedules departure from Saurus by no later than 21h 180-1105 so as to not have to pay an additional Cr 100 for an extra day's worth of berthing fees.

On 174-1105 the Spinward Flex Courier captain puts out a public notice that their ship has brought 30 tons of Vacc Suits from Vilis that are available for sale and within hours an inundation of offers to buy the Vacc Suits arrives from a multitude of possible buyers, ranging from marine sciences enterprises (for use underwater), private mining companies, public sector contractors in the local aerospace industries and many other various and sundry individuals and interests all clamoring with bids to buy the entire lot of Vacc Suits. By the following day, on 175-1105, the Spinward Flex Courier captain accepts the highest bid for the speculative cargo, ultimately selling them for MCr 36 for all 30 tons to a consortium of aerospace industries that pooled their resources to make the winning combined bid offer.

However, once the aerospace industry consortium has won the bid for the Vacc Suits, one of the negotiators offers a partial trade of goods for them in the form of the lot of model/2 starship computers that the outbound Free Trader captain had previously mentioned they lacked the funds to purchase (and a suitable market at Vilis/Vilis to sell into). Since the consortium is willing to sell the computers at a wholesale price, rather than retail, to the Spinward Flex Courier captain in partial trade/payment for the TL=10 Vacc Suits, the captain is able to obtain the lot of model/2 computers for only MCr 32.4, less than the MCr 36 bid for the Vacc Suits, so the captain is still making a profit on the trade and everyone is satisfied with the negotiated balance of the final transaction. Delivery of the computers to the starport for loading onto the Spinward Flex Courier will be completed in time for liftoff on 180-1105.

The Spinward Flex Courier captain accepts bookings for (up to 5 tons of) x-mail, along with 8 tons of speculative cargo bound for Lanth (which the captain has to "buy" cargo space for to balance the books on the subsidy) and a single major cargo shipment of 30 tons bound for Tavonni.

Life Support cost: Cr 4000 (2 staterooms)
Cargo Transport revenue: Cr 38,000 (38 tons)
Speculative Cargo sale: MCr 36 (30 tons of Vacc Suits, not subject to subsidy)
Speculative Cargo purchase: MCr 32.4 (4x model/2 computers, 8 tons)
Speculative Cargo transport cost: Cr 8000 (8 tons)​

Cargo loading of 43 tons requires 172 minutes (3 hours), from 17h 180-1105 to 20h 180-1105.

Clearance to depart Saurus starport is finally granted at 21h 180-1105 as previously scheduled for transit to an outbound jump point, a distance of 1,370,000km. The Spinward Flex Courier requires 160 minutes (3 hours) to ascend at 6G to complete the transit to the jump point. During this transit to the jump point (2D6=10) there is a starship encounter with yet another 200-ton Free Trader, this time entering the system having come from Vilis. Rumors, gossip and tips about local eateries a little bit away from the starport are shared over comm channels.

At 0h 181-1105, the Spinward Flex Courier initiates jump-2 to Tavonni/Vilis.
Time spent in jump will be 164 hours.
On 183-1105, while still in jumpspace, the captain pays out the another half-month of crew salaries prior to breakout at Tavonni.

Crew Salaries (2 weeks): Cr 3500​

Breakout from jump at ~100 diameters from Tavonni/Vilis will occur at 20h 187-1105.

Total gross costs in Saurus system: Cr 32,415,600
Total gross revenue in Saurus system: Cr 63,000
Remaining revenue after subsidy: Cr 31,500
Speculative Cargo sale: MCr 36 (not subject to subsidy)
Net profit in Saurus system: Cr 3,615,900
Total net profit from 0h 001-1105 through 20h 187-1105: Cr 15,457,450​

 

[Spinward Flow]

Saurus D888588 – 7 (Agricultural, Non-industrial) to Tavonni E567000 – 0 (Barren, G) to Lanth ^X A879533 – B 2 (Non-industrial, Subsector Capital)
Tavonni world size: 5 (8100km)
100 diameters (Tavonni): 810,000km

Starship Encounters: E 2D (Tavonni, 11-12 is pirate)
Gas Giant: Tavonni data entry contains no information on distance to gas giants (4) from the mainworld




Spinward Flex Courier

Breakout from jump at ~100 diameters from Tavonni/Vilis occurs at 20h 187-1105.
Transit across 810,000km to the type E "starport" on the surface of Tavonni (a flat meadow space with a landing beacon) at 6G takes 123 minutes (3 hours). During this descent maneuver (2D6=7) no other starships are encountered. The Spinward Flex Courier successfully sets down at the automated Tavonni "starport" by 23h 187-1105 for cargo bound for Tavonni to be unloaded (there is no x-mail to deliver to Tavonni).

Unloading of 30 tons of cargo will require 150 minutes (3 hours). All cargo unloading is completed by 2h 188-1105. The 8 tons of model/2 computers are retained in the cargo bay for transport to Lanth.

Berthing Fees: Cr 100 for 6 days​

The Spinward Flex Courier captain wants to spend as little time on Tavonni as necessary, so once the cargo has been unloaded the Spinward Flex Courier lifts off to spend 1 hour flying out to the Tavonni ocean for wilderness refueling, which takes another 1 hour to fill the fuel tanks back up to a full 50.5 tons of unrefined fuel. The priority for the next 16 hours is to finish routine drive maintenance, during which the fuel purification plant will have ample time to complete the process of purifying unrefined seawater into refined power plant and jump fuel (9 hours).

At 20h 188-1105 the Spinward Flex Courier lifts off from the Tavonni ocean, ascending to 81,000km out from Tavonni in 123 minutes (3 hours). During this ascent maneuver (2D6=9) a 100-ton Scout/Courier is encountered while on assignment to update IISS survey maps of the system. Notice of the cargo delivered to the Tavonni "starport" from Saurus is given to the Scout/Courier upon request, which reveals that a ground survey team has been waiting almost a month for a starship to transport those supplies from Saurus to Tavonni so they can continue their long term survey assignment which is being supported by the Scout/Courier from orbit.

At 23h 188-1107, the Spinward Flex Courier initiates jump-2 to Lanth/Lanth.
Time spent in jump will be 154 hours.
Breakout from jump at ~100 diameters from Lanth/Lanth will occur at 9h 195-1105.

Total gross costs in Tavonni system: Cr 100
Total gross revenue in Saurus system: Cr 0
Remaining revenue after subsidy: Cr 0
Net profit in Tavonni system: Cr -100
Total net profit from 0h 001-1105 through 9h 195-1105: Cr 15,457,350​

 

[Spinward Flow]

This is so interesting to see play out.

Through the Saurus and Tavonni systems combined:
Team Far Trader net profits: Cr 3,616,100
Team Spinward Flex Courier net profits: Cr 3,615,800

Advantage ... Team Far Trader ... by a measly Cr 300.
And by the time both teams breakout from jump at Lanth, Team Spinward Flex Courier will have extended their time lead out to 9 days 12 hours faster on the route!



But what ought to be really worrisome for Team Far Trader is how this race is going to end once both teams get to D'Ganzio.
Why do I say that?
Well ... ...

When Team Far Trader departs Lanth for D'Ganzio ... that's basically it for their revenue generation. There won't be any more passengers or cargo to earn revenue from once the Far Trader gets to D'Ganzio because the starship is going to be getting sent to the shipyard for its annual overhaul maintenance. Just about the only revenue possibility that Team Far Trader can generate once they reach D'Ganzio is selling any remaining fuel left in their fuel tanks to the starport (since the fuel tanks will need to be emptied for annual inspection and overhaul maintenance anyway), which is just going to wind up being a proverbial drop in the bucket of profits for the team.

Contrast that with what Team Spinward Flex Courier is both capable of and planning to do.

Instead of intending breakout from jump ~100 diameters away from D'Ganzio like Team Far Trader is going to be doing ... Team Spinward Flex Courier is going to breakout from jump ~100 diameters away from the gas giant closest to D'Ganzio (a new roll for near vs far gas giant distance will be required, since the planets have moved in their orbits since the race began) where the starship will scoop fuel to fill their tanks to a full 50.5 tons of fuel, which will take only 1 hour to purify into refined fuel(!). The Spinward Flex Courier then accelerates at 6G to D'Ganzio for a few days and then when they dock, not only does the Spinward Flex Courier earn revenue for delivering x-mail but they are also able to sell some 45+ tons of refined fuel to the D'Ganzio starport at Cr 500 per ton to generate even more revenue upon arrival before their ship gets laid up for annual overhaul maintenance.

And before anyone complains about being able to earn credits from shuttling fuel from the gas giant to the D'Ganzio highport, consider the context of the D'Ganzio mainworld in the system.
B420410-D N Desert, Non-industrial, Poor G
6 Worlds, 2 Gas Giants, 1 Planetoid Belt

Basically, the mainworld doesn't have enough hydrographics to resource starship fuel from ... meaning the overwhelming supermajority of the fuel sold at the type B starport is going to have to be sourced from the two gas giants in the system using a "bucket brigade" of bulk fuel shuttles (very likely high tonnage non-starship boats) in order to supply the expected 1,000,000 tons of refined fuel production capacity per week that type B starports are supposed to provide.

So in that context, a starship docking at the D'Ganzio highport with refined fuel to sell to the starport would be (relatively speaking) a welcome development, since it would help the starport smooth out any time sensitive spikes in demand for fuel. Basically, the starport pays the fuel fee to a starship operator instead of to one of their own bulk fuel carrier shuttles for that fraction of fuel, because essentially the obtaining and refining of that starship fuel is an interplanetary "long range" operation, where it can take a week (or more) for a single fuel boat to make a round trip from the D'Ganzio highport to a gas giant and back. This means that in order to maintain an adequate (enough) supply of fuel through the starport, there must be HUNDREDS of fuel carrier boats making runs out to the gas giant(s) and back (whichever one is orbitally "closest" to D'Ganzio at any given time) with some kind of mercenary "convoy protection" contract in place to keep everything running smoothly. After all, an interplanetary logistical tail for a consumable resource like starship fuel that can't be obtained locally (at D'Ganzio itself) becomes something of an achilles' heel type situation for keeping the starport services economy afloat.

So ... when Team Spinward Flex Courier jumps from Lanth/Lanth to D'Ganzio/Lanth, they're going to be making a skimming run at one of the two in-system gas giants so as to bring a nearly full tank of refined fuel to D'Ganzio starport to sell before having their starship laid up for annual overhaul maintenance. That's a capability/capacity advantage that Team Far Trader simply cannot match (they would be hauling unrefined fuel, not refined fuel if they tried the same trick) due to a lack of a fuel purification plant and because their (relatively) anemic maneuver drive would make the Time=Money equation cost them more in time than they would gain in credits for that amount of time spent.

Just one of those "pull a rabbit out of the hat" moves that Team Spinward Flex Courier will be capable of pulling off here just before the finish line, putting them that much further ahead of Team Far Trader just in time for Spinward Flex Courier to be able to afford their higher annual overhaul maintenance cost (due to having a more expensive to buy starship design).

So while the outcome of this Race To Profitability may seem like a foregone conclusion at this point ... to quote a mildly famous former princess ... "It's not over yet."



So as always, I hope that everyone following this thread is enjoying all of the twists and turns of fate and fortune that have been occuring during this long journey along this trade route.
See you again next time!

 

[willtron3030]

to supply the expected 1,000,000 tons of refined fuel production capacity per week that type B starports are supposed to provide.

That sounds like there's a reference or resource I've missed that already did the math...

 

[Spinward Flow]

That sounds like there's a reference or resource I've missed that already did the math...

Paya / Aramis / Spinward Marches

To achieve the 2,000,000tn refined refueling capacity needed to be declared a Class A Starport, Oberlindes Lines operates as part of its lease a commercial operation providing 1,000,000tn of refined fuel capacity for the Class A Starport, with the Imperial Navy lease obliging that the Navy provide the remaining capacity when required. An Imperial Navy Fleet Tanker Squadron is based here in part to fulfill this obligation in peace-time. However normal trade use rarely approaches a tenth of the refined fuel capacity available, with the majority of trade being Oberlindes commercial ships traveling into the Aramis Subsector via Paya to Violante and beyond.

I'm just extrapolating from that wiki entry of needing 2 megatons of refined fueling capacity for a type A starport and downgrading it to being 1 megaton of refined fueling capacity for a type B starport.

Paya, just like D'Ganzio, has an imperial naval base in-system, so it is likely that an Imperial Navy Fleet Tanker Squadron is based at D'Ganzio (although I remember no such thing in the setup rules for the Fifth Frontier War boardgame set) in order to keep everything running smoothly at D'Ganzio.

Fortunately, D'Ganzio has a type B starport and a population code of 4 ... while Paya has a type A starport and a population code of 2 ... so there is less of a mismatch between starport facilities and the mainworld economy to support those facilities at D'Ganzio. Additionally, D'Ganzio is on the XBoat route through the Lanth subsector, while Paya is Jump-1 adjacent to the XBoat route through Aramis subsector.

The point I'm wanting to make here is that D'Ganzio would make a good "system wide" training ground for fuel tanker squadron crews in the Imperial and Sector Navies since there is a demand for their services in the D'Ganzio system due to the arrangement of resources (mainworld hydrographic code: 0, 2 gas giants in-system). Fuel tanker squadron crews will basically always be needed at D'Ganzio to support space operations there, and having a naval base and an XBoat route essentially guarantees that there will ALWAYS be a demand for support of space operations no matter what. This then makes for an almost ideal circumstance for those fuel tanker squadron crews to accumulate flight hours and experience under relatively "safe" circumstances as part of the training assignment rotations (all branches) for those crews in navy service (imperial or sector) within the Spinward Marches. Likewise, the D'Ganzio system interplanetary routes would be patrolled by a mix of imperial and sector navy forces, since I doubt the trade volume of the mainworld economy (MCr 322 per year!) generates enough of a tax base to fund even maintenance of a single system defense boat on a permanent basis.

In other words, D'Ganzio is a "megacorp fiefdom" (government code: 1, law code: 0) of the Instellarms corporation, per the Traveller wiki page for the system, and as such lacks the population and resource economy necessary to be self(ishly)-sufficient as an independent star system ... so instead D'Ganzio is highly dependent on trade (interstellar, mainly) to bring goods and financing into the D'Ganzio system to "keep the party going" (as it were).



So that's probably more of an explanation than you were asking for, but I wanted to lay out my thinking on the context in as transparent and complete a way as possible in order to help explain why a starport might be willing (if not eager) to buy refined fuel off a starship that had just been skimmed from a local gas giant elsewhere in the system. Is such an understanding necessary (per se)? No, not really ... but it helps add "local flavor" to the setting in such a way that can color assumptions and interpretation of what life is like within the D'Ganzio system (and how carefully you need to watch your step).

D'Ganzio is described in the wiki article as a hiring hall for mercenaries throughout the Spinward Marches sector (being somewhat conveniently located near the center of the sector on an XBoat route). Let your imagination run wild over the thought of a "space faring Tortuga port" under the watchful eye of the Imperial Navy and all sorts of ideas can start bubbling up for both Referees and Players to engage in.

 

[Spinward Flow]

Lanth ^X A879533 – B 2 (Non-industrial, Subsector Capital) to D'Ganzio ^X B420410 – D N (Desert, Non-industrial, Poor, G)
World size (Lanth): 8 (12,600km)
100 diameters (Lanth): 1,260,000km

Origin (Lanth): Starport A - Naval and Scout Bases, Size 8, Population 5
Destination (D'Ganzio): Starport B - Naval Base, Size 4, Population 4
DM: -3 (passenger), -4 (cargo), -2 (tech level), -1 first die (speculative cargo)
Passengers: 2D-1D High, 3D-2D Middle, 3D-1D Low
Cargo: 1D+1 Major, 1D+2 Minor, No Incidental
Starship Encounters: A 2D+3
Gas Giant: D'Ganzio data entry contains no information on distance to gas giants (2) from the mainworld

Passengers
2D-1D-5 = 2-2-5 = 0 High
3D-2D-5 = 13-8-5 = 0 Middle
3D-1D-5 = 9-5-5 = 0 Low

Cargo
1D-5 = 1-5 = 0 Major
1D-4 = 4-4 = 0 Minor

Speculative Cargo (sell)
53 Computers. MCr 10 per ton (base price), DM: +2 price modifier, +4 Broker (20% sale fee). 4x TL=7 model/2 computers (8 tons)
Buy price (2D+6=5+6=11): 150% base price (MCr 54 sell price, MCr 10.8 broker fee, MCr 43.2 net)

Speculative Cargo (buy)
16 Radioactives. MCr 1 per ton (base price), DM: -3 price modifier. 2 tons
Buy price (2D-3=11-3=8): 110% base price (MCr 2.2)



Far Trader

Breakout from jump at ~100 diameters from Lanth/Lanth occurs at 21h 204-1105, ~1,260,000km from Lanth.

Transit to Lanth orbit is 1,250,000km, which at 1G takes 373 minutes (7 hours). During this time, a starship encounter with a (2D6+3=9+3=12) 400- ton Subsidized Merchant which is transferring cargo by (1D6+1-1=4) 40-ton Slow Pinnace to the downport from an unusually high and oddly inclined orbit. Response to courtesy hails by the Merchant and Pinnace are both curtly minimal before the connection is terminated.

The Far Trader is cleared for descent to land from orbit to a berth in the Lanth downport at 3h 205-1105, completing the transit in 1 hour by 4h 205-1105. The Far Trader has no bulk cargo to deliver to Lanth, aside from the 8 tons of speculative cargo (4x model/2 starship computers) to turn over to a brokerage house for sale so as to comply with customs duties from Saurus, the unloading of which takes a mere 8 minutes (1 hour). During unloading of the speculative cargo, 1 high passenger and 2 middle passengers also disembark, which is completed by 5h 205-1105. Of the 2 remaining low passengers, their survival (5+ on 2D6) rolls are 7 and 7, resulting in no additional deaths beyond the 1 fatality retained in stasis after a failed revival attempt at Tavonni. All passengers bound for Lanth successfully disembark, with only 1 corpse needing to be sent to the morgue.

Once the Far Trader is cleared of passengers and cargo, the ship's fuel state is that it has had its power plant in operation for 7 days (consuming 2.5 tons of fuel) and made a single jump-2 (consuming 40 tons of fuel). Since the only way to ensure navigation to D'Ganzio and avoid the chance of a misjump is to use refined fuel, and lacking a fuel purification plant on board the Far Trader, the captain commits to selling the remaining contents of unrefined fuel in the ships tanks and purchasing 45 tons of refined fuel from the starport in the 2 hours prior to departure from Lanth downport for D'Ganzio.

Refined Fuel Purchase (45 tons, 1 hour): Cr 22,500
Berthing Fees (orbital): Cr 100 for 6 days​

The captain will complete negotiations for passengers and bulk cargo deliveries bound for D'Ganzio on 205-1105, of which there are none (no passengers and no cargo). As a high tech, low population world, D'Ganzio simply doesn't receive much merchant traffic for passengers or cargo from Lanth.

The one bright spot for the Far Trader captain is that the high powered broker at the brokerage house manages to secure an excellent sale price for the speculative cargo of 4x model/2 starship computers assembled locally at Saurus, managing to sell the lot for an astonishing MCr 54, which after paying the broker's MCr 10.8 fee (please use our services again in the future!), yields a tidy sum of MCr 43.2 to be deposited into the captain's business account on 209-1105.

Speculative cargo sale price: MCr 54 (not subject to subsidy)
Broker's fee cost: MCr 10.8​

The Far Trader captain obtains no booking of passengers or cargo bound for D'Ganzio prior to liftoff. The captain also declines the speculative price for 2 tons of overpriced Radioactives that would be very unlikely to sell for a profit at D'Ganzio (even with broker assistance).

Life Support cost: Cr 6000 (3 staterooms)
Passenger revenue: Cr 0
Cargo Transport revenue: Cr 0 (0 tons)
Unrefined fuel trade-in revenue: Cr 600 (6 tons)​

Unloading of unrefined fuel and loading of 45 tons of refined fuel requires 2 hours, from 4h 209-1105 to 6h 209-1105.

Pre-clearance to depart Lanth downport for transit to an outbound jump point is granted prior to finishing the fuel transfers, so at 6h 209-1105, the Far Trader lifts off the surface of Lanth for a transit distance of 1,260,000km. The Far Trader requires 1 hour to ascend the 1G gravity well to a 10,000km orbit, followed by another 373 minutes (7 hours) at 1G to complete the 1,250,000km transit to the jump point. During the departure transit, the Far Trader has a starship encounter (2D6+3=10+3=13) with a 600-ton Subsidized Liner receiving deliveries of passengers from a (1D6+1-1=1) 20-ton Launch, during which rumors, gossip and perfunctory pleasantries are exchanged.

At 14h 209-1105, the Far Trader initiates jump-2 to D'Ganzio/Lanth.
Time spent in jump will be 173 hours.
On 211-1105, while still in jumpspace, the captain pays out the another half-month of crew salaries prior to breakout at D'Ganzio.

Crew Salaries (2 weeks): Cr 6950​

Breakout from jump at ~100 diameters from D'Ganzio/Lanth will occur at 19h 216-1105.

Total gross costs in Lanth system: Cr 10,835,550
Total gross revenue in Lanth system: Cr 600
Remaining revenue after subsidy: Cr 300
Speculative Cargo sale: MCr 54 (not subject to subsidy)
Net profit in Lanth system: Cr 43,164,750
Total net profit from 0h 001-1105 through 19h 216-1105: Cr 52,889,110​

 

[Spinward Flow]

Lanth ^X A879533 – B 2 (Non-industrial, Subsector Capital) to D'Ganzio ^X B420410 – D N (Desert, Non-industrial, Poor, G)
World size (Lanth): 8 (12,600km)
100 diameters (Lanth): 1,260,000km

Origin (Lanth): Starport A - Naval and Scout Bases, Size 8, Population 5
Destination (D'Ganzio): Starport B - Naval Base, Size 4, Population 4
DM: -3 (passenger), -4 (cargo), -2 (tech level), -1 first die (speculative cargo)
Passengers: 2D-1D High, 3D-2D Middle, 3D-1D Low
Cargo: 1D+1 Major, 1D+2 Minor, No Incidental
Starship Encounters: A 2D+3
Gas Giant: D'Ganzio data entry contains no information on distance to gas giants (2) from the mainworld

Cargo
1D-5 = 1-5 = 0 Major
1D-4 = 4-4 = 0 Minor

Speculative Cargo (sell)
53 Computers. MCr 10 per ton (base price), DM: +2 price modifier, +4 Broker (20% sale fee). 4x TL=7 model/2 computers (8 tons)
Buy price (2D+6=5+6=11): 150% base price (MCr 54 sell price, MCr 10.8 broker fee, MCr 43.2 net)

Speculative Cargo (buy)
16 Radioactives. MCr 1 per ton (base price), DM: -3 price modifier. 2 tons
Buy price (2D-3=11-3=8): 110% base price (MCr 2.2)



Spinward Flex Courier

Breakout from jump at ~100 diameters from Lanth/Lanth occurs at 9h 195-1105, ~1,260,000km from Lanth.

Transit to the Lanth downport is 1,260,000km, which at 6G takes 153 minutes (3 hours). During this time, a starship encounter with a (2D6+3=9+3=12) 400- ton Subsidized Merchant which is transferring cargo by (1D6+1-1=4) 40-ton Slow Pinnace to the downport from an unusually high and oddly inclined orbit. Response to courtesy hails by the Merchant and Pinnace are both curtly minimal before the connection is terminated.

The Spinward Flex Courier is cleared for and landed in a VTOL berth at the downport by 12h 195-1105. The Spinward Flex Courier has (up to 5 tons of) x-mail to unload, but no bulk cargo to deliver to Lanth, aside from the 8 tons of speculative cargo (4x model/2 starship computers) to turn over to a brokerage house for sale so as to comply with customs duties from Saurus. Unloading is completed in 13 minutes (1 hour) by 13h 195-1105.

Berthing Fees: Cr 100 for 6 days
X-mail Delivery revenue: Cr 25,000 (LBB2.81, p9)​

The Spinward Flex Courier's fuel state is that it has had its power plant in operation for 7 days (consuming 2.9 tons of fuel) and made a single jump-2 (consuming 38.8 tons of fuel). The captain makes arrangements to wilderness refuel in the Lanth ocean prior to departure.
On 197-1105, after completing 16 hour routine drive maintenance, the captain pays out the another half-month of crew salaries so the crew can afford to "waste their pay" on Lanth if they're so inclined. Crew are to report fit for duty early on 198-1107 however for a day of wilderness refueling and fuel processing.

Crew Salaries (2 weeks): Cr 3500​

The captain will complete negotiations for x-mail and bulk cargo deliveries bound for D'Ganzio on 196-1105, of which there is only x-mail and no cargo awaiting shipment to D'Ganzio. As a high tech, low population world, D'Ganzio simply doesn't receive much merchant traffic for passengers or cargo from Lanth (although x-mail can be delivered anywhere there is a permanent population of 10 or more sophonts).

Because of this situation, once the 16 hour routine drive maintenance is completed at the starport, the captain decides to transfer the Spinward Flex Courier to the Lanth ocean while waiting for the brokerage house to sell the speculative cargo brought from Saurus, which should allow ample time to fill the internal fuel tanks with 40 tons of unrefined ocean water in 40 minutes (1 hour), refine 40 tons of fuel in 400 minutes (7 hours), transfer 40 tons of refined fuel to the inflatable fuel bladder in the cargo hold (1 hour), dip another 50.5 tons of unrefined fuel from the ocean water in 51 minutes (1 hour) and then spend another 505 minutes (9 hours) refining all the fuel in the internal fuel tanks. Including flight time from the starport to the ocean (1 hour) and liftoff from the ocean to return to their downport berth (1 hour), the entire refueling operation takes 21 hours on 198-1105 through 199-1105 to complete (ship time), with most of the process being substantially automated and needing little crew attention or intervention during that time.

The one bright spot for the Spinward Flex Courier captain is that the high powered broker at the brokerage house manages to secure an excellent sale price for the speculative cargo of 4x model/2 starship computers assembled locally at Saurus, managing to sell the lot for an astonishing MCr 54, which after paying the broker's MCr 10.8 fee (please use our services again in the future!), yields a tidy sum of MCr 43.2 to be deposited into the captain's business account on 199-1105.

Speculative cargo sale price: MCr 54 (not subject to subsidy)
Broker's fee cost: MCr 10.8​

The Spinward Flex Courier captain obtains no bookings of cargo bound for D'Ganzio prior to liftoff other than (up to 5 tons of) x-mail. The captain also declines the speculative price for 2 tons of overpriced Radioactives that would be very unlikely to sell for a profit at D'Ganzio (even with broker assistance).

Life Support cost: Cr 4000 (2 staterooms)
Passenger revenue: Cr 0
Cargo Transport revenue: Cr 0 (0 tons)​

Loading of (up to 5 tons of) x-mail requires only 5 minutes (1 hour), from 12h 199-1105 to 13h 199-1105.

Pre-clearance to depart Lanth downport for transit to the highport for an additional pickup of last minute x-mail bound for D'Ganzio is authorized, extending further to plans to maneuver to an outbound jump point afterwards. At 13h 199-1105, the Spinward Flex Courier performs a vertical takeoff from the Lanth downport for a transit of 10,000km to the highport (1 hour) where the Spinward Flex Courier quickly docks, takes on any additional x-mail being held in orbit bound for D'Ganzio in 5 minutes (1 hour), undocks and then resumes the ascent at 6G to complete the remaining 1,250,000km transit to the jump point in 153 minutes (3 hours). During the departure transit, the Spinward Flex Courier has a starship encounter (2D6+3=10+3=13) with a 600-ton Subsidized Liner receiving deliveries of passengers from a (1D6+1-1=1) 20-ton Launch, during which rumors, gossip and perfunctory pleasantries are exchanged.

At 18h 199-1105, the Spinward Flex Courier initiates jump-2 to D'Ganzio/Lanth.
Time spent in jump will be 173 hours.
Breakout from jump at ~100 diameters from the closest gas giant to D'Ganzio in the D'Ganzio/Lanth system will occur at 23h 206-1105.

Total gross costs in Lanth system: Cr 10,807,600
Total gross revenue in Lanth system: Cr 25,000
Remaining revenue after subsidy: Cr 12,500
Speculative Cargo sale: MCr 54 (not subject to subsidy)
Net profit in Lanth system: Cr 43,204,900
Total net profit from 0h 001-1105 through 23h 206-1105: Cr 58,662,250​

 

[Spinward Flow]

Oh man, what a disastrous turn of events for Team Far Trader!
No passengers ... no cargo ... AND Team Far Trader needs to buy refined fuel from the starport to avoid the chance of making a misjump!
Ouch!

Still, that's only to be expected when trying to "merchant" between two low population worlds (Lanth: 5, D'Ganzio: 4) like that.
Just yet another demonstration of the principle that having a "guaranteed source of revenue" in the form of x-mail deliveries can make a pretty serious difference in the fortunes of a starship's balance sheet ... outside the considerations for speculative cargo, of course.

So with all else being otherwise equal the profit margins for the two teams through the Lanth system were:
Team Far Trader: Cr 43,164,750
Team Spinward Flex Courier: Cr 43,204,900
Advantage ... Team Spinward Flex Courier.

Discounting the gains (and broker's fees costs) from the speculative cargo sale, things look even more grim.
Team Far Trader LOST Cr 35,250 from their profit margin ... while Team Spinward Flex Courier GAINED Cr 4900 on their profit margin through the Lanth system with no passengers and no cargo (aside from x-mail and extra fuel in the case of the Spinward Flex Courier) bound for D'Ganzio. That's a differential of Cr 40,150 in favor of the Spinward Flex Courier, outside of specualtive cargo gains, when the ship's manifest is otherwise "running on empty" for transport. This means that with a cargo hold hauling no cargo, the Spinward Flex Courier effectively earned "40 tons worth" of cargo transport more net profit (before subsidy, more like 80 tons after subsidy rake!) than the Far Trader when the Far Trader is also running on empty and needs to pay for refined fuel at the starport. That's just a downright amazing result for me to see happen. I mean, I know I built the Spinward Flex Courier to be efficient to operate on slim margins in backwater star systems with lackluster markets ... but day-um, that's a lot more efficient than I had been expecting, relative to the benchmark performance of the Far Trader. Now, granted, starport fuel is "expensive" to buy in this comparative context ... but STILL ... yikes.

This Race To Profitability is nearing the finish line, which for the record is going to be on the other side of the 2 week annual overhaul maintenance at the D'Ganzio highport in orbit around D'Ganzio. While the "winner" on both total profit and fastest time to complete the route are essentially both decided at this point (Advantage: Team Spinward Flex Courier), the FINAL totals for both are still yet to be decided. However, there is one very interesting wrinkle to how things played out at Lanth going on to D'Ganzio here that I think bears mentioning.



For all intents and purposes, Team Far Trader is basically "spent" as far as revenue generating potential by the time they get to D'Ganzio. Once their Far Trader gets parked in a berth at the orbiting high port, pretty much the only revenue they're going to be able to earn before paying for annual overhaul maintenance is going to be less than 3 tons of refined fuel to pump out of their fuel tanks. Once that is done, revenue earning potential for Team Far Trader will be finished, so we're looking at less than Cr 1500 of revenue (under Cr 750 after subsidy rake) to add to Team Far Trader's total profit margin at D'Ganzio. Meanwhile, they're going to be needing to pay for not only annual overhaul maintenance but also crew salaries during that 2 weeks of maintenance window ... so overall, Team Far Trader is looking at their profit performance at D'Ganzio right before the finish line being a significant net profit loss on their ledger.

Good thing they were able to turn around such tidy profits on the speculative cargoes they speculated on, eh wot?

Contrast that scenario with what's going to be happening with Team Spinward Flex Courier, which is going to be doing a gas giant skimming and refining run before maneuvering at 6G from the gas giant to the D'Ganzio highport in orbit to deliver a load of refined fuel for sale to the starport (perhaps as much as 85+ tons worth of refined fuel, which is worth Cr 42,500 for 85 tons gross revenue, or Cr 21,250 after subsidy rake) in addition to delivering x-mail (for another Cr 25,000 gross revenue, or Cr 12,500 after subsidy rake). In other words, even when the cargo hold is empty of bulk cargo to ship, the Spinward Flex Courier can still manage to find ways to generate revenue that simply aren't available to alternative starship designs, largely due to the powerful maneuver drives making interplanetary travel quick (and therefore profitable, relative to operating costs over that span of time) but also due to the flexible fueling options offered by the inflatable fuel bladder, 40 ton cargo bay and onboard fuel purification plant.



So while Team Far Trader is going to be losing money hand over fist in the D'Ganzio system just before the finish line in the Race To Profitability ... Team Spinward Flex Courier is going to be earning a fair bit of cashflow at the very end of the race just before going into annual overhaul maintenance before the finish line, substantially offsetting their higher overhaul costs on annual maintenance due to operating a more expensive (to build) starship.

So the question at this point is ... which starship is going to lose "more" off their profit margin in the D'Ganzio system before crossing the finish line (and will it be enough to even make a material difference)? At the start of the race, I would have presumed the Spinward Flex Courier would have lost "more" profit margin upon return to D'Ganzio, but now ... I'm not so sure.



We now pause our trideo coverage of the Race To Profitability so as to bring you these words from our most valued sponsors.
YOU!

 

[Spinward Flow]

D'Ganzio ^X B420410 – D N (Desert, Non-industrial, Poor, G)
World size (D'Ganzio): 5,400km
100 diameters: 540,000km

Starship Encounters: B 2D+2 (D'Ganzio)
Gas Giant: D'Ganzio data entry contains no information on distance to gas giants (2) from the mainworld other than a brief mention of an inner gas giant
Gas Giant: 1D=3 is a Large Gas Giant (LBB6, p28)
Large Gas Giant radius is 60,000km to 120,000km (LBB6, p39), so (2D6-2)*6000+60,000=(3-2)*4000+60,000=66,000km radius (132,000km diameter)
100 diameters from gas giant = 13,200,000km
Since D'Ganzio is a binary solar system with an M0 V and M3 V class stars, the orbits of any planets are necessarily going to be close to the "habitable" mainworld, so distance from the inner or outer orbit gas giant to D'Ganzio orbit is going to be 600,000,000km.

Far Trader

Breakout from jump at ~100 diameters from D'Ganzio/Lanth occurs at 19h 216-1105, ~540,000km from D'Ganzio.

Transit to D'Ganzio orbit is 530,000km, which at 1G takes 243 minutes (5 hours). During this time, a starship encounter with a (2D6+2=5+2=7) 100-ton Scout/Courier which is maneuvering under maximum acceleration to the outer reaches of the system, presumably on courier duty, responding to hails with only an automated computer message.

The Far Trader is cleared to dock at the highport and settled in a berth by 0h 217-1105 with no cargo or passengers to unload. Fuel state aboard the Far Trader is that 40 tons of fuel were consumed by the jump-2 to D'Ganzio and the power plant has been in operation for 7 days (2.5 tons of fuel), leaving 2.5 tons of refined fuel remaining to be drained from the fuel tanks, which is completed by 1h 217-1105.

Refined Fuel revenue (2.5 tons, 1 hour): Cr 1250
Berthing Fees: Cr 100 for 6 days​

The Far Trader captain had originally planned to return to D'Ganzio 34 weeks after original departure at the start of the route, but 217 days to complete the entire route is actually only 31 weeks, so the ship has returned faster than originally anticipated. The captain negotiates for a slot in the shipyard's schedule to begin the annual overhaul maintenance starting at 0h 218-1105 running through the next 2 weeks and ending at 0h 232-1105. The captain will also need to pay another 2 weeks of crew salaries on 225-1105 while the starship is laid up at the shipyard for annual overhaul maintenance.

Crew Salaries (2 weeks): Cr 6950
Annual Overhaul Maintenance cost: Cr 59,560 (LBB2.81, p8)​

The Far Trader finally crosses the finish line to end their part in the Race To Profitability at 0h 232-1105 … 33 weeks after starting.

Total gross costs in D'Ganzio system: Cr 66,610
Total gross revenue in D'Ganzio system: Cr 1250
Remaining revenue after subsidy: Cr 625
Net profit in D'Ganzio system: Cr -65,985
Total net profit from 0h 001-1105 through 0h 232-1105: Cr 52,823,125​

Spinward Flex Courier

Breakout from jump at ~100 diameters from the closest gas giant to D'Ganzio/Lanth occurs at 23h 206-1105, ~13,200,000km distant from the gas giant's central core.

Transit to a fuel skimming orbit of the gas giant is 13,134,000km, which at 6G takes 494 minutes (9 hours). During this time, a starship encounter with a (2D6+2=5+2=7) 100-ton Scout/Courier which is maneuvering under maximum acceleration to decelerate and rendezvous with an Express Tender stationed in orbit around the the gas giant, responds to hails with only an automated computer message and is presumably operating on courier duty for the IISS Express Network.

Orbital fuel skimming of the gas giant requires an additional 1 hour to refill the internal fuel tanks to full, after which the Spinward Flex Courier makes the 600,000,000km transit to D'Ganzio, so as to dock at the highport in orbit, which at 6G requires 56 hours (2 days, 8 hours). During this transit to D'Ganzio there is ample opportunity for fuel purification to be completed (needs only 1 hour).

The Spinward Flex Courier is cleared to dock at the highport and settled in a berth by 17h 209-1105 with only (up to 5 tons of) x-mail to unload, which requires only 10 minutes (1 hour). Fuel state aboard the Spinward Flex Courier is that the power plant has been in operation for 57 hours (1 ton of fuel consumed), leaving 49.5 tons of refined fuel remaining to be drained from the internal fuel tanks (1 hour) plus an additional 40 tons of refined fuel from the inflatable bladder in the cargo bay (1 hour to transfer to internal tanks, 1 hour to drain), a process which takes 3 hours in total with everything being completed by 21h 209-1105.

Berthing Fees: Cr 100 for 6 days
Refined Fuel revenue (89.5 tons, 1 hour): Cr 44,750
X-mail Delivery revenue: Cr 25,000 (LBB2.81, p9)​

The Spinward Flex Courier captain had originally planned to return to D'Ganzio 34 weeks after original departure at the start of the route, but 209 days to complete the entire route is actually only 30 weeks, so the ship has returned faster than originally anticipated. The captain negotiates for a slot in the shipyard's schedule to begin the annual overhaul maintenance starting at 0h 210-1105 running through the next 2 weeks and ending at 0h 224-1105. The captain will also need to pay another 2 weeks of crew salaries on 211-1105 while the starship is laid up at the shipyard for annual overhaul maintenance.

Crew Salaries (2 weeks): Cr 3500
Annual Overhaul Maintenance cost: Cr 109,878 (LBB2.81, p8)​

The Spinward Flex Courier finally crosses the finish line to end their part in the Race To Profitability at 0h 224-1105 … 32 weeks after starting.

Total gross costs in D'Ganzio system: Cr 113,478
Total gross revenue in D'Ganzio system: Cr 69,750
Remaining revenue after subsidy: Cr 34,875
Net profit in D'Ganzio system: Cr -78,603
Total net profit from 0h 001-1105 through 0h 224-1105: Cr 58,583,647​

 

[Spinward Flow]

Yet again ... very interesting results as both teams cross the finish line in the Race To Profitability.

Before I get into doing a lot of spreadsheet analysis for the Accounting Department of the merchant line, so as to decide which ship they would prefer to order for the expansion of their line, there are a number of rather intriguing takeaways that I have from how this race wound up playing out.

First of all, the Spinward Flex Courier was definitely NOT being utilized to its full potential in this race, as I've already previously mentioned. A number of possible options which the Far Trader would not have been able to equal/take advantage of were discounted from this race, such as charter operations, interplanetary trade (and x-mail revenue potential) and even tug operations for hauling bulk cargo externally on orbital, interplanetary and/or interstellar tasking was not permitted by the rules of the race (so as to give the Far Trader a "fighting chance" to win on a relatively even playing field). Now that I have all the details and information for how the race wound up turning out, I can go back and posit how much of a difference that external cargo tug capacity could have made if it were utilized (which will make the Far Trader's performance look even worse by comparison since it will be increasing the Spinward Flex Courier's profit potential even further).

Also, as previously mentioned, I figured that crossing the finish line in the race at D'Ganzio was going to wind up being a net profit loss for both starship teams, simply due to the demands of annual overhaul maintenance. I also realized (before it happened) that by acting as a "private fuel tanker" for the D'Ganzio starport, the Spinward Flex Courier would be able to mitigate and offset some of the higher cost of their annual overhaul maintenance relative to their competition on the Far Trader ... but the real question was going to be, how would the books balance after everything was paid for?

Well, now we know.
I am honestly quite surprised by how close the final profit loss tally was between the two starship teams after accounting for all costs and revenue gains in the D'Ganzio system ...
Annual Overhaul Maintenance: Cr 59,560 (Far Trader) vs Cr 109,878 (Spinward Flex Courier)
Net Profit: Cr -65,985 (Far Trader) vs Cr -78,603 (Spinward Flex Courier)

So even though the annual overhaul maintenance for the Spinward Flex Courier was 185% the cost for the Far Trader (at Cr +50,318 more) ... the amount of net profit loss comparison between the two starships was a mere Cr 12,618 differential ... which is the equivalent to less than 26 tons of cargo transport revenue (after 50% subsidy rake). So even right up to the end, Team Spinward Flex Courier was able to grind out enough profit on the margins to keep things competitive. I don't know about anyone else, but I find that result somewhat astonishing.

So ... the quickest bottom line takeaways on the completion of this race, before getting into the spreadsheet analysis of it, are ...

• 6G maneuver is 1 week faster over this route than 1G maneuver, all else being equal.
  Over the course of 40 years (2080 weeks), that's 65 route runs at 32 weeks per run (6G) or 63 route runs at 33 weeks per run (1G), assuming no off-route downtime (not necessarily a "fair" assumption, but it highlights the differences between the two starships' potentials quite neatly). An extra 1-2 "bonus" runs of the entire route in 40 years can potentially pay for the MCr ~50 premium in construction cost price difference between a Far Trader and a Spinward Flex Courier over intended usable lifetime of the respective starships, to say nothing of the difference in fuel and services costs savings and the relative "security" of having a 6G maneuver drive at your disposal when you need high performance.
  
  
• 1G maneuver drives are cheap to buy, but more expensive to own in the long run ... and fuel purification plants pay for themselves FAST.
  On this route, there were 3 worlds of size: 8+ (Lanth, Saurus and Garda-Vilis) and the inability to wilderness refuel (and refine fuel) cost Team Far Trader pretty dearly. I'll need to dig into the spreadsheet results of the race to calculate by how much, but it could easily be more than Cr 100,000 spent on starport refined fuel and the need to use orbital shuttle services at Garda-Vilis (size: 9) that over a 40 year operational lifespan for a starship basically winds up costing as much (or more) in fuel and services costs as it would have cost to install 2G maneuver drives and power plant instead, along with a fuel purification plant for greater freedom of navigation, faster orbital transit times and not needing to worry about misjumps. It is honestly surprising to me just how important these factors became over the course of the race, as time and again I kept thinking that by paying a little bit more up front in construction costs for a slightly more expensive starship the owner would save so much money on fuel and services over the 40 year service life of the ship to easily make up the difference in the added expense.
  
  
• Pirate attacks are bad for business (when successful).
  If the pirates had not attacked (and ransomed the Far Trader for MCr 6 at Choleosti), Team Far Trader would have crossed the finish line Cr 239,478 ahead of Team Spinward Flex Courier on total net profit ... rather than Cr 5,760,522 behind. Even if the Far Trader had been armed with missiles and sandcasters, they were still "sitting ducks" against a Patrol Cruiser with announced intentions to open fire and board the Far Trader. The Far Trader simply didn't have enough computing power or maneuvering power to survive an encounter with even a moderately well equipped pirate ship (basically anything bigger than a Scout/Courier with delusions of booty). However, on a route with 18 jumps and 16 ports of call (Tavonni doesn't "really qualify" that well as a port of call) ... 239478/16=14976.375 ... meaning that if the pirate attack hadn't happened, Team Far Trader would have managed to generate only Cr 14,977 more net profit per port of call over the 16 ports of call on this route. I find that an astonishing outcome, especially given that the Far Trader has 21 tons more bulk cargo capacity and has accommodations for up to 7 high/middle passengers and 4 low passengers. All of that extra revenue generating capacity in passengers and cargo on the Far Trader yielded less than Cr 15,000 more in profits per port of call, on average, if there was no pirate attack. To me, that's an extraordinary result.
  
  
• Location, Population, Location
  Low population worlds are the biggest drag on interstellar trade possible. Most of the setbacks in passengers and cargo availability occurred around low population worlds, such as Tavonni (no population), Choleosti (barely any population) and D'Ganzio (low population). Elsewhere along the route, where population codes of 5+ were present, the Far Trader and Spinward Flex Courier rarely had difficulty filling their cargo holds, with the Far Trader "gaining more" with shipping manifest full of passengers and cargo, thanks to a larger tonnage fraction devoted to those revenue generating services. However, the Spinward Flex Courier was far more "consistent" in its revenue generation profile, with higher minimums but lower maximums on bulk transport (not including speculative cargo factors). To me, this means that a Far Trader captain would necessarily want to limit themselves to just the most profitable segments of the route (Saurus, Vilis, Garda-Vilis, Arkadia, Ficant, schedule annual overhaul maintenance at Vilis or Garda-Vilis) rather than be tied to the profit losing segments of the route (Margesi/Choleosti, Tavonni/Lanth/D'Ganzio) if pure profit is the only motive. However, subsidizing governments (such as Vilis) would have a vested interest in steering trade capacity towards Margesi and Choleosti, so as to help keep them tied into the Imperial economic systems, culture and politics and help prevent them from becoming targets ripe for infiltration and takeover by neighboring powers and interests (including economic interests, such as the Sword Worlds to rimward).

Not exactly sure when I'll be able to get around to doing up some spreadsheet posts with details culled from the thread sorted into table formats to make everything nice and concise for data analysis comparisons (and dropping out all the "daily life" RPG details). Probably won't be immediate, since it's going to take some time to get all that organized and formatted for posting ... so in the meantime ... feel free to discuss the results if you've been following this thread at all.

 

[Spinward Flow]

	Far Trader Time / Fuel Cost​	Far Trader Misjump​	Spinward Flex Courier Time / Fuel Cost
D'Ganzio	0h 001-1105 ... 18h 012-1105 Cr 25,000 (50 tons refined)​	No​	0h 001-1105 ... 19h 012-1105​ Cr 200 (2 tons unrefined, wilderness refueling refined)
Lanth	18h 012-1105 ... 21h 024-1105 Cr 22,500 (45 tons refined)​	No​	19h 012-1105 ... 16h 024-1105 Cr 0 (wilderness refueling, refined)​
Tavonni	21h 024-1105 ... 6h 032-1105 Cr 0 (wilderness refueling, unrefined)​	2D6 = 12 (1 in 36)​	16h 024-1105 ... 22h 031-1105 Cr 0 (wilderness refueling, refined)​
Saurus	6h 032-1105 ... 20h 045-1105 Cr 4000 (40 tons unrefined)​	2D6 = 12 (1 in 36)​	22h 031-1105 ... 1h 045-1105 Cr 0 (wilderness refueling, refined)​
Vilis	20h 045-1105 ... 0h 058-1105 Cr 24,750 (50 tons refined exchange)​	No​	1h 045-1105 ... 22h 056-1105 Cr 0 (wilderness refueling, refined)​
Margesi	0h 058-1105 ... 19h 071-1105 Cr 0 (wilderness refueling, unrefined)​	2D6 = 12 (1 in 36)​	22h 056-1105 ... 8h 068-1105 Cr 0 (wilderness refueling, refined)​
Choleosti	19h 071-1105 ... 15h 080-1105 Cr 2000 (20 tons unrefined)​	2D6 = 12 (1 in 36)​	8h 068-1105 ... 1h 076-1105 Cr 0 (reserve fuel, refined)​
Garda-Vilis	15h 080-1105 ... 13h 093-1105 Cr 12,100 (25 tons refined exchange)​	No​	1h 076-1105 ... 11h 088-1105 Cr 0 (wilderness refueling, refined)​
Arkadia	13h 093-1105 ... 4h 107-1105 Cr 0 (wilderness refueling, unrefined)​	2D6 = 12 (1 in 36)​	11h 088-1105 ... 5h 101-1105 Cr 0 (wilderness refueling, refined)​
Ficant	4h 107-1105 ... 23h 119-1105 Cr 0 (wilderness refueling, unrefined)​	2D6 = 12 (1 in 36)​	5h 101-1105 ... 15h 113-1105 Cr 0 (wilderness refueling, refined)​
Arkadia	23h 119-1105 ... 2h 133-1105 Cr 0 (wilderness refueling, unrefined)​	2D6 = 12 (1 in 36)​	15h 113-1105 ... 12h 126-1105 Cr 0 (wilderness refueling, refined)​
Garda-Vilis	2h 133-1105 ... 20h 145-1105 Cr 9860 (25 tons refined exchange)​	No​	12h 126-1105 ... 16h 138-1105 Cr 0 (wilderness refueling, refined)​
Choleosti	20h 145-1105 ... 22h 154-1105 Cr 4500 (45 tons unrefined)​	2D6 = 12 (1 in 36)​	16h 138-1105 ... 20h 146-1105 Cr 1800 (18 tons unrefined, refined)​
Margesi	22h 154-1105 ... 8h 170-1105 Cr 0 (wilderness refueling, unrefined)​	2D6 = 12 (1 in 36)​	20h 146-1105 ... 1h 162-1105 Cr 0 (wilderness refueling, refined)​
Vilis	8h 170-1105 ... 22h 182-1105 Cr 24,430 (50 tons refined exchange)​	No​	1h 162-1105 ... 9h 174-1105 Cr 0 (wilderness refueling, refined)​
Saurus	22h 182-1105 ... 0h 197-1105 Cr 4400 (44 tons unrefined)​	2D6 = 12 (1 in 36)​	9h 174-1105 ... 20h 187-1105 Cr 0 (wilderness refueling, refined)​
Tavonni	0h 197-1105 ... 21h 204-1105 Cr 0 (wilderness refueling, unrefined)​	2D6 = 12 (1 in 36)​	20h 187-1105 ... 9h 195-1105 Cr 0 (wilderness refueling, refined)​
Lanth	21h 204-1105 ... 19h 216-1105 Cr 22,500 (45 tons refined)​	No​	9h 195-1105 ... 23h 206-1105 Cr 0 (wilderness refueling, refined)​
D'Ganzio	19h 216-1105 ... 0h 232-1105 Cr -1250 (2.5 tons refined sale)​	No​	23h 206-1105 ... 0h 224-1105 Cr -44,750 (89.5 tons refined sale)​
Totals	0h 001-1105 ... 0h 232-1105 Cr 134,790 total fuel expenses​	26.65% chance of 1 misjump per run​	0h 001-1105 ... 0h 224-1105 Cr -42,750 total fuel expenses (net profit)​

Computation of total misjump chance per run works as follows.

11 jumps made using unrefined fuel per run.
Misjump chance per jump is 2D6=12 (1 in 36) per jump for 11 jumps made at 100 diameters away from gravity wells.
1-( (1-1/36)¹¹ ) = 0.2665 = 26.65% chance of 1 misjump per 11 jumps with unrefined fuel.

Or for a better explained version ...
1/36 = 0.02777777777778
1-1/36 = 0.972222222222
(1-1/36) raised to the 11th power ... so (1-1/36)¹¹ = 0.733535234347 = 73.35% chance to NOT misjump
1-( (1-1/36)¹¹ ) = 0.266464765653 = 26.65% chance to misjump once per 11 jumps using unrefined fuel

And just for the curious ...
1 run (11 jumps) = 26.65% chance of at least 1 misjump
2 runs (22 jumps) = 46.19% chance of at least 1 misjump
3 runs (33 jumps) = 60.53% chance of at least 1 misjump
4 runs (44 jumps) = 71.05% chance of at least 1 misjump
5 runs (55 jumps) = 78.76% chance of at least 1 misjump
I could go on, but I feel like I've made my point about being forced to rely on unrefined fuel when attempting to stay on schedule on a predetermined (subsidized) course.

Oh, and the Spinward Flex Courier chance to misjump?
ZERO ... unless when needing to jump within 100 diameters of a gravity well, due to the onboard fuel purification plant.


Also, I was not expecting the fuel cost differential to be as large as it eventually wound up being.
Team Far Trader LOST Cr 134,790 to fuel expenses.
Team Spinward Flex Courier GAINED Cr 42,750 on fuel over the course of the entire race.
That's a net profit differential of Cr 177,540 in favor of Team Spinward Flex Courier, which is simply incredible!
Considering that a TL=13 fuel purification plant costs 5 tons and Cr 30,000 to build into a starship design ... the economic value of a fuel purification plant is really difficult to ignore!

 

[Spinward Flow]

	Passengers available (high, middle, low)​	Bulk Cargo available (major, minor, incidental)​	Piracy Chance inbound/outbound​
D'Ganzio	0 high, 7 middle, 12 low	7 Major (60, 30, 60, 50, 30, 60, 20 tons) 6 Minor (10, 25, 25, 15, 30, 10 tons)	None
Lanth	13 high, 9 middle, 12 low (Saurus) 11 high, 11 middle, 13 low (Tavonni)	7 Major (20, 10, 30, 40, 10, 10, 60 tons) (Saurus) 7 Minor (15, 10, 15, 5, 15, 20, 20 tons) (Saurus) 13 Major (50, 50, 20, 20, 50, 30, 30, 40, 50, 50, 40, 60, 40 tons) (Tavonni) 12 Minor (20, 30, 25, 10, 10, 10, 20, 30, 5, 30, 15, 5 tons) (Tavonni)	None
Tavonni	0 high, 0 middle, 0 low	No cargo	2D6 = 11 Patrol Cruiser 2D6 = 12 Mercenary Cruiser
Saurus	3 high, 0 middle, 5 low	5 Minor (30, 15, 5, 20, 10 ton lots)	2D6 = 9 Scout/Courier
Vilis	3 high, 8 middle, 16 low	14 Minor (15, 30, 20, 20, 20, 10, 20, 15, 5, 25, 30, 10, 10, 15 tons) 6 Incidental (2, 4, 5, 1, 6, 4 tons)	None
Margesi	2 high, 0 middle, 7 low	No cargo	2D6 = 10 Patrol Cruiser
Choleosti	0 high, 5 middle, 8 low	No cargo	2D6 = 10 Patrol Cruiser
Garda-Vilis	12 high, 16 middle, 21 low	13 Major (60, 60, 40, 10, 40, 20, 60, 40, 30, 10, 60, 40, 20 tons) 11 Minor (20, 15, 20, 15, 30, 30, 10, 15, 20, 15, 5 tons) 9 Incidental (4, 3, 6, 2, 4, 1, 5, 5, 6 tons)	None
Arkadia	8 high, 8 middle, 11 low	8 Major (30, 10, 30, 50, 30, 40, 50, 40 tons) 8 Minor (20, 20, 30, 10, 15, 20, 15, 15 tons)	2D6 = 11 Patrol Cruiser 2D6 = 12 Mercenary Cruiser
Ficant	2 high, 6 middle, 9 low	5 Major (10, 20, 40, 60, 10 tons) 1 Minor (30 ton)	2D6 = 11 Patrol Cruiser 2D6 = 12 Mercenary Cruiser
Arkadia	10 high, 9 middle, 10 low	4 Major (40, 10, 60, 30 tons) 8 Minor (30, 30, 20, 20, 5, 15, 25, 25 tons)	2D6 = 11 Patrol Cruiser 2D6 = 12 Mercenary Cruiser
Garda-Vilis	6 high, 7 middle, 15 low	5 Major (60, 30, 60, 40, 60 tons) 7 Minor (5, 5, 30, 30, 20, 30, 20 tons)	None
Choleosti	0 high, 0 middle, 0 low	1 Minor (20 tons)	2D6 = 10 Patrol Cruiser
Margesi	4 high, 5 middle, 10 low	5 Major (40, 20, 60, 40 60 tons) 5 Minor (30, 20, 15, 30, 30 tons)	2D6 = 10 Patrol Cruiser
Vilis	11 high, 13 middle, 20 low	10 Major (10, 10, 20, 50, 30, 20, 50, 40, 50, 50 ton lots) 11 Minor (30, 10, 10, 20, 15, 10, 5, 10, 15, 25, 25 tons) 7 Incidental (5, 2, 4, 4, 3, 6, 2 tons)	None
Saurus	1 high, 0 middle, 2 low (Lanth) 3 high, 4 middle, 15 low (Tavonni)	No cargo (Lanth) 5 Major (20, 50, 60, 30, 10 tons) (Tavonni) 9 Minor (25, 20, 20, 25, 25, 15, 10, 25, 15 tons) (Tavonni)	2D6 = 9 Scout/Courier
Tavonni	0 high, 0 middle, 0 low	No cargo	2D6 = 11 Patrol Cruiser 2D6 = 12 Mercenary Cruiser
Lanth	0 high, 0 middle, 0 low	No cargo	None
D'Ganzio	0 high, 0 middle, 0 low	No cargo ... annual overhaul maintenance	None
Totals	89 high, 108 middle, 186 low	87 Major, 97 Minor, 13 Incidental	86.96% chance per run

Yeesh ... those odds of a pirate attack during this run really add up over time!

The odds of a pirate attack on any inbound or outbound transit is

• 3 out of 36 (type C starport, 2D6=10 Patrol Cruiser ... 4+6, 5+5, 6+4)
• 4 out of 36 (type D starport, 2D6=9 Scout/Courier ... 3+6, 4+5, 5+4, 6+3)
• 3 out of 36 (type E starport, 2D6=11 Patrol Cruiser ... 5+6, 6+5 ... or 2D6=12 Mercenary Cruiser ... 6+6)

Since 9 systems on the route have type C or E starports, and 2 systems have a type D starport ... and in every system there are 2 checks for starship encounters (inbound and outbound) ... that means a lot of dice rolling.
18 encounter checks that have a 3 in 36 chance of being a pirate.
4 encounter checks that have a 4 in 36 chance of being a pirate.

Build your mathematical chance to have any of these starship encounter dice rolls turn up a pirate encounter and you get this:
1 - ( (1-3/36)¹⁸ * (1-4/36)⁴ ) = 0.869624551871 = 86.96% chance of at least 1 pirate encounter per run (could always be more than 1!)

Now I don't know about anyone else ... but I would NOT consider those to be especially good odds for a merchant vessel operating out on the fringes of Imperial controlled space (whether or not that space is patrolled adequately is a very different matter). Under those circumstances, where the odds of being attacked by pirates is over 85% per run of the route (D'Ganzio to Ficant to D'Ganzio), I'm reminded of a single sentence quote from LBB S7 on the subject of the Far Trader.

Some well equipped high-G traders employed beyond the Imperial border are called fast traders.

I'll just bet they are.
I always wanted to see what a (successful) starship design for one would look like.
Now I know.

When the odds of having at least 1 pirate attack per route run are that high (over 85%!), even if I could pay the "toll" of being able to ransom the ship to get it back, as a captain I know that I at least would prefer to have powerful enough maneuver drives to outrun any pirate attackers, even if they are flying a captured Patrol Cruiser ... which is where having 6G (or even 5G) maneuver drive power comes in really handy for being able to outmaneuver and fly away from any pirate ship that might want to board my ship, steal my cargo, hold my passengers and crew hostage and (if I'm lucky enough) ransom my own ship back to me without double crossing me.

A Far Trader can't outrun a Scout/Courier, but it can (potentially) outgun one (assuming the Far Trader is armed, which not all are).
Against a Patrol Cruiser (4G) or a Mercenary Cruiser (3G) or even a Corsair (3G) ... forget it, a Far Trader is a wallowing scow when it comes to comparative maneuvering power.

Compare and contrast that with a 5G TL=11 Spinward X-Courier or a 6G TL=13 Spinward Flex Courier and I know which ship(s) *I* would prefer to use to keep my profit margins safe against pirates along the D'Ganzio to Ficant to D'Ganzio route (or anywhere else, for that matter)!

 

[Spinward Flow]

Gross revenues before 50% rake	Passengers (revenue) Far Trader Spinward Flex Courier​	Bulk Cargo (revenue) Far Trader Spinward Flex Courier​	Speculative Cargo (buy, transport cost)​	Speculative Cargo (sell)​
D'Ganzio	Cr 60,000 Cr 0	Cr 60,000 Cr 40,000	None	None
Lanth	Cr 74,000 Cr 0	Cr 60,000 Cr 40,000 + Cr 25,000	None	None
Tavonni	Cr 0 Cr 0	Cr 0 Cr 0	None	None
Saurus	Cr 34,000 Cr 0	Cr 60,000 Cr 40,000 + Cr 25,000	None	None
Vilis	Cr 66,000 Cr 0	Cr 61,000 Cr 40,000 + Cr 25,000	Cr 4,375,000 (Cybernetic Parts) Cr 25,000 (25 tons)	None
Margesi	Cr 24,000 Cr 0	Cr 0 Cr 0 + Cr 25,000	None	Cr 22,500,000 (Cybernetic Parts)
Choleosti	Cr 44,000 Cr 0	Cr 0 Cr 0 + Cr 25,000	None	None
Garda-Vilis	Cr 74,000 Cr 0	Cr 61,000 Cr 40,000 + Cr 25,000	Cr 120,000 (Ammunition) Cr 8,000 (8 tons)	None
Arkadia	Cr 74,000 Cr 0	Cr 58,000 Cr 38,000 + Cr 25,000	Cr 8000 (8 tons)	None
Ficant	Cr 64,000 Cr 0	Cr 60,000 Cr 40,000 + Cr 25,000	None	Cr 312,000 (Ammunition)
Arkadia	Cr 74,000 Cr 0	Cr 60,000 Cr 40,000 + Cr 25,000	None	None
Garda-Vilis	Cr 72,000 Cr 0	Cr 60,000 Cr 40,000 + Cr 25,000	Cr 5,400,000 (Computer Parts) Cr 30,000 (30 tons)	None
Choleosti	Cr 0 Cr 0	Cr 0 (lost to pirates) Cr 20,000 + Cr 25,000	Far Trader lost Cr 6,000,000 to pirate ransom	Cr 6,750,000 (Computer Parts)
Margesi	Cr 68,000 Cr 0	Cr 60,000 Cr 40,000 + Cr 25,000	Cr 14,000,000 (Model/1bis) Cr 5000 (5 tons)	None
Vilis	Cr 74,000 Cr 0	Cr 61,000 Cr 40,000 + Cr 25,000	Cr 8,400,000 (Vacc Suits) Cr 30,000 (30 tons)	Cr 14,400,000 (Model/1bis)
Saurus	Cr 68,000 Cr 0	Cr 58,000 Cr 38,000 + Cr 25,000	Cr 32,400,000 (Model/2) Cr 8000 (8 tons)	Cr 36,000,000 (Vacc Suits)
Tavonni	Cr 0 Cr 0	Cr 0 Cr 0	None	None
Lanth	Cr 0 Cr 0	Cr 0 Cr 0 + Cr 25,000	None	Cr 43,200,000 (Model/2)
D'Ganzio	Cr 0 Cr 0	Cr 0 Cr 0 + Cr 25,000	None	None
Totals	Cr 870,000 Cr 0	Cr 719,000 Cr 896,000	Cr 70,809,000 Far Trader Cr 64,809,000 Spinward Flex	Cr 123,162,000

So just in terms of gross revenue from passengers/cargo/x-mail transportation (speculative cargo does not count) ... these are the following revenue totals for both starships over 1 run:

• Far Trader: Cr 1,589,000 gross revenue
• Spinward Flex Courier: Cr 896,000 gross revenue

Because of the 50% subsidy rake, both of these numbers get cut in half for the share of revenue going towards starship overhead for operations (life support, fuel, berthing fees, crew salary, etc.). So the net revenue each starship received and the subsidizing government (at Vilis in this case) received over the course of this run was:

• Far Trader: Cr 794,500 at 50% revenue share
• Spinward Flex Courier: Cr 448,000 at 50% revenue share

So looking at the raw 50% revenue share differential, we're seeing Advantage: Team Far Trader to the tune of Cr 346,500 better revenue earnings over their rivals on Team Spinward Flex Courier. However, as we've already seen, at least half of that revenue increase was lost to the necessity of paying for starport fuel over the course of the entire run.

Incidentally, this 50% revenue number is going to be something of intense interest to a subsidizing government, since the more gross revenue a subsidized starship earns the better the business proposition is for the subsidizing government claiming a 50% share of those gross revenues (the subsidizing government loses less money on the subsidy).



Note that these 100% and 50% revenue per run numbers give us an approximation of how much money flow would be needed to afford a bank loan.

A Far Trader (MCr 59.56) would need bank payments of Cr 248,167 per month for 480 months.
The Far Trader took 33 weeks to complete the route, which is 8.25 months ... meaning that bank loan payments for the duration of the run would have cost Cr 2,047,378 during the duration of the running of the route.

At 100% revenue (privately held) ... that's a Cr 458,378 shortfall per run, before needing to account for starship overhead and fuel costs for a Far Trader (all of which would need to be made up from speculative cargo arbitrage gains).

At 50% revenue (publicly subsidized) ... that's a Cr 1,252,878 loss per run if a subsidizing government is paying bank loan interest rates on the starship (which, let's be honest, would be stupid of them to do). However, if the subsidizing government "bought" the starship outright up front (MCr 59.56) and then needed to be recoup that cost over 40 years ... then the "share" of that purchase cost that would need to get amortized per year would be Cr 1,489,000 per year. Extrapolating the 33 week performance of the Far Trader into a 52 week annual return for the 50% revenue share we get 794,500*52/33 = Cr 1,251,940 per year ... so the subsidizing government can expect to be losing (at minimum) Cr 237,060 per year on the subsidy of the Far Trader (assuming similar revenue performance in future runs of the route). Note that such an annualized loss rate is less than the revenue generated by shipping an additional 20 tons of cargo per jump, 25 times per year, under subsidy, so very nearly a rounding error on the subsidizing government's budget.



A Spinward Flex Courier (MCr 109.8752) would need bank payments of Cr 457,814 per month for 480 months.
The Spinward Flex Courier took 32 weeks to complete the route, which is 8 months ... meaning that bank loan payments for the duration of the run would have cost Cr 3,662,512 during the duration of the running of the route.

At 100% revenue (privately held) ... that's a Cr 2,766,512 shortfall per run, before needing to account for starship overhead (and fuel costs, if/when they happen) for a Spinward Flex Courier (all of which would need to be made up from speculative cargo arbitrage gains).

At 50% revenue (publicly subsidized) ... that's a Cr 3,214,512 loss per run if a subsidizing government is paying bank loan interest rates on the starship (which, let's be honest, would be stupid of them to do). However, if the subsidizing government "bought" the starship outright up front (MCr 109.8752) and then needed to be recoup that cost over 40 years ... then the "share" of that purchase cost that would need to get amortized per year would be Cr 2,746,880 per year. Extrapolating the 32 week performance of the Spinward Flex Courier into a 52 week annual return for the 50% revenue share we get 448,000*52/32 = Cr 728,000 per year ... so the subsidizing government can expect to be losing (at minimum) Cr 2,018,880 per year on the subsidy of the Spinward Flex Courier (assuming similar revenue performance in future runs of the route). Note that such an annualized loss rate is slightly more the revenue generated by shipping an additional 160 tons of cargo per jump, 25 times per year, under subsidy, so definitely a consideration for a subsidizing government to factor into their budget process (although, let's be honest, MCr 2 per year isn't even a rounding error in a multi-trillion credit global economy's governmental budget outlays).

So a Spinward Flex Courier would definitely be pricier for a government to subsidize ... but the "longevity" of the Spinward Flex Courier in service (onboard fuel refining to prevent misjumps, far less susceptible to pirate attacks) will likely tend to mean that the higher price to subsidize a Spinward Flex Courier will be more "worth it" to the subsidizing government, simply because it is a more "secure" investment for the longer haul than a cheaper yet less "secure" option like a Far Trader. After all, a Spinward Flex Courier is more likely to still be flying around after 40 years than a Far Trader will on the D'Ganzio to Ficant to D'Ganzio route.

 

[Spinward Flow]

Starship Overhead Costs (berthing fees, crew salary, etc.)	Far Trader	Spinward Flex Courier	Far Trader Low Passengers (survived, died)
D'Ganzio	Cr 20,500	Cr 4100	N/A
Lanth	Cr 27,550	Cr 7700	3 live, 1 dies
Tavonni	Cr 0	Cr 0	N/A
Saurus	Cr 26,400	Cr 11,100	3 live, 1 dies
Vilis	Cr 27,450	Cr 7600	3 live, 1 dies
Margesi	Cr 17,450	Cr 4100	3 live, 1 dies
Choleosti	Cr 16,500	Cr 7600	3 live, 1 dies
Garda-Vilis	Cr 29,200	Cr 7600	3 live, 1 dies
Arkadia	Cr 27,550	Cr 7700	4 live
Ficant	Cr 27,450	Cr 7600	2 live, 2 die
Arkadia	Cr 27,550	Cr 4200	3 live, 1 dies
Garda-Vilis	Cr 30,120	Cr 7600	3 live, 1 dies
Choleosti	Cr 6100	Cr 7600	4 live
Margesi	Cr 27,650	Cr 7800	N/A
Vilis	Cr 27,450	Cr 7600	4 live
Saurus	Cr 27,450	Cr 7600	2 live, 2 die
Tavonni	Cr 7050	Cr 100	1 lives, 1 dies
Lanth	Cr 13,050	Cr 7600	2 live
D'Ganzio	Cr 7050 + Cr 59,560 annual maintenance	Cr 3600 + Cr 109,878 annual maintenance	N/A
Totals	Cr 393,570 + Cr 59,560 = Cr 453,130	Cr 118,800 + Cr 109,878 = Cr 228,678	43 live, 13 die

Well well well ... now isn't this interesting!
On the revenue streams above, the spreadsheets show that the Far Trader generates a LOT more revenue (approximately +77.34% more) than the Spinward Flex Courier could on this run based on passengers, bulk cargo and x-mail transport revenues (not including speculative cargo). However, when looking at the operating costs here, it is quite obvious that the Far Trader is also a LOT more expensive to operate (approximately +98.15% more) than a Spinward Flex Courier ... even when accounting for the higher annual overhaul maintenance fees into the operational overhead costs.

This gives us a much clearer picture of how the revenue and costs streams affect the balance sheets for both starships.

Far Trader
Revenue per run: Cr 1,589,000 (100% share) or Cr 794,500 (50% share)
Fuel costs per run: Cr 134,790 (loss)
Overhead costs per run: Cr 453,130 (loss)
Net Profit on Passengers and Bulk Cargo only (not including speculative cargo): Cr 1,001,080 (100% share) or Cr 206,580 (50% share)

So on this D'Ganzio to Ficant to D'Ganzio route, the Far Trader is almost 5x as profitable just on passengers and cargo revenues, not including any speculative cargo ... so the 50% subsidy rake is really putting a serious dent into the profit potential of a Far Trader in terms of "normal operations" for the starship on this route.

Spinward Flex Courier
Revenue per run: Cr 896,000 (100% share) or Cr 448,000 (50% share)
Fuel costs per run: Cr 42,750 (profit!)
Overhead costs per run: Cr 228,678 (loss)
Net Profit on X-Mail and Bulk Cargo only (not including speculative cargo): Cr 710,072 (100% share) or Cr 262,072 (50% share)

So on this D'Ganzio to Ficant to D'Ganzio route, the Spinward Flex Courier is about 2.71x as profitable just on x-mail and cargo revenues, not including any speculative cargo ... but interestingly enough the 50% subsidy rake is actually putting LESS of a dent into the profit potential of a Spinward Flex Courier in terms of "normal operations" for the starship on this route.



I find these results to be extremely interesting, since they essentially affirm one of the foundational principles upon which I built the business model of the Spinward Flex Courier to exploit ... namely the idea of being a to grind out competitive profits on the margins in markets where other starships would prefer to not venture, simply because when the availability of passengers and cargo to transport dries up other starships like a Far Trader find it harder to generate profits due to the lower "efficiency" of their design and business model imperatives.

The Spinward Flex Courier was designed to be as efficient as it has shown to be in this demonstration race by limiting its costs while maximizing its revenue generating capacity within those reduced costs.

A substantial factor in the higher overhead costs for a Far Trader (unarmed, if it were armed the Far Trader's profit margins would suffer even more due to an increase in crew salary and reduction in high/middle passenger capacity) is the expense of maintaining life support for passenger staterooms (up to Cr14,000 for 7 high/middle passengers per jump) is a fairly significant driver of higher overhead costs, which is a burden that the Spinward Flex Courier, in its default "stock" configuration, doesn't need to bear.

Another differentiating factor in the overhead costs is that the Far Trader has a crew that costs nearly double the salaries of a Spinward Flex Courier crew (Cr 6950 vs Cr 3500 every 2 weeks, or Cr 13,900 vs Cr 7000 per 4 weeks/1 month if you prefer), which over 32-33 weeks adds up to a difference of Cr 55,200 across 16 installments of 2 weeks worth of crew salaries when dealing with minimally qualified crews on both starships. That Cr 55,200 differential is almost (but not quite) equal to the differential in the 50% share net profit totals above (Cr 206,580 vs Cr 262,072) realized over the course of this race when all else is equal in terms of availability of goods to transport and starship encounters. The important point I want to make here is that even crew salaries can make a noticeable difference in profit margin potentials when it comes time to "shop around" for future expansions to your merchant line.



So, the final analysis is that a Far Trader has more profit potential, but also higher operational risks (of misjumps when using unrefined fuel and losses due to potential piracy) when operating privately (keeping 100% of the revenue) than when operating publicy with a subsidy (keeping only 50% of the revenue). The Far Trader generates more revenue, but also has higher operational costs.

By contrast, a Spinward Flex Courier has a slightly lowered profit potential, but also lower operational risks (onboard fuel purification plant and can escape from pirates) when operating privately (keeping 100% of the revenue) than when operating publicly with a subsidy (keeping only 50% of the revenue). The Spinward Flex Courier generates less revenue, but also has lower operational costs and a better safety record.

And keep in mind, the Spinward Flex Courier wasn't being utilized to its full potential in this Race To Profitability, since at no time was its capacity to act as a Tug for external cargo utilized (mainly since it would be an unfair advantage against the Far Trader which has no external cargo capacity). This means that even where and when the Spinward Flex Courier winds up falling short of the Far Trader's potentials, the Spinward Flex Courier still has capacity to "do more" than it did in this race, while the Far Trader ... doesn't (have additional capacity).

Simply adding additional interplanetary destinations for X-Mail (other inhabited moons and planetary orbits) would have increased the profit earning potential of the Spinward Flex Courier somewhat ... unfairly ... relative to the Far Trader's performance. And what would the cost have been for making those extra interplanetary deliveries? Team Spinward Flex Courier might have crossed the finish line 1-2 weeks later than they actually did while being hundreds of thousands of credits richer on their profit margin ... so definitely a prospect to consider in a Traveller universe that isn't limited to interstellar destinations only.