Here (and in the next two comments) is an analysis I did on Merchant Starships Comparative Potential Revenue and Expenses (per Jump and per ton)
My question is, given a certain ship—size, drives, crew, vehicles and suchlike are assumed—what is the most effective use of the remaining space in mercantile transport? Should we add (or eliminate) passenger berths?
Assumptions: Book 2 (Starships) Revenues and Expenses RAW.
Comparison is on the basis of used payload space. This analysis assumes only the differential costs between the various revenue-producing payloads. Overhead—cost of fuel, most salaries, mortgage payments on ship hull, drives, bridge, etc.—is assumed to be equal and ignored in this comparison.
I use a standard two week Jump cycle, for 25 jumps each year plus Annual Maintenance. Also, Mortgage payments are 1/240 of ship price; I charge 1/480 of price per jump, which accounts for 24 jumps per year to pay 12 monthly payments. The remaining jump should be twice sufficient to pay for Annual Maintenance plus minor expenses like Berthing Fees. This much simplifies the math—and lots of picky variables that have negligible effect on the bottom line.
Payload is: Cargo, High, Middle, or Low Passengers, plus Stewards (since the skipper or owner could decide to run only Mid Passengers and have no Stewards, freeing up those rooms for passengers). Steward salary depends on skill (p. 8), assume Steward-1 for Cr3300 per month, or Cr1650 per jump.
I do not analyze Mail Contracts, mostly because they require service on a regular route. Also: how often must a given segment be serviced? Will the contract pay on every leg of a route? However, by analogy to High Passengers, it would seem optimally more profitable than cargo, or passengers: 5 tons of mail plus 4 tons (Gunner with salary and stateroom) plus 1 ton (weapon in turret) = 10 tons used for Cr25k income and a bit over Cr3k extra expense gives I/E around Cr2k per ton.
My question is, given a certain ship—size, drives, crew, vehicles and suchlike are assumed—what is the most effective use of the remaining space in mercantile transport? Should we add (or eliminate) passenger berths?
Assumptions: Book 2 (Starships) Revenues and Expenses RAW.
Comparison is on the basis of used payload space. This analysis assumes only the differential costs between the various revenue-producing payloads. Overhead—cost of fuel, most salaries, mortgage payments on ship hull, drives, bridge, etc.—is assumed to be equal and ignored in this comparison.
I use a standard two week Jump cycle, for 25 jumps each year plus Annual Maintenance. Also, Mortgage payments are 1/240 of ship price; I charge 1/480 of price per jump, which accounts for 24 jumps per year to pay 12 monthly payments. The remaining jump should be twice sufficient to pay for Annual Maintenance plus minor expenses like Berthing Fees. This much simplifies the math—and lots of picky variables that have negligible effect on the bottom line.
Payload is: Cargo, High, Middle, or Low Passengers, plus Stewards (since the skipper or owner could decide to run only Mid Passengers and have no Stewards, freeing up those rooms for passengers). Steward salary depends on skill (p. 8), assume Steward-1 for Cr3300 per month, or Cr1650 per jump.
I do not analyze Mail Contracts, mostly because they require service on a regular route. Also: how often must a given segment be serviced? Will the contract pay on every leg of a route? However, by analogy to High Passengers, it would seem optimally more profitable than cargo, or passengers: 5 tons of mail plus 4 tons (Gunner with salary and stateroom) plus 1 ton (weapon in turret) = 10 tons used for Cr25k income and a bit over Cr3k extra expense gives I/E around Cr2k per ton.
Last edited:
