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T20 Trade in a CT game?

No, his cost in finding the lot, whether purchased or not, is 10% of the value of said lot. Assuming, of course, he's using his ±4 bonus. It isn't a down payment, it's a cost of finding the available lot.

So, buying or not, you're spending.

And that's in Bk2, Bk7, MT, TNE, T4, and T20 all...

Now, IMTU, I allow setting a limit, and base the cost of finding off BASE value. If you set a limit, say, Cr1000, then a +4 broker will not return a result higher than a Cr10,000 base value cargo of 1 ton, nor more than 10Td of Cr1000 goods, nor more than 20Td of Cr500/td goods.
 
No, his cost in finding the lot, whether purchased or not, is 10% of the value of said lot. Assuming, of course, he's using his ±4 bonus. It isn't a down payment, it's a cost of finding the available lot.

So, buying or not, you're spending.

And that's in Bk2, Bk7, MT, TNE, T4, and T20 all...

Now, IMTU, I allow setting a limit, and base the cost of finding off BASE value. If you set a limit, say, Cr1000, then a +4 broker will not return a result higher than a Cr10,000 base value cargo of 1 ton, nor more than 10Td of Cr1000 goods, nor more than 20Td of Cr500/td goods.
 
I took a few ideas from T20 and added them to my CT trade rules, but with that classic feel.

First, I use a mix of the Book 2 and Book 7 trade rules - trade goods are still determined as per Book 2, but skill applicability and modifiers are determined using Book 7 (so Admin is no longer a positive modifier on the Actual Value table, for example).

Second, Broker is a world-specific skill - a character with Broker levels must select a world, and each level of Broker is applicable to a range in parsecs equal to the level, decreasing by one per parsec. This means a character with Broker-2 has Broker-2 on the designated world, and Broker-1 at all worlds within one parsec of the desginated world. A Broker may change designated worlds, but must spend 1D months per Broker level on that world to reacquire the necessary knolwedge - that same Broker-2 would require 1D months to gain Broker-1 on a new world, and another 1D months to gain Broker-2 on the designated world and Broker-1 on the neighboring worlds.

Third, I took the greatly expanded trade goods table in T20 and created cascades using the Book 2 table. For example, I changed "21 Steel" to "21 Metal Products" and made a cascade of scrap metal and steel (roll 1D, 1-3 scrap metal, 4-6 steel), changed "15 Crystals" to "15 Mineral Products" and made a cascade of abrasive powders, minerals, and crystals, and so on.

Fourth, cargo availability is determined by rolling Pop- on 1D to locate a speculative cargo (this makes it automatic on worlds with Pop 6 or better).

Fifth and last, maximum broker modifiers are determined per Book 7. The players roll 1D to determine the best available broker - an A-class starport will offer a +4 broker on a roll of 4-6, a +3 broker on a roll of 3, a a +2 broker on a roll of 2, and a +1 broker on a roll of 1), with Admin or Trader providing a positive modifier on the roll for a broker. They can search for a different broker each day, but each day of search results in a -1 to the roll on the Actual Value table, assuming the players are on the normal "one week turnaround" schedule - if they have unlimited time, then there is no penalty. (This reflects that where time is a constraint, each lost day makes it harder to find a buyer at the best price.)

I don't use a "universal" task or skill resolution system - just the good old LBBs as written! - so there wasn't a lot for me to do with the difficulty ratings and so forth in T20. Sometimes I'll tack on modifiers for particular worlds, and some worlds have export and import specialties that provide useful bonuses on the Actual Value table - for example, an Ag world may specialize in table wine, so on a roll of 12+ they can locate wine (liquor) as the trade good instead of rolling at random, and then get a -2 on the actual value table to modify the base price.

And that is how we do that!
 
I took a few ideas from T20 and added them to my CT trade rules, but with that classic feel.

First, I use a mix of the Book 2 and Book 7 trade rules - trade goods are still determined as per Book 2, but skill applicability and modifiers are determined using Book 7 (so Admin is no longer a positive modifier on the Actual Value table, for example).

Second, Broker is a world-specific skill - a character with Broker levels must select a world, and each level of Broker is applicable to a range in parsecs equal to the level, decreasing by one per parsec. This means a character with Broker-2 has Broker-2 on the designated world, and Broker-1 at all worlds within one parsec of the desginated world. A Broker may change designated worlds, but must spend 1D months per Broker level on that world to reacquire the necessary knolwedge - that same Broker-2 would require 1D months to gain Broker-1 on a new world, and another 1D months to gain Broker-2 on the designated world and Broker-1 on the neighboring worlds.

Third, I took the greatly expanded trade goods table in T20 and created cascades using the Book 2 table. For example, I changed "21 Steel" to "21 Metal Products" and made a cascade of scrap metal and steel (roll 1D, 1-3 scrap metal, 4-6 steel), changed "15 Crystals" to "15 Mineral Products" and made a cascade of abrasive powders, minerals, and crystals, and so on.

Fourth, cargo availability is determined by rolling Pop- on 1D to locate a speculative cargo (this makes it automatic on worlds with Pop 6 or better).

Fifth and last, maximum broker modifiers are determined per Book 7. The players roll 1D to determine the best available broker - an A-class starport will offer a +4 broker on a roll of 4-6, a +3 broker on a roll of 3, a a +2 broker on a roll of 2, and a +1 broker on a roll of 1), with Admin or Trader providing a positive modifier on the roll for a broker. They can search for a different broker each day, but each day of search results in a -1 to the roll on the Actual Value table, assuming the players are on the normal "one week turnaround" schedule - if they have unlimited time, then there is no penalty. (This reflects that where time is a constraint, each lost day makes it harder to find a buyer at the best price.)

I don't use a "universal" task or skill resolution system - just the good old LBBs as written! - so there wasn't a lot for me to do with the difficulty ratings and so forth in T20. Sometimes I'll tack on modifiers for particular worlds, and some worlds have export and import specialties that provide useful bonuses on the Actual Value table - for example, an Ag world may specialize in table wine, so on a roll of 12+ they can locate wine (liquor) as the trade good instead of rolling at random, and then get a -2 on the actual value table to modify the base price.

And that is how we do that!
 
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