Okay ... that's the J2 (only) business model case ... but what about the J2+2 option?
![Roll eyes :rolleyes: :rolleyes:](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
Well ... there's a ... problem ... with that.
An LBB2.81 Power Plant-2 requires 20 tons of fuel per 4 weeks ... or basically 5 tons per week.
J2+2 in a 200 ton form factor requires 80 tons of jump fuel, plus 3 weeks of power plant fuel (for maneuvering before/after jumping) for a total of 95 tons of fuel. The A2 Far Trader has 60 tons of internal fuel capacity (40 for jump, 20 for power, as per CT Errata, p21) ... so to achieve a J2+2 performance it would need an extra +35 tons for fuel. Purchasing that 95 tons of fuel is going to cost Cr47,500 (refined) or Cr9500 (unrefined) at a starport, which is going to add up "in a hurry" over 12 weeks (Cr190,000 or Cr38,000, respectively for refined and unrefined fuels). When a 9 ton TL=9 fuel purification plant costs only Cr38,000 to install, you're looking at a one time cost to get "free refined fuel" from wilderness refueling for the lifetime of the starship ... a bargain really.
However, that +35 tons of collapsible fuel tank (costing Cr17,500) would then come at the expense of reducing the J2+2 A2
Far Far Trader's cargo capacity for the trip from 37 tons (with fuel purification plant) all the way down to ... 2 tons of cargo capacity remaining.
At that point, as a business owner I would honestly order up some further modifications to the ship.
I would remove the 4 low berths (+2 tons recovered) and reallocate the surviving 2 ton capacity from the cargo bay towards ... an 11th stateroom (and therefore an 8th high passenger capacity).
What you would wind up with would be something akin to what I'm immediately thinking of calling an
A2.2 Far Liner since such a design would be more oriented towards passenger services than towards freight services. It would still be an A2 Far Trader (custom) hull, the only differences would be in the internal arrangement of internal spaces.
How would such an A2.2 Far Liner perform economically when charging 2 the price of 2 tickets for a J2+2?
![Roll eyes :rolleyes: :rolleyes:](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
Let's find out!
An A2.2 Far Liner operating in a J2+2 capacity on all internal fuel has:
- 0 tons of cargo capacity remaining (occupied by a 35 ton collapsible fuel tank)
- 3 crew (pilot, engineer, medic/steward = Cr14,125 per month salaries cost plus Cr6000 life support cost per 2 weeks)
- 11 staterooms
- 8 high passengers (Cr64,000 net revenue per destination after life support is paid for)
- Berthing Fees (Cr100 per destination)
- 95 tons of fuel (Cr0 wilderness refueling and TL=9 fuel purification plant)
So on a J2+2 tempo (jump week+jump week+business week), delivering to 8 destinations in 12 weeks (4 intermediate deep space, 4 final) ... assuming full manifests (and before mortgage expenses) ... in the absence of speculative cargoes, you're looking at:
- 8x Cr0 freight revenue
- 8x Cr80,000 high passenger revenue
= 0 + 640,000 = Cr640,000 revenue per 12 weeks of operations
- 3x Cr14,125 crew salaries
- 6x Cr22,000 life support (11 staterooms per 2 weeks)
- 4x Cr100 berthing fees
- 4x Cr0 wilderness refueling cost
- 1/4x Cr69,356 annual overhaul cost
= 42,375 + 132,000 + 400 + (0) + 17,339 = Cr192,114 (wilderness refueling) operating expenses per 12 weeks
This means that a privately owned, paid off (no mortgage) modified A2.2 running a full manifest every time (unlikely, but work with me here) has the potential to earn a net profit of up to
Cr447,886 (wilderness refueling) every 12 weeks just from running high passenger services exclusively (think "business class starship).
With a purchase price of MCr69.3555 (CT Errata, p21 plus Cr38,000 fuel purification plant plus Cr17,500 for 35 ton collapsible fuel tank) ... 1/240th of that price is Cr288,982 per 4 weeks for a mortgage.
= Cr866,946 mortgage payments per 12 weeks
So a (modified) A2.2 Far Liner (with no turrets and no gunners) operating under a mortgage contract would have expenses of up to
Cr1,059,060 per 12 weeks (wilderness refueling) and a maximum revenue generation capacity of
Cr640,000 per 12 weeks in a J2+2 configuration ... for a net
LOSS of Cr419,060 per 12 weeks on 100% full manifests. Note that this puts the "break even" revenue point at 140% full manifests (average) ... (1,059,060+419,060)/1,059,060=1.3957.
Still better than the J2 stock A2 Far Trader "base case" ... but not by much.
Ah, but what about J2+2 operations with subsidies?
- (640,000 / 2) - 192,114 = Cr127,886 net profit gain per 12 weeks
Not QUITE as good as the subsidized J2 A2 scenario (Cr150,290 profit per 12 weeks) ... but that's the inherent beauty of the flexibility of the J2+2 A2.2 Far Liner option ... you don't HAVE to operate in a J2+2 "mode"
every single time. You would have the OPTION to flip back and forth between the two modes whenever you wanted to!
An A2.2 Far Liner operating in a J2 (only) capacity on all internal fuel has:
- 34 tons of cargo capacity (Cr34,000 revenue per destination) (0.35 tons consumed by deflated collapsible fuel tank)
- 3 crew (pilot, engineer, medic/steward = Cr14,125 per month salaries cost plus Cr6000 life support cost per 2 weeks)
- 11 staterooms
- 8 high passengers (Cr64,000 net revenue per destination after life support is paid for)
- Berthing Fees (Cr100 per destination)
- 95 tons of fuel (Cr0 wilderness refueling and TL=9 fuel purification plant)
So on a J2+2 tempo (jump week+jump week+business week), delivering to 8 destinations in 12 weeks (4 intermediate deep space, 4 final) ... assuming full manifests (and before mortgage expenses) ... in the absence of speculative cargoes, you're looking at:
- 6x Cr34,000 freight revenue
- 6x Cr80,000 high passenger revenue
= 204,000 + 480,000 = Cr684,000 revenue per 12 weeks of operations
- 3x Cr14,125 crew salaries
- 6x Cr22,000 life support (11 staterooms per 2 weeks)
- 4x Cr100 berthing fees
- 4x Cr0 wilderness refueling cost
- 1/4x Cr69,356 annual overhaul cost
= 42,375 + 132,000 + 400 + (0) + 17,339 = Cr192,114 (wilderness refueling) operating expenses per 12 weeks
This means that a privately owned, paid off (no mortgage) modified A2.2 running a full manifest every time (unlikely, but work with me here) has the potential to earn a net profit of up to
Cr491,886 (wilderness refueling) every 12 weeks just from running high passenger services exclusively (think "business class starship).
With a purchase price of MCr69.3555 (CT Errata, p21 plus Cr38,000 fuel purification plant plus Cr17,500 for 35 ton collapsible fuel tank) ... 1/240th of that price is Cr288,982 per 4 weeks for a mortgage.
= Cr866,946 mortgage payments per 12 weeks
So a (modified) A2.2 Far Liner (with no turrets and no gunners) operating under a mortgage contract would have expenses of up to
Cr1,059,060 per 12 weeks (wilderness refueling) and a maximum revenue generation capacity of
Cr684,000 per 12 weeks in a J2 (only) configuration ... for a net
LOSS of Cr375,060 per 12 weeks on 100% full manifests. Note that this puts the "break even" revenue point at 136% full manifests (average) ... (1,059,060+375,060)/1,059,060=1.3541.
Still better than the J2 stock A2 Far Trader "base case" ... but not by much.
Ah, but what about J2 (only) operations with subsidies?
- (684,000 / 2) - 192,114 = Cr149,886 net profit gain per 12 weeks
Interesting ... that's only Cr404 less than than the subsidized A2 Far Trader with fuel purification plant (Cr150,290 profit per 12 weeks)! That's a fairly negligible sacrifice, given the gain in flexibility made available.
A2 Far Trader = 37 tons cargo, 7 high passengers, 4 low passengers, J2 only
A2.2 Far Liner = 35 tons cargo, 8 high passengers, 0 low passengers, J2+2 available
Basically, what you wind up with, is that the A2.2 Far Liner can have:
J2 w/35 tons of cargo capacity and 8 high passengers
J2+1 w/20 tons of cargo capacity and 8 high passengers
J2+2 w/no cargo capacity and 8 high passengers
So that A2.2 Far Liner is "mainly" a passenger ship (hence the Liner, rather than merchant designation) that can "flex" its cargo space for fuel as needed in order to make longer transits (up to 4 parsecs!) ... but which really needs to be subsidized (or fully paid off) for its owners to make a profit on operations (mortgages are too expensive for the class to sustain without speculative cargo profits, and you need cargo capacity in order to speculate!).