I put this post in our pirate discussion, but since we were only covering the aspects of this system as they relate to piracy there, I decided that another posting here under a different title might be more appropriate:
One idea I had is that systems with a high enough techlevel probably maintain some kind of an information network like the world wide web. Each system that has the population, the technology and the money to invest would probably build itself a network node with computer centers and data storage nodes (ISPs).
Since faster than light travel is the fastest means of communication, all those people on all those systems out there are going to be hungry to know what is happening around them, in their sub sector and in the core.
Now the Xboat system covers most of the day-to-day informational needs of the various imperial systems, but Merchant vessels can also supplement that information and indeed often do it more timely that the Xboats can simply because the Xboats make regular runs and nothing gets disseminated in between runs. A merchant ship jumping into a couple of hours later from another system would have the opportunity to transfer more current information and news than what had recently come in on the Xboat.
What I propose is that all merchant ships carry a "burst emitter array" and a "receiver". Every ship jumping into the System from somewhere else will be queried by the system's computer network node. There will be a series of "internet protocols" (if you will) that compares the actuality (topicality/"currentness") of the information and news in the ship's Data-base to the current information in the System's Database Node.
New or more current information from the incoming ship will be tagged and all the data will be sorted into categories like "commercial class-A", "commercial class-B", "public knowledge", "warnings and advisories" etc. The ship's computer and the Node computer will exchange information so that the ship's DB is brought up to date with the information about the system that they jumped into (weather reports, tourist information, news, warnings and advisories, want ads, advertisements, etc, etc. ) and the system's database node will be brought up to date with the most current information about the systems that the ship has recently visited.
The best part is that each ship and system will have bought certain information rights and while some information will be traded freely other information can be bought and sold at pre-arranged prices based on classification. Since the system has a larger population and therefore more informational need, the merchant stands to make a small profit on the information that he sells and the advertising that he agrees to transmit.
This brings a new element into the game that may make some of your merchant runs more profitable, ans even sustainable because ships can buy and sell information and advertising when they jump in to the jump point.
There are just sensor buoys floating out there in any system with a decent tech level and an imperial network node. The buoys are connected to the System's network node. When the ship jumps in it is hailed by the buoy and transmits a burst signal with all its information to the buoy.
The information is classified, compared and sorted. Newer information that is of public record is transferred immediately. Other information is sorted in to commercial classification codes and is automatically bought and sold between the ship and the System's information network. The Merchant's account is credited with so many credits for the selling of interesting new information and getting paid for carrying advertising to the next system Node.
Certain trading information can be highly prized by Corporations, Governments or Organizations operating in the system. In some cases they may be willing to pay top credit for the information that the merchant has. Class-A commercial information would be the most highly valued information and could contain current stock prices or going rates for goods and services from neighboring systems.
The ship's bursar and owner pre-arrange and set what parameters are to be used for buying information with a computer program, so that there is no chance of a ship going in the "red" because of a information sales deficit. The profit is not much, but it is often enough to cover docking fees and tariffs on goods and maybe even cover some of the costs of fuel.
The ship's crew would certainly not be able to look at all of the information individually, but computer evaluation programs could be written to disseminate the information. The bursar would see abstracted reports about what information a particular system bought on a regular basis and could change his bid for offering the information manually if he so desired. In most cases the ship's computer would handle all the buying and selling of information and would ensure that no deficit is incurred.
One idea I had is that systems with a high enough techlevel probably maintain some kind of an information network like the world wide web. Each system that has the population, the technology and the money to invest would probably build itself a network node with computer centers and data storage nodes (ISPs).
Since faster than light travel is the fastest means of communication, all those people on all those systems out there are going to be hungry to know what is happening around them, in their sub sector and in the core.
Now the Xboat system covers most of the day-to-day informational needs of the various imperial systems, but Merchant vessels can also supplement that information and indeed often do it more timely that the Xboats can simply because the Xboats make regular runs and nothing gets disseminated in between runs. A merchant ship jumping into a couple of hours later from another system would have the opportunity to transfer more current information and news than what had recently come in on the Xboat.
What I propose is that all merchant ships carry a "burst emitter array" and a "receiver". Every ship jumping into the System from somewhere else will be queried by the system's computer network node. There will be a series of "internet protocols" (if you will) that compares the actuality (topicality/"currentness") of the information and news in the ship's Data-base to the current information in the System's Database Node.
New or more current information from the incoming ship will be tagged and all the data will be sorted into categories like "commercial class-A", "commercial class-B", "public knowledge", "warnings and advisories" etc. The ship's computer and the Node computer will exchange information so that the ship's DB is brought up to date with the information about the system that they jumped into (weather reports, tourist information, news, warnings and advisories, want ads, advertisements, etc, etc. ) and the system's database node will be brought up to date with the most current information about the systems that the ship has recently visited.
The best part is that each ship and system will have bought certain information rights and while some information will be traded freely other information can be bought and sold at pre-arranged prices based on classification. Since the system has a larger population and therefore more informational need, the merchant stands to make a small profit on the information that he sells and the advertising that he agrees to transmit.
This brings a new element into the game that may make some of your merchant runs more profitable, ans even sustainable because ships can buy and sell information and advertising when they jump in to the jump point.
There are just sensor buoys floating out there in any system with a decent tech level and an imperial network node. The buoys are connected to the System's network node. When the ship jumps in it is hailed by the buoy and transmits a burst signal with all its information to the buoy.
The information is classified, compared and sorted. Newer information that is of public record is transferred immediately. Other information is sorted in to commercial classification codes and is automatically bought and sold between the ship and the System's information network. The Merchant's account is credited with so many credits for the selling of interesting new information and getting paid for carrying advertising to the next system Node.
Certain trading information can be highly prized by Corporations, Governments or Organizations operating in the system. In some cases they may be willing to pay top credit for the information that the merchant has. Class-A commercial information would be the most highly valued information and could contain current stock prices or going rates for goods and services from neighboring systems.
The ship's bursar and owner pre-arrange and set what parameters are to be used for buying information with a computer program, so that there is no chance of a ship going in the "red" because of a information sales deficit. The profit is not much, but it is often enough to cover docking fees and tariffs on goods and maybe even cover some of the costs of fuel.
The ship's crew would certainly not be able to look at all of the information individually, but computer evaluation programs could be written to disseminate the information. The bursar would see abstracted reports about what information a particular system bought on a regular basis and could change his bid for offering the information manually if he so desired. In most cases the ship's computer would handle all the buying and selling of information and would ensure that no deficit is incurred.
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