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Using the Scout/Courier...

Spinward Scout

SOC-14 5K
Baron
Or: how can we put the "Courier" back in Scout/Courier?

Ok folks! Trying to come up with ideas here of how to legally and illegal use the Courier part of the Detached Duty Scout/Courier ship. Does anyone have any ideas? Since the ship can't legally run cargo, what else can she do?

Thanks!

Scout
 
Originally posted by Dameon Toth Detached Scout:

...Since the ship can't legally run cargo, what else can she do?


Scout
Why run cargo illegally of course
file_22.gif
<ahem>

Not that this old Scout got his start as a far-trader that way ;) but if you pick your speculative cargo right that J2 can help you score big even on a few D-tons. Then of course there's usually a few "personal items" that people will pay a premium to have transported without documentation.

Also like mandelkubb says you might find a few desperate passengers looking for transport that will avoid any Imperial entanglements


Just be sure that all the off the book business is in cash or other negotiables that leave no trail.

Then for those with less oppurtunistic drives you could turn that Scout ship into a small Lab ship for hire and put that technology to good use. All you need is a contact at a major university with a big research budget and you can write a nice safe long ticket as pilot for a bunch of science types doing field research across the subsector.

Another option is using it as a small Safari excursion ship, again depending on your skills and contacts.

About the only thing the type S is not much good as is an armed escort, a fighter she's not
file_28.gif
 
I think the Courier part was basically meant as messanger.....

CT Supp 9 says it's
Extremely suited to its job as message carrier for the Imperium. where the xboats don't travel, the scout/couriers must.
Although, there's nothing wrong with the odd illegal cargo
file_22.gif
... well, other than getting caught :(
 
Dameon Toth Detached Scout wrote:

"Or: how can we put the "Courier" back in Scout/Courier?"

"Ok folks! Trying to come up with ideas here of how to legally and illegal use the Courier part of the Detached Duty Scout/Courier ship. Does anyone have any ideas? Since the ship can't legally run cargo, what else can she do?"


Sir,

Your first paragraph holds the answer to the question posed in your second paragraph. And why do you think she can't 'legally' run cargo anyway?

Cargos in Traveller aren't always 100 dTons of Indonesian Neck Sleeves. A ton or two of speculative trade can really earn some change for a savvy ex-scout. In a pinch, you can stack boxes of Genuine Imitation Japanese Rubber Wolf Stools in that empty stateroom, just thing for the upcoming Moomba Days celebration on Arglebargle IV one parsec trailing.

The Suleiman is a courier and courier work happens to pay very well. The IISS uses them to connect backwater worlds with the X-boat network. There is no prohibition on anyone doing the same thing for a little lucre. Mail, messages, and small packages are just waiting for you to ship 'em. You needn't fly any specific route either, simply have a reasonably good reputation, select your next destination, and announce it to all and sundry. Just as in the days of sail, various brokers, companies, and private individuals will search you out and pay you to take their mail.

Don't forget charters either. Someone may want to get to Remulak straight away and not via the 2 month, 3 ship route offered by the only passenger line servicing this system. There will be in-system charters too; belters returning off leave, college students on a class trip, and other people with more money than sense.

Finally, you can fiddle around with 'gray market' shipping or 'small package' deliveries. Smuggling in the 3I is like speeding in the US, it's illegal but the consequences are usually light. Check out CT's TTA for typical smuggling fines and penalties.


Sincerely,
Larsen
 
I'm pretty sure in one of the books it says that if a Scout/Courier is assigned to a Detached Duty Scout, the ship CAN'T be used for cargo shipping. Not sure where I remember that from, and I don't have my books in front of me. Does anyone else remember that?

Later,

Scout
P.S. and thanks for all the great ideas!
 
Originally posted by Dameon Toth Detached Scout:
I'm pretty sure in one of the books it says that if a Scout/Courier is assigned to a Detached Duty Scout, the ship CAN'T be used for cargo shipping. Not sure where I remember that from, and I don't have my books in front of me. Does anyone else remember that?
Could be but I don't remember it. They said a lot of things when they assinged me the old wreck of a Type S that was the Burrunsu and had me sign a stack of forms for the DD assignment, but to be honest I just wanted to hit space and figured I'd read them later...


Originally posted by Dameon Toth Detached Scout:

P.S. and thanks for all the great ideas!
You're most welcome for any help my brain sparks may have accidentally offered ;)
 
I did a bit o' lookin' about on that, Larsen, and I didn't find a thing that says that you can't trade with a Type S. You just can't do it very well. Three tons ain't alot to try speculating on, eh?

Still, you get some very tangible benefits with a Type S that helps the DD Scout make ends meet. Insofar as smuggling goes, however, I would point out that if your detached duty boat ever finds itself in a system with a scout base, the local Scout Commander will pull your logs. This is one aspect I think alot of folks tend to forget. Could be sticky if you've been dodging about in Red Zones.....
 
Ganidiirsi O'Flynn wrote:

"I did a bit o' lookin' about on that, Larsen, and I didn't find a thing that says that you can't trade with a Type S. You just can't do it very well. Three tons ain't alot to try speculating on, eh?"


Mr. O'Flynn,

I didn't claim otherwise. I can't remember reading a 'no trading' prohibition anywhere, then again my memory resembles a sieve.

And you're right, three dTons isn't much room. Of course, a DD-Scout doesn't need to earn a lot to make ends meet. He gets free fuel and life support at scout bases. If he wishes, he can also scoop and purify his fuel for free. Having no mortgage and no crew salaries really cuts down on your operating costs. A dTon of geegaws at 6K CrImps per can go a long way when your debits aren't too high.

"Insofar as smuggling goes, however, I would point out that if your detached duty boat ever finds itself in a system with a scout base, the local Scout Commander will pull your logs. This is one aspect I think alot of folks tend to forget. Could be sticky if you've been dodging about in Red Zones....."

Very true. People do tend to forget the existence of those logs and the long list of folks who can look at them. IMTU, those logs aren't automatic either. Sure, they'll get a dump from your transponder, but they want more than that. The DD-Scout is out there to use his eyes and ears. They want the rumors he's heard, the ships he's seen, all the seemingly inconsequential stuff that makes up the grist of intelligence gathering. As a GM, I made DD-Scout PCs keep diaries* and penalized them when they didn't. How does a mandatory skills refresher course sound during your next scout base layover? The commander there can impose all sorts of nastiness if she doesn't care for the condition of your logs.

As for Red Zones, if the DD-Scout brings back a nice enough piece of information, I'd think the base commander would look the other way.

Oddly enough, most smuggling won't involve Red Zones at all. Look at the 'Bretheren of the Coast', those rugged individuals who have smuggled across the Channel 'tween Britain and France since Caeser's time. They don't move prohibited goods, they move goods that would normally be taxed; an important distinction. It's scotch and cigarettes going south while brandy and wines goes north. The items aren't illegal, however paying no duty on them is.

Most smuggling involves cheating the tax man and not getting 8 metric tons of crystal meth over the border. When state taxes on smokes began being raised in the early 70s, I knew fellows who used to move a trailer load of cigarettes from North Carolina into New England every month. They'd sell them out of car trunks at construction sites and bars. That's the type of smuggling you'll find IMTU. It isn't always plutonium, bio-agents, and black globes.


Sincerely,
Larsen

* - Kept a diary in game terms and not in actuality. He merely had to set aside time every so often the update it. If he put it off, there was a roll against his INT stat to see if he had left anything out.

P.S. For those of you who cite the 3I's support of free trade to question my take on smuggling as a tax dodge, Remember - the Imperium protects free trade *between* starports, that means *inside* the extrality line. Crossing the extrality line onto the world proper is another kettle of fish. Worlds can impose taxes and tariffs IF those fees are assessed impartially. If you wish to tax wheat imports, you must tax all wheat from everywhere outside your system and not just wheat from Trin's Veil.
 
* - Kept a diary in game terms and not in actuality. He merely had to set aside time every so often the update it.
In one of my earlier games the PCs were working for SolSec, and after one mission I got the *players* to write reports. They were hysterical!
 
Detached Scout/Couiers make for cheap picket/patrol/customs ships for dirtball systems that can't afford anything else. True, they can't stand up to a pirate ship, but they are usually faster than most of the merchant traffic coming through the system. I can easily see a cooperative partnership between the Scout Service and low tech low pop worlds where the scouts make detached duty scouts available to those worlds for such duty.

Forboldn (1808 Spinward Marches) comes to mind...
 
Originally posted by Ganidiirsi O'Flynn:
I did a bit o' lookin' about on that, Larsen, and I didn't find a thing that says that you can't trade with a Type S. You just can't do it very well. Three tons ain't alot to try speculating on, eh?
That's what I thought. In the game I just started, I did a bit of prior history handwaving to give the players a (heavily mortgaged, disintegrating) free trader instead of the detached scout they're entitled to. Since the adventure involves collecting shipments of up to five tons, I wanted them to have room for that and also a bit of spec trading if they were so inclined.

So on their first jump, from Shanape (TL 12) to Liar's Oath (TL 8) in the Ley Sector, they chanced their arm on cr 90,000 worth of video games consoles. At 3.3kg and 300cr a pop wholesale, that weighs almost a whole ton. A scout would have been fine. Oh well.
 
Originally posted by Andrew Boulton:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr /> * - Kept a diary in game terms and not in actuality. He merely had to set aside time every so often the update it.
In one of my earlier games the PCs were working for SolSec, and after one mission I got the *players* to write reports. They were hysterical! </font>[/QUOTE]That souns a bit like a Paranoia report.

And remember, reports are less likely to be contradictory if there is only one set of them being filed....
 
Now, see I'd always assumed that the Type S was used for small cargo runs of maybe one parsec or such distributing cargo to nearby outying worlds off of the main supply route. Naturally, with such small cargo capacities, they'd only be good for supplying small settlements and colonies but it'd work.

Also, I thought it was the classic Type S that only had 3 tons. I seem to recall GURPS and T20 scouts have around 20 tons.

Crow
 
Originally posted by Scarecrow:
Also, I thought it was the classic Type S that only had 3 tons. I seem to recall GURPS and T20 scouts have around 20 tons.

Crow
Yep, CT Book 2 is 3 tons, Book 5 is 22 tons, GT is 12.5 tons, T20 is 20 tons at TL11. Higher TL's will allow more cargo as the PP gets smaller. 20 tons is a reasonable cargo hold considering there's no mortgage payment to be made.
 
Hi Folks,

I did a little research on the "proper" use of the Scout/Courier.

In The Traveller Book, it says for the Scout/Courier: "The ship can carry three passengers (up to seven passengers double occupancy) in non-commercial service only."

So, what's "non-commercial service"?

CT Books 0-8 reprint says: "The ship may be used as desired."

MegaTraveller says: "There is little or no accountability required for the ship..."

GURPS Traveller states: "The ex-scout may use the vessel for any legal purpose, and many engage in small-scale speculative trade or passenger transport."

And T4 says: "The ship may be used for travel, limited commerce, or pleasure."

So, I don't know exactly where I got the idea that you couldn't use the Scout/Courier for speculative trade while it was on Detached Duty. Sorry about that.

Later,

Scout
 
Originally posted by Dameon Toth Detached Scout:
Hi Folks,

I did a little research on the "proper" use of the Scout/Courier.

In The Traveller Book, it says for the Scout/Courier: "The ship can carry three passengers (up to seven passengers double occupancy) in non-commercial service only."

So, what's "non-commercial service"?
Giving your buds a lift to the next port of call, or transporting a bunch of fresh faced Scout recruits to the nearest base for assignment (oh joy :rolleyes: ). To name a couple examples off the top of my head.

Originally posted by Dameon Toth Detached Scout:


<snip>

So, I don't know exactly where I got the idea that you couldn't use the Scout/Courier for speculative trade while it was on Detached Duty. Sorry about that.

Later,

Scout
No problem, maybe it was your old GM or some magazine article. I have a system of assignments for DD Scouts to keep them productively busy or reassign the asset (the Type S). It still leaves ample freedom for the Scout as long as they "touch base" once in a while and don't abuse the ship or base privaleges. Be careful out there :D
 
Originally posted by Dameon Toth Detached Scout:
Do you think you might be able to post those assignments?

later,

Scout
Hmm, I thought I already had somewhere around here but I can't find them right now :(

Oh well time to sleep and with a fresh brain (if Igor doesn't forget
) maybe I'll find it. If not then I'll repost here. Hmm, come to think of it the outline might be on the TML instead. Anyway, later, must crash now, zzzzzzzz...
 
Two thoughts:

1) How much computer code can one displacement ton hold? (Some cargos are not hauled by the ton, or even the kg.).

2) Consider the phrase: "When It Absolutely, Positively Has To Get There In One Week".

Season to taste ;)
 
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