What X-Boat travels in your universe?
- Thread starter Swiftbrook
- Start date
OK, maybe someone can help me out. In which book/magazine are the x-boat fees?
Those fees are something I think the community can errata/agree to update.
Those fees are something I think the community can errata/agree to update.
CT is CT.
Blatant Plug Warning. If you want to craft an upgrade and submit it to Imperiallines, in a manner that respects the game (whatever that means), I'm all ears.
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This. This is why I still read Whipsnade's posts. GOOD MATERIAL.
Regarding realspace vectors in jump. The most helpful realspace vector for Xboats would be "zero" relative to the system. Assuming that is preserved, then zero entrance vector results in zero exit vector. The Xboat Tender's maneuver drive executes the rendezvous.
Perhaps above the planetary plane as well -- and the spot's location depends on the origin of the Xboat, established by Scout convention or rule or whatnot. So each origin has its own arrival point and its own tender. OR perhaps not - maybe it's just as well for everyone to arrive in the same place.
Of course, it would have to be per link.
I know Whipsnade has already dealt with this, but one per day is plenty.
Perhaps above the planetary plane as well -- and the spot's location depends on the origin of the Xboat, established by Scout convention or rule or whatnot. So each origin has its own arrival point and its own tender. OR perhaps not - maybe it's just as well for everyone to arrive in the same place.
Of course, it would have to be per link.
I know Whipsnade has already dealt with this, but one per day is plenty.
Whoa there. There's no need for you to apologize for anything.
Thanks to my harum-scarum, piss poor posting style I'm surprised anyone can get anything out of much of what I post.
It's uncharacteristic of you to show humility, Whipsnade. I like to see responses salted that way - neither cloying nor apologetic, but understanding.
Not quite. Zero in one system isn't zero in another because those systems are moving relative to one another. Let's use Barnard's Star for an example.
Barnard's is moving ~ 140 km/s, IIRC, along a vector bringing it "towards" Sol. When an X-boat at "rest" with regards to Sol jumps into the Barnard's system, the 'boat would arrive still at rest with regards to Sol while the tender at rest with regards to Barnard's would see the 'boat moving at ~ 140 km/s along a vector reciprocal to Barnard's vector.
A "useful" vector for the X-boat to "carry" through jump space from Sol to Barnard's would be one reciprocal to Barnard's vector as seen from Sol. The 'boat would jump from Sol with a vector that would leave it at rest with regards to Barnard's.
(Barnard's has the largest proper motion relative to Sol. It would take a one gee tender about 7 hours to give a boat the velocity the "useful" vector it needs so our Barnard's - Sol link could be one where a dedicated tug is used.)
The reverse is also true. To someone at rest with regards to Barnard's, Sol is the one moving at ~ 140 km/s.
Exactly. There are a lot of variables at work; free of masks/shadows, limited comm lags, etc. The location of each spot (or spots) will be unique to each system.
Like I said, Fly; I don't "like" it, I'm just trying to "explain" it.
The Traveller Adventure has the following:
X-rnail: Messages sent by xboat. Xmail carries information only; material objects may not be sent. The message is digitally coded: xmail costs Cr10 per 20 kilobits per parsec. The message may be sent using a standard Anglic character set (about Cr10 for a 500 word message) or a picture may be reproduced in facsimile Cr20 for a 200x200 bit matrix). The message is printed out at its destination and delivered by a world's local mail system.
They probably shouldn't be updated too much.
The costs of operating have been worked out pretty well, and the real issue is "How many people actually will use off-world commo, anyway?"
The answer is probably "Not very many".
Prior to the internet, international mail was pretty damned low. Mostly business stuff. General communications were not used overseas much. As the costs dropped, and the speeds improved, it picked up a little... but until the internet, few people actually had routine correspondence with foreigners. I've seen estimates of about 1% of the population.
During the WWIVnet days, I corresponded with a few Canadians, and a couple of mexicans, but mostly within the US. (And the mexicans didn't want it known they were mexican, as their BBS was in Texas...) It could take 3-7 days to get a message to/from Alaska to Florida... and VERY few people used it. Most conversations on most WWIVNet boards.
Now, with cheap and fast email, I converse with people spread across half the globe. (And snub thoroughly another third, thanks to their national propensity to spam.)
But those slow conversations via X-mail? I doubt they ammount to much.
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
It is unfortunate that there is not an "Other" category in the poll. In My Traveller Universe, there are Jump Message torpedoes (caution, do not attempt to make physical contact with the torpedo, if you do, well, you were warned), contracted mail runs, and courier ships. No X-boats, as no Imperium out near the Rim.
I've looked to edit my poll and I can't find a way. This is my first poll so it's a learning process.
Aramis,
I don't need to communicate with people around the world, but it's basically free and fun so I do. I have relative in several states (here in the USA), and I communicate with them in a variety of ways. People move around a lot in this day and age.
I think the X-Boat network might work the same way - if it's cheap, more people will use it. People will communicate with relatives in nearby systems. They'll take vacations and need to communicate with their destination. The more an X-Boat network is used, the cheaper it will be. No good businessmen is going to let the Imperium make money when they can instead.
I don't see an inexpensive X-Boat network hurting the Imperium. It's still communicating in days not seconds. Private couriers can still compete where it's profitable.
Even if we keep the costs high and say that there is limited use of the network, I don't think it's out of line to change 20 kilobytes to 20 megabytes or even 20 gigabytes. That's really not that unreasonable.
I don't need to communicate with people around the world, but it's basically free and fun so I do. I have relative in several states (here in the USA), and I communicate with them in a variety of ways. People move around a lot in this day and age.
I think the X-Boat network might work the same way - if it's cheap, more people will use it. People will communicate with relatives in nearby systems. They'll take vacations and need to communicate with their destination. The more an X-Boat network is used, the cheaper it will be. No good businessmen is going to let the Imperium make money when they can instead.
I don't see an inexpensive X-Boat network hurting the Imperium. It's still communicating in days not seconds. Private couriers can still compete where it's profitable.
Even if we keep the costs high and say that there is limited use of the network, I don't think it's out of line to change 20 kilobytes to 20 megabytes or even 20 gigabytes. That's really not that unreasonable.
The thing is, the system's BLOODY expensive.
Assuming 0 fuel costs, and a 40 year lifespan, 13 months a year, with 12 months on duty... and amortizing the costs thus for 13/12ths of annual costs including 1/40th of replacement costs, plus crew at O2 pay x2 (spare pilot) (2400/mo)... and you have at least 8 on each route (because of exit uncertainty) in each direction
Annual costs:
2*8*(13/12)*((70,600,000/40)+(2400*13)) per link.
(4*13/3) *(1765000+31200)
(52/3)*1796200=
31,134,133 per link per year, plus at least one tender (because we can share a tender between 2 links,
Tender
13/12 to allow for time for maintenance, MCr274.44 to replace, crew of 6, probably in blue/gold crewing mode for 12, and we'll use O2 pay again...
(13/12)*((274,440,000/40)+(13*2*6*2400))
(13/12)*(6,861,000+374,400)
(13/12)*7,235,400
7838350 per tender
Oops, I forgot annual maintenance...
Anyway, you can begin to see the issue. It's about MCr40 per link with only minor overhead rounding, with 730 link-hops per year.
Which means a hop needs to average about KCr55 per hop.
If a population has 1 message intersystem per 100 residents (comparable to Colonial rates with England in the 1750's) per month... 3*(10^(Pop-4)) is the number of messages. Since we know that, physically, we can fit 333 terrabytes per liter of NAND RAM-drive ( a roughly 0.5x2x3 cm 1/4 TiB NAND is currently available... roughly 12 cc per TiB), space is not the issue. It's user base. Let us assume 50% occupancy of the "8 tons" of databank by such NAND chips... we get 2.2 EiB.
Assuming the average mainworld is pop 5, that's 3 messages a month...
but the average hub is more likely pop 8 or pop 9, for 30k to 300k messages...
And we need to subsidise the 3x more common lesser hubs... so figure on the 30K. That comes out to about Cr2 per user. Mark up for subsidizing the Type S mailruns as well... Cr20 is quite justifiable after adding overhead, expected use, and such.
The expected useage is of need limited to the maximum expected load - pop 9 with PM 9.9...or around 27 million messages on a boat...and we get about 92 GiB per user, assuming that the data is actually all sold.
It's likely that Non-Government uses are about 10% of available capacity, and probably 90% of income... but knowing that Psychohistory and population manipulation are a major part of the 3I setting... we can assume that news (filtered by approval) is likely a huge part of the data. If each noble's press office were to approve 5 minutes of video a day for news for each of 3 vendors (who get paid by X-mail when used), that's about 1 GB per world per ship, and if it broadcasts to all worlds within 20 Pc...thats about a terrabyte per day... But we know that it won't be just 5 minutes daily... it's more likely to be about 30 minutes per hundred thousand people...
Canonically, the 3I subsidizes library data transmissions, at least after the 5FW. (MTJ)
It subsidizes nav data updates. (Bk 6)
It's implied strongly it subsidizes news to some degree. (Survival Margin)
The Military has use of X-mail for routine message traffic. (ibid.)
We can easily justify less than 1 gig per message charge. If only to subsidize other chunks of data transmission.
Also note: X-mail is delivered via local mail delivery at the destination... often by printout and handing to carrier. So, local snail or email access charges may also have to be paid (or at least JV'd as taxes paid) adding several hidden costs in equipment and materials.
And then, there's encoding... probably using a bank switching method... but maybe not. If not, then figure at least 24 bits per character...
I would like an option for J-4, M-1, TL-10, to accommodate my TU...
And also, while we are wishing for things, a poni. </obligatory unrequested pun>
Proneutron
SOC-13
Need to redo your choices. A 100dt hull gets you M2 as a minimum (in most versions.) So mine are J-4, M-2 TL13
