I’m about to kick off an online classic traveller (using Mongoose v1 rules) and of course I want the PCs to have their own ship or part thereof so….how do they get one. And what are other considerations.
- Patron – someone gives them a ship. This means it’s owned by someone else who presumably has a commitment with the PCs. If they renege on that commitment then I would presume they’ll be pursued and it’ll be registered stolen. But a Patron may be happy to keep a stolen ship off the radar (especially if it was stolen off someone else because it’s useful…)
- Ship Shares in mustering out Benefits in MongV1 are weak. Only 1% per share. OMG. Far cry from Classic where you’d just get a ship. Imma promote that to 10%
- Ships can be refuelled for free unlike Airliners. Helps keep a stolen ship off the radar.
- Ships are more than just man-caves for belligerent PCs. They’re transport, they’re cargo carriers and in Traveller, they’re lines of communication. Carrying the post is a viable way to keep flying. Remote worlds may be incredibly lenient to someone who brings even just the post. (I’m crossing FIREFLY with THE POSTMAN here). They may not even report a stolen ship (or one with a warrant out).
- The Imperium….and the Empire ….and even Star Trek….have a vested interest in keeping ships in the “air”. It’s cold and lonely out there. And I reckon there’s an entire economy around that. Not just from mortgage collections but insurance, and collection of taxes. You can’t have a society like the Imperium without tribute.
- Whatever your opinion on government, one thing a large federal org (like the EU) does well (among other things it handles poorly) is “economic development”. The UK does this too – the idea that you give economic support to “worlds” that need development in order to trade with them. Spend a billion credits on helping them build a spaceport and a star-McDonalds in it. Make sure they have healthcare so your traders don’t catch horrific diseases. That sort of work has to be done by someone so the Imperium has a real interest in just keeping those lifelines open.
- What’s the amortisation of a ship. I’m imagining that spaceships are like cruise liners. We have ships out there that were built in the 20s, a lot from the 50s and 60s. We don’t have a lot older than that because …. well…. we’re still kinda new at this technology stuff. I would imagine that a 100 year old spacecraft built in the year 5000 is still pretty fabulous by our standards. Maybe used-starships have less value attached in monetary terms. They’re still stealable but this not about the money, it’s about the sentiment. (They’re coming to get you because that’s their grandma’s starship)