March Harrier.
In reply to Nerull (msg # 5):
The Subsidised Merchant
Worlds off the major routes have found that ship subsidies can be used to establish a dependable trade service. The concept of a ship subsidy involves second-order trade policies. A first-order trade policy is followed by a trading company intent on making a profit; second-order trade policies involve making trade possible without necessarily generating a visible profit. Governments can often be content to have the fringe benefits of trade such as the higher tax incomes, which result when trade increases the local standard of living.
The March-class subsidised merchant is an example of a ship intended to fill otherwise vacant trade channels far worlds which feel they need commerce. Its large cargo capacity makes it reasonably efficient, although its small jump drives restrict it to jump-1, and thus to worlds which lie within one parsec of each other. March-class merchants are produced throughout the Spinward Marches and have an excellent service record. Available from a variety of shipbuilders, the most notable producers in the Spinward Marches include General Shipyards, Ling Standard Products, GSbAG and Clan Severn.
Subsidised Merchant (type R): Using a 400-ton hull, the subsidised merchant (often called the fat trader) is a trading vessel intended to meet the trading needs of clusters of worlds, usually under a subsidy. It has Jump Drive-C, Manoeuvre Drive-C and Power Plant-C, giving performance of jump-1 and thrust 1. Fuel tankage for 52 tons supports the Power Plant and allows one jump-1. Adjacent to the bridge is a computer Model/l. There are 13 staterooms and nine low berths. The ship has three hardpoints. No weapons are mounted. There is one ship’s vehicle, a 20-ton launch.
Cargo capacity is 205 tons and the ship is streamlined. The fat trader requires a crew of five: pilot, navigator, engineer, medic and steward. Up to three gunners may be added. The pilot also normally operates the launch. The ship can carry eight high or middle passengers and thirteen low passengers. The ship costs MCr. 97.182.
The March Harrier: The March Harrier is non-standard in one respect; over the years, the crew have been able to find weapons for her, and the ship now mounts two turrets, each with dual beam lasers. The usual text of a subsidy agreement calls for a ship to service an agreed-upon route for at least 70% of each year. For the remainder of the year, the ship can undertake charters or service routes to other worlds. In all cases, however, the subsidy holder receives 50% of gross revenues. At times, unscrupulous ship captains circumvent these provisions by smuggling.
Revenue Breakdown
The subsidised merchant makes money by carrying passengers
and freight for a fee, and spending less than the received amount in fees for ship upkeep and operation. By examining the potential revenues and costs, it is possible to ascertain
how much money the ship can expect to make in transport operations. The information below is computed on the basis of one trip per two weeks, and is for one trip.
Revenue: The fat trader can expect to make income from four sources; high passengers, middle passengers, low passengers, and cargo. The ship has eight staterooms available for passengers and nine low berths for low passengers. Cargo holdcapacity is 205 tons.
Passengers: With the staterooms full, the ship can carry 8 passengers and expect an income of Cr. 48,000 for one trip. If all are middle passengers, this income can reach as low as Cr. 24,000. Vacancies can reduce this income still further.
Low Passengers: The low berths can return Cr. 1,000 per passenger, or Cr. 9,000 if the berths are full.
Cargo: The ship can carry up to 200 tons of cargo and return Cr. 205,000 per trip if the hold is filled with freight. Speculative trading can, of course, greatly increase this (or ruin the crew entirely…).
Costs: The ship has a series of continuing expenses to be met as it operates. These include fuel, ship payment (or subsidy payment), life support, maintenance, salaries and berthing costs.
Fuel: The ship requires 52 tons of fuel for each trip. Refined fuel is preferred, at a cost of Cr. 26,000 (Cr. 500 per ton). Unrefined fuel can be purchased (Cr. 5,200; Cr. 100 per ton) at starports, or is available free from gas giants or oceans. Unrefined fuel creates a possibility of drive failure or misjump.
Ship Payment: The fat trader is a subsidised vessel, and 50% of its gross income must be paid to the subsidy agent. Payments may be made at any class A, B, C, or D starport. Although the amount due is a large fraction of the total income the ship produces, a standard ship payment would be more, more than Cr. 200,000 per month.
Life Support: Life support costs amount to Cr. 2,000 per passenger or crewmember and Cr. 100 per low berth. Assuming a full ship, the fat trader would pay Cr. 26,900 per month for life support.
Maintenance: In anticipation of annual overhaul, the ship should allocate a portion of each trips income for maintenance. This amounts to Cr. 40,049 per month.
Salaries: The crew is paid according to a standard monthly salary scale with bonuses based on skill levels. For the standard crew positions, this amounts to Cr. 21,000 per month.
Berthing Costs: berthing costs are unpredictable and can be between Cr. 6,000 and nothing per trip.
Ship’s Operating Fund: The March Harrier’s income and expenses pass through a fund managed by the owners of the ship (usually the captain, the pilot and the engineer). All salaries, fuel and maintenance costs, and other expenses are paid from the fund, and all income generated by the ship goes into it. The fund is managed by a board of three. The captain has five shares, the pilot two and the engineer three. The board votes to decide how money is to be used. Payments to the subsidy holder are the fund’s first requirement, followed by other expenses. If there is excess money, the board may vote dividends to the shareholders. When the March Harrier comes out of the shipyard from its annual maintenance, the operating fund totals Cr l12,816.
The Shadow Fund: The ship’s crew has sources of income which do not, strictly speaking, depend on the operation of the March Harrier. The subsidy holder does not receive 50% of the income from these operations, which must therefore be kept separate from the operating fund. This separate fund is called the shadow fund. Most often, this fund is used to purchase cargoes for speculation and to buy cargo space for them on the March Harrier (paying standard rates to the operating fund). When the goods are sold, the income is placed in the shadow fund. The shadow fund is also run on the basis of shares. At the beginning of the adventure, there are 100 shares, of which the captain has 20, the pilot 40, the engineer 10, the medic 20 and the gunner 10. The fund’s total assets are Cr. 23,660.
Any shareholder may sell shares to any crewmember and the shareholders may vote to issue new shares to anyone in return for cash placed in the fund.
Dividends can also be issued by vote. Each share currently has a theoretical value of Cr. 232.66. The shadow fund has sometimes loaned money to the operating fund.
Starship Details
From the exterior, the March Harrier is a streamlined, somewhat chunky starship with a modified delta swept wing. Huge cargo doors break the lines of the nose and form the rear tail area. Smaller loading doors are visible on both sides of the ship and control room windows on the upper surfaces.
Riding piggyback on the upper surface of the ship is its 20-ton launch. The ship itself rests on large landing gear pylons which hold the ship at a standard height above the ground. These pylons are capable of ‘kneeling’ to change height and place the cargo deck
and bow doors at a better level for cargo loading and unloading. Interior Walls: Interior walls are partitions; they are non loadbearing panels firmly fixed in place. They are not pressure tight and cannot withstand a concerted assault. Inflicting 100 points of damage on such a wall with an energy weapon will burn a hole large enough for one person per turn to pass through. An explosion which produces 100 points will produce the same result. Weapons firing bullets are less efficient at producing this sort of damage; such a weapon must produce 1,000 points of damage before a person-sized hole is produced.
Sliding Doors: Set in interior walls are sliding doors. Such doors save space over conventional swinging doors and so are standard on most starships. They are not air-tight and serve merely as privacy screens. They may be broken down in the same manner as interior walls.
Sliding doors are powered, and open completely (assuming ship power is on) when a stud is pressed on the wall next to the door. Sliding doors may be locked (from the other side, from both sides, or by the computer) and a red light shows on the stud panel to indicate a locked condition. When ship power is off, sliding doors will no longer operate automatically; they may be overridden by brute force. To open, a difficult Strength check
must be made (a crowbar adds +4 DM).
Bulkheads: The major structural components of the ship are the bulkheads and they represent the compartmentalization of the ship for damage control and environment maintenance as well as the outer hull of the ship. Bulkheads are very difficult to
destroy; an energy weapon or explosion must produce 1,000 points in order to breach a bulkhead; bullet-firing weapons are ineffective against them. All deck floors and ceilings are assumed to be bulkheads.
Hatches: Hinged pressure doors secured by a handwheel and extending bars. They are not automatic and are not controlled by the ship’s computer: simple sensors will indicate to the bridge if the hatch is open or closed.
Cargo Doors: Large hinged doors which fit snugly and pressure tight. They allow access to cargo areas. Generally powered, and often with extendible ramps, they allow large cargo items to be loaded easily.
Interior Conditions
Normal interior conditions on the subsidised merchant approximate those of a liveable world.
Light: Most areas have full intensity lighting available, sufficient for reading with ease. The intensity of lights can be varied by a simple wall switch positioned in each room. The ship’s computer can also be used to vary lighting and to monitor its levels. Some
areas (such as the cargo deck) may be poorly lit; other areas (such as the bridge) may be lit in red light in order to preserve night vision.
Atmosphere: The interior of the ship will normally be pressurised to standard atmosphere with an oxygen/nitrogen mixture. Airlocks may be pressurised or in vacuum, depending on the last use of the facility.
Temperature: The interior of the normal ship is about 20 degrees centigrade.
Plumbing: Standard, but simple, sanitary facilities (including toilet, sink and shower) are available in each stateroom, as well as on the bridge and in the drive rooms. Small craft such as the launch, will at least have drinking and waste disposal facilities
for use in flight.
Gravity: Deck flooring includes integral grav plates which provide a constant 1-G artificial gravity field. Acceleration compensators are also installed and negate the effects of high acceleration and lateral G forces while manoeuvring. A ship’s passengers
cannot normally tell whether they are moving through space or grounded on a planet surface unless they look at a viewscreen. Notwithstanding the use of grav plates, personnel are normally confined to their staterooms or to acceleration couches in the lounge when the ship is taking off or landing.
Sections of the internal grav plates can be turned on or off, or even reversed, locally or by the computer. The negative grav field is used on the cargo deck to assist in loading and
positioning cargo. The March Harrier is typical of the March-class of subsidised merchants. It is built with two decks parallel to the direction of acceleration. The lower, or cargo, deck contains the main cargo bays, the drives (with the exception of the power plant), and the attachment points for the streamlined wings. Fuel tankage is carried on the wings. The upper, or quarters, deck holds the bridge, the power plant, weaponry turrets, and the staterooms.
1. Cargo Deck. The cargo deck is a 205-ton capacity storage area which is the major purpose of the ship. Constructed specifically for use with cargo modules, the ceiling is six metres (as opposed to a standard ceiling height of three metres); modules are stacked two high. The floor of the cargo area is fitted with grav plates, which are reversible. When modules (or other cargo) are loaded, the plates are reversed and the
modules pushed about and into place. The cargo deck is pressurised and totally accessible during flight.
The cargo deck is divided into four areas; bow loading ramp, forward cargo section, central cargo section and aft cargo section.
Bow Loading Ramp: Providing direct access to the large bow doors on the ship, this area is usually the last to be filled and the first emptied, and is reserved for priority cargos. This area is also often used to carry all terrain vehicles or air rafts for the ship.
Forward Cargo Section: This area is loaded through the port and starboard cargo doors, Central Cargo Section: This area is the first loaded and the last unloaded, because it must be accessed through the rear or forward cargo sections. This area is also the standard location for demountable fuel tanks. In Search of Longer Legs should provide the March Harrier with such tanks. They take up 50 tons of cargo capacity, filling the entire central cargo section except for an aisle down the centre.
Aft Cargo Section: This area is loaded through the rear cargo doors. The starboard rear cargo door is slightly larger than the port door, in order to accommodate a hatch on the centreline.
2, 3. Port and Starboard Airlocks. These airlocks provide personnel access to the ship without the need to depressurise any ship compartments. Hatches lead to the exterior, to the cargo deck and up to the quarters deck.
4, 6. Port and Starboard Drive Chamber. The jump and manoeuvre drives are contained in these chambers. An engineer station in each (manned only as needed and for maintenance)
provides local control.
5, 7. Port and Starboard Interior Wing Walks. These cramped crawlspaces allow access to the landing gear struts.
8. Bridge. The main drive and ship controls are situated on the bridge. Three crew positions are provided (pilot, navigator and observer). Forward on the bridge are the windscreen and position displays. Behind the crew positions is the ship’s computer. Accessible from the bridge are the two turrets, the forward lounge, and the lower cargo deck and airlocks.
9, 10. Port and Starboard Turrets. These hardpoint locations allow access to the gunners’ positions and weaponry.
11. Forward Lounge. This area is a recreation and meeting area for passengers. Meals are served here and the passengers pass much of their time during a journey in this area gambling, drinking, watching video programs and just talking.
12. Crew Corridor. Access through the length of the quarters deck is along two corridors. The crew corridor is reserved for crew, and provides some privacy for crew members from
passenger attention.
13. Passenger Corridor. The passenger corridor provides passengers with access to their quarters.
14-18. Crew Staterooms.
19-23. Passenger Staterooms.
24-26. Large Passenger Staterooms. Although staterooms are theoretically identical, some staterooms are slightly larger than others and they are usually reserved for high passengers.
27. Aft Lounge. The aft lounge is generally reserved for crewmembers. It is possible to close off the lounge and allow access only through the crew corridor.
28. Low Berths. The ship’s low passage berths are contained in this cramped area. Low passengers are generally revived after other passengers and cargo have been unloaded.
29. Airlock and Access Chamber. This chamber allows access to the lower cargo deck and access to the launch carried piggyback on the upper surface of the ship.
30. Drive Room. The drive room contains the ship’s Power Plant and acts as a bridge between the two drive chambers on each side of the lower deck.
31. Launch. The fat trader retains the potential for access to a world surface, even if the ship itself does not land, through its 20-ton launch. This launch can carry seven passengers and a pilot, plus 10 tons of cargo. The launch is capable of 1-G acceleration.
