SOLO - League of Planets: Krim 245-1106 (part 2)

 After the inspection crew left, we got a pip from the Port to let us know to dock at Bay 11B. Next to main hub C - apparently the port is spread out over several major and minor hubs. Acknowledging and passing the info on to Captain, a course is plotted to the purplish world below us. With barely a trace of atmosphere, the flight to the Port is all gravatics with very little of the roar of atmosphere that still manages to get through ship hulls sometimes. As with our approach to Krim, grav drives make most landings a straightforward affair. As we get within the 100 diameter limit, traffic is heavier: Krim is one of the major interfaces between the League and the Imperium and a lot of traffic goes through here. Keeping to our flight lane, we approach the sprawling port: looking via external cameras with smart overlays, I can see us approach Hub C, a large, half-hexagonal structure with spokes of travel tubes leading to various concourses covering several square kilometers of the harsh surface. We are transferred from the main Port tower to Hub C's control tower, and we make our final approach to the landing area. With barely a transitional bump, we go from hovering above the tarmac to landing, our port airlock facing the automated docking platform. After a quick conversation with the local tower, the dock connects to the port airlock. Monitoring the sensor deck, I okay connections and feel the ship's atmosphere slowly starting to adjust to Krim standard. It will take only a few minutes as we started the process on the way down. Krim's atmosphere in the various habitable spaces is a bit thinner than I am used to but should not cause any issues. 

I am also going with the autoconnecting airlock systems, very similar to the airport systems but of course air-tight, radiation resistant, also carry connectors for power, atmosphere and other processes. While it cannot refuel the ship, it does, if allowed, power the ship and supply an atmosphere. In MTU the fusion plants don't turned off so are generating power. But this would also allow for some replenishment of atmospheric necessities. 

By the SOLO rules, at this point we approach (done), land (rolled an 8, so nothing exciting came up), unload (to be done), cargo sale (to be done) and arrange for accommodation for the week. 

Ewo was on the comms as we were approaching Krim ,looking into the various brokerages and buyers in-system. She did not seem overly excited, but I can't easily read Aslan expressions - entirely alien to me despite spending the last several weeks with her on the No Refund. As we landed she indicated she was going to take me to the various brokerage houses, looking for both a place to off-load our textiles and see what was available at the port. She figured on two days in-port, and if nothing came up, we'd explore further afield. 

Rolling on the actual value table I rolled an 8 on the way down, and yet another 8 as Ewo and Malik cover the local broker houses. And if we use the flux version in Traveller, that is 5-3 for a roll of 2, 120%. Looking at the Classic, we're at 110% but as I really prefer Classic mechanics (the T5 rules seem so dry, no personality. Everything is the same based on the world it comes from in terms of cost per ton). So I will take the lower. By the stats, Krim is an Industrial, High Population world, so no bonuses there. But at 110% we'll still make profit, but is it enough to cover costs? Sadly Ewo only has Broker-0 so nothing to add there either. Digging back (and this is why I am slowly putting this to paper and in a notebook) And it turns out I forgot we also had 2 tons of crystals, which I did manage to sell for 120%, then the +3 for an industrial world gives us 170%):

• 55 dTons of Textiles (base Cr3000), purchased at 40% for Cr55,000, sold for Cr$181,500 (profit Cr126,500)
• 2 dTons of crystals (base Cr20,000), purchased at 80% for Cr32,000, sold for $cr68,000 (profit = Cr36,000)

For a total of Cr162,500. You may think that is a lot but starships in Traveller are so freaking expensive. And I need to greatly update the ship: it is almost twice the size I was estimating, so our costs will be affected obviously. So let is figure for 650 dTon ship instead of the 300 ton ship I was thinking it was (see https://traveller-ct.blogspot.com/2020/08/of-spaceships-and-volume.html for the calculations needed; and the Lakata class ships are 3,100 ton displacement). Meaning we may really need more crew but I'll worry about that later. So our cost is going to be higher.  Reworking quickly on a 650 ton ship instead of the 300 I erroneously estimated before (and this only seems to further my argument that I am horrible at estimates!)

• 650 ton custom craft, needle/wedge (streamlined) +20%: MCr 7.8
• Jump 2 drives (20 dTons): MCr80
• Man 2 drives (33 dTons): MCr23.1
• Power 2 (26dTons): MCr78
• Computer: Model 2fib (B) (4Dtons): MCr14

Giving us at this point MCr202. We'll round up to MCr225 as there are are few other bits in there. We also now actually have more cargo space: 110 tons in the main hold, and 35 still in the forward vehicle hold. As a reminder, this ship is designed as a fast courier / light cargo. And we'll also adjust it so that Captain Laux managed to get it after it has been in service for 30 years already, so 3/4 paid for. Giving us MCr38 or so he is paying off. 

So back to costs:

• Monthly
• Mortgage = 1/240 Cr158,333
• Maintenance = .1% of ship cost, Cr225,000. Hmm, that seems REALLY high. But this is per year, so per month Cr18,750. 
• Salaries = going with ship shares, so we can ignore this
• Per Trip (week assuming a jump)
• Fuel (there is a fuel filter system so unfiltered is fine)
• Jump 1: 65 tons x Cr1000: Cr65,000
• Jump 2: 130 tons x Cr1000: Cr130,000
• Life support: 6 double staterooms: Cr18,000

Looking at the costs, there is no way this ship can make it on trade alone. Of course, that is the premise for Traveller, to get the characters into doing more than just trying to make a living by trade alone. 

We just did a jump 1, so looking at Cr65,000 for the fuel, Cr1000 for the 1st week for sitting at the port. Leaving us now with Cr96,500. And we'll also do 1/4 of our monthly maintenance for another Cr4700 leaving us with Cr91,800 for new cargo. 

So while all that is going on, we'll see if we can find a reasonable cargo while here.

And as this post took a bit longer than expected, we'll see how the cargo search and the other solo aspects work in the next post!