Johannes replied to me: > > * Stardrives are rated for volume, not mass, so running empty is almost > > as expensive as running fully loaded. If a freighter has a profitable > > cargo going from A to B, that would explain shipping almost anything > > back from B to A, instead of going empty -- including clean water or > > organic waste, if that is hard to find. > > > > Thanks, I like the idea of using local garbage as low cost (likely just > the cost of transporting it to the starport) speculative cargo. Playing > the idea further, a trader who has some speculative garbage might, who > finds something better for his hulls, before he can sell it, might even > give it to an other speculator in exchange to have it transported out of > his ship for free in a short time.
Hello Johannes, initially I had thought of organic waste (as fertilizer), but you are right that it also works for other recycling-capable waste. A ton of assorted electronic junk, another ton of plastic packaging, and an entire village on a TL5- world to get it all cleaned, sorted and put into bins. Of course that scheme requires empty hulls going towards the lower tech world. If they have something to export (raw materials?) why can't they import cheap plastic buckets for those credits instead of even cheaper plastic junk? Unless the incoming freighter brings one flashy air/raft for all that ore, so the remainder if the hold is free. Still, there would be lots of different 'fill up' cargoes that would never be transported, unless there are free holds going in the right way. Regards, Onno _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
