> Am 26.06.2015 um 20:34 schrieb Johannes Trimmel <[email protected]>: > > > > On Fri, 26 Jun 2015, Onno Meyer wrote: > >>> But mechanics will be hired and repair equipment will be owned by and >>> large by companies thats businessmodel is to to do star port services. >> >> "Sorry, all our teams are working on that Fat Trader. Now, if you were >> willing to pay for a rush job, something could be done." >> > > If it's a low TL world, high TL equipment will be there exclusivly for the > rich and powerfull and possibly the military. I am following here the advice > that was IIRC in GT:Far Trader: The world stats tell you how the world looks > like, it's the GMs job to come up with a reason, why it turned out that way. > (They formulated it differently) > > If it is a low TL world grav vehicles are not everyday vehicles. (if you are > pedantic, yes a world that has grav vehicles but no other high tech still > would count as low TL world) So if there also is a starport, there also is a > reason, why the tech of the star port does not leak out into the general > population. > > Low TL worlds with D class star ports are pretty canonical. So that outcome > has to be pretty common. > > Now i try to reverse engeneer reasons, that don't contradict Traveller canon, > geting as much suspense of disbelieve as possible. > > That pretty much leaves 3 options: > > * The companies in the star ports don't want to trade with the natives. Maybe > they are offworld companies, that have internal red tape that gives the local > managers an incentive against doing so. Or they assume better long term > prospects, if the locals stay low tech. > > * The local goverment hinders trading. Can be done, but the scenario is too > common for my taste, to always pin it on the local actor. > > * The imperium/star port authority hinders trading. Given that is against the > offically stated policies, it would have to be an indirect effect of red > tape, that most likely comes with subventions or from monopoly laws. > > So sure there are situations where the companies react that way, but they > will happen reliably only on high TL worlds, or on worlds, that soon will be > high TL. > > Johannes
I assume that you even missed a point: According to GURPS:Traveller Starport, a Class D (Class II) starport has about 30 to 50 landing pads, a Class C (Class III) has about 50 to 100 landing pads. Now assuming that the world has just one starport (we talk about a low tech planet) and that the average ground time per starship is about 5 days, we have about six transactions per pad per month, or about 600 per port (for a Class C). Now assuming an average size of 800 dtons per ship (total size, forget about the cargo volume), we have about 480000 tons per month. This means we can import about half a million grav vehicles per month - if we do not need anything else. For a world with lets say 3 Billion inhabitants, where half is potentially able and willing to buy a grav vehicle, we need about 3000 month to saturate the market - or 260 years. Maybe that some Imperial products will survive over such a long time - but not when constantly used … So you do not need any artificial limitations to lower the import - just the available tonnage is sufficient for that. And this will not change unless the world has something valuable to export so that there is money to buy more imported goods that in turn would justify a larger starport or additional ones. But nevertheless, as long as the starport is too small, it is a very efficient valve for any kind of import, no matter if this would be grav vehicles or spare parts … Of course, these things will change over the years, but not necessarily fast, and not always constantly with the same pace or into the same direction. Play around with the figures, but you will always end up with quite long periods before a theoretical market saturation for any kind of imported goods on worlds that are otherwise self-sustaining (meaning having a working economic system without the need for external support - and this in turn requires a significant number of inhabitants that contribute to both the work force and the market). -- Thomas Thrien Geo 51° 28' 12" N 7° 32' 17" E PGP Fingerprint 170F 6E4D E99D 05DB 14B9 412B BE79 D4B4 D982 1B17 Es heißt, der Klügere gibt nach. Doch wenn die Klügeren immer nachgeben, dann passiert nur noch, was die Dummen wollen … Of course it has a meaning when a black cat crosses your way from left to right … It means, that the cat, coming from your left, wants to go somewhere right from you … You do not need to be a carpenter to see that the table rocks. _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
