Friday, April 20, 2012

IMTU: not another 200Dton merchanter



This is the Ying Xiong, this is a specifically designed economy class model and knock-off of the Hero for $14.32M, the price includes ithe cost of a microboat. At Accel 1.7Gs it shaves a day off when travelling in system as compared to a Hero. At 92.5 cargo dtons it has 6% more capacity, which combined with the speed equates to a %15 better margin of profit than the Hero in a given year. Since we are looking at annual revenues %15 is a really big chunk. 
With the micro-boat1, the advance party can land instead of the Merchanter and the owners don't have to pay $2,900 per day for berthing. The microboat with a seating capacity of 6 plus cargo, will cost only $60 a day to berth, while the ship wilderness refuels (saving another $14,000 a jump). with 0.5 cargo on the microboat, the crew can carry a 2-man speeder or a 2 person micro-car ($8000 for the microcar); Or the microboat can carry a 40' cargo container with adequate vehicles but travel at 2.9Gs (it gets to the planet 2-3 days before the ships).
If the crew is really cheap, like me then they don't mind sleeping in the micro-boat (or one of those ingenius 40ft containers by Henry J. Cobb. The set up allows the party to cut the costs greatly. 
The Ying Xiong is one of the Hero wanna-be's to come out after the Hero specs were "Open Sourced" by the Terrans. Crowd Sourcing got to work and stripped the Hero of all sentimentality and rebuilt it into something very very Terran. When the Ying Xiong appeared in the market and was gradually bought up, prices were up in the air. With such a more effective ship, some Hero merchanters went under the knife to trim of the fat, selling the low berths and extras to buy supplies for their own vehicle bay and micro-boat.   

If you want Low Berths, buy a Hybernation Chamber or a Suspended Animation Tube UT198. Its cheaper and saves more space. Probably cheaper since you can go as cargo with a special handling fee. 



Date 4-25-2012

Tech Level: 10
Hull: 200-dton Streamlined Closed-Structure hull, dDR 10 armor.

TL10 200 Dton Ying Xiong Class
Systems: 5-1/2 Maneuver Drive, Small Bridge, Model-0 Sensors (Scan 14), 40 Fuel Tanks, 10 Staterooms, 3 Life Pods, 1 Vehicle Bay (Microboat TL10), 6-1/2 Fission Power Plants, Cargo 92-1/2.
Statistics: Emass 129 tons, Lmass 659 tons, Cost M $65, SM +8, Asig +8, dHP 25, 20 Life Support, sAccel 1.7 G, Jump-2 (2-Parsec Range), Top Air Speed 740mph.
Crew Requirement: Command Section (3 officers), Engineering (1 Officer). Total 4 Officers.
Notes: No Cargo Accel: 5.4 
1Fort Foot Cargo Containers for GURPS Traveller Interstellar Wars by Henry J. Cobb 

Future Post: What makes a good advanced party? The guys who land, get the ship leads and keep its cargo hold profitable.   

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