The Cold Equations

This is the fourth postal (PBM/PBeM) game of Star Trader GMed by Mike Dommett and published by Pevans in my postal games 'zine, To Win Just Once. This is the web version of the turn. Follow the link for an introduction to Star Trader.

Turn 5

Previous reports: Turn 4 Turn 3 Turn 2 Turn 1 Start-up

Sections: Report, Corporations Table, Press, GM Notes, Star map (separate page) PDF map (21k)

    “He’s out there.”
    “I know. But we can’t scan him.”
    “It’s that accursed Battle Comm pod.”
    “If we hadn’t distributed them so freely to the freedom fighters, we might not have them being sold to out and out crooks like McRadie!”
The two officers returned to staring at their screens in the control room of the elderly Corvette that formed the major part of the system defences for Tau Ceti.

Not a lot of trade this Quarter. At Epsilon Eridani, MONOGRAM sold 10 Monopoles for 13 HT’s each and gained a Contractorship.

At Mu Herculis, EON FLASHCORP sold 5 Monopoles on Contract and MONOGRAM bought 5 on Contract.

At Beta Hydri MONOGRAM sold 10 Monopoles for 16 HT’s apiece and gained a Dealership. GATES-LEARJET’s poorly crewed ships both arrived and unloaded a total of 7 Isotopes for 11 HT’s each to get a Dealership as well.

ARCHANGEL launched their new ship, Jophiel, from the Beta Hydri Shipyards and equipped it 4 Passenger pods from the Gabriel, which was itself armed with Light Weapons pods, making it a well armed merchantman. A Cargo pod was added to the Jophiel and Passengers were taken on board for Epsilon Eridani. Reputation soared on the news of the precautionary measures in place against Piracy and the increased Business Connections.

McCRADIE’S CREW jumped its ships into system space, long after the legal corporations had flown by, but they are there now, an open menace.

MONOGRAM raised their Political Connections to 7. They bought 3 more Monopole Factories and warehouses at Gamma Leporis, Tau Ceti, and Sigma Draconis. Big Change added a Cargo Pod.

GATES-LEARJET kept its inefficient crews in operation and increased their Criminal Connections to 5.

EON FLASHCORP sold their Dagger Hull, having first set the Battle Comm pod aside for later use. With this money they laid down a Cargo-podded Flute Hull at Tau Ceti with A class crew. They were increasing Reputation with this more respectable replacement for their military hull. The whimpering sound allegedly heard from their offices was dismissed as a rumour put about by hostile forces.

Corporations Table

Corporation letter & name		Conn'n Levels Bus/Crim/Pol			Init Bid	Turn Order	Cash	Rep'n	Player
A	Archangel Lines	4	0	2	14	1st	130	40	Jerry Elsmore
B	Eon Flashcorp	4	8	8	0	3rd	91	29	Paul Evans
D	Gates-Learjet	9	5	4	0	4th	151	28	Dominic Howlett
E	McRadie’s Crew	5	9	0	0	5th	85	0	Martin Jennings
F	Monogram Industries	9	0	7	8+4	2nd	101	40	Michael Martinkat
G	Houston Fearless	10	0	4	N	6th	48	31	Player wanted
H	GamLepCo	4	0	3	N	6th	98	23	Gina Teh

'N' under Initiative Bid indicates No Move Received; ‘F’ indicates the Corp was floated

GM Notes

There are three new News chits –shown in bold:
Turn 6 B6
Turn 7 B5, P4, C2, C4
Turn 8 P1, B5
Turn 9 P6

B5 means that there is a chit that needs Business Connections of Level 5 to read. You can therefore work out who else can see the chit.

Players are reminded that ships jump individually – one at a time. One at a time they can be intercepted and fought.