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 15

Previous reports: Turn 14 Turn 13 Turn 12 Turn 11 Turn 10 Turn 9 Turn 8 Turn 7 Turn 6 Turn 5 Turn 4 Turn 3 Turn 2 Turn 1 Start-up

Sections: Report, Corporations Table, Press, GM Notes, Star map (separate page) PDF map (28k)

GENERAL WAR DECLARED!
PRICES OF ALL GOODS ROCKET!
FEDERAL PATROLS INCREASED TO DEFEND SYSTEMS!
CRACKDOWN ON ILLEGAL TRADING!
FEDERATION SEEKS SUITABLE SHIPS FOR CONVERSIONS!
ALL SHIPYARDS REQUISITIONED!

The little skirmishes along the Quadrant Rim unexpectedly blew up into a hot war, though some rumours suggested some Federal Leaders were looking for a chance to “sort out the perishing bluefish”. Trading was affected as the prices for Alloys soared, and demand for Monopoles and Isotopes drove prices higher.

At Gamma Leporis HOUSTON FEARLESS bought 5 Alloys on a rather more expensive contract than they had bargained for.

At Epsilon Eridani HOUSTON sold an Alloy for 6 HTs, then added a further 5 Isotopes on Contract.

EON FLASHCORP tried to sell Alloys at 16 at Tau Ceti, apparently aware of the huge jump that arrived, but were frozen out as HOUSTON sold 14 Alloys for 10 HTs each and a Contractorship.

Mu Herculis saw HOUSTON selling 17 Isotopes for 6 HTs each to regain their Market Managership and shut out GATES-LEARJET’s bid of 8. Both MONOGRAM INDUSTRIES and EON benefited from the high price of Monopoles, both selling 5 on Contract.

MONOGRAM sold 12 Monopoles for 13 HTs each at Sigma Draconis and gained a Dealership here.

Beta Hydri had HOUSTON selling 10 Isotopes for 1 HT to gain a Dealership. They also sold 5 Spice for 14 HTs each. MONOGRAM then finished by selling 11 Monopoles at the closing price using Agent Crip and Contracts.

GATES-LEARJET increased their Political Connections from 5 to 6.

EON FLASHCORP took delivery of their new hull at Beta Hydri, calling it Thunderflash. Both of the Flute Hulls jumped to Mu Herculis where they were sold for 150% of list prices, semi military hulls being ripe for conversion into armed auxiliaries. The Weapons from OP25 were sold, but the Corporation was still short of the 1200 HTs it required for its target (even with the 4 streamlined hulls).

HOUSTON FEARLESS sold a warehouse at Tau Ceti, bought a new one at Mu Herculis and sold the Passenger pod in the Epsilon Eridani Warehouse for 60% of its list price.

MACRADIE’s, bankrupt and shipless, sat quiet, unable to do anything.

MONOGRAM sat quiet, knowing it had more than the 2000 HTs needed to meet its target.

ARCHANGEL LINES collected more passengers and sold the Light Weapon pods off the Raphael. They tried to lay down a new Phoenix Hull, but were unable to after the Federation took control of all Shipyards. However, they had reached their target of 800 HT, 3 ships and a Reputation of 35 HTs last Quarter, and are therefore the winners.

Corporations Table

Corporation letter & name		Conn'n Levels Bus/Crim/Pol			Init Bid	Turn Order	Cash	Rep'n	Player
A	Archangel Lines	8	0	2	0	5th	1411	40	Jerry Elsmore
B	Eon Flashcorp	7	9	9	0	4th	928	40	Paul Evans
D	Gates-Learjet	9	6	6	0	3rd	134	30	Dominic Howlett
E	McRadie’s Crew	5	10	0	N		39	0	Martin Jennings
F	Monogram Industries	10	0	7	10+5	2nd	2275	40	Michael Martinkat
G	Houston Fearless	10	0	5	15	1st	803	40	Przemyslaw Orwat
H	GamLepCo	5	0	4	N		144	26
'N' under Initiative Bid indicates No Move Received; ‘F’ indicates the Corp was floated

GM Notes

EV3 General War took place this turn.

Please can I have Game End Statements sent to me before the next issue.

There will be another game starting in a couple of issues time, a 12 player free deployment, and I would appreciate it if those wishing to play would confirm back to me.

I will not be producing the assets per turn chart, as the differing objectives render it of much less use.