Mission of Gravity
This is a postal (or PBM) game of Star Trader run by Mike Dommett and published in my postal games 'zine, To Win Just Once. This is the web version of the latest turn. Follow the link for an introduction to Star Trader.
Sections: Report, Corporations Table, News, Press, GM Notes, Star map (separate page)
Previous reports: Start-up
Turn 1
"This is a good time to be in shipbuilding."
"With all this extra work, you mean?"
"Yes … and all the incidentals you can load onto the less wary beings…"
"Oh yes. Some of them are still slimy under the pseudopod!"
At Gamma Leporis, ZWILLINGE bought 6 Alloys for 6 HTs each, then CAESAR WHOLESALE INC. bought a further 10 at the same price and gained a Dealership. TRANSURANIC TRADE CORPORATION’s bid of 4 was just too low to attract sellers.
Epsilon Eridani and Delta Toucanis markets were quiet, but at Tau Ceti, SOLAR WINDS’ efforts to buy Alloys at 8 HTs were only defeated by a sudden surge in the price. SOLAR WINDS also lost out in Isotopes, despite bidding 6 to buy, ZWILLINGE bought 10 first for a Dealership and VOGON INDUSTRIES bought 6 more, leaving none for the last member of the trio of bidders.
Mu Herculis saw competition in Monopoles and Petroleum. ISNOTISTOO bought 10 Monopoles at 15 HTs apiece and gained a Dealership, leaving VOGON INDUSTRIES and ISKANDER FIRE & ACCIDENT – both bidding 14 to buy – empty handed. IFA bid 14 HTs, bought 12 Petroleum and gained a Dealership, leaving CEASAR WHOLESALE’s bid of 12 behind.
Isotopes were popular at Sigma Draconis, four Corporations bidding, but only two gaining any product. ZWILLINGE bought 7 for 6 HTs each, and TRANS URANIC picked up a further 3 at the same price. TRADEWINDS and HONEST DARTH’S USED QUALITY SPACESHIPS both bid 5 to buy and found no takers. SSLM’s Pevans van Rijn bid 13 HTs for Spice, and was disappointed when HONEST DARTH bid 14 and took 16 units of Spice and a Dealership away.
ISKANDER bought 5 Liquors at Alpha Centauri for 13 HTs each and ISNOTISTOO bought 2 Alloys at Beta Hydri at a price of 8 HTs.
The shipyards were very busy taking orders. Not all Corporations had decided on the pods and crews they would need to outfit their ships, but that will come before launching.
BOCO loaded some passengers.
SOLAR WINDS laid down a Corco Mu Hull at Tau Ceti and increased their Political Connections.
CAESAR WHOLESALE laid down a Flute Hull, Vespasian, and a Phoenix Hull, Titus, both at Alpha Centauri Shipyards. Agent Willy joined them at Gamma Leporis, and they increased their Political Connections. Their visit to sector banks was to raise a loan of 200 HTs over 8 turns.
TSTI went for the passenger carrying operation in bulk. 5 Phoenix Hulls were laid down – 2 at Beta Hydri, 2 at Tau Ceti and 1 at Epsilon Eridani – each being equipped with 3 passenger pods and C grade crew. Of course, the hotshot pilots employed will increase Hyperjump chances. A warehouse was bought at Sigma Draconis and Alpha Centauri and Business Connections were improved. All of this costs money and their loan was somewhat larger: 705 HTs for 8 turns.
SOLAR SPICE, LIQUOR AND MONOPOLES had an even bigger 720 HT loan for the same period and bought 5 Monopole Factories, increased their Criminal Connections and Reputation, hired agent Poum at Mu Herculis and laid down well-armed Phoenix hulls at Tau Ceti and Epsilon Eridani Shipyards. The ships replaced the ‘For Sale’, which was sold off at a small premium.
SEMPER DURUS took out a 100 HT loan for 4 turns, bought 2 warehouses from TRADEWINDS, hired agent Amy at Mu Herculis and increased Political Connections.
HONEST DARTH bought 2 Petroleum Factories at Delta Toucanis, 2 Isotope Factories at Sigma Draconis, a Warehouse at Delta Toucanis and were content.
TRADEWINDS sold their warehouses to SEMPER DURUS, increased Political Connections, hired agent Dragon, laid down two Corco Zeta hulls at Epsilon Eridani and Tau Ceti Shipyards and increased Reputation.
ISNOISTOO were happy with their trading and toyed with a press release.
SWISS MERCENARY FLEET bought 2 Monopole Factories at Mu Herculis, 2 Liquor Factories at Alpha Centauri, increased Reputation and Business Connections and took out a 640 HT loan over 4 turns.
ZWILLINGE bought 6 Petroleum Factories at Delta Toucanis and took out a loan for 180 HTs over 4 turns. They bought a new Warehouse at DT, laid down a Phoenix Hull at Tau Ceti, hired Captain Kidd at Epsilon Eridani, increased Reputation and brought the crew of ‘Doppleganger’ up to A class.
TRANSURANIC TRADE CORPORATION bought an Alloy factory at Gamma Leporis and a Warehouse at Tau Ceti. Reputation was increased slightly
VOGON INDUSTRIES bought Warehouses at Gamma Leporis and Sigma Draconis, hired agent JB at Tau Ceti, laid down Phoenix hulls at EE and TC and a Corco Gamma at BH. Reputation and Business Connections were improved.
Finally ISKANDER FIRE AND ACCIDENT laid down two more Corco Zeta Hulls, one at AC and one at TC. Two Warehouses were bought, and Political Connections were increased.
Corporations Table
| Corporation letter & name | Conn'n Levels Bus/Crim/Pol |
Init Bid |
Turn Order |
Cash | Rep'n | Player | |||
| A | LNER | 0 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 11th | 510 | 20 | John Boocock |
| B | Solar Winds Trading Co | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 10th | 260 | 21 | Steve Bunce |
| C | Caesar Wholesale | 1 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 7th | 232 | 23 | Simon Burling |
| D | Trans Solar Trading, Inc | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 14th | 257 | 22 | Jerry Elsmore |
| E | SSL&M | 0 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 6th | 461 | 22 | Paul Evans |
| F | Semper Durus | 0 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 12th | 511 | 21 | Alex Everard |
| G | HDQUS | 4 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 2nd | 324 | 20 | Howard Goble |
| H | Trade Wind | 1 | 0 | 8 | 5+5 | 4th | 66 | 27 | Michael Grazebrook |
| J | ISNOTISTOO | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 8th | 336 | 22 | William Hay |
| K | Swiss Mercenary Fleet | 1 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 13th | 743 | 26 | Martin Jennings |
| L | Zwillinge | 2 | 0 | 7 | 11 | 1st | 88 | 25 | Michael Martinkat |
| M | Transuranic Trade Corp | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3rd | 440 | 21 | Bob Parkins |
| N | Vogon Industries | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 5th | 109 | 26 | Nathan Richards |
| P | Iskander Fire and Accident | 1 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 9th | 77 | 23 | Ian Whitchurch |
| ‘N’ under Initiative Bid indicates No Move Received | |||||||||
News
There were 4 new chits this turn. New chits are shown in Bold:
Turn 3 B9, C8
Turn 4 C2, C5
Press
Beta Hydri Commercial Gazette, 4Q2522
"IFA have recently taken possession of certain assets belonging to the now-defunct Mu Herculis Development Company. We are interested in entertaining bids for these assets, as our current business plans are purely financial rather than industrial or commercial."
Mu Herculis News, 1Q2523
"IFA chairman resigns suddenly – Company refuses to comment."
Press Release
We wish to deny any interest in green slavery.
Beta Hydri Commercial Gazette, 1Q2523
"Mu Herculis' reputation as an interesting place to do business was reinforced again, following the sudden resignation of IFA chairman Lu Wazzman. Sources close to IFA have indicated that kickbacks were taken in certain contracts on Tau Ceti."
Mu Herculis New, 1Q2523
"IFA to go into shipping business, as new chairman Aldo Vueqani declared his intentions to 'Grow Mu Herculis into the Twenty Sixth Century' and 'Ensure a better future for everybody'. He said, ‘This planet, this planet I grew up on, and this planet I intend to die on, this planet has enough wealth for everyone and their bruvver’."
Press Release for Trans Solar Trading Inc
Drew the Fisk Vanderbilt-Scott, the ‘hands-on’ Chairman of TSTI, confirmed the recent rumours that TSTI are intending to greatly expand the opportunities to travel with the laying down of a fleet of passenger ships.
"We are leaving our options open with respect to cargo capacity of our new ships," he said. "Given the recent pirate activity, we are prepared to protect our investment if required, but, as always, we would prefer to negotiate non-interference agreements and invest the savings in increased capacity."
GM Notes
The number of passengers travelling from one start system to the next is the sum of the Spaceports Classes; Therefore between Sigma Draconis and Mu Herculis, for instance, where Spaceport Classes are 1 and 0, there is 1 Passenger Unit available. (See the chart at the bottom of page 17 of the rules.) As there are limited numbers of passengers, the first player (decided in the Initiative phase) to take passengers gets as many as they want, leaving later players disappointed.
Spaceships can only be built in systems with Shipyards – as shown in the table at the bottom of page 17. That's EE, TC, AC & BH. Those who didn't specify shipyards have had their ships’ locations chosen at random.
You must BID to sell and buy before the Hyperjump phase in the turn, and therefore before the Trading phase. The only exceptions to this are Corporations using their Contractor or Market Manager positions. You MAY chose to qualify your order in the Trading phase: "Buy only one unit if my ship doesn't arrive; if it does, buy up to 8 units". You can also qualify your bid by "buy up to a maximum of ten units of Isotopes and Alloys" if perhaps you have only 10 units of storage available on ships and warehouses.
Late Orders: If I haven't adjudicated the game, I will try to fit in late orders. If I have adjudicated, the orders will be ignored. TSTI and SMF, you have been warned.
Augmented Jump pods are factored into the hull value - you cannot use an augmented jump pod to take damage.
Agents hired this turn were:
Amy, Poum, Willy, JB, Captain Kidd and Dragon.
Jerry Elsmore renamed his Corporation (D) Trans Solar Trading, Inc (still TSTI).
Pevans
Postal games
Mission of Gravity
Odessa Steps
Railway Rivals 3