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: Turn 1 Start-up
Turn 2
“Well, what set this off?”
“It’s hard to tell, chief. The explosive blew out the external seals and scattered the warehouse all over the dock.”
“Recovery?"
“About 100% – there wasn’t anything in the warehouse.”
“They were lucky then. Well, let me know when you find anything.”
The Mu Herculis security staff conferred outside the ISNOT ISTOO warehouse after the series of explosions had rippled through the dockside of the Space Station. The culprits could not be identified.
On more legitimate paths, ISNOTISTOO sold 2 Alloys for 9 HTs each at Mu Herculis. SOLAR SPICE, LIQUORS & MONOPOLES bought 12 Monopoles at a price of 17 HTs and gained a Contractorship, leaving SOLAR WINDS bid of 13 empty handed.
ZWILLINGE sold 6 Alloys efficiently at Sigma Draconis for 7 HTs apiece, while SSL&M bought 10 Spice at 16 HTs, gained a Dealership and shut out ZWILLINGE’s bid of 9 to buy as the price rose rather than fell.
Only a single trade at Alpha Centauri: CAESAR WHOLESALE selling 6 Alloys for 7 HTs each and gaining a Dealership.
At Beta Hydri, HONEST DARTH’s bid of 6 to buy Alloys was ignored. TRANSURANIC TRADE CORPORATION bought 4 Isotopes at 6 HTs on Tau Ceti as ZWILLINGE tried to sell for the same price and failed.
Petroleum was popular at Delta Toucanis: HONEST DARTH bought 6 units for 6 HTs each to gain a Dealership after SOLAR WINDS TRADING COMPANY had bought 6 for 10 HTs each, also gaining a Dealership. SEMPER DURUS picked up one at 6 HTs but had nowhere to put it. ZWILLINGE ‘s bid of 6 was ignored. SEMPER DURUS bought a Spice for 14 HTs but lack of storage space was again a problem.
Finally, at Gamma Leporis, TRANSURANIC bought 4 Alloys for 6 HTs each, VOGON INDUSTRIES bought 7 at 6 HTs and nothing was left for Caesar’s bid of 6.
SOLAR WINDS bought a Petroleum Factory at Delta Toucanis and equipped their Corco Mu Hull with a mix of Passenger and Cargo pods and hired a B crew.
CAESAR WHOLESALE increased Reputation and Political Connections at the same time as they equipped their new ships with Cargo and Light Weapon pods, while selling the Nero at Alpha Centauri for a good deal less than its book value.
TRANS SOLAR TRADING INC. loaded up their 5 Passenger liners with passengers ready to jump next Quarter and laid down a 6th such ship to take advantage of the market. They also increased their Business Connections as they laid out the increased routes that regular flights were now promised on.
SOLAR SPICE, LIQUORS & MONOPOLES bought the contract of agent Red Choir and increased their Reputation. They then ran out of money and the balance of their orders were ignored by local business who wanted to see hard HectoTrans.
SEMPER DURUS had a mixed Quarter – failing to hire an Agent, they landed on Planet at Delta Toucanis and took OP 26, buying a Battlecom Pod it is believed. A Monarch Hull was laid down with cargo and weapon pods. Federal Banks were visited by Corporation staff repaying the original loan early and taking out a new 280 HT loan over 8 turns.
HONEST DARTH’S USED SPACESHIPS laid down a Phoenix Hull, re-equipped the Arrow at Beta Hydri with better crew and more cargo pods and improved their Reputation.
ISNOTISTOO improved their ship’s crew quality to A and bought 3 Monopole Factories at Mu Herculis.
SWISS MERCENARY FLEET bought 3 Liquor Factories at Alpha Centauri and 3 Monopole Factories at Mu Herculis and then increased their Business Connections and improved their Reputation, though not by much.
ZWILLINGE crewed their new ship, Fraternal, with A class crew, increased their Reputation, bought a Warehouse at Delta Toucanis and, before the money ran out, a single Petroleum Factory at Delta Toucanis to add to their stock.
TRANSURANIC TRADE CORPORATION built an Isotope Factory at Tau Ceti and made a small increase in Reputation.
Finally, VOGON INDUSTRIES grappled with the Banks, took out a large loan of 487 HTs over 8 turns, paid to increase their Reputation, equipped their three new ships with Cargo and Passenger Pods and then increased their Business Connections.
Corporations Table
| Corporation letter & name | Conn'n Levels Bus/Crim/Pol |
Init Bid |
Turn Order |
Cash | Rep'n | Player | |||
| A | LNER | 0 | 4 | 3 | N | 12 | 510 | 20 | John Boocock |
| B | Solar Winds Trading Co | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 6 | 34 | 23 | Steve Bunce |
| C | Caesar Wholesale | 2 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 237 | 30 | Simon Burling |
| D | Trans Solar Trading, Inc | 2 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 160 | 24 | Jerry Elsmore |
| E | SSL&M | 2 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 27 | 28 | Paul Evans |
| F | Semper Durus | 0 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 204 | 21 | Alex Everard |
| G | HDQUS | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 179 | 25 | Howard Goble |
| H | Trade Wind | 1 | 0 | 8 | N | 12 | 41 | 27 | Michael Grazebrook |
| J | ISNOTISTOO | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 219 | 22 | William Hay |
| K | Swiss Mercenary Fleet | 2 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 11 | 213 | 30 | Martin Jennings |
| L | Zwillinge | 2 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 105 | 27 | Michael Martinkat |
| M | Transuranic Trade Corp | 4 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 357 | 22 | Bob Parkins |
| N | Vogon Industries | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 157 | 31 | Nathan Richards |
| P | Iskander Fire and Accident | 1 | 7 | 1 | N | 12 | 37 | 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, P1
Turn 6 P8
Press
Swiss Monopoles, by hokey?! Damn me, but they must be full of holes! And Swiss Liquor? What is this, my little chocolate cuckoo, do you not understand why my Corporation is called Solar Spice, Liquors and Monopoles? Still, a little competition never did me any harm.
I can’t speak for anyone else…
Pevans Van Rijn
The transmission, it would subsequently be discovered, had originated from a commercial spaceport terminal in Sigma Draconis which was available to rent by the hour. Unfortunately, the security recordings of the provider seemed to have disappeared by the time investigators enquired and the proprietor was the sort of man who tried very hard not to remember the names of his customers.
The transmission itself seemed, at first sight, to be nothing more than a ‘spam’ advertisement, similar to billions of others transmitted every day.
But in the light of the fact that the message was received by all the prominent interstellar commercial organisations in the Galaxy 100 Stock Exchange before the unfortunate warehouse fire in Mu Herculis it took on a more ominous overtone:
“It’s a big Universe out there and accidents happen every day. They can happen to you. You need protection. Our comprehensive ‘No Sabotage’ policy ensures that accidents like the one in Mu Herculis happen to someone else.
“It’s a steal at only 5 HTs per month and tax-deductible as insurance too!
“You’ve worked hard to establish your company’s reputation. Don’t let a fire or three wipe out your profits or, worse still, allow repeated disasters to provoke a government enquiry into allegations of malfeasance, thereby dragging your corporate name through the mud.
“Premiums should be made to the account of Mr G. M. Laundry in Mu Herculis where they will be suitably laundered and distributed as charitable relief to keep former offenders off the streets”.
SSL&M to the Vogon: Like a kipper! When will I learn?!
GM Notes
Illegal Hulls and Pods are bought On Planet. A ship adding an illegal pod lands On Planet. You can only transfer pods between ships On Planet or in a Spaceport. You can only hire crew On Planet or in a Spaceport.
Players take actions in the Opportunity Phase in Initiative order. That is, the player who had the highest Initiative roll, including any money spent, has the first chance to take any Opportunity chits, for instance. That is NOT necessarily the first player to Hyperjump in a turn, as the player with the highest Initiative may have decided to move last for some reason (let some other Corporation run the gauntlet of ships in System Space somewhere first, perhaps).
A news chit would be reported on your player sheet as (example):
Turn 6 OP 36 (P4)
from which you know what the chit is, the turn when it expires or takes effect and what level of connections you used to see it (and thus who else could possibly see it as well).
We are paying crew bounties, not salaries in this game.
A Spaceport’s class is deducted from the total of three dice when finding the cost of selling ships – only at Mu Herculis will you make a profit on average dice rolls.
3 NMRs this turn, but it’s early days yet.
Pevans
Postal games
Mission of Gravity
Odessa Steps
Railway Rivals 3