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 3 Turn 2 Turn 1 Start-up
Turn 4
“Tau Ceti is now under the protection of Semper Durus Corporation. (Sensitive ecosystem, don’t you know, mustn’t have too many crass commercial industrialists and merchants crawling all over it.)
All ships arriving in Tau Ceti are advised to pay 50 HTs to the ‘Eco-Tourism’ fund administered by Semper Durus. Ships failing to do so will be considered poachers and treated accordingly…
Corporations may wish to enter conditional instructions in advance to pay such fines to avoid unnecessary delays or the risk that the ship may be sold or confiscated to meet the fine.”
Which seems a fairly clear message from SEMPER DURUS. ZWILLINGE had a quick and equally clear response as the SEMPER DURUS warehouses at Mu Herculis Spaceport suffered an explosive decompression and complete loss of all contents (though some were rumoured to have been hoovered up by intersystem craft). ZWILLINGE weakly denied responsibility, but too many signs pointed to the Corporation’s involvement. This had the effect of lowering the Corporation’s Reputation, but it received several encouraging editorials in the free trade press and eager assistance from local banks as they repaid their loan and took out a new one for 531 HTs over the next four quarters. The new money was spent on increasing Criminal Connections – presumably to wreak further havoc on SEMPER DURUS – wrehouses at Delta Toucanis, Epsilon Eridani, and Beta Hydri, improving Reputation and laying down two new Phoenix hulls with a mixture of Cargo and Passenger Pods at Tau Ceti and Alpha Centauri,
SOLAR SPICE, MONOPOLES & LIQUORS bought warehouses at Beta Hydri and Alpha Centauri and raised their Reputation considerably after their successful trading.
TRANS SOLAR TRADING INC. now has a fleet of 6 liners in commission and is carrying 36 units of Passengers a Quarter in great comfort – a fact reflected in their increase in Reputation. They also spent monies in increasing their Business Connections.
TRANSURANNIC TRADE CORPORATION increased their Reputation slightly as they laid down the TTC Curium at Alpha Centauri Shipyards – another Cargo and Passenger ship.
SOLAR WINDS TRADING CO. found its passenger ships travelling nearly empty – competition is a cruel game.
ISKANDER FIRE & ACCIDENT was back with a vengeance under new management. Funded by a 550 HT loan over 4 Quarters, warehouses were bought at Epsilon Eridani and Delta Toucanis and 2 Liquor factories were brought into action at Alpha Centauri. The two idle Corco Zeta hulls were finally named – Bond and Future – and fitted out with top class crews and Cargo Pods. A streamlined Corco Gamma Hull was laid down at Alpha Centauri. Business Connections were raised and Reputation was also improved, just by seeing the signs of life.
VOGON INDUSTRIES took OP10 onto the famine, buying the maximum they could. This revival of the slave trade is affecting local politics. The Despair was sold for 120% of list price at Mu Herculis and Reputation was increased.
CAESAR WHOLESALE disposed of OP11 on Gamma Leporis and, with the help of Agent Willy, made a substantial profit on the deal.
SWISS MERCENARY FLEET has the auditors in reviewing the cash flow, being one of the Corporations who have loans coming due next Quarter.
HONEST DARTH’S USED SPACESHIPS increased their Reputation and took passengers on board their liner.
SEMPER DURUS followed their announcement by ignoring the interest due on their loan. No doubt they expect to divert some of the fines into the Corporation’s accounts in future.
At Gamma Leporis TRANSURANNIC bought 6 Alloys for 4 HTs each and CAESAR WHOLESALE bought 5 on Contracts.
Epsilon Eridani saw VOGON INDUSTRIES selling 10 Isotopes for 4 HTs apiece to gain a Dealership.
ZWILLINGE sold 10 Isotopes for 5 HTs each at Delta Toucanis and gained a Dealership. TSTI bought 16 Petroleum at a price of 9 HTs and acquired a Dealership as well. HONEST DARTH’s bid of 6 to buy was ignored.
VOGON INDUSTRIES couldn’t sell Isotopes at Tau Ceti for 7, but TTC could buy 6 for 4 HTs each and a Dealership.
Lots of buying and selling at Mu Herculis. VOGON INDUSTRIES sold 6 Alloys at 7 HTs beating CWI’s bid of the same price. TRANSURANNIC sold 6 Isotopes for 8 HTs each and VOGON sold 2 more at the same price. SEMPER DURUS’s bid to sell at 10 was ignored and, as we all know now, they won’t have to worry about selling those Isotopes again. SOLAR SPICE, LIQUORS & MONOPOLES bought 5 Monopoles on Contract. TRANSURRANIC bought 7 Petroleum for 10 HTs apiece and gained a Dealership, while ISKANDER sold 4 for 9 HTs each.
Neither ZWILLINGE nor VOGON INDUSTRIES – bidding 4 and 7 to sell Isotopes at Sigma Draconis – found any takers. ZWILLINGE did sell 11 Petroleum for 12 HTs each and gained a Dealership. SSLM bought 9 Spice at 14 HTs and became a Contractor.
Nobody was looking to trade at Alpha Centauri where all prices remain depressed.
ISNOTISTOO bought 2 Alloys for 6 HTs each at Beta Hydri. SSLM sold 12 Monopoles for 16 HTs apiece and achieved a second Contractorship, while ISNOTISTOO sold 2 more at 17 HTs. SSLM then sold 10 Spice for 16 HTs to get a Dealership, but ISNOTISTOO’s bid of 17 was too high. Finally HONEST DARTH sold 7 Petroleum for 10 HTs each and gained a Dealership.
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 | 13 | 510 | 20 | John Boocock |
| B | Solar Winds Trading Co | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 23 | Steve Bunce |
| C | Caesar Wholesale | 2 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 13 | 30 | Simon Burling |
| D | Trans Solar Trading, Inc | 5 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 110 | 33 | Jerry Elsmore |
| E | SSL&M | 5 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 82 | 39 | Paul Evans |
| F | Semper Durus | 1 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 17 | 21 | Alex Everard |
| G | HDQUS | 6 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 151 | 33 | Howard Goble |
| H | Trade Wind | 1 | 0 | 8 | N (5+5) | 13 | 56 | 27 | Michael Grazebrook |
| J | ISNOTISTOO | 6 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 56 | 24 |
William Hay |
| K | Swiss Mercenary Fleet | 2 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 10 | 131 | 30 | Martin Jennings |
| L | Zwillinge | 4 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 193 | 30 | Michael Martinkat |
| M | Transuranic Trade Corp | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 45 | 32 | Bob Parkins |
| N | Vogon Industries | 5 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 238 | 33 | Nathan Richards |
| P | Iskander Fire and Accident | 2 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 293 | 29 | Przemyslaw Orwat |
| ‘N’ under Initiative Bid indicates No Move Received | |||||||||
News
There was one new News chit this turn and OP 10 (B1) on turn 6 was taken by VOGON INDUSTRIES.
New chits are shown in Bold:
Turn 5 C2, B3
Turn 6 P8, P7
Turn 7 B6
Turn 8 B4
Press
Attention:
Tau Ceti is now under the protection of Semper Durus Corporation. (Sensitive ecosystem, don’t you know, mustn’t have too many crass commercial industrialists and merchants crawling all over it.)
All ships arriving in Tau Ceti are advised to pay 50 Ht to the ‘Eco-Tourism’ fund administered by Semper Durus.
Ships failing to do so will be considered poachers and treated accordingly…
New Important Detail:
Any ship arrested for poaching will be returned to owner on payment of a fine calculated as:
(Value of Hull + Pods + Crew + Cargo) * .6
Cargo valued at current local system price or 10 HT for any item not saleable locally.
Corporations may wish to enter conditional orders in advance to pay such fines to avoid unnecessary delays or the risk that the ship may be sold or confiscated to meet the fine.
What’s this, by hokey?! A toll for visiting Tau Ceti?! Let me tell you, Tuan Durus, Pevans van Rijn’s ships fly where they want, by damn!
GM Notes
Several Players will find that they don't have the Passengers they were hoping for. Another Corporation earlier in the turn order took them first.
Corporations carry out actions in the Opportunity Phase in Turn Order, not in Initiative Order. So if you want to take an Opportunity chit, you may find someone else has spent money in the Initiative Phase to go before you and take the chit.
If your Corporation is reported as carrying out a sabotage attempt, no, it doesn't necessarily mean that you did. Some other Corporation could have done the deed and is blaming you.
If you have a query ask me as soon as you can. If I'm away I may not see it until after I've started adjudicating the game.
Players whose Corporations go to the wall are not allowed to rejoin this game. (Not that anyone would take revenge on another player whose actions eliminated him.)
Pevans
Postal games
Mission of Gravity
Odessa Steps
Railway Rivals 3