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, Market Positions, Press, GM Notes, Star map (separate page)
Previous reports: Turn 11 Turn 10 Turn 9 Turn 8 Turn 7 Turn 6 Turn 5 Turn 4 Turn 3 Turn 2 Turn 1 Start-up
Turn 12
CRUMP!!!!!!!
Even through the sprung floor, the force of the explosion could be felt in the sector security office at Sigma Draconis Spaceport. As emergency services swung into action outside the ZWILLINGE Warehouse, a second explosion threw more debris over the injured. Thick smoke funnelled onto the concourse. His staff were pulling people from the wreckage and the station security manager was starting to review matters when everyone stopped. Though at the far side of the Spaceport, the third explosion was only too noticeable.
Two events dominated the news; the first was the piracy of HONEST DARTH’s Boris, the armed merchantman giving in without a fight, so sources say, to an attack by ZWILLINGE in Delta Toucanis System Space.
The second is the reappearance of the bombing that had appeared to have died out at Mu Herculis. It has now apparently migrated to Sigma Draconis where a string of 6 Explosions rocked four Corporation’s warehouses. The greatest damage was suffered by ZWILLINGE, but HONEST DARTH was close behind in losses. The forensic evidence all points to ZWILLINGE’s responsibility in 4 of the attacks. But why should any Corporation savage its own warehouses so badly?
Spice Today!
We will not humiliate the Corporation trying to sell Spice at Mu Herculis – you know who you are! – and it was at Sigma Draconis that ZWILLINGE bought 8 Units for 10 HTs each, after which TRANSURANIC bought 2 more for 9 HTs apiece. SSL&M bought 5 on contracts. SSL&M was selling 10 Spice at Alpha Centauri to gain a Dealership, while ZWILLINGE sold 6 at Beta Hydri using the services of Agent Percent.
Isotope Manager
ZWILLINGE were selling on Contracts at Delta Toucanis and buying at Tau Ceti. 10 Units at a price of 5 HTs each and a new Contractorship was the final result. TRANS SOLAR TRADING INC. was buying at Sigma Draconis: 18 units at 8 HTs apiece. This lifted the price to its benefit when it came to disposing of its Factories. TSTI gained a Contractorship and ZWILLINGE bought 5 more on Contracts, though indubitably more expensive than it had hoped. CAESAR WHOLESALE sold 2 for 9 HTs each at Alpha Centauri. In the scrum at Beta Hydri, ZWILLINGE and VOGON’s bids of 10 lost out to HONEST DARTH who sold 10 units at 9 HTs using their Market Managership. TRADEWINDS sneaked in and sold 5 more units at the same price before the Market closed.
Monopoles Trader
SOLAR SPICE, LIQUORS & MONOPOLES sold 5 on Contract at Beta Hydri. SWISS MERCENARY sold 6 for 13 HTs each at Alpha Centauri and gained a Dealership ZWILLINGE bought 8 at 13 HTs at Mu Herculis and acquired a Dealership. They would have bought more, we hear, but funds ran out. SSL&M bought their usual 5 on Contracts here as well.
Alloys Round the Quadrant
Still reeling from last Quarter’s drop in price as the new sources came on stream, there was not a lot of trade. HONEST DARTH bought 7 Alloys for 4 HTs each at Delta Toucanis and became Market Manager. VOGON sold 5 for 5 HTs apiece at Tau Ceti. CAESAR WHOLESALE sold 5 on Contracts at Alpha Centauri, and ZWILLINGE found no takers to buy at 4 at Beta Hydri.
Petroleum Quarterly
ZWILLINGE bought 7 for 8 HTs each at Mu Herculis and gained a Dealership. HONEST DARTH sold 9 for 9 HTs apiece at Sigma Draconis and gained a Contractorship, undercutting ZWILLINGE’s attempt to sell at 11. ZWILLINGE sold 4 on Contract at Beta Hydri.
The Happy Imbiber
SOLAR SPICE LIQUORS & MONOPOLES bid 14 to buy 11 at Mu Herculis. The Corporation got a Dealership too!
Corporation News
TRADEWINDS bought Warehouses at Gamma Leporis and Tau Ceti and finally decided to buy pods for their Corco Zeta, Aurora: 4 Cargo pods, which will increase the carrying capacity.
CAESAR WHOLESALE took OP 46 at Mu Herculis with the intention of selling at a profit later.
SWISS MERCENARY FLEET lost 4 Spice to Sabotage at Sigma Draconis.
HONEST DARTH’S USED QUALITY SPACESHIPS, now with one less vessel after the piracy by ZWILLINGE and with 5 Isotopes and 5 Petroleum lost in the demolition of their Warehouses at Sigma Draconis, bought two more Warehouses, at Mu Herculis and Beta Hydri.
TRANSURANIC, doing well at their secondary trade in Passenger movements, bought a Warehouse at Tau Ceti.
ISKANDER FIRE AND ACCIDENT, another sufferer from the sabotage at Sigma Draconis, losing 1 Isotope, were off to the Federation bankers, repaying their loan and taking out a 701 HT loan over 4 Quarters, paying 33 HTs a Quarter interest. The money was quickly invested in buying Warehouses at Epsilon Eridani and the ever popular Tau Ceti, 8 Monopole Factories at Mu Herculis and hiring A class crews for the Corco Gamma hull, Option.
TRANS SOLAR TRADING INC. counted itself lucky as the mad bomber ignored it and loaded up passengers and Isotopes onto its ships. The Factories at Sigma Draconis were sold and Walwen, Wheelock and Weaver each received 2 Passenger Pods.
ZWILLINGE, of course, had the most interesting Quarter. From putting the Fraternal into System Space at Delta Toucanis, where Captain Kidd overwhelmed the defences of HONEST DARTH’S Boris at a high loss in Reputation; its widespread successful trading gaining 4 Market Positions, restoring much of the Reputation loss; to the devastating attacks on its own and others’ warehouses at Sigma Draconis where losses of 9 Spice and 5 assorted Alloys, Isotopes, and Petroleum were reported; the police reports linking at least one of the bombings on its own warehouses to itself and, worse still, showing that it was responsible for the attacks on the other Corporations; failing to pay the interest on its loan and losing yet more Reputation; and the final indignity of the Inquiry from which ZWILLINGE was lucky to escape with a minor fine and loss of Political and Business Connections: It was a Quarter full of incident.
Corporations Table
| Corporation letter & name | Conn'n Levels Bus/Crim/Pol |
Init Bid |
Turn Order |
Cash | Rep'n | Player | |||
| A | Neikan-do | 3 | 4 | 4 | F | 13th | 26 | 30 | Player Wanted |
| B | Solar Winds Trading Co | 2 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 5th | 196 | 25 | Steve Bunce |
| C | Caesar Wholesale | 5 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 11th | 499 | 35 | Simon Burling |
| D | Trans Solar Trading, Inc | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7th | 274 | 22 | Jerry Elsmore |
| E | SSL&M | 10 | 3 | 5 | +1 | 3rd | 51 | 40 | Paul Evans |
| G | HDQUS | 10 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6th | 630 | 40 | Howard Goble |
| H | Trade Wind | 4 | 0 | 8 | +9 | 1st | 178 | 38 | Colin Parfitt |
| J | ISNOTISTOO | 10 | 0 | 3 | N | 12th | 339 | 40 | William Hay |
| K | Swiss Mercenary Fleet | 7 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 8th | 305 | 40 | Martin Jennings |
| L | Zwillinge | 8 | 2 | 5 | 9 | 2nd | 7 | 6 | Michael Martinkat |
| M | Transuranic Trade Corp | 10 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 4th | 292 | 40 | Bob Parkins |
| N | Vogon Industries | 10 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 9th | 72 | 40 | Nathan Richards |
| P | Iskander Fire and Accident | 10 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 10th | 69 | 40 | Przemyslaw Orwat |
| 'N' under Initiative Bid indicates No Move Received; ‘F’ indicates the Corp was floated | |||||||||
News
OP 46 was taken by CAESAR WHOLESALE this turn.
There were four new chit this turn. New chits are shown in Bold:
Turn 14 P10, B4, B7, B3
Turn 15 P2, B6, P1
Turn 16 P9
Market Positions
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GM Notes
Though the report refers to flattened and destroyed warehouses, they still exist.
Corporation A available to play: It has ships, factories and goods and is not far behind.
Passengers available to carry between two systems are the sum of the spaceports’ classes. Check the table on page 17 if you want to know why you have fewer people than you expected. And you can’t carry Passengers at all if your Reputation is under 15 (16.3).
Individual Warehouses can be sabotaged.
Pevans
Postal games
Mission of Gravity
Railway Rivals 4
Railway Rivals 5