Pevans
Icehenge
This is the fifth 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 1
Previous reports: Start-up
Sections: Report, Corporation Table, News, Press, GM Notes, Star map (separate page) PDF map (108k)
“We have the money and we want to buy some Isotope Factories.”
The merchant banker looked at his desk and then back at the speaker. Was the interpreter correct? These were new Corporations in the Quadrant and he knew only the names of some of these.
“It is true that we have a need for Isotopes here at Epsilon Eridani,” he began, waiting for the creature alongside him to whistle and click the reply. “But, sadly, we do not produce them here. You will need to visit another system where they are found in abundance.”
At Gamma Leporis SUNDOG bought 6 Alloys for 6 HTs each and gained a Dealership.The MU HERCULIS DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION bought 5 more Alloys for 4 HTs.
There was not much going on at Epsilon Eridani, but PUM CORP bought 6 Alloys for 7 HTs apiece.
Delta Toucanis saw dealing in Petroleum: SUNDOG bought 6 at 10 HTs and MHDC bought 7 more for a price of 9 HTs.
LISPING TREE bought 10 Isotopes for 7 HTs each at Tau Ceti and gained a Dealership. JANET’s bid of 4 was too low. JUST ANOTHER NEW ENERGY TRADER bought 6 Petroleum for 10 HTs apiece and turned their Dealership into a Contractorship, so they weren’t too upset.
At Mu Herculis BULGAKOV LINES bought 5 Monopoles for 12 HTs each, after which SOLAR SPICE & LIQUORS bought 5 on Contract using Agent Crip. PUM CORP was buying 8 Petroleum for 13 HTs apiece and got a Dealership.
PUM CORP bought 10 Isotopes for 6 HTs each and gained a Dealership at Sigma Draconis. CAESAR WHOLESALE INC. bought 1 more at the same price. GREEN ARCHER’s bid of 5 HTs was shut out.
CAESAR WHOLESALE did better at Alpha Centauri, buying 8 Liquors for 13 HTs each and achieving a Dealership.
At Beta Hydri SUNDOG bought 6 Alloys for 8 HTs each. Then BULGAKOV LINES bought 2 more for the same price.
MU HERCULIS DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION improved their Reputation immensely and bought 4 Warehouses at Mu Herculis, Tau Ceti, Sigma Draconis, and Delta Toucanis. To these they added 2 Spice Factories at Sigma Draconis. The Light Weapons pods were sold and replaced with Cargo pods and a new Phoenix Hull with an A Crew was laid down at Tau Ceti Shipyard. To pay for this they took out a 647 HT loan for 4 Quarters.
PUM CORP hired Agent Tender at Epsilon Eridani and improved their Reputation. Two Warehouses were bought, one at Gamma Leporis and one at Tau Ceti. An Alloy Factory at Gamma Leporis and an Isotope Factory at Tau Ceti followed. A new Phoenix hull was laid down at the Tau Ceti Shipyards west side, with mostly Cargo pods and a B crew. A loan of 140 HTs was taken out over 4 Quarters. Finally, the corporation increased its Political Connections.
SUNDOG hired Agent Amy at Gamma Leporis, increased Reputation and boughtb two Petroleum Factories at Delta Toucanis. A new Phoenix Hull was laid down at Beta Hydri Shipyards.
TEGWEN TRUCKERS were very busy. First, they sold their ship Aeron, for 130% of the list price (ships were in demand this Quarter for some reason). 6 Phoenix Hulls were laid down, 2 at each of Beta Hydri, Epsilon Eridani and Tau Ceti Spaceports. They then went to the Bankers and took out a loan for 540 HTs for 4 Quarters. Each of the Phoenix Hulls was equipped with an Augmented Jump Pod and 3 Passenger Pods, all with B class crews. A further Phoenix Hull was laid down at Tau Ceti, though this one has A class crew and 5 cargo pods. A Warehouse at Gamma Leporis and a Warehouse at Tau Ceti followed, and next Quarter they will have 7 ships launching.
JUST ANOTHER NEW ENERGY TRADER bought Warehouses at Gamma Leporis and Sigma Draconis. They invested in factories: 3 Alloy factories at Gamma Leporis, 2 Isotopes at Tau Ceti and 2 Isotopes at Sigma Draconis. This helped when they spent more HectoTrans raising their Business Connections.
SOLAR SPICE & LIQUORS hired Agent Clint at Mu Herculis. They then also sold their ship, for 140% of list price, and increased their Business Connections and Reputation (though not by a lot). They laid down a new Phoenix Hull (this one is an armed merchantman, covered with Light Weapon pods) at Epsilon Eridani and then spent most of the rest on 6 Monopole Factories at Mu Herculis.
CIGS AND ALCOHOL increased their Criminal connections.
LISPING TREE hired Agent Dragon at TC. They laid down a Piccolo hull at Alpha Centauri with Augmented Jump and A crew. They bought a Monopole Factory at Mu Herculis as well as a Warehouse, sold their Light Weapons pod and increased their Political connections.
CAESAR WHOLESALE tried to hire an agent for 40 HTs and failed. They then sold their ship for 160% of list price and, with this injection of funds, laid down “Vespasian” and “Titus”, both Phoenix Hulls with a mixture of Cargo and Light Weapon pods and A class crews, in the yards at Alpha Centauri. A 300 HT loan over 8 Quarters followed and the corporation bought a single new Warehouse at Gamma Leporis
SWISS MERCENARY FLEET bought 5 Spice Factories at Sigma Draconis, upgraded their ships crew to A class and then started their usual tilt to the dark side, raising Criminal Connections.
Finally, BULGAKOV LINES bought a Warehouse at Sigma Draconis, 3 Spice Factories at the same Spaceport, adding to SMF’s production facilities, and laid down a new Corco Zeta Hull, the Woland, at Beta Hydri with A crew and a mix of Passenger and Light Weapon pods.
Corporation Table
| Corporation letter & name | Conn'n Levels Bus/Crim/Pol |
Init Bid |
Turn Order |
Cash | Rep'n | Player | |||
| A | Bulgakov Lines | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 11th | 105 | 20 | Andrew Burgess |
| B | Caesar Wholesale Inc | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 9th | 609 | 22 | Simon Burling |
| C | JANET | 2 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 5th | 155 | 24 | Mark Cowper |
| D | Sundog | 6 | 1 | 2 | +5 | 3rd | 101 | 26 | Mike Dyer |
| E | Tegwin Truckers | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 4th | 32 | 20 | Jerry Elsmore |
| F | Solar Spice & Liquors | 1 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 6th | 78 | 23 | Paul Evans |
| G | Green Archer | 0 | 0 | 7 | N | 12th | 500 | 20 | Austin Hayward |
| H | Cigarettes & Alcohol | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7th | 480 | 19 | Dominic Howlett |
| J | Swiss Mercenary Fleet | 0 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 10th | 125 | 21 | Martin Jennings |
| K | GamLepCo | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 13th | 500 | 20 | Player Wanted |
| L | Lisping Tree | 1 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 8th | 193 | 23 | Michael Martinkat |
| M | Mu Herculis Dev’t | 0 | 0 | 7 | 15 | 1st | 744 | 25 | Przemyslaw Orwat |
| N | Pum Corp | 6 | 0 | 4 | 12 | 2nd | 116 | 29 | Paul Holman |
| 'N' under Initiative Bid indicates No Move Received; ‘F’ indicates the Corp was floated | |||||||||
GM Notes
Please make sure to let me have names and equipment for ships laid down last turn in this turn’s orders.
For the avoidance of doubt: a Quarter (in the game report) is a Turn.
News
There were 4 new News chits this turn.
The current News chits (new ones in bold) are:
Turn 3 B4
Turn 4 P3
Turn 5 C4, B7
Press
Hokay, I want a nice clean trading game and may the best merchant win, by damn! Pevans van Rijn