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 14

Previous reports: Turn 13 Turn 12 Turn 11 Turn 10 Turn 9 Turn 8 Turn 7 Turn 6 Turn 5 Turn 4 Turn 3 Turn 2 Turn 1 Start-up

Sections: Report, Corporation Table, News, Press, GM Notes, Star map (separate page) PDF map (118k)

    “Well, he should be pleased.”
    “Yes, Mr. Tegwin likes to have a good result.”
    “All stored away?”
    “Yes, in the Warehouses and on the Isolde.”
    “Where are we putting the Factory production?”

Gamma Leporis was devoid of trading this Quarter.

At Epsilon Eridani PUM sold 6 Isotopes for 5 HTs each and JANET sold 5 more on Contract. JANET sold 5 Petroleum on contract as well.

MU HERCULIS sold 8 Alloys for 8 HTs each at Delta Toucanis and then BULGAKOV sold 3 Isotopes for 7 HTs apiece. BULGAKOV and PUM were outbid in buying Petroleum by TEGWIN’s TRUCKERS who bought 28 Petroleum for 8 HTs each and gained the Market Manager position. This pushed the price up until SUNDOG sold 7 for 1 HT each and drove the price back down, leaving TEGWIN with a profit when they resold the Factories, but less than they had hoped.

Tau Ceti saw TEGWIN selling 2 Alloys at 9 HTs each. PERF’s bids were ignored as their ship failed to arrive.

PUM CORPORATION sold 14 Isotopes for 10 HTs each at Mu Herculis, undercutting BULGAKOV, gaining a Contractorship and allowing CAESAR WHOLESALE to sell 5 more using their Contract. SOLAR SPICE & LIQUORS sold 9 Liquors for 14 HTs each to gain a Dealership, while SUNDOG’s bid of 15 found no takers. MU HERCULIS sold 8 Monopoles for 8 HTs each and gained a Contractor’s Position. BULGAKOV and PUM failed to sell at 10. SUNDOG tried to sell Petroleum, but the price dropped and there was no demand.

Sigma Draconis saw MU HERCULIS buying 12 Isotopes for 3 HTs each and taking the Market Manager’s position. PUM sold 5 on Contract at the same price. SOLAR SPICE & LIQUORS sold 5 Monopoles on Contract, MU HERCULIS sold 5 Petroleum on Contract and then SWISS MERCENARY FLEET sold 6 Spice for 5 HTs each to get a Contractor’s position. SSL bought 5 Spice on Contract.

At Alpha Centauri JANET sold 9 Isotopes for 5 HTs each and a Contractorship, CAESAR WHOLESALE’s bid of 6 HTs being too high. SWISS MERCENARY FLEET sold 8 Monopoles for 9 HTs apiece and gained a Dealership, after which LISPING TREE sold 5 on contract and then used Agent Percent to sell a further 6. SSL bid 10 to sell, but sold none. SSL did better with Spice, selling 9 for 10 HTs each and getting a Dealership. MU HERCULIS sold 5 on Contracts, while CAESAR’s bid of 15 HTs was ignored.

Lastly, at Beta Hydri, LISPING TREE sold 5 on Contract, and SUN DOG sold 1 Isotope for 6 HTs.

PUM CORPORATION went to the Federation Bank, paid off their loan and took out a new 60 HT loan for 4 Quarters at 1 HT a quarter interest. Pum then bought a Warehouse.

TEGWIN TRUCKERS sold all of their Petroleum Factories, purchased a Cargo Pod for Drysi and launched their new ship, the Ceinlys, with A crew and Cargo and Augmented Jump pods. They were still flush and went to the Federation Bank and paid off their loan as well. Meanwhile their fleet of liners loaded Passengers and their Factories at Delta Toucanis produced Petroleum—for which there was no storage available and it was therefore lost.

PERF took OP41 on Planet at Sigma Draconis and bought 7 units of Tempus. They then took out a 520 HT loan over 4 Quarters, bought a Warehouse at Alpha Centauri and hired new A class crews for all ships that hadn’t failed Hyperjumps.

JUST ANOTHER NEW ENERGY TRADER loaded Passengers and bought 2 Spice Factories and 1 Warehouse at Sigma Draconis.

SUNDOG failed to intercept any ships flying past Tomiko, in fact it hardly seemed to try for some, but finally managed to Hyperjump Enfya to Mu Herculis where it sold for 90% of list price. The Maconia was turned down for Legal Papers, but did get a new B class crew.

LISPING TREE were another Corporation heading to the bank and repaying their loan, taking out a new 200 HT loan for 4 Quarters. A new Phoenix hull was laid down at Tau Ceti with A class crew and Cargo Pods, a new Warehouse was bought along with 3 new Isotope Factories as they reached the limit of what they could hold.

TRANSURANIC TRADE CORPORATION loaded Passengers and bought A class crews for the Vland .

MU HERCULIS DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION launched their semi-military hull with A class crew as the Nessus, with Augmented Jump Pod and 6 Light Weapon Pods.

SOLAR SPICE & LIQUORS hired an A class crew for the Cutthroat.

SWISS MERCENARY FLEET increased their Criminal Connections to 7.

Corporation Table

Corporation letter & name		Conn'n Levels Bus/Crim/Pol			Init Bid	Turn Order	Cash	Rep'n	Player
A	Bulgakov Lines	6	1	3	0	9th	144	26	Andrew Burgess
B	Caesar Wholesale Inc	10	0	7	0	10th	537	40	Simon Burling
C	Just Another New Energy Trader	10	0	7	5	6th	175	40	Mark Cowper
D	Sundog	9	1	4	0+6	7th	200	31	Mike Dyer
E	Tegwin Truckers	10	1	9	0	12th	619	40	Jerry Elsmore
F	Solar Spice & Liquors	10	4	5	9	3rd	518	40	Paul Evans
G	PERF	10	1	7	43	1st	460	40	Witold Gertruda
H	Cigarettes, Wine and Wild Women	8	2	0	NMR		415	20
J	Swiss Mercenary Fleet	6	7	5	10	4th	345	40	Martin Jennings
K	Astradyne Enterprises	1	0	7	NMR		80	27
L	Lisping Tree	10	7	5	0+4	5th	129	40	Michael Martinkat
M	Mu Herculis Dev’t	10	1	7	20	2nd	198	40	Przemyslaw Orwat
N	Pum Corp	10	0	5	4	8th	204	40	Paul Holman
P	Transuranic Trade Co	10	0	4	0	11th	442	34	Bob Parkins
'NMR' under Initiative Bid indicates No Move Received; ‘F’ indicates the Corp was floated

Press

Being able to carry your merchandise is only rule 2 of smuggling. Rule 1 is “don’t get caught”! Pevans van Rijn

Our reporters have visited the call centres run by JANET and have shocking news that multi-pseudo pod beings DO work there!

Buying a Military Hull is a quandary – the cheapest, the Dagger, can only carry the one pod and, if not a Battle Comm, then your Reputation will suffer. But it’s streamlined. A Sword is much more expensive and carries 3 pods, which allows more option and it is even better at interceptions. The Spear carries 5 pods, allowing cargo and military pods to be mixed, but costs even more then the Sword and has a lower interception rating. Decisions, decisions…

News

PERF took OP 24 this turn.

Two new News chits were drawn this turn. Current News chits (new ones in bold) are:
    Turn 15 C4
    Turn 16 C3, B3, P3
    Turn 17 C8, P4
    Turn 18 P6

GM Notes

Remember you cannot have more Factories than the sum of your Political and Business Connections.

Actions in the Opportunity Phase (taking OP chits, for example) take place before the Investment Phase (taking out loans, for example).