Odessa Steps

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. Below is the latest turn report, as published in TWJO 42 (March 2004). Follow the link for an introduction to Star Trader.

Sections: Report, Corporations Table, Press, News, GM Notes, Star map (separate page)

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

Turn 10

     "What are we going to name the new ship?"
     "I don't know. Any thoughts?"
     "The old name had unfortunate connotations. Shylocks seemed a touch harsh."
     "So something warmer, friendlier?"
     "How about 'Uncle'?"
     "Avuncular, yet still hard underneath. Yes."

Another Quarter, another appearance in Court for THE CULTURE. Then another fine and a further slipping away of supporters from the troubled Corporation - helped, of course, by Investigators from TAU CETI XPRESS producing documentation showing that several of the ships sold recently had false documentation.

TRANS SOLAR TRADING INC ramped the price of Alloys at Gamma Leporis, buying 26 at 10 HTs each and leaving INTERSTELLAR METALS with none. BLAND & BRASS sold 4 Alloys at 1 HT apiece and must be kicking themselves. TSTI then tried to sell 5 back using their Market Managership, forgetting that you can't buy and sell the same commodity at the same market in the same turn.

TSTI sold 9 Alloys at 8 HTs each at Epsilon Eridani and TOTAL TRANSIT 2070 sold 5 Liquor at a price of 20 HTs using Contracts. At Delta Toucanis TSTI sold 5 Alloys for 5 HTs each. THE UNIVERSAL sold 6 Isotopes at 9 HTs each, outbidding THE CULTURE and INTERSTELLAR METALS, who bid 10 to sell. KAT CORP were selling Isotopes using their Contracts. IM did buy 5 Petroleum on Contracts, shortly before the CULTURE bought 11 Factories and a warehouse to trade the same goods with. Finally here, THE UNIVERSAL sold 5 Spice on Contract as the price rose.

Tau Ceti saw TSTI selling 10 Alloys at a price of 5 HTs and gaining a Dealership. SHYLOCKS sold 9 Isotopes for 4 HTs each and became Market Manager, while both KAT CORP and TCX sold 5 on their Contracts. The CULTURE found no buyers at 5 HTs. The CULTURE didn't sell Petroleum either as the price fell, but IM sold 6 using Percent.

TSTI became Contractors by selling 11 Alloys at 5 HTs each at Mu Herculis. IM became Dealers in Isotopes, buying 10 for 3 HTs each and shutting out the UNIVERSAL's bid of 4. TT2070 sold 5 Liquors on Contract, while in Monopoles BLAND & BRASS bought 6 at a price of 12 HTs and gained a Dealership before SWISS MERCENARY FLEET sold 10 for 8 HTs each and the Market Manager Position. SHYLOCKS bid 9 to sell and were tradeless.

BLAND & BRASS bought 6 Isotopes at Sigma Draconis, with IM buying 5 more on Contract. TT2070 sold 5 Monopoles at a price of 16, after which THE CULTURE sold 10 more for the same price, but no recognition in Market Position - perhaps the traders had heard of the impending Criminal Trial. UNIVERSAL sold 2 Petroleum for 8 HTs each and, finally here, SWISS MERCENARY sold 6 Spice for 9 HTs apiece and INTERSTELLAR METALS bought 5 on Contract.

At Alpha Centauri TSTI underbid everyone again and sold 5 Alloys at a price of 5, but this time IM sold 6 more for 6 and gained a Dealership, while KATKORP unloaded a unit on Contract. UNIVERSAL sold 2 Liquors for 9 HTs each and B&B sold 6 Spice at a price of 17 and also gained a Dealership.

Lastly, at Beta Hydri, B&B and UNIVERSAL both bid 17 HTs to sell Spice and both failed to do so as the price dropped.

TAU CETI XPRESS delayed launching their new ships, as they bought crews for their old ones that had been resting in the cradles after the epidemic last quarter.

THE CULTURE armed the Better Red at Sigma Draconis shipyards.

BLAND & BRASS sold their Factories at Gamma Leporis - and their Warehouse too - and used the proceeds to put A class crews onto their ships.

SHYLOCKS launched their new ship, provisionally known as Uncle, and sold their warehouses at Delta Toucanis and Alpha Centauri to equip the ship with a variety of pods.

INTERSTELLAR METALS laid down a new Phoenix Hull, Scandium, at Gamma Leporis Shipyards, with an A class crew and cargo pods. TRANS SOLAR TRADING sold their Alloy factories for 675 HTs and repaid their Loan early, cheering the Federation Bankers.

Finally, KATKORP repaid their loan and took out a new one over 4 turns: a massive 740 HTs at 35 HTs a turn interest. They bought 2 more warehouses at Delta Toucanis, and swopped some pods at the Spaceport between ships, upgrading the passenger pods' crews and putting an A crew on the Kitty. The fact that their defence force had failed to intercept enemy ships was considered to be of little concern, as they bought 13 Petroleum Factories at Delta Toucanis and increased their Political Connections to 9.

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Corporations Table

Corporation letter & name		Conn'n Levels Bus/Crim/Pol			Init Bid	Turn Order	Cash	Rep'n	Player
A	Total Transit 2070	10	0	7	40	1st	431	40	Simon Burling
B	New Expensive Weapons Bring I Empire	3	7	2	N	11th	67	33	Peter Denison
C	Trans-Solar Trading, Inc	10	8	5	0	10th	66	40	Jerry Elsmore
D	Interstellar Metals	10	5	5	3	9th	257	40	Paul Evans
E	The Universal	10	0	5	0	5th	413	40	John Harrington
F	Swiss Mercenary's Fleet	8	0	10	0	8th	279	40	Martin Jennings
G	Shylocks	10	1	3	0	6th	111	40	Andrew Kendall
H	KatKorp	10	2	9	10	4th	186	40	Michael Martinkat
J	Bland & Brass	7	1	7	0	7th	92	40	Colin Parfitt
K	The Culture	2	0	6	10	2nd	528	6	Nathan Richards
L	Grand Lars Theni & T Heft	8	1	2			49	28	Player wanted
M	Tau Ceti Xpress	4	0	7	1+4	3rd	386	40	Mike Wale
N	Nekekami Corporation	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	ELIMINATED