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Humanx Adventure Cargo and Interstellar War


S. John Ross, Copyright ©1998.

Humanx adaptation by Riccardo Fregi


How does a little tramp freighter compete in a big galaxy? How busy should a starport be? In a war between the Humanx Commonwealth and the Aann Empire , just how many warships will be out there among the stars?

Adventure Cargo
 From the East Indiamen to the Galactic Empire

Literary (and RPG) treatments of the tradelanes of the galaxy draw most heavily on nautical trade of the 14th-17th century Earth; starships are the equivalents of private cargo-speculators or East Indiamen, and the docking platforms are crowded with a noisy rabble of would-be sellers hawking their wares to choosy star-captains. Unlike the large-scale commercial shipping of today, most cargoes in such a universe are loaded aboard a freighter with no destination contracted. Instead, the freighter buys the cargo, then moves on to another port to try to sell it. The right to this sort of commerce has been recognized for centuries by Terran maritime law, which has a very appropriate term for it: Adventure.
One reason for the fall of Adventure commerce is the volume of trade required by industrial nations. A few tramp-freighters, or a few thousand of them, couldn't serve the trade-needs of good old Terra once industry and radio got together to dance. Those few vessels that tried to carry on the old tradition were simply trodden underfoot by the advent of Bulk Carriers and Supertankers. By the end of the 20th century, the number of independently-owned freighters had started to dwindle as multinational corporations began buying their own fleets, and cargo vessels built specifically to carry a single cargo started to become the norm, and the right to sell cargo at dockside became almost impossible to acquire in any civilized port.
A reversal of these trends is a staple of far-future adventure fiction, but only a partial reversal is possible. In order that the spacelanes can hold opportunities for the adventurous tramp-captain, and still support large high-tech societies, interstellar shipping must blend elements of both extremes.

The Competition: Megacorps and Trade Guilds

For consistency's sake, a few fundamental assumptions are necessary to make the information in this article useful to the GM:
Civilian Deep Space beam is  too expensive to make interstellar "telephone tag" an everyday business practice. See GURPS Space, p.28 and 29, for a discussion of the effects of FTL communications on the campaign.
There are many settled worlds engaged in trade with one another, and less-settled worlds (including colonies) on the "fringe" of civilized space.
Player-Character owned merchant vessels are of the small "tramp-freighter" variety, capable of carrying a few thousand tons (deadweight) at most. Acquiring the ship probably put the party in hock up to their eyeballs.
The galaxy is  consists of many alien races that, on average, have shipping needs comparable to humans.
The lion's share of cargo is moved by huge mercantile vessels (Heavy freighters) on pre-arranged routes, and interstellar shipping is organized, possibly into merchant guilds (merchant Houses), possibly under the thumb of interstellar corporations or government.
Before the microcosm of adventure-freight can be examined, the larger picture should be outlined. There are four basic varieties of "mainstream" merchant starship:

Heavy Freighter

Tramp Freighter
Capacity is expressed in the standard GURPS ton (2,000 lbs), what the shipping industry calls displacement ton is a cubic yard (cy) .
One useful number left over from the mess: Modern cargo ships have a total hull volume averaging 60 cubic feet per short ton of deadweight capacity. Tweak this at need to fit the rules you use for building starships, but it's at least a Rule of Thumb to start you off.

Merchant Fleets: On average, there will be five merchant ships (mixed classes and sizes) for every million citizens in the galaxy, with capacities as described above.

Travel Time: The most important variable is travel time. If a typical voyage between ports is 8-12 days, use the numbers above. However, if it takes cargo twice as long to move between ports, twice as much shipping will be needed to keep up with the demand. Divide the typical time between Class IV or greater starports by 10 days. Apply the result as a multiple to either the number of ships, or their average cargo capacity.
GMs should note that ship capacity is much more likely to increase than number; this is a constant that has kept with us since the Bronze Age, and will likely carry over to space travel. The modern supertanker is a good example of both exception and rule: When shipping still made considerable use of the Suez Canal, tankers were artificially limited to about 30,000 tons because of the canal's width. As demand increased, the number of ships increased, contrary to mercantile history. When the Suez was no longer available for use, however, the old order returned. Much longer courses had to be charted, circling entire continents, and the shipping industry responded, not with more ships, but with gigantic ships. And the supertanker is getting bigger every year (we may see the million-ton tanker soon). If you prefer a setting with lots of ships of moderate size, some arbitrary limitation might be imposed by the nature of the KK drives (or the engines necessary to get us there) might be the equivalent of the Suez Canal . . .

Starport Business: A settled world with a healthy economy will import one ton of cargo per person per Terran year, and export the same amount. This means that a long-established world of 5.84 billion sentients (PR 9) would have an annual shipping traffic of 11.68 billion tons of cargo. If the average mercantile vessel hauls around 32,000 tons (as described above), this would indicate a (minimum) planet-wide traffic of five hundred ships of varying sizes and types docking and departing every 24 standard hours, divided among the world's available starports. If the same planet is a common "stopping point" along major trade routes between other worlds, traffic will be even more brisk. By contrast, Luminar  probably sees one ship every 7-8 local days, at best. If the planet has no Deep Space beam , this is also the rate at which the planet receives offworld news!

Optional Detail: In campaigns with a heavy economic component, the relative wealth of planets can be important. This should be reflected by a "Production Score" as described on p.124 of Space. A world with the default Space economy is quite wealthy, with a PS of 10 (the economic equivalent of the 1990s United States or Japan). Weaker (but still modern) worlds could have scores as low as 5. A Tech Level 1-3 planet of subsistence farmers would have a value of less than 1! Several figures (and die-rolls) can be derived from this number, but the most important here is the volume of trade. If the PS score is 10, then use the standard "One ton per capita per standard year" formula as given above. If the PS score is something other than 10, then divide the PS by 10 and get the square root. Apply this as a multiple to trade volume. Multiply the PS by 2,000 to determine the per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the planet; this number can be used to determine many others (see the next article).

A Galaxy of Opportunity

So, a group of six well-meaning Space Capitalists with a 9000-ton tramp aren't going to revolutionize trade. How are they even going to make a living? With a small ship, operating costs alone will drive the per-ton shipping price past the market standard; making ends meet with a tramp-freighter can be like fighting with a Stavanger armed with nothing more than a baton.
Before we examine the concept of cargo "adventure," there are several alternate ways for a small ship to turn a profit in a big-ship galaxy:

Any of the above may be combined, of course. Our Heroes and their tiny, fast ship (government-funded to encourage small business) can run a load of illegal, explosive drugs past the Peacekeeping Forces blockade and into pirate-infested space toward a distant, primitive world...

 WAR! (What is it GOOD for?)

note: When necessary, this article assumes that the standard national "unit" is a single planet or star-system, but the recipes given can be halved or doubled at will, and work at any scale from an interstellar federation to a tiny continent on a single planet.
The size and effectiveness of a world's military depends on (a) the planet's wealth, (b) the planet's role in international affairs, and (c) how "warlike" the culture is. For reasons ranging from finance to religion and even (in the case of the Aann and others) species, some nations simply spend a lot of time going to war.

National Wealth
To determine how big the piggy-bank is, assign a per-capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to any nation (see above for the relationship between this number and the Production Score). This can range anywhere from $90 (a nation with a medieval standard of living, consisting almost entirely of subsistence farmers) to the $15-$20,000 range (the modern United States, Japan, Austria, and United Kingdom).
In general, a 2 or 3-digit GDP is a "poor" nation, the economic equivalents of Cambodia, China, India, and Viet Nam. Middle-range countries have 4-digit GDP; these are nations equivalent to most of South America, Greece, Portugal, and the old USSR. "Wealthy" nations have a 5-digit GDP, perhaps as high as $30,000 for worlds rich in resources and expertly governed. Theoretically, a world with a monopoly on an essential resource (some mineral essential to FTL travel, for example) might be even wealthier.

Starting Wealth and Cost of Living
As long as we're dealing with national wealth, a brief sidetrek into standard of living. Multiply the per capita GDP by 12.5 and get the square root. Round to the nearest convenient amount in $Credits. This is the monthly cost of living for a Status 0 character (compare to the table on p.S37). "Average" Starting Wealth is 30 times this figure; character salaries, and Cost of Living for other Status levels, are altered proportionately.

EXAMPLE: Throughout this article, we'll look at Luminar , a small colonial world that we'll assign an economy comparable to the lower-end European nations (per capita GDP $12,000). This seems appropriate, considering the size of the world and lack of heavy industry (compensated for by a wealth of organic exports).
The calculated value of Cost of Living is $387.3, but we'll round that to $400. Since this is 80% of the $500 standard, starting wealth will be $12,000, and jobs (including military pay, below) will pay 80% of the "Galactic Standard" represented in the books.
An upside for interstellar travelers is that (outside of the starport) many services are cheaper on Luminar. Goods, generally, will not be, especially offworld goods! Labor, and fresh food will cost less, but not tools, weapons, or armor.

Warlike Nations, Superpowers and More
The GM should assign the nation a Military Factor (MF), a figure that is used to determine both military spending and the number of active-duty personnel. MF can range from 0 (a Utopian nation of peaceful bliss with no hostile neighbors) to more than 30 (1990s Iraq). On modern Earth, the United States scores a 6, Canada a 2, England a 4, and modern Japan a 1 (rounded values).( Humanx Commonwealth scores a 3 ? )
Values above 40 or 50 are difficult to justify economically except in the very short-term (Iraq has gone this high, but never for more than a few years running). A typical system-wide or planetary government just trying to look out for its own interests and get by without getting stomped will have values of 2-4 typically, especially if it can depend on powerful allies for defense. Any nation that is at the hub of international activity, either for social or economic reasons (or poor luck of placement on the stellar map) will have as much as double the MF that it's culture would suggest.

How Many Soldiers?
Divide the total population of the world by 740. Multiply the result by (MF). This is the number of active-duty personnel serving the state. This reproduces real-world results with about 95% accuracy for modern nations with robust economies, on all continents, but feel free to vary it as you like for unusual factors. Particularly poor and heavily populated worlds (comparable to modern China) will have up to 50% fewer troops. Especially violent ones may have up to 25% more.
This figure includes regular infantrymen, marines, suit-troopers, fighter pilots, ship crew, tank crew, nurses, drivers, and so on. It does not include civilian employees, such as contract surgeons, the bulk of the force's technicians, and so on.
About 40% of any force will be devoted to combat on feet, legs, and wheels - infantry, etc. The remaining 60% will be split between starship crew (for the big battleships and orbital defense monitors), and pilots (for the fighters carried by mother-ship carriers, and for planetside Air Cavalry). These figures assume forces analogous to the modern military (which most literary Space Navies are), but, again, they're more Rules of Thumb than unchangeable axioms.

How Much Money?
The training and equipment the soldiers receive is proportionate to both the MF and the population, with the GDP factored in. Multiply by the per capita GDP by the population to get a national GDP (an approximation, but close enough). A percentage of this figure equal to the Military Factor is the Defense Budget. If you have a $10 Billion national GDP and an MF of 25, then $2.5 Billion will be spent annually on the military (in Earth-Standard years).
By dividing the total military budget by the number of soldiers, you get a rough picture of how "cutting edge" the military's equipment and training are. At $35,000 per soldier per year, a credible (if lean) modern ground-force can be maintained, but not a presence in space, or even a good air force. Better join an Alliance or Confederation of worlds! Less than that, and you're armed with the relics of previous Tech Levels.
At the other end of the scale, $140,000+ per soldier per year will maintain a state-of-the-art force ready to fight in any medium, with breathing room left over for waste and mothballed vehicles.
Military Spending at late TL 7 is typically 29% Personnel, 29% Procurement, and 29% Maintenance & Operation. The remaining money goes into R&D, Testing & Evaluation, and construction. Poorer countries put more into Personnel than anything, with less of a Procurement and Maintenance budget due to the relative paucity of expensive machines.

Soldier's Pay
In modern armed forces, salary is determined by rank and years of service. The following ballpark figures may be used for monthly salary for any military personnel:
 
 

Rank 0: $800 Rank 3: $2200  Rank 6: $3500
Rank 1: $1200  Rank 4: $2500 Rank 7: $5000
Rank 1: $1200  Rank 5: $3000 Rank 8: $6500

These figures include typical adjustments for years served; they do not include subsistence and quarters allowances. To reflect these accurately, reduce the cost of living for soldiers by 35%

EXAMPLE: Luminar is small and not too important, economically, and we'll assume her political importance is just as minor (she has only a Class III starport and no military bases, after all). And with all that room to stretch out in, her 1.296 million inhabitants can afford to be mellow. We'll assign a MF of 2, the equivalent of modern Canada.
Luminar has a very small defense force (a little over 3,500 active-duty). Her national GDP is $15.6 Billion Credits resulting in a military budget of just over $311 Million. Because the world isn't factionalized, spending probably focuses on (non-FTL) space defense, with armored troopers serving as both marines and dirtside heavy infantry. Luminar's military is modern with most of the conveniences (provided defense spending is carefully monitored for waste); she spends about $89,000 per soldier per year.

Law Enforcement
In some societies, the police and the military are the same thing. In a galaxy-wide empire with no factionalized in-fighting, there isn't a military at all (with no neighbors to fight, there's no point), but there will be a huge police force.
As technology increases, the size of a police-force decreases. This is because the need for police depends less on weapons technology than on transportation, communications, and population density. Densely populated cities (smaller patrol area per capita), along with ground vehicles, helicopters/contragrav equivalents, patrol boats and radios, mean fewer cops are needed per person.
There is one cop for every X citizens, where X = ([Tech Level minus Law Enforcement Control Rating] x 150). X has a minimum value of 150.
The Law Enforcement Control Rating (an arbitrary value useful only for this formula) is equal to the society's ordinary Control Rating, unless it has a "split-value" for weapons. For split-value CRs, multiply the standard CR by 5 and add the weapons CR. Divide the total by six to determine the Law Enforcement CR. The United States, for instance, has a Control Rating of 4 but a weapons Control Rating of 3, for a net value of 3.833 for law enforcement.

EXAMPLE: Since Luminar's TL is 8 and her effective Control Rating is 3.16 (3 general and 4 for weapons - averaged as described above), Luminar has Law Enforcement Personnel to the tune of one per 726 citizens, or about 1,785 Law Officers.

Random Numbers
For randomly-determined populations, Tech Levels, and Control Ratings, see GURPS Space. A random Military Factor can be obtained by rolling 2d-1 and halving the result. If the nation is a hub of interstellar activity or any kind of economic superpower, double it.
For further increases in MF, either consider cultural, religious, and racial tendencies, or roll one die. On a six, redouble the figure and roll again. Continue until you don't roll a six, or until you hit a number that strikes you as unreasonable.
Per Capita GDP: Roll 3d and modify; consult the table below. There is a penalty of -2 per TL below 7, -1 per two TLs below the campaign average, and -1 for every full 10 MF. Nations with a TL in advance of the campaign average receive +5 per extra TL. Notably good or poor resources, or good or poor trade-relations with neighboring systems, can (each) modify the roll by up to +3/-3.
 
3 or Less -- 2d+2 x $10
4 -- 3d x $25
5 -- 3d x $50 
6 -- 3d x $100
7 -- 3d x $200
8 -- 3d x $500
9 -- 3d x $750
10 -- 3d x $1,000
11-13 -- 4d x $1,000
14-20 -- 5d x $1,000
21+ -- 2d+13 x $1,000

 
 

last update   may 2000
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© 2000 Riccardo Fregi .The original article "Adventure Cargo and Interstellar War"  is  copyright © 1998 of S. John Ross  and is published and adapted here with his permission.
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