Strictly (Duke) Springer - Day 014

We move the ship back to the ruins for another run at found treasures. And we have an immediate problem. We fly through a radioactive area and everyone takes one hit damage. Nice.

Even better, I recall wanting to spend a day looking for Life Support Units and Fuel Units back at the Spaceport... Did anyone check to see if Kevin was onboard when we left? Too late now... 

In the remainder of the day, we get lucky and find one intact skimmer and one intact U-Suit.

Let’s recap the crew. There is Duke, Emily, Doc, Ratchet, and two Gunners I’ll call Lefty and Deadeye. I will also pay them today, so I don’t have to do it on Ten-day.

Emily, weekly pay 15 secs. Sign-on bonus of 20. Death pay is 200. She has 65 secs. and a side arm.

Ratchet, weekly pay 15 secs. Sign-on bonus of 15. Death pay is 120. He has 60 secs.

Doc, weekly pay 10. No bonus which feels weird and death payment to family is 80. He has 30 secs.

Lefty, weekly pay 15. 10 secs. bonus and 100 death payment. She has 40 secs.

Deadeye, weekly pay 15. 10 secs. bonus and 100 death payment. He has 40 secs.

Total crew salary is 70 secs. a week.

Our assets are:

1 Antelope starship, which I owe 119,300 secs. in principle.

15 Fuel Units,
1 Stasis pod 2 CU,

20 Repair units.

1 U-bot,

1 Skimmer,

1 U-suit,

and the ship is fully fueled with 6 hypercharges.

I have 650 secs. in my pocket.

In the cache in the Ruins of Regari are:

3 Skimmers,

4 Repair Units,

100 secs.

Strictly (Duke) Springer - Day 013

Lucky day 13!

I make my roll to sell the boat for a base price of 500 secs. But what makes this so lucky? Each planet has a wealth code and based on that number, it can apply a multiplier to the base price of an item. In this case, I rolled a 6 for the base price which indicates a 1.5 multiplier. That base price shifted to 750 secs.

Ok, metagame time. How bored are you? Each item has a base price so rolling on the wealth code table is a good idea. The price won’t go down, but could go up which is excellent. But how should that be applied? As I read this scenario, I can sell a hopper for 750 credits. But can I sell both? The rules aren’t clear. In some cases, the rules specifically mention a number. For example, in the Colonies, there is a listing for “One side arm”, yet sometimes I can buy many side arms.

Do I make a roll for each? In general, I don’t. If I have 50 side arms, and go to sell, I roll once and simply accept the given price. I can choose not to sell and have to go through the whole process of rolling to get that sell side arms result again, which also allows me to roll on the multiplier table again. It could be more or less. I think that is fair and it is pertinent to this particular event.

I sell both boats for a total of 1500 secs.! I make a payment on the ship of 1000 secs., which is another level of accounting. 300 went to the interest payment for this week and 700 reduced the principle on the ship.

Reducing the principle owed on the ship does not reduce the interest. This is a front ended loan which was a real thing in the 70s and 80s. 

I want to purchase consumables since I have nearly 100 cu of empty space to fill. I need Repair, Life Support and maybe Repair Units plus 6 Utility Suits. I don't get any of those numbers here. Luck is fickle.  

Our assets are:

1 Antelope starship, which I owe 119,300 secs. in principle.

15 Fuel Units,
1 Stasis pod 2 CU,

20 Repair units.

1 U-bot,

and the ship is fully fueled with 6 hypercharges.

I have 1720 secs. in my pocket.

In the cache in the Ruins of Regari are:

3 Skimmers,

4 Repair Units,

100 secs.

New Markers, New Drawings - The House

I was trying to draw a Roman villa and it came out more like a Frank Llyod Wright. Buffalo is loaded with Frank Llyod Wright homes. They are beautiful and I drive past many every day. 

Strictly (Duke) Springer - Day 012

We are ready to fly. Let’s talk about movement. Each “unit” has a movement rate and each area has a movement distance between two places. I want to get to the Spaceport, which has a dotted line with a 10 connecting it to the Ruins. There are dotted lines to Industrial area marked 4 and the Colony marked 3.

If we walked, it would take one hour times the number labeled on the dotted line. It would take 10 hours to walk to the Spaceport, 3 to the colony or 4 to the Industrial area. Thankfully, ships, boats and skimmers are faster. A skimmer will move from one area to another in 1 hour. A boat or a ship takes 1/10 of an hour.

There is an economy to movement. A boat burns 1 FU per hour of operation. A skimmer burns one FU a day. A ship doesn’t use any fuel, why really isn’t clear in the rules. Additionally skimmers, are not sealed, so you could be burning Life Support Units, too. The boat is sealed but also burns LU in space. 

Yesterday, I made another accounting mistake. It turns out that loading a boat into the ship requires no energy or effort, so I marked off a Fuel Unit for nothing. I'm not going to fix it now. 

We spend an hour moving to the Spaceport and I have no problem entering the area as we are detected but nothing comes of it. I want to hire more crew and sell off the found boat.

When buying and selling things, you have to roll the appropriate event. In the Spaceport, each roll or transaction takes an hour. In this case, I want a 5 to sell these boats. I didn’t get that today.

I do hire two ships gunners. Each one has a salary of 15 and a sign on bonus of 10. This move makes me nervous, because I need to pay 300 on the ship by the end of the week.

Our assets are:

1 Antelope starship,

2 Hopper with 14 units of fuel between them

1 Stasis pod 2 CU,

20 Repair units.

1 U-bot.

and the ship is fully fueled with 6 hypercharges.

I have 220 secs. in my pocket.

In the cache in the Ruins of Regari are:

3 Skimmers,

4 Repair Units,

100 secs.

New Markers, New Drawings - Long Barn

My friend Sarah got me some new pens and I have been trying them out. They work great. The text on the side was quickly scratched out as the ideas came. The text of this post is somewhat better.

The Long Barn is a storage barn for fodder. Its low to the ground and only has one level.

The long low barn is used for storage of hay and feed.

In spring, it is often used for weddings. The bride's guests sit on benches or bales of hay and alfalfa. The new husband and his groomsmen eat outside. The south end of the barn has doors which open for dancing in the yard.

In this way, the newly joined families get to know one another.