Further on Marines

The 478th Imperial Marine Division – Miazan Subsector

The 478th Imperial Marine Division is deployed in Miazan Subsector. The Division’s elements are divided between the two Naval Bases in the Subsector; Miazan/Miazan and Celephais/Miazan.


The 478th Marine Division consists of:

• 1203rd Marine Regiment – 3 battalions, stationed at Miazan/Miazan
• 1205th Marine Regiment – 3 battalions, stationed at Miazan/Miazan
• 1206th Marine Regiment – 3 battalions, stationed at Celephais/Miazan
• 1209th Marine Regiment – 3 battalions, stationed at Celephais/Miazan
• 556th Marine Tank Battalion – 57 Grav tanks, stationed at Celephais/Miazan
• 223rd Light Armour Reconnaissance Battalion - 57 Light Grav tanks, stationed at Miazan/Miazan.
• 293rd Light Armour Reconnaissance Battalion – 57 Light Grav tanks, stationed at Celephais/Miazan
• 9094th Commando Battalion – stationed at Miazan/Miazan
• 1553rd Marine Engineer Regiment – 2 battalions, 1st battalion stationed at Miazan/Miazan, 2nd Battalion stationed at Celephais/Miazan.
• 97985th COACC Wing – 1st Group, battalion landing craft, 9791, 9793 and 9795 Squadrons stationed at Miazan/Miazan; 9792, 9794, and 9796 Squadrons stationed at Celepais/Miazan; 2nd Group, close support craft, 9802, 9806 and 9807 Squadrons stationed at Celephais/Miazan, 9803, 9805, and 9808 Squadrons stationed at Miazan/Miazan; 3rd Group, Lift Units, stationed at Miazan/Miazan.
• 895th Marine Meson Artillery Regiment – 4 batteries of four Meson grav sleds. Battery A and C stationed at Miazan/Miazan, Battery B and D stationed at Celephais/Miazan.
• 10221st Marine Logistics Regiment – 1st Battalion stationed at Miazan/Miazan and 2nd Battalion stationed at Celephais/Miazan.

Marine Expeditionary Units are mixed ground units usually formed around the core of a battalion combat team, and deployed as missions require. Marine Expeditionary Units are normally deployed from Battalion Landing Craft and Lift Units. Marine Expeditionary Units for the 478th Marine Division are as follows:

29th MEU:

• 1 battalion from 1203rd Marine Regiment
• 1 coy from 223rd LAR Battalion
• 1 coy from 1/1553rd Marine Engineer Regiment
• Battery A 895th Marine Meson Artillery Regiment
• 1 coy from 1/10221st Marine Logistics Regiment
• 9803 Squadron COACC Close Support
• 9791 Squadron COACC Battalion Landing Craft

30th MEU:

• 1 battalion from 1205th Marine Regiment
• 1 Coy from 223rd LAR Battalion
• 1 coy from 1/1553rd Marine Engineer Regiment
• Battery C 895th Marine Meson Artillery Regiment
• 1 coy from 1/10221st Marine Logistics Regiment
• 9805 Squadron COACC Close Support
• 9793 Squadron COACC Battalion Landing Craft

31st MEU:

• 1 battalion from 1206th Marine Regiment
• 1 Coy from 556th Marine Tank Battalion
• 1 Coy from 293rd LAR Battalion
• 1 coy from 2/1553rd Marine Engineer Regiment
• Battery B 895th Marine Meson Artillery Regiment
• 1 coy from 2/10221st Marine Logistics Regiment
• 9802 Squadron COACC Close Support
• 9792 Squadron COACC Battalion Landing Craft

32nd MEU:

• 1 battalion from 1209th Marine Regiment
• 1 Coy from 556th Marine Tank Battalion
• 1 Coy from 293rd LAR Battalion
• 1 coy from 2/1553rd Marine Engineer Regiment
• Battery D 895th Marine Meson Artillery Regiment
• 1 coy from 2/10221st Marine Logistics Regiment
• 9806 Squadron COACC Close Support
• 9794 Squadron COACC Battalion Landing Craft

Marine Platoon with Scout Section

Marine Expeditionary Units rotate their ready status between “Standby 1” Condition – all component elements are aboard transport ships and the transports are ready to Jump within the hour – and “Standby 24” Condition – all component elements are on base and can be aboard their transports and ready to Jump within 24 hours. “Standby 12” Condition is often observed during times of heightened political tension. Units currently not assigned to a MEU are usually involved in training, or the Infantry elements are assigned as Ships’ Troops or as security for bases or officials (“dry” targets or “wet” targets in Marine parlance).

For Jump capable transport, Marine Expeditionary Forces rely upon Imperial Navy transports, for moving ground units, and Light Carriers for moving COACC elements. The Marine Expeditionary Force is usually assigned a Sector Navy Task Force as an escort, or will be attached to a Sector Navy Fleet. All COACC vessels are crewed by Marine crews and fall under the command of the Force Commander, Marine Expeditionary Unit. The Lift Units of 3rd Group, 97985th COACC Wing are assigned to MEUs as and when they require heavy lift for armour deployment.

Mercenary and Marines

Rereading the introduction to Book 4: Mercenary for the first time since the early 1980’s was a rather telling experience. Mercenary was the first Traveller rule book to suggest the likely shape of the future 3rd Imperium, and it was quite a different thing to what it later became. In fact, part of the passage is worth quoting as, on rereading it, I begin to remember what formed my ideas on Nobility within the Traveller setting, and where the general political shape of my RimWorlds campaign came from:

“Traveller assumes a remote centralized government (referred to in this volume as the Imperium), possessed of great industrial and technological might, but unable, due to the sheer distances and travel times involved, to exert total control at all levels everywhere within its star-spanning realm. On the frontiers, extensive home rule provisions allow planetary populations to chose their own forms of government, raise and maintain armed forces for local security, pass and enforce laws governing local conduct, and regulate (within limits) commerce. Defence of the frontier is mostly provided by local indigenous forces, stiffened by scattered Imperial Naval bases manned by small but extremely sophisticated forces.”

-Traveller Book 4: Mercenary 1978

I started thinking about the Imperial Marines again after a couple of my players rolled up Marine characters. How are Imperial Marines organised – beyond the company/regiment TO&E that appeared way back when in a (paper) copy of the Journal of the Travellers’ Aid Society? How are they deployed, and what is their mission?

I recall reading somewhere - and I can’t remember where, though I think it was in connection with a discussion about the Fifth Frontier War boardgame on the Citizens of the Imperium discussion boards – an estimate that there is a regiment of Imperial Marines assigned to each Subsector. Looking at my population figures and likely budgets for the Imperial Navy, a regiment of Marines seems far too few to both serve as a ground force spearhead and to provide ships’ troops for the fleet. After doing a little research – reading up on the US Marines (basically a pocket army) and the Royal Marines (basically a short division within the British Armed Forces) - I began come up with ideas about how I wanted Imperial Marines to work in the RimWorlds.

The Imperial Marines are a pocket army. Serving primarily as Light Infantry (deploying on potentially hostile worlds, their support equipment is constrained by what can be landed from orbit in what could possibly be a “hot” landing zone), their primary roles are to spearhead planetary assaults and secure a perimeter for larger ground force commands to deploy; secure and protect Imperial property planetside, or within a system; and to protect Imperial Navy and Subsector Navy installations and starships. The Imperial Marines are a ready-reaction force intended for rapid deployment to stabilise situations of hostility, or to rapidly overwhelm hostile forces.

Marines have two initial career tracks – Marine Infantry and Support. All Marines, regardless of career track, are riflemen first. That is what they are trained as in Basic Training. The annals of Marine History include many famous actions where the cooks, drivers, storemen and datatechs dropped what they were doing, grabbed their FN187 Gauss Rifles, and manned the barricades alongside their more combat oriented brethren. Looking through the potential Skill List for Support track personal, we find the artillerymen and vehicle gunners, the drivers, the mechanics, and the Combat Engineers who support the Marine Infantry during planetside deployments. Marine Infantry are the teeth of the force. Trained to fight in hostile environments, and in space and aboard starships, as well as on conventional battlefields, Marine Infantry are combat specialists. A third career track, that of Marine Commando, is only open to the best of Marine Infantry and Marine Support. Marine Commandos are the eyes and ears of the Marine deployment force, reconnoitring and feeling out the enemy, and often operating deep behind enemy lines.

Fleet Marine Force Command RimWorlds Sector (FMFCRw) is based at Sector Fleet Command Headquarters, currently on Thiroor/Gazolan, and falls under Sector Fleet Command RimWorlds Sector. Fleet Marine Force Command consists of nine Imperial Marine Divisions, deployed in the nine Subsectors of the RimWorlds controlled by the Imperium. The deployments, from Coreward to Rimward, are as follows:

827th Marine Division, Kaorin Subsector
852nd Marine Division, Berimer’s Sceptre Subsector
853rd Marine Division, Daltharmai Subsector
900th Marine Division, Gazolan Subsector
902nd Marine Division, Thurgandarn Subsector
351st Marine Division, Gamelea Subsector
409th Marine Division, Nolgor Subsector
478th Marine Division, Miazan Subsector
496th Marine Division, Gazul Subsector

Each Marine Division consists of four Marine Infantry Regiments, an Armoured Battalion, two Light Armour Reconnaissance Battalions, a Commando Battalion, two Engineering Battalions, a COACC Wing, an Artillery Regiment, and a Logistics Regiment. From this formation are drawn the Ships’ Troops of all Imperial Navy and Subsector Navy ships within that subsector, all Navy Base and Starport Security details within that subsector, the Security details for many high ranking Imperial Officials within that subsector, as well as garrisons for important installations, troops deployed on Police Actions and Counter Insurgency Operations, and the Marine Expeditionary Units - Ready Reaction forces deployed aboard ship for months at a time, awaiting the order to Jump and deploy.

Solo Traveller - Aloin's Saga Backgrounder #4

Having introduced two Navy vessels into Aloin’s story, the designs of which are now in the Starships and Space ships page, it seems appropriate to examine the Imperial and Subsector Navies as I see them operating within the RimWorlds.

When Kolin Venuraski (later Sector Duke Kolin I) launched the settlement of the RimWorlds by the 3rd Imperium in the 6th Century, he had at his disposal a small flotilla of Imperial Navy ships for the protection of his colony fleet. This flotilla was augmented by such armed auxiliaries as his supporters could buy, equip, or supply. And as they spread out and were granted, or took, planetary holdings, it soon became imperative for each Noble to possess at least a couple of armed ships to both protect their fief, and to send to serve the Sector Duke when he called for aid. Kolin I took his duties as Sector Duke, and head of his comitatus, very seriously and he did not hesitate to downgrade Houses Major to House Minor status if they did not fully support him.

While numbers of available ships, and the technology level of their build, have fluctuated over the centuries, the current system for the defence of the RimWorlds has changed little from Kolin Venuraski’s day, nor from the House Trumer restoration of the Sector in the 10th Century. There is an Imperial Sector Fleet, currently utilising Tech Level 15 ships, charged with defending the nine Imperial controlled Subsectors of the Sector. Headquartered at the Sector capital Thiroor/Gazolan, Sector Fleet has at least one base in each Imperial Subsector and regularly shifts squadrons between them to maintain a state of readiness. The Reserve Fleet of older, Tech Level 14, units is based at Raelmar/Thurgandarn. There is no mothball fleet as all surplus units are sold to Houses Major to augment their Subsector Fleets.

Each Subsector Duke maintains a Subsector Fleet as his or her comitatus and is responsible for the defence of that subsector, as well as being obliged to commit units to assist the Sector Duke as required. As the standing a House Major holds is dependent upon the resources it can both commit to the defence of its Subsector, and to the defence of the Sector, very few recalcitrant Houses have survived the refusal to render aid. "Send ships or grasp the diadem" is a saying that we might translate as "Do your duty, or take charge", with the implication that the act of taking charge involves irrevocably committing the resources and fortunes of your House to both overthrowing the current Sector Duke and dealing with whatever problem was threatening the Sector.

Houses Major of Siridar-Count and Siridar-Baron rank can, and often do, maintain Planetary Navies which both defend their respective systems, and support their Subsector Duke as required. This ships may be built locally, or purchased from shipyard systems. Even System Defense Boats can be moved from system to system if there is sufficient Jump-capable transports of suitable tonnage available.

On the whole, this system works reasonably well with Subsector Fleets, usually backed up by a Sector Fleet squadron, being sufficient to maintain order or deal with most border incursions, and the heavy units of the Sector Fleet being committed only in the event of a major war.

In Miazan Subsector, the bulk of the 12.1 billion Imperial sophonts are concentrated in just three systems – Nakaya, Exxilon and Miazan.

The 6.2 billion inhabitants of the isolated Nakaya system make do with an average Tech Level of 7 – below Interstellar, meaning that they lack the technology to produce the machines that produce the machines that manufacture starships. While the Siridar-Baron of Nakaya maintains a few orbital forts and a large System Defence Boat flotilla, these have all been purchased from elsewhere and have to be maintained by expensive off-world technicians. Nakaya does contribute approximately one fifth of the annual Miazan Subsector Navy Budget of TCr 5.1.

With a population of 575 million sophonts, the Exxilon system is just on the edge of developing a native starship building industry at Tech Level 9 – or it will be when it develops its starport further. Like Nakaya, its greatest contribution towards the defence of the subsector is to finance shipbuilding elsewhere.

And elsewhere just happens to be the Subsector capital of Miazan. With a Tech Level of 12, an A Class Starport, and a population of 5.2 billion, Miazan has a yard capacity of over 6 million tons and the ability to produce ships of up to 100,000 tons in size. It is also the only major starship producing shipyard facility in Imperial-controlled space within the Subsector.

For the last decade, yard space at Miazan has been at a premium as House Geyukthi, Dukes of Miazan, have sought to replace Navy losses incurred during the 4th Outrim War and the Kalar-Wi War, as well as encourage the expansion of interstellar trade required to boost the subsector, financially. With such a bottleneck in the supply chain, and the smaller shipyards at Celephais out of action due to damage sustained during the Kalar-Wi War, the Miazan Subsector Navy is finding itself being out-built by neighboring polities that it is obliged to defend against.

Mega Trade 2

I’ve always worked under the assumption that merchant ships run on a two week cycle – one week in Jump Space, two days inbound from the Jump Zone to port, three days to unload and load, and two days outbound to the Jump Zone. This means approximately two Jumps per month, less the two weeks a year the ship is in dock for annual maintenance, or 25 Jumps per year.


Ship: Karuthara
Class: Daiishaluur
Type: Megahauler
Architect: David Billinghurst
Tech Level: 12

USP	AH-	L431343-	090000-	60000-0	MCr 11,348.916	20 KTons
Bat Bear			1	A	Crew: 144
Bat			1	A	TL: 12

Cargo: 7,402.000 Passengers: 150 Low: 100 Fuel: 6,600.000 EP: 600.000 Agility: 1 Shipboard Security Detail: 20 Craft: 5 x 200T Mechamaarii Lighter
Fuel Treatment: On Board Fuel Purification

Architects Fee: MCr 108.603 Cost in Quantity: MCr 9,176.865

Ship: Masasanaii
Class: High Veenoir
Type: Megahauler
Architect: David Billinghurst
Tech Level: 15

USP	AH-	L431343-	090000-	70000-0	MCr 7,493.110 20 KTons
Bat Bear			1	A	Crew: 132
Bat			1	A	TL: 15

Cargo: 8,749.000 Passengers: 150 Low: 100 Fuel: 6,600.000 EP: 600.000 Agility: 1 Shipboard Security Detail: 20 Craft: 5 x 200T Calurmajurii Lighter
Fuel Treatment: On Board Fuel Purification

Architects Fee: MCr 72.542 Cost in Quantity: MCr 6,042.272

Having constructed my 20,000 ton megahaulers, the TL12 Daiishaluur and the TL15 High Veenoir, I needed to look at their running costs to determine whether freighters of this size were viable. To establish running costs, I hauled out LBB Book 2 Starships and began to crank up the numbers. As Book 2 says, “There are five basic expenses (in addition to the bank payment, if necessary) associated with starship operation:Fuel ..., Life Support ..., Routine Maintenance ..., Crew Salaries ..., and Berthing Costs ...”

Fuel:
The five lighters each megahauler carries are equipped with fuel scoops and processors and can scoop hydrogen from gas giants to refuel the unstreamlined haulers. Alternatively, the megahaulers can load unrefined fuel at the local highport and run it through their on-board fuel processors while the lighters handle passengers, cargo or freight.

Daiishaluur TL12	High Veenoir TL15
Fuel Tankage: 6,600 tons	Fuel Tankage: 6,600 tons
Lighter Fuel Tankage: 6 tons x 5 = 30	Lighter Fuel Tankage: 6 tons x 5 = 30
Cost: Cr 100 x 6,630 = Cr 663,000	Cost: Cr 100 x 6,630 = Cr 663,000

Life Support:
Each stateroom involves an overhead of Cr 2,000 per Jump while each low berth costs Cr 100.

Daiishaluur TL12	High Veenoir TL15
294 Staterooms, 100 Low Berths	282 Staterooms, 100 Low Berths
Lighters	Lighters
(17 Staterooms, 10 Low Berths) x 5	(13 Staterooms, 10 Low Berths) x 5
294 + 17 x 5 = 379 Staterooms	282 + 13 x 5 = 347 Staterooms
Cost: 379 x 2,000 = Cr 758,000	Cost: 347 x 2,000 = Cr 694,000
100 + 50 = 150 low berths	100 + 50 = 150 low berths
Cost: 150 x 100 = Cr 15,000	Cost: 150 x 100 = Cr 15,000
Total Life Support: Cr 773,000 per Jump	Total Life Support: Cr 709,000 per Jump

Routine Maintenance:
Annual routine maintenance takes two weeks and costs 0.1% of the cash price of the ship.

Daiishaluur TL12	High Veenoir TL15
MCr 8,688.205	MCr 5,803.352
Lighters (x5)	Lighters (x5)
MCr 390.93	MCr 238.92
Total Cost: MCr 9,079.135	Total Cost: MCr 6042.272
Maintenance
MCr 9,079.135 x 0.1% = MCr 9.079 p.a.	MCr 6042.272 x 0.1% = MCr 6.042 p.a.
Or Cr 363,160 per two weeks	Or Cr 241,680 per two weeks

Crew Salaries:
The Daiishaluur has a crew of 17 Officers, 127 Ratings: 11 Command, 30 Engineering, 12 Gunnery, 31 Flight (Flight Control Officer, a service person for each Mechamaarii Class Lighter, plus each Lighter has a crew of: Pilot, Engineer, Steward, Medic, Gunner), 40 Services, 20 Security.

The High Veenoir has a crew of 16 Officers, 116 Ratings: 11 Command, 18 Engineering, 12 Gunnery, 31 Flight (Flight Control Officer, a service person for each Calurmajurii Class Lighter, plus each Lighter has a crew of: Pilot, Engineer, Steward, Medic, Gunner), 40 Services, 20 Security.

Daiishaluur TL12	High Veenoir TL15
Commanding Officer @ Cr 7,200	Commanding Officer @ Cr 7,200
Executive Officer @ Cr 6,600	Executive Officer @ Cr 6,600
Computer Officer @ Cr 4,500	Computer Officer @ Cr 4,500
Navigation Officer @ Cr 5,500	Navigation Officer @ Cr 5,500
Navigation Officer @ Cr 5,000	Navigation Officer @ Cr 5,000
Medical Officer @ Cr 2,400	Medical Officer @ Cr 2,400
Communications Officer @ Cr 4,000	Communications Officer @ Cr 4,000
4 x Ratings @ Cr 450 = Cr 1,800	4 x Ratings @ Cr 450 = Cr 1,800
Chief Engineer @ Cr 4,800	Chief Engineer @ Cr 4,800
Second Engineer @ Cr 4,400	Second Engineer @ Cr 4,400
28 x Engineers @ Cr 4,000 = Cr 112,000	16 x Engineers @ Cr 4,000 = Cr 64,000
Chief Gunnery Officer @ Cr 1,200	Chief Gunnery Officer @ Cr 1,200
2 x Petty Officers @ Cr 1,100 = Cr 2,200	2 x Petty Officers @ Cr 1,100 = Cr 2,200
9 x Gunners @ Cr 1,000 = Cr 9,000	9 x Gunners @ Cr 1,000 = Cr 9,000
Flight Control Officer @ Cr 5,000	Flight Control Officer @ Cr 5,000
5 x Pilots @ Cr 6,000 = Cr 30,000	5 x Pilots @ Cr 6,000 = Cr 30,000
5 x Engineers @ Cr 4,000 = Cr 20,000	5 x Engineers @ Cr 4,000 = Cr 20,000
5 x Stewards @ Cr 3,000 = Cr 15,000	5 x Stewards @ Cr 3,000 = Cr 15,000
5 x Medics @ Cr 2,000 = Cr 10,000	5 x Medics @ Cr 2,000 = Cr 10,000
5 x Gunners @ Cr 1,000 = Cr 5,000	5 x Gunners @ Cr 1,000 = Cr 5,000
5 x Lighter Maintenance @ Cr 450 = Cr 2,250	5 x Lighter Maintenance @ Cr 450 = Cr 2,250
40 x service Crew @ Cr 450 = Cr 18,000	40 x Service Crew @ Cr450 = Cr 18,000
20 x Security Crew @ Cr 450 = Cr 9,000	20 x Security Crew @ Cr 450 = Cr 9,000
Total: Cr 284,850 per month	Total: Cr 236, 850 per month

Berthing Costs:
Typically, berthing fees are Cr 100 for the first six days, and then Cr 100 per day thereafter. In the case of a vessel such as a megahauler, this more likely represents a fee charged by Local Traffic Control to keep space clear around the megahauler and its Lighters.

Purchase Payments:
After deducting the 20% downpayment to commence the build, standard payments of 1/240th of the purchase price per month for 480 months are normally required on a starship purchase. It is possible that part of this outlay would come off the corporate tax bill if the purchasing megacorp’s accountants are earning their fees.

Daiishaluur TL12 purchase cost:	High Veenoir TL15 purchase cost:
MCr 8,688.205	MCr 5,803.352
Lighters (x5)	Lighters (x5)
MCr 390.93	MCr 238.92
Total Cost: MCr 9,079.135	Total Cost: MCr 6042.272
Less 20% deposit = MCr 7263.308/240	Less 20% deposit = MCr 4833.818/240
= MCr 30.264 per month	= MCr 20.14 per month

Fortnightly Fees:
Having generated all these numbers, it’s time to pull them all together. It is easiest to work around the two-week standard Jump cycle and this is what I have done.

Expenses
Daiishaluur TL12:	High Veenoir TL15:
Fuel:	Fuel:
Cost: Cr 100 x 6,630 = Cr 663,000	Cost: Cr 100 x 6,630 = Cr 663,000
Life Support:	Life Support:
Total Life Support: Cr 773,000 per Jump	Total Life Support: Cr 709,000 per Jump
Maintenance:	Maintenance:
Cr 363,160 per two weeks	Cr 241,680 per two weeks
Crew Salaries:	Crew Salaries:
Total: Cr 142,425 per fortnight	Total: Cr 118,425 per fortnight
Bank Payments:	Bank Payments:
MCr 15.132 per fortnight	MCr 10.07 per fortnight
Total: Cr 17,073,585 per fortnight	Total: Cr 11,802,105 per fortnight

Potential Revenue
Daiishaluur TL12:	High Veenoir TL15:
50 High Passengers @ Cr10,000 = Cr500,000	50 High Passengers @ Cr10,000 = Cr500,000
100 Middle Passengers @Cr8,000 = Cr800,000	100 Middle Passengers @Cr8,000 = Cr800,000
100 Low Passengers @ Cr1,000 = Cr100,000	100 Low Passengers @ Cr1,000 = Cr100,000
7,402 Tons Cargo @ Cr1,000 = Cr7,402,000	8,749 Tons Cargo @ Cr1,000 = Cr8,749,000
Total: Cr8,802,000	Total: Cr10,149,000

Potential Revenue from Lighters
25 High Passengers @ Cr10,000 = Cr250,000	25 High Passengers @ Cr10,000 = Cr250,000
25 Middle Passengers @Cr8,000 = Cr200,000	25 Middle Passengers @Cr8,000 = Cr200,000
50 Low Passengers @ Cr1,000 = Cr50,000	50 Low Passengers @ Cr1,000 = Cr50,000
360 Tons Cargo @ Cr1,000 = CrCr360,000	475 Tons Cargo @ Cr1,000 = Cr475,000
Total: Cr860,000	Total: Cr975,000
Total Potental Revenue:	Total Potental Revenue:
Cr9,662,000	Cr11,124,000

As we can see, if financed in the traditional manner the Megahauler loses money. The deal killer in the leveraged model is the fortnightly payments required to service the loan to buy the ship.

At TL12, without the bank payments, the Daiishaluur Class costs Cr 142,425 per fortnight to run and generates Cr 8,802,000 from passengers and freight (assuming a full load of both). If the Daiishaluur jumps with its Lighters fully loaded as well, it could generate up to Cr 9,662,000. This equates to a profit of between Cr 8,659,575 and Cr 9,519,575 per jump – even if the ship is only half full and its Lighters are empty, it will generate Cr 4,258,575 over expenses. At TL15, the High Veenoir costs Cr 118,425 per fortnight to run and generates between Cr 10,149,000 and Cr 11,124,000 – let’s say Cr 4,956,075 over expenses with a half-empty ship and empty Lighters.

For a corporation or Megacorporation wishing to run Megahaulers, there are two possible funding options – increase the initial downpayment above the standard 20% to reduce the fortnightly payments, or secure a Subsidised Merchant contract at either Subsector or Sector level with Imperial authorities. In the latter case, the government picks up the bank loan for the ship for the forty year loan period and splits the profits with the corporation, while the corporation effectively ends up with a forty-year management contract running the ship before taking full possession at the contract’s termination.

Now, this seems a bit like money for jam for the corporation, except that the Subsidised Merchant contract is usually to provide a service on a particular route which leaves little lee-way for speculative trading or shifting routes to chase the trade. Furthermore, the Subsidised Merchant becomes part of the Navy Fleet Auxilary and can be called up for military service with little warning, even after the initial contract expires. Though, having secured Navy-surplus centralized Fire Control systems during the initial design process, the building corporation must have had Subsidised Merchant contracts firmly in their sights.

Having said that, I can easily see corporations, such as A.K.I. Interstellar’s Heavy Transport Division, running a dozen, or more, High Veenoir Class Megahaulers on the the Bryak – Anar route alone. This would ensure a ship movement at each port every couple of days. And even with this amount of shipping constantly on the move, there would be plenty of freight for all the myriad of smaller merchantmen, tramp traders, and adventurers struggling with their payments.

Revised Trade Map

The Trade Map redraw I decided upon last post, due to me inadvertently routing a major trade route through a dead system, is done. It is quite a discipline, when fixing trade routes, to keep within the Jump-2 parameters as “obvious” routes, as charted by X-Boats and military traffic, suddenly become unavailable. Systems such as Yuar/Cabria, providing a J-3 route across the Uedhkinthuez nakhae, begin to stand out as strategic choke points as the additional cost of either break bulking onto a J-3 carrier, or hiring a berth on a J-3 capable Carryall, outweighs the additional weeks required to transit around the end of such a Rift.

The Anthorann/Gamelea – Anar/Lymethius J-3 route is a product of the lack of refuelling in Nearo System. There is sufficient trade out-bound from the Gamelea Cluster towards the Geithurian Republic to keep J-3 haulers running between Anthorann and Anar. These haulers have also, in times of war, been quickly converted to Fleet Auxilaries so there may actually be an element of Sector Fleet sponsorship of this particular trade.

The Faiwawhwe/Lymethius – Jul’ni/Lymethius J-3 route is pretty much guaranteed by the Faiwawhwe – Appaer trade. The B-Class Starport at Jul’ni draws the faster ships away from the long haul through the Evikkim and Hiona Systems, though the bulk of the Spinward-bound trade from the Gamelea Cluster, and Coreward trade out of Miazan Subsector, still takes the longer route.

The Celephais/Miazan – Tonivar/Cabria J-3 route is a product of politics. In reality, the Rimward trade from Celephais invariably routes through Ektra in the Kamperalian Republic, while the Rimward/Spinward trade crosses into Cabria Subsector via Kalar-Wi space. The Celephais – Tonivar route is an attempt by Imperial authorities to keep Imperial trade within Imperial borders, rather than making the potential loss of trade a factor in ensuring peace beyond the borders.

Sector Fleet

Sector Fleet
by Martin J Dougherty
Mongoose Publishing

Marc Miller first examined the Traveller Imperial Navy in detail in MegaTraveller’s Fighting Ships of the Shattered Imperium. This book expanded on the Classic Traveller Supplement 9 Fighting Ships, which was purely a collection of ship stat blocks, to include a small section on the Fleets of the Imperium, and how they were organised. It also examined how this organisational structure had adapted to the Imperial Civil War era of the MegaTraveller setting.

In 2006, Martin Dougherty published Grand Fleet, the first comprehensive work on the Imperial Fleet, its composition, mission, and organisation, through Avenger Enterprises. In 2010, Martin expanded upon his earlier work and released Sector Fleet for the current version of Traveller from Mongoose Publishing. As Sector Fleet is about twice the page count of Grand Fleet, it is obvious that Martin has given the subject of the Imperial Navy, the way it recruits and functions, its facilities and resources, and the way it interacts with the Imperium, considerable thought.

Sector Fleet gives a Gamesmaster a comprehensive picture as to how an institution like the Imperial Navy might function – not as a deux ex machina, but as a series of systems that follow their own internal logic and traditions based upon experience and the demands placed upon them by the government that they serve.

As a bonus, Martin provides a pretty comprehensive breakdown as to how the Spinward Marches Sector Fleet is deployed just prior to the 5th Frontier War, and what its structure looks like. Even if you don’t game in the Spinward Marches, or use the 3rd Imperium Background, this section is invaluable for the insight it provides a Gamesmaster with an interest in running a Naval campaign. From Martin’s baseline numbers, it is possible to extrapolate upwards or downwards, depending upon whether you favour a small ship or a large ship campagn, or even just compare Trillion Credit Squadron-derived budgets against.

This supplement is well worth getting, even just as another tool in a Traveller Gamesmaster’s toolbox.

History of the RimWorlds – Design Notes

When I began constructing the subsectors that were to become the core areas of my Traveller campaign, I had no idea of their history. Later, as I learned more about GDW’s 3rd Imperium campaign setting, I envisioned my campaign area as being “just off the map” of the Spinward March. Later again, when I discovered that the Trojan Reach had overwritten “my” bit of space, I ignored the entire issue of interlinking until my friend Chris came up with the concept of the Whisp and the Veil. In the interim, for the RimWorlds I had developed a List of Sector Dukes, Subsector Duke Lists for the four Imperial Subsectors of Gamelea, Nolgor, Miazan and Gazul, and family trees of the Houses Major that held these four Subsectors.

In 2008, as I began writing up my Traveller material for my website, I worked up a History of the RimWorlds from the 1984 chronology. This, in turn, led to an expanded Imperial History of the RimWorlds. As this History grew longer and longer, I eventually broke it up into the various sections, or chapters, that it now appears in. The Imperial History of the RimWorlds drew heavily on the Sector and Subsector Ducal Lists, and as I came to consider dates and events in the chronology, and what was actually happening behind the scenes at those times, having the family trees proved a real bonus. In one place I suddenly had a cast of characters, in the relatives of the ducal encumbrants, who had their own motivations and desires and whose actions and reactions could also reverberate both forwards and backwards in time. This was all some years before I discovered T4’s Pocket Empires, but the principle was very much the same.

The current power structure in the RimWorlds dates back to the initial Imperial colonisation of the Sector by Lord Kolin Venuraski of Deneb and his Chartered Private Equity Company in the early Sixth Century of the 3rd Imperial era. This is very much based on a form of the comitatus system, similar to that used and understood by Count Belisarius in the Sixth Century AD on Terra, crossed with the merchant-adventurer company common in England in the Sixteenth Century AD. Under this system, Houses Major and Minor contributed resources to Lord Kolin’s exploration and settlement of the RimWorlds in return for resources and land (ie planets or systems). Under Lord Kolin’s leadership, the Houses Major and Minor agreed to contribute military forces for the mutual defence of the territories claimed for the Imperium and to support such Imperial Forces and agents as were assigned to the RimWorlds.

So in the RimWorlds, unique amongst Imperial Sectors, the Subsector, or Colonial, Fleets are the first line of defence and maintain law and order within the various Subsector Duchies. The nine Imperial Subsectors share between three and four Imperial Fleets amongst them, so these fleets tend to act as a strategic reserve under Sector Ducal control. RimWorlds Subsector and Sector Dukes have traditionally led their forces from the front and the chronology and family trees are filled with the premature deaths of senior figures during various battles. This becomes understandable if one is also aware that many members of the Houses Major and Minor also hold senior command positions, either within their Household forces, their Subsector forces or the Sector Command Structure.

Traditionally, most Houses Major practised patrilineal inheritance for their major titles and offices. Daughters tended to receive minor holdings and offices and were married off to secure alliances between Houses. Heiresses often found themselves in the position where they could hold command rank in the military but were somehow considered incapable of holding a political position in their own right. House Hikisaku of Gazul/Gazul was unique amongst Houses Major in that they practised primogeniture inheritance. This policy was attributed to Admiral Alleen hault-Hikisaku, Governor of the Trans-Nolgor Territories, who was confirmed as Subsector Duke Alleen I of Gazul Subsector in 593, upon the elevation of his family to House Major status. Amongst Houses Minor, patrilineal, matrilineal and primogeniture inheritance all find their supporters and adherents.

In reviewing the Imperial History of the RimWorlds document on my website, I feel disinclined to cut and paste it into this blog as this would be, I feel, lazy blogging. Instead, I will endeavour to précis what I have already written and, perhaps, expand upon it so that readers of both sources will see a campaign’s deep background unfold and grow before them, hopefully for the betterment of my on-going game.

Accountants in Space

In April of 2008 I began drawing up a spreadsheet containing all the statistical data I had to hand on the six subsectors I had developed in detail for my Traveller campaign. I had been working on the history of the RimWorlds Sector just prior to this, and had narrated a major civil war that had wracked the region several centuries prior to the current campaign date, the Imperial year 1109. This civil war was followed by a couple of centuries of intermittent conflict along both the Rimward and Spinward Imperial borders. As I was doing a lot of starship combat wargaming at the time, using the Full Thrust rules from Ground Zero Games, I wanted to have an idea of both the resources available to the various combatants and whether the scenarios I was happily belting out on my computer were actually feasible as military campaigns.

Using the formulas and exchange rates from CT: Adventure 5 Trillion Credit Squadron (and after having a quick look at the similar but different formulas in Striker), I worked out planetary military budgets and port capacities for all the planets I had developed, plus the total naval budgets for the various non-Imperial alliances, as well as Imperial Subsector Naval, Sector Naval and Imperial Naval budgets for all the developed subsectors.

It was an interesting exercise, and has given me a much more detailed understanding of my area of space. The next step is, of course, to develop the naval fleets of the various polities and, possibly, game with them. I have attempted this at a minor level in the past, gaming out the Miazan Subsector Rebellion, but found that battles fought under the CT: High Guard rules are incredibly boring buckets-of-dice fests, especially if attempted solo.

I was fascinated to discover the ‘collapsing’ mechanism used both by GDW for Traveller: The New Era, and by writers for Traveller T20 for the 900 period prior to the ‘Golden Age’, to shift Baseline UWPs forward or backward in time. Coupled with my discovery of the T4 Supplement Pocket Empires, I began to conceive of a metacampaign, possibly starting from a point two centuries prior to the current campaign date – 1109 – and rolling forward to see if I would achieve a result similar to my current campaign. I began working my existing data into the various formulas for Pocket Empires, though gaps in my Excel programming knowledge has rather stalled that part of the project at present.

The universality of such tools as Excel make such thought exercises quite doable now days, and a lot more fun than trying to keep your millions, billions and trillions in order with a pocket calculator and a pencil. The job of Interstellar Megalomaniac has just got that little bit easier.