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Speculative Trading

One of the ways a tramp can earn a living is through speculative trading: that is, purchasing a cargo out of his own pocket, taking it to another planet, and attempting to sell it there for a profit. This is fairly risky and requires a large investment of capital and time, so most new captains avoid it unless presented with an especially good deal.

When involved in speculative trading, the tramp is up against the established trading houses, people with contacts among the producers and consumers in their systems, years of experience in buying and selling items, the capital to be able to afford to hold onto items until it is profitable to sell them, and the warehouse space to hold them until they are sold. Tramps have not got much of any of these things.

Additionally, it must be noted that, when engaged in speculative trading, the tramps are competing with the people who normally provide them with the cargo to haul in drop-point delivery: they had better hope they don't annoy their best customers, or the freighter's other sources of income will simply dry up. Further, if they begin to cut seriously into the trading houses' profits, the houses may in retaliation start up a price war against the freighters, deliberately selling goods below cost to steal the freighter's customers. In this kind of battle, the freighter captain is almost certain to lose: the houses have the capital to survive a long time without making a profit; the tramps don't.

Still, this is where the big money is to be made. If the tramp freighter captain is successful, he may be able to work his way into the lucrative buying and selling business full-time -- becoming a trading house himself and employing other freighters to carry his loads.

But he certainly shouldn't attempt to do this until he knows the sector inside and out -- as an old saying goes, "It's much easier to get skinned than it is to sell skins for a profit."

Buying and Selling Goods

This speculative trading system assumes that the tramp freighter is purchasing cargo at one point and travelling to another point to sell the cargo (hopefully for a profit). Note that traders may not buy and sell items on the same planet. There are wholesale companies which handle the relocation of goods from one part of a world to another, and these companies do not look kindly upon those who try to muscle in on their business. And they have the political and economic clout to stomp any small-time interlopers.

The system which follows does not take into account other expenses which the tramp freighter might have -- fuel costs, ship repairs, and so forth.

Technology levels are used in the buying and selling procedure.

Stone

This is the most primitive category of world which need concern us. (Species at lower than stone tech do exist, but it is essentially impossible to trade with them.) The cultures of the world are loosely-knit; the basic social unit is likely to be the tribe. The society makes and uses stone tools, and, if herbivorous or omnivorous, the people will probably have developed primitive agriculture.

A trader can sometimes find a market for manufactured goods here (metal tools and weapons, mostly) and foodstuffs. These people do not understand the concept of money, so all deals will have to be based on barter, with the primitives selling their goods for the trader's. It's fairly easy to trade for low-tech goods on these planets, and with some hard work, the trader can also find minerals, luxury goods (objects of primitive art, mostly), food and medicine.

The primitives have no transportation network, and each tribe is likely to have only a few items worth trading for, making gathering a full cargo a lengthy business.

Risks: Traders are sometimes mistaken for demons or other mythic beasts and attacked accordingly. And the tribes are migratory: a trader who has established good relations with one tribe may return during a later journey to discover that it has up and vanished on him, never to be seen again.

Example: Endor, the Ewok homeworld.

Feudal

Worlds classified as "feudal" have established a complex social order and have begun to produce primitive manufactured goods. They have developed a slow transportation network (typically roads and ships) and have discovered currency, making wholesale trading of goods possible. They have learned primitive mining and ore-processing techniques.

When first discovered, these worlds can be extremely profitable. The people on these worlds will often pay fortunes for any advanced items: manufactured goods, medicine, educational material, weaponry, and the like. If the world possesses mineral wealth, animal wealth (furs and the like), or the people of the world are good craftsmen, the trading potential is enormous.

However, once other trading houses discover the location of the planet, they will quickly move to establish a permanent outpost to gather its profits. The competition will quickly drive the price the natives are willing to sell native goods up. There will still be profits to be made: they simply won't be astronomical.

Risks: Just because a people are feudal does not make them stupid, and their culture has probably got a good deal of violence in it. Traders who attempt to rob these people may find themselves attacked by screaming hordes of armor-clad beings wielding pointy swords, or by even more insidious means, say, poisoned mead at the king's party. Religious fanaticism can be a problem in these cultures; the characters may become the targets of the local version of the Inquisition.

Example: Gamorr, Gamorrean homeworld.

Industrial

Industrial worlds are just beginning to discover important manufacturing concepts such as mass production. Windmills, waterwheels, wood or coal furnaces or whatever primitive machinery the environment will accommodate are used to provide energy to manufacture items. These worlds generally have an aching need for raw materials and metals, and are always looking for instructions on ways to improve their manufacturing capabilities. They typically have an established central government, or a number of governments each controlling a significant portion of the planet.

If the planet is unknown to the Empire, the first trader there can make a killing. Once the larger trading houses discover the planet and set up shop there, profits begin to drop quickly to more reasonable levels.

Risks: These planets often have weaponry which could seriously threaten a trader (guns are not all that much inferior to blasters, after all), and a couple of cannon shots could conceivably put a hole in a grounded ship (there's no way, however, that primitive cannon could hit a moving ship).

The industrial planets are likely to attack traders whom they suspect of cheating them, or they might attack if they thought that doing so would earn them cheap information about high-technology (for instance: "Please to telling me how make metal so strong as your ship's skin or I will pulling your friend's eye out.")

Example: Ryloth, principle world of the Twi'lek.

Atomic

An atomic civilization has advanced to large-scale production of goods and is beginning to discover how much the universe offers. More potent forms of energy are discovered and rocket technology is developed. The planet seeks to learn more about the planetary bodies near the homeworld.

Since these civilizations broadcast a lot of energy (in the form of radio waves, for instance), most of them in the area in which the tramps are working will have been discovered, and the trading houses will have established permanent settlements on them. The Empire may very well have "invited" them to join its ranks, as well, for purposes of taxation and military conscription. This limits the tramps' opportunities for major trading kills, as they will be competing against the trading houses.

If, however, the tramps are exploring far enough afield, and come across an atomic-level civilization which has not yet made contact with the civilized galaxy, the opportunities for killings selling the planet information are extraordinary.

For example, 1960s Earth was at an atomic level of civilization. What wouldn't we have paid for a repulsorcraft engine, a working Droid, or, even better, a hyperspace engine? All of the Crown Jewels? Everything in Fort Knox"

Risks: Similar to those of an industrial civilization, except that their weaponry is better (a 1960s surface-to-air missile could conceivably hit a slow-moving trader, and it would do a lot of damage!).

Example: 1960s Earth.

Information

Sophisticated devices of communication and data-processing characterize civilizations in the information age. The recent development of computers has completely restructured these beings' lives, and their technological level is beginning to approximate that of the more backwards planets in the Empire.

Information-age planets still have not yet discovered the secrets of hyperspace, though in-system space travel may be relatively common.

If the traders are lucky enough to be the first to discover an information-age planet, they can, once again, make a fortune selling them the secrets of repulsorcraft engines (unless the planets already have it), Droid technology, and hyperspace.

The Empire would definitely, however, be interested in setting up normalized relations with such a planet as soon as it found out about it, and the trading houses too would be all over it in months. The trader's window of opportunity for making a killing is very small indeed.

Risks: Once again, the same as industrial- and atomic-level civilizations, but the weapons are better still. An information-age planet may have sophisticated space-based weaponry. Its subspace fighters may go almost as fast as a freighter in atmosphere. In a dogfight, the freighter would almost certainly whip one or two enemy fighters, but a dozen could give it problems. Ground-based lasers and atomic missiles would definitely give it problems.

Example: Kubindi, Kubaz homeworld

Space

This is the stage at which most planets in the Core Worlds are. The trappings might be different, but these planets have about the same level of technology as that which can be found on Cloud City, Tatooine, Imperial City, or anywhere in the civilized sectors of the galaxy.

Discounting odd exceptions of fantastical advancement like the Columi of Columus, the space age is the final stage of development of  any species. In this level of civilization, a species takes to the stars to found colonies and discover the universe. The colonies often begin as farming communities; this step is often prompted by overcrowded conditions on the homeworld, but a variety of other factors have pushed species to the stars. While some space travel may have been practiced during the previous stage of civilization, at this level the people have learned the secrets of hyperspace travel.

Since space-age planets are at roughly the same tech level as the traders, there's little room here for a killing selling these people information. It's marginally possible that they might not yet have discovered the secrets of bacta tanks or some other specific item they'd pay a lot for; it's equally possible that they have discovered some item which the Empire doesn't yet know about. The chances of being the first to discover a space-age civilization are, of course, almost vanishingly small -- unless you travel far away from known space.

Risks: Once again, same as before, except that these folks may have their own versions of starfighters, frigates, cruisers, and the like.

Example: Calamari, the Mon Calamari and Quarren homeworld.

Trade Good Categories

To make the system simpler, trade goods have been broken down into the following categories:

Low Technology

This category includes simple manufactured items like handiworks, native crafts, furniture and woven cloth.

Mid Technology

In this category are devices which result from semi-complex manufacture. Textiles, mechanical weaponry (projectile weapons, etc.), paper goods and elaborate craft items are included here.

High Technology

Very advanced products are classified as high technology. Items like computers, lasers, plastics and polymers are part of this category.

Metals

All manners of formed metals are included here. Steel, copper and iron are examples.

Minerals

Mineral ores required to produce any number of items are part of this category. Iron ores (hematite and magnetite), copper ores (chalcopyrite and malachite), and ores used for other purposes such as mixing cement (calcite) and common salt (halite) are notable examples.

Luxury Goods

A multitude of expensive items are classified as luxury goods. Spices, works of art, precious metals, gems and liquor are example of items which may be purchased without any actual need of the item. Certain items from other categories might be considered luxury items on some worlds. For example, salt is a mineral, but on Arcon salt is a luxury item; a low-tech chair might be a luxury on a wealthy high-tech planet. Liquor and other recreational drugs are also luxury items (in the right market).

Foodstuffs

This category covers any meat, vegetable, protein, etc. but primarily denotes grain and other bulk food products.

Medicinal Goods

Drugs and herbs of all kinds are classified as medicinal goods. Such items are especially useful on worlds of moderate technological level, where over-populated, unsanitized cities have bred diseases which the civilization has yet to find cures for.

Using the Supply and Demand Table

This table contains information on how difficult it is to purchase a product, what the base purchase price of the product is, how difficult it is to sell the product, and what the base selling price is.

For example, if a trader wishes to trade in mid-tech products on an industrial world, you would cross-reference the row on mid tech products and the column on industrial-level worlds, where you would find the entry:

M/5400 (Medium Supply; 5400 credit per unit base cost)
H/5670 (High Demand; 5670 credit per unit purchase price)

VL-Very Low/L-Low/M-Moderate/H-High/H-Very High

Finding a Customer/Seller

To find a customer/seller, a trader must make a bureaucracy roll. The difficulty of the roll is dependent on the scarcity of the product he wishes to buy, or the demand for the product he wishes to sell.

Buying/Selling Difficulty and Price Modifier Chart

Success at this roll means that the trader has found a potential customer/seller within the first two days he looked. Failure indicates that he did not, and any subsequent attempts to find a buyer/seller for that same commodity have an increased difficulty of +2. The difficulty increases by +2 for each failed attempt; the difficulty remains increased until at least a month has passed.

Base Price is the local market value.

Negotiations

Once the trader has found someone on the planet looking to do business, the two parties must agree to a price. The Perception skill bargain is used to negotiate a price.

Rules for using the bargain skill can be found below.

Bargain
Time Taken: One minute to an hour.
Specializations: Kind of merchandise to be purchased or sold.

Seller beats buyer by:

If rolls are within two points of each other either way, then purchase price is at local market value.

Buyer rolls higher than seller by:

Modifiers:

No modifier: Bargainers who have never dealt before.
+5 or more to purchaser: Buyer and seller have good relationship. The buyer is a frequent customer, pays on time and never has a serious complaint.
+5 or more to seller: Customer has been a "problem" customer, so buyer has a vested interest in getting as good a price as possible, or even risk losing the sale in order to get personal satisfaction.
+5 or more to purchaser: Local market is flooded with this good, and the prices have been driven down by easy availability.
+5 or more to seller: Product isn't readily available, and thus has a high demand.
+10 or more to seller: Local merchants work together to artificially inflate prices.
+5 or more to buyer: Item is damaged. The seller will pretend to drive a hard bargain, but will let goods go at a lower price and hope buyer doesn't notice damaged item. If customer makes appropriate Perception check to notice that good is damaged, modifier should go to +10 at minimum.
+5 or more to seller: Seller makes up extravagant claims about abilities or qualities of good in hopes that customer will accept claims at face value. If customer makes an appropriate value skill check, customer will realize which claims are false.

Use the modifiers as indicated, but use the following chart to determine results. Bargain skills vary widely, ranging from 2D for barely competent traders up to 8D or more for very experienced traders.

When bargaining, use the alternate result chart below because these results reflect trading large quantities of goods at wholesale prices, while the bargain results above reflect single transactions at retail prices.

Factor the results against the product's base price.

If rolls are within two points of each other either way, then purchase price is at local market value.

Bad Deals

A trader can always refuse to buy/sell at the NPC's final price, but, if he does so, he must find a different person to deal with, and the difficulty of doing so increases by one difficulty level.

How Much Can I Carry?

(Transcriber's Note: This section on cubic volume was removed for the Second Edition version of this Galaxy Guide but it seems to have been re-emphasized in the Second Edition Far Orbit Project book. If I were GMing, I'd use it.)

Besides money, there is another limit to how much cargo a trader can carry. Each ship has a limited amount of space for cargo, and a limited amount of tonnage it can carry. To find out the space per metric ton a specific cargo takes up, look at the "Base Cost & Weight Table." The first column lists how much each cubic meter of a specific cargo weighs.

Most ships are able to carry 100 tons of cargo and have 40 cubic meters of cargo space in which to carry it. When hauling a cargo, a freighter cannot exceed either maximum: it can't carry more tonnage than it is rated for, and it can't carry more volume than it has in its hold. [100 metric tons = 40 cubic meters]

Base Cost & Weight Table

* See Black Market page for Ryll prices.

Example: Assume the ship is an unmodified stock light freighter with 100 metric tons and 40 cubic meters of cargo capacity. If the ship carried an unmixed load of low tech items, the most it could carry would be 80 metric tons: low-tech items weigh two metric tons per cubic meter (80 metric tons of low-tech takes up 40 cubic meters of cargo space). If, on the other hand, the freighter were hauling foodstuffs, it could carry only 20 metric tons (.5 metric tons per cubic meter; 20 metric tons fills the 40 cubic meters of cargo space). If a captain wishes to be the most efficient and cram his ship with every kilo of cargo it can take, it is often necessary to mix and match cargoes, taking some high- and some low-density cargo.