| I want to try to get SWI going by rounding out this area with starports. This map isn't exactly to scale, but it's close enough for the arrangement of things. These are a bunch of things I want, but don't think that they're any real restiction to people being creative in making ports in these places.
Areas of interest:
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For now, consider the stuff below notes. Starports being accepted now can be pretty big, but no RSDPs or converted Torpedo Spheres (only the Empire can do that) or anything else that's too much. A skyscraper that's a ground-based Imperial-class port is fine, if it fits the world it's on. No warships, but some customs ships can be rather large, like the 300 meter long Prosperity Cruisers. Ships can't be anything not on the list of vessels available to starting independents, and that goes for the starport itself too. Platforms not on that page are being taken right now, but no converted Imperial Star Destroyers. It is possible for the starport to consist of multiple Type I platforms, but be original. If someone already got a starport approved that consists of several of them, another getting it any time soon is unlikely. Incomes will be worked out later. Just make a proposal, and have it be condusive to having small businesses start filling in the space there. Also note that these are privately-owned; there won't be any nationalized or state-run starports.
The person creating the starport doesn't have to make a character to lead it. It could just be a mysterious, abandoned structure that fringe characters decided to start using again, and who knows or cares where the previous occupants went. People making a starport that won't have a character of their own for it too need to have a character somewhere else in the club, though. I'm not allowing gamemasters who don't have their own personal characters somewhere else, even if they aren't always active.
Because I want them to be centers of gameplay and character interaction, starports that do well are rapidly elligible for multiple boards (beyond the small businesses, which already get their own boards anyways) and their own web on the SWI server.
Capsule: A short description of the starport.
It's always good for spacers to know certain things when entering or exiting a system: landing and take-off protocol, flight conditions in-system, proper procedure for zipping around traffic patterns and so forth.
Rather than quote the boring portions of the Imperial Space Ministry's Spacers' Information Manual, I'll just summarize some general information on starport flight protocol for you. Not that us smuggler types ever pay much attention to this. I doubt Han Solo has ever filed a flight plan, and I'm sure Tru'eb Cholakk has rarely asked for lift-off clearance before blasting out of a docking bay. Still, it doesn't hurt to know ...
METOSP (pronounced "Me-tosp") stands for "Message to Spacers," a comm channel most starports reserve for general noticed regarding traffic patterns, conditions at the starport, or other factors spacers should be aware of when heading in or out of a port.
METOSPs exist to inform spacers — they're one-way broadcasts usually sending prerecorded messages updated daily or as conditions change. Don't bother transmitting any information or questions back — it's all automated. Spacers with questions often wait until they contact starport control before obtaining more specific information. Most Imperial, stellar, and standard class starports broadcast METOSPs on a standard comm channel. Few limited service starports have METOSPs, so spacers need to rely on their sensors and visual scanning to assess whether there are any traffic problems.
Always tune into your METOSP channel when a METOSP will contain information regarding Imperial Naval activity, starport traffic tie-ups, a continuous piracy threat, or an astrographical problem like meteor showers. METOSPs also provide general information on the starport, including an abbreviated starport profile and often a planetary profile, as well as important landing information and the comm channel where starport control can be reached.
After arriving in your destination system and checking for any METOSPs, switch over to the starport control comm channel — usually given in the system's METOSP or planetary or starport profile in your starship computer. If you can't find it, scan tyhe comm channels until you do, or until you figure out that the port is so small it doesn't have a controller on the comm board.
Standard practice when you contact starport control is to verbally identify your ship and captain's name. Controllers may ask for last port of call, contents of cargo bay, or number of passengers and crew aboard, although this varies wildly from port to port. During this short interrogation, starport officials are often double checking the verbal identification information you gave them against their BoSS databank records and your transponder code — a process known among starport controllers as "transponder verification," or TransVere.
Once they've verified your identification, they'll give you clearance to enter the traffic pattern, drop in and land, and send you to a docking area. Controllers often provide specific approach and traffic vector course information they expect captains to follow — deviating from a course within a starport's traffic pattern sometimes incurs fines between 50 and 200 credits. Penalties are a little more severe if you cause major problems and the fines will be the least of your worries.
Departure procedures are probably the most ignored procedures in the Spacers' Information Manual. Getting somewhere usually isn't the problem — it's getting away quickly that counts.
For those of you who want to follow the proper departure rules, the first thing you do before even warming up your ion drive is give starport control a call to request departure clearance. As with arrivals, obtaining clearance to take off invovles a TransVere.
Once you've been cleared to lift off, control usually likes spacers to log in some kind of flight plan, usually the name of the next system they're jumping to. This is more for safety verification than anything else. If a ship is reported missing, rescue and retrieval teams check with the last port of call to find the flight plan, then begin looking along realspace travel corridors along the probable hyperspace vector taken.
After take-off, starport controllers, droids, or tractor beams may help the starship into the outbound traffic pattern. Outbound beacons or verbal instructions from controllers guide spacers through the complex traffic patterns and departure vectors away from the starport before spacers begin setting up for their hyperspace jumps.
Here are some sample METOSPs I've collected from my travels. They'll give you some idea what you can expect to hear on the METOSP channel and some of the situations you can encounter in and around a starport:
Message to spacers approaching Ralltiir: An Imperial blockade is being enforced in this system. No commercial starships have clearance to approach the planet. Ships defying this blockade will be engaged and destroyed by Imperial Naval vessels. Starships requiring starport services before jumping to an alternate destination should tune into comm channel IX-142. Services are available from outer perimeter Imperial picket vessels ...
Message to spacers approaching Dulin starport: Arriving starships must approach Dulin starport from the southern approach vector. The northern approach vector will be temporarily closed from 2500 to 2700 hours for a fireworks display as part of the city's celebration of the New Year Fete Week. Contact your starport controller on comm channel UN-271 for further approach vector and traffic pattern information.
Message to spacers in the Wroona system: Be advised that Imperial Customs forces are currently engaging a pirate fleet on the outer edges of the system. Spacers are advised to avoid the conflict, as Imperial vessels are engaging any non-Imperial ships in the vicinity of the battle.
Message to spacers preparing departures from Juat for Core Worlds destinations: Spacers filing flight plans fore Core Worlds destinations must transmit proof of Core Worlds Travel Clearance to picket ships before jumping from the Inner Kuat Traffic Zone. Ships not transmitting such clearance are subject to security violations and prosecution.
Note: Where these descriptions refer to shipyards, it only means the capacity to repair or modify ships; starports cannot construct starships or generate their own materials to perform these repairs.
A landing field is basically a flat, level area cleared on the ground. Generally, these fields are little more than cheap synthecrete or tightly packed dirt. There is no flight control tower, so ships landing run a risk of colliding with departing vessels. There is no guarantee that there are any refueling or repair services available, and the few services that exist will be of low quality (though they will probably be fairly affordable).
Limited service starports usually have a small control tower with a homing beacon that helps guide incoming ships to the proper landing area. With luck, there are maintenance sheds fro rent, where primitive repairs can be assayed by the ship's crew. This type of port has limited storage and parking capacity, and in many cases, ships must land nearby and crews must walk to the port if all parking spots are occupied. All major supplies must be purchased elsewhere.
The standard class spaceport has a full staffed and equipped flight control tower, and offers restocking serivces and a small shipyard capable of minor repairs and modifications. Modification and repairs can cost up to double the normal price and take more than twice as long as normal to accomplish, though the quality of the work is fairly good.
The stellar class spaceport has facilities for landing and docking nearly any type and class of vessel. There are usually a number of different shipyards surrounding the port, which are capable of performing nearly any sort of ship repair and customizing that the owners wish (and can afford). There is nearly always an Imperial Customs office on site. Quality repairs and modifications are often of advanced quality and are moderately affordable.
The Imperial class port is quite luxurious and modern. It has an impressive array of landing fields and ship storage and maintenance facilities. All the most lavish amenities are available for ships' crew and passengers. Many of the planet's merchants may maintain offices at the port, and it may not be necessary for the starship captains to even leave the port to conduct their business. The shipyards are capable of rapid and high-quality repairs and modifications, though the services may not come cheap. The Customs office for this quality of port is probably staffed by highly competent officers equipped with portable scanners. The Empire usually maintains a fomidable military presense in Imperial class starports, and minor infractions are dealt with to the full extent of the law; troublemakers are unwelcome at Imperial class ports.
Note: These values are relatively untested and highly subject to change.
Docking Fee These vary from spaceport to spaceport, but most spaceports of standard class or larger charge 50 credits per standard day. A particularly busy Imperial class starport might charge up to 150 credits a day. (The conversion to capital scale here will be 1:50; that is, a 1.00 fee per ship for most Standard class ports and 3.00 for some busy Imperial class ports.)
Traffic Factor The base value is obtained from a counter that is placed on the starport's website (or maybe it's bulletin board; this still needs to be decided). It is modified according to the following to get the starport's traffic factor. A maximum value on the amount of traffic will eventually be placed on landing fields and limited services.
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The docking fee and traffic factor are multiplied together to find the amount of the starport's main source of income.
Every spaceport of standard class or better will automatically perform standard restock and maintenance on any ship that has landed, typically within one planetary day of the ship's arrival. Spaceports also automatically charge the fees for these services — to avoid this extra charge, ship captains must specify that they are declining these services.
Standard restock includes replenishment of all necessary fluids — water, lubricating fluids, and coolants — oxygen and other life support gases, and basic proteins for food converter systems (though it does not cover luxury items such as fresh food or liquor). Waste removal, decontamination, and landing-gear stress checks are also performed automatically, and are covered by the docking fees.
The standard maintenance package covers replacement of air filters and gravitational disks and ablative heat shields. A mechanic droid will also re-calibrate the intake and firing cells of the ion engine, and do basic maintenance on the hyperdrive.
On most ships, this work can be done from the exterior of the ship through intake manifolds and service accessways, and can take as little time as a standard hour if the service crew is well-trained (or well motivated, preferably with a large number of strategically placed bribes). Some poverty-stricken tramp freighters avoid restocking their ship until their stock of consumables runs out, but this is quite dangerous: if the ship is stranded for any reason, the crew could die of starvation before rescuers could arrive.
The cost for restocking is based on what is called a "base fee." Most starports in fairly well traveled route charge around 10 credits as a base fee, whie isolated starports (such as some in the Outer Rim Territories) may charge a base fee as high has 35 credits (since food and supplies are expensive to ship to such out of the way locales). The formula for determining the total restocking fee is:
Base fee x total crew and passenger capacity x number of days worth of consumables to be renewed = restocking fee.
The planet the starport is on or over needs an income of its own. This relates to the starport by means of either taxes levied on top of the docking fee, restocking fees, and other sales, or by the starport paying rent for the land it uses.
Totals:
These categories treat everything the same (i.e., the amount of water a person needs per day is the same as the need in new gravitational disks a ship needs per day (averaged out)). They could also be changed: water and the atmospheric needs could instead be considered mineral trade goods.
The following calculations assume:
The first thing we need to determine is how many people·days 4 tons of high tech, 1 ton of mid tech, 2 tons of foodstuffs, and 1 ton of metal will cover. A people·day is the amount of consumables a single spacer (not a single person, because some of this replaces mechanical things aboard a ship) needs for one day. 33,960 credits is the cost for that many tons of those trade goods. 8 credits (base fee of 10 minus the 2 credit profit) per character per day (i.e., per people·day) is the typical cost for starports to get the necessary consumables. 33,960 credits/resources / 8 credits/people·day = 4,245 people·days/resources. In other words 4 tons of high tech, 1 ton of mid tech, 2 tons of foodstuffs, and 1 ton of metal will allow 4,245 spacers to survive one day, or one spacer to survive 4,245 days.
The next question is, how many people does a starport see over a particular period of time? This can be found by multiplying the traffic factor (the number of ships per month) by the average number of people a single ship will bring. Given the assumptions above, this is the average number of people per ship is 3 people x .45 (light freighters) + 7 people x .30 (medium transports) + 9 people x .20 (bulk freighters) + 200 people x .05 (star liners) = 15.25 people. On average, a single ship will bring 15.25 people to a starport.
At this point, it's easy to multiply the traffic factor by this new number to determine the total number of visitors to a starport. However, we need to get the appropriate units to have it fit into a valid equation for determining costs. Because a ship will on average go about 2 days between worlds and their starports, multiple 15.25 people/ship by 2 days to get 30.5 people·days/ship.
We now have these three numbers: traffic factor (abbreviated TF, and its unit is "ships/month"), 4,245 people·days/resources, and 30.5 people·days/ship. These relate to each other like this:
TF x 30.5 people·days/ship ¸ 4,245 people·days/resources = # resources/month.
This equation is simplified and broken apart into the following equations telling how many tons of each trade good are needed per month to meet the consumables needed by all their visitors each month. These are the only equations a player needs to do; the above was for showing how I got to these numbers. Starports are encouraged to stock up heavily above these amounts in order to avoid having ships go someplace else where they can be refuled (i.e., starports that do not provide enough consumables will see the multiplier in their traffic factor reduced), causing a sharp drop in their income.
Here are the needs in resources each month. TF = Traffic Factor. Units have been taken care of; just use the number from traffic factor here. Round up.
Note: Anything smaller than an Imperial class port will have significantly fewer in each category.