Why Tradesman need large cargo space

>From these debates, which have been fun, thanks guys! :) several times seen
folks saying that Tradesman doesn't need to carry a lot of cargo..I think
this is wrong.

Any Spelljamming ship can carry tiny cargo that is very valuable: gems,
magic items, information, even rare metals like adamantine. All those take
VERY small amounts of space, so you'd be as well to use a Mosquito, much
cheaper less crew required.

You have to ask: what cargo would a *merchant* want to transport between the
planets, and how bulky is it? See, a Tradesman would be a CARGO ship, it's
very nomenclature shows this. Merchants don't need warships, or high
maneuverability etc, they need reliability and ability to haul *bulk* goods.

Folk have mentioned the Santa Maria in regard to ship sizes, from what I
gather the Santa Maria was *-considered a SMALL ship at the time-* and
wasn't thought suitable for deep ocean travel. In other words, larger cargo
vessels existed contemporary to the Santa Maria.

To my mind, the Tradesman should be the standard merchant vessel of space
(as it is presented in fact), but capable of carrying enough cargo to make
it viable...and that's the key. It doesn't need to be a HUGE ship, but it
does need to be a lot bigger than shown in the SJ rules.
Working on the 3d models, squidship seems good at 5' per square, but I made
the Tradesman bigger than official rules and it makes sense, scale wise and
cargo wise.
My 3d version maybe too big, hm *shrug* but the official size is too small I
believe, and the design not tall enough. Official tradesman would be half
that size and not as tall in ratio either.
I'll monkey around with the scale/design of my Tradesman model
http://www.silverblades-suitcase.com/vue1/merchant_xray.jpg
I will post cutaways of the Squidship 2006 version interiors and beside my
tradesman.
if I take that person on deck to be 6' you can see the doorways are the
required size for giff/dracon etc.

Opinions, folks?:)

1) Passengers! Overlooked but very high paying, problematic but also useful
for connections, trade info etc. Passengers take a LOT of space. Not an
issue if just one or maybe two, but what if you wish to carry colonists,
trade delegations, religious pilgrimages etc where 4+ folk travel?
Passengers are not sailors, they aren't used to or would tolerate too much
hassles (unless desperately poor/convicted criminals), they may have bulky
luggage, require food/drink...all require space.

2) Building materials, like marble, rare woods and the like. Lot of profit
in that if you can carry the bulk, temples, royalty, mage guilds etc would
pay great sums for high quality building material, and in worlds where there
are no motorways, spelljamming vessels would rock. Many quarries could be
miles form the sea or rivers..simple, ground landing vessel or flood an area
for a pond for water landing ships.

3) Cloth, silk, wool. Bulky, very bulky, not much weight but very high
prices for some of it.

4) Troops. Being able to transport troops to outposts, or even invasions
would be very handy.

5) Spices, chemicals, dyes. Salt is a common spice, rare in some
civilizations (it sold for it's weight in silver in Japan iirc). Some spices
are of course, very small in quantity and hugely expensive (saffron), but
many are not. Alchemists, tanners and others require chemicals, such as
sulfur. Dyes could fetch high prices, such as Imperial Purple in ancient
Rome. Barrels of woad and red dyes could be amongst the booty pirates get
from unlucky merchants, and they'd know it's value.

6) Crafting materials: iron, steel, copper, bulk ivory, tar, papyrus.

7) Tools and weapons. In my campaigns I've always had it that dwarves make
masterwork items, they NEVER produce anything less, and it's stainless steel
(in my own campaign setting)..that's very valuable, but bulky. You can
imagine trading goods from folk like dwarves and elves for high profit, or
to areas without much tool-making.
  For example, a run from a coastal area with fish and wheat (food),
ambergris (crafting material extremely expensive), mining tools....to a
mining town in the desert by an oasis (copper, gold, opals, perfume industry
due to location and history, dates (food). Thus a good trade route a
Spelljammer could exploit.

8) while other ships may get away with smaller passageways/cabins, a
Tradesman won't, because so many varied races will use it, ergo large
doorways etc needed for sure.


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