Re: Why Tradesman need large cargo space

The Tradesman IS a cargo vessel; it's larger and can carry more cargo 
than most converted groundling vessels (cogs, caravels, xebecs, etc.) 
which made up the bulk of the merchant fleets in medieval times.  Most 
were not long-haul traders, though, and I think it is safe to assume 
most Tradesman are not either; generally reserved for intra-sphere cargo 
routes.  Inter-sphere trade routes would probably be travelled by larger 
vessels such as galleons, squidships, and hammerships.  The only change 
I'd make to the Tradesman as published to make this true is change the 
"Storage/ballast" lower deck to an actual cargo hold.

As to doorways being bigger to allow easy passage for giff and dracon, 
why?  Giff may have been known by the original designers of the 
Tradesman, but not dracon; they're a new race on the field and the 
Tradesman is an old human design.  It would be built to be convenient to 
the average human and not other races.  Anything else be a modification 
to the standard.

Jeff

Steven wrote:
> 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.
> 
>