Mars 2050 - Colonization RP - OOC/Signups

[Harkback Union]

sees mentions of spaceports being built, begins to sweat at the threat to profit margins

Asking for a friend, say - hypothetically - a spaceship was filled with fuel and - again hypothetically - was crashed into some random large structure on mars (let's call it a 'starwharf'), what would happen? /s

Its hard to start fires on mars. Not much oxygen in the atmosphere (yet). There would be an explosion, some damage done to the starwhartf, perhaps a few years of repairs needed. However, I intent to make it so that each planet would have its own market so that inter-planetary merchants still have a way to make money.

[G-Tech Corporation]

Anyone interested in trading carbon for IP? I'm in the awkward circumstance of needing carbon to research a way to expand and get carbon, but I can't sell IP in any way to Earth, and that's the main thing the Exarchate produces.

[Ralnis]

Also anyone who has a spaceport or whatever, the Omerta and Agricultural guys will be able to sell it at a good price. Bentus if your still want to do it or if anyone has a plane we can make a deal.

[Aidannadia]

“Allow Latin American dissidents to escape to Mars....”

Governor Oropiza visibly sweating.

[Harkback Union]

“Allow Latin American dissidents to escape to Mars....”

Governor Oropiza visibly sweating.

Otto was smart enough to have your documents shredded. It will take at least a decade for republic bureaucrats to glue them back together.

[Plzen]

Provisional plan:

Geothermal plant completed '61
Biodome completed '71
Industrial colony completed '81
Scientific colony completed '85
Biodome completed '88
Maintenance colony completed '91
Martian railroad completed '98
(buy another couple solar panels from Earth at some point)

...so it looks like I'm not expanding out of my starting site for 50 years. >_>;; Hopefully we get more support from various places later on. And I should count on having a few facility breakdowns with a maintenance colony that late.

---

“Allow Latin American dissidents to escape to Mars....”

Governor Oropiza visibly sweating.

Something something Red Planet jokes.

We should perhaps consider forming a coalition between all the more left-leaning colonies. The Martian Internationale when?

[Ralnis]

So G, you have IP and me and Tau have fuel. Would you like to help set up a second spaceport in order to try and start shipping our goods if there's no other freelancers?

[Harkback Union]

I'm thinking of making a few last minute changes to economy, and perhaps limit spaceport exports to 5 resources/turn so that traders can still make a difference. Would anyone be terribly upset?

[Plzen]

I'm thinking of making a few last minute changes to economy, and perhaps limit spaceport exports to 5 resources/turn so that traders can still make a difference. Would anyone be terribly upset?

Considering that a spaceport takes 3 resources a turn to maintain, and one of those is fuel (with its fairly sophisticated production chain), I think 5/turn is a bit too low.

[Bentus]

I'm thinking of making a few last minute changes to economy, and perhaps limit spaceport exports to 5 resources/turn so that traders can still make a difference. Would anyone be terribly upset?

Colonies with spaceports dont own ships still right? Could have a flat fee that represents hiring a vessel like the 2bc for shipments from earth? Though I honestly dont know what a reasonable fee would be, big problem is really that there just aren't enough freelancers to keep up with demand so colonies do need an alternative.

[The GAmeTopians]

I'm thinking of making a few last minute changes to economy, and perhaps limit spaceport exports to 5 resources/turn so that traders can still make a difference. Would anyone be terribly upset?

Colonies with spaceports dont own ships still right? Could have a flat fee that represents hiring a vessel like the 2bc for shipments from earth? Though I honestly dont know what a reasonable fee would be, big problem is really that there just aren't enough freelancers to keep up with demand so colonies do need an alternative.

Problem is the trader life isn't particularly appealing to most.

[The Grim Reaper]

I'm thinking of making a few last minute changes to economy, and perhaps limit spaceport exports to 5 resources/turn so that traders can still make a difference. Would anyone be terribly upset?

It wouldn't be particularly a positive outcome for me, at any rate. My main export was going to end up being food - I don't produce any excess fuel and I have Lunar Investments, so I can import water but for 1 bC cost, and I produce no excess food currently either so I can't maintain a maintenance facility. Exporting my 1 ore, 4 food, and importing 1 water from the Moon, I'd be breaking even (-4 bC for debt, -1 for water, +6 bC for ore and food, and then another -1 at the end of the decade as well as needing to use one food to start a maintenance facility) and have no way of producing more resources or more money. (e:I could stack service colonies, in the long term, but I don't have the finances to do that and no way of getting them.)

The main way I was going to try and make an actual profit was to hopefully get people with atmosplanes to pay to export goods one at a time.

Not every build needs to be sustainable, obviously, but I don't think this one would be if I wasn't also able to try and make money from other people and export in quantity. I wasn't convinced it was possible to make it work unless you could mass-export other people's stuff - it breaks even as far as I can tell, and leaves me with no real options for expansion, so I would have needed people with atmosplanes to make up any profit. I'm trying to get something to work at the moment.

The problem is that the only profitable freelancer export is fuel. Because food, ore, and water all expire, you can only turn a bC profit for turns that you actually have them unless you build a warehouse, and you're still limited by the size of the freelancers' ships and the number of them. So you have a huge amount of wastage and there's no point to freelancers wasting time collecting food or ore when food takes up so much space for so little profit and the only module that can carry food is specialized, while they can just mine their own ore. If you make fuel, you can sell it for what I'd call a reasonable price via freelancers - 1.5 bC at a 50/50 split, which is fair for one water and exceeds what you can make from service colonies without a spaceport but not with one. But anything other than fuel can only really be profitably exported via a spaceport when you account for the amount of wastage - 1 surplus food is only worth 0.5 bC on the turns where you have a freelancer picking it up, because even if you build a warehouse they probably won't have the capacity to pick up more than 2.

I don't know if the AP works out, but is it possible for freelancers to save time exporting within Mars? Taking stuff to a spaceport from someone who doesn't have a spaceport and exporting it there? There'd be a hard cap on how much money I can make if, indeed, it was better for them - the point at which they make more money just going to Earth. That'd also make freelancers able to pick-up goods more frequently.

EDIT: Literally forgot I still made IP. Never mind, it still works. Not...efficiently, but it does.

[Aidannadia]

Journey to self-sufficiency is shaping up well so far.

[The Grim Reaper]

I think I know the answer to this, but does a spaceport have to be operational for a service colony to get the +2 bonus?

[Harkback Union]

I think I know the answer to this, but does a spaceport have to be operational for a service colony to get the +2 bonus?

Yes Indeed...

All right, so spaceport capacy remains unlimited.
I still do want to give a boost to carbon-based industry and find a way to make money with factories.

[Bentus]

I think I know the answer to this, but does a spaceport have to be operational for a service colony to get the +2 bonus?

Yes Indeed...

All right, so spaceport capacy remains unlimited.
I still do want to give a boost to carbon-based industry and find a way to make money with factories.

Hm, not too well versed on the carbon supply-chain, but maybe it could be made worthwhile through research? If carbon is the big requirement for large-scale R&D, then increasing the profitability of exporting research to Earth or the Moon (or heck, other colonies) could give carbon a big boost down the road.

On the spaceport vs freelancer conundrum, I suppose an "ideal case" for me would be if both provide different benefits and are able to fill certain niches. For instance, one inherent downside with hiring a freelancer over a spaceport is that the freelancer isn't available on-demand due to both travel time and player discretion. In contrast a spaceport offers access to markets when you want it, whenever you want it. Similarly, freelancers can only carry a finite quantity of goods at a time, and only a certain type of good, whereas spaceports can ship whatever you feel like.

I feel like spaceports are essential for an export-based colony build, so they shouldn't be nerfed when it comes to filling that particular niche, but maybe some changes could be made on the import side? i.e. spaceports don't make it any easier to import from Earth directly from the market since you'd still need to pay the 2bC shipping fee. Another option is to limit spaceports' ability to export higher-value items such as fuel, carbon or finished structures and turn them into buildings that are built to make low profit margin exports possible (a la food and water). If we wanted to get further into the weeds, could add in some kind of a time delay for shipments from spaceports too to represent travel times - that could give research exports another edge since Comm transmissions could be instantaneous. Although that may over-complicate things.

An alternative approach though is to change what freelancers do. In addition to having them hold more sway over imports while spaceports are dominant for exports, freelancers are currently the only way to get to the asteroid belt. I'm not sure exactly how, but maybe that could be leveraged to create a niche for freelancers that focuses on asteroid-Earth/Moon and asteroid-Mars trade rather than the Earth/Moon-Mars trade that gradually gets dominated by spaceports?

[Kyllnovia]

The Options that I have colored blue are the things I chose to buy.

The dreamer has 2 Quarters but as there was no price, I am assuming that the extra quarter has no cost?

- Bridge (required to drive ship, must have).
- Quarters (Life support and housing for 1 person (you), must have! If you have 2 of these, you can take aboard other freelancers or governors.). x2
- Cargo Hold (Holds 1 cargo of the following types: Carbon, ore, supplies, solar panels, windmills, ice drills, weapons or vehicles.
- Liquid Tanker (Holds 2 Water or 2 Fuel).
- Freezer (Holds 2 Food).
- Cryodeck (Costs 3bC. Holds 1 group of colonist or 1 food. Colonists bought from earth cost 2 bC less for you (Yes, this means you can earn money by loading prisoners (but killing them will cost you reputation))).
- Reactor (costs 7 bC, powers 9 other sections, needs 1 fuel every 10 years (comes with 1 fuel when installed, must have)).
- Engines (+1 Action point to spend each year. Max 1 engines/ship + 2 more max for each reactor).
- Solar Sails (costs 3 bC, When moving away from the sun, Planet - Planet Trip costs 1 AP less).
- Docking Bay (costs 5 bC, docking at space stations/spaceports costs 1 AP less).
- Laboratory (costs 5 bC, A scientists can work here to produce 1 Research).

If this is acceptable then I am happy to start

Edit: This would leave me with 05bC to begin with, are there any additional running costs such as crew payments?

[G-Tech Corporation]

An alternative approach though is to change what freelancers do. In addition to having them hold more sway over imports while spaceports are dominant for exports, freelancers are currently the only way to get to the asteroid belt. I'm not sure exactly how, but maybe that could be leveraged to create a niche for freelancers that focuses on asteroid-Earth/Moon and asteroid-Mars trade rather than the Earth/Moon-Mars trade that gradually gets dominated by spaceports?

Personally, I would back chopping Spaceports to 7 items per year or so, since that should cover quite a few bases at this point.

I'm planning to buy ore from the asteroid belt to fill my factories within a decade, since I'm already going to be operating at-cap very rapidly for my one measly ore source. Granted, I was planning to fund those ore purchases by selling wind turbines to Earth, which I have just recently been told is impossible... so take that with a grain of salt.

[Ralnis]

Any calls for a freelancer who wishes to make money off of the fuel from the Elysium Cities. Anyone...anyone...?

[Aidannadia]

Freelancers can smuggle goods that normally wouldn't be able to be traded, such as solar panels to the moon.

Plus, they can undercut shipping prices from Earth to Mars if youre importing goods.

They can also enable trading between regions no mars like an atmospheric cargo plane for a fee.

[Bentus]

Any calls for a freelancer who wishes to make money off of the fuel from the Elysium Cities. Anyone...anyone...?

I'm interested. How much fuel, when, and is your colony in dangerous landing terrain? would go for a 50/50 pay split.

Freelancers can smuggle goods that normally wouldn't be able to be traded, such as solar panels to the moon.

Plus, they can undercut shipping prices from Earth to Mars if youre importing goods.

They can also enable trading between regions no mars like an atmospheric cargo plane for a fee.

So I dont think intercolony trade is worth it quite yet - not unless theres bulk transport, though yes in theory as for the solar panels: Sarama would be rather pro-moon so might be willing to work with someone on that for only a small cut.

[Ralnis]

deleted

[Harkback Union]

The Options that I have colored blue are the things I chose to buy.

The dreamer has 2 Quarters but as there was no price, I am assuming that the extra quarter has no cost?

- Bridge (required to drive ship, must have).
- Quarters (Life support and housing for 1 person (you), must have! If you have 2 of these, you can take aboard other freelancers or governors.). x2
- Cargo Hold (Holds 1 cargo of the following types: Carbon, ore, supplies, solar panels, windmills, ice drills, weapons or vehicles.
- Liquid Tanker (Holds 2 Water or 2 Fuel).
- Freezer (Holds 2 Food).
- Cryodeck (Costs 3bC. Holds 1 group of colonist or 1 food. Colonists bought from earth cost 2 bC less for you (Yes, this means you can earn money by loading prisoners (but killing them will cost you reputation))).
- Reactor (costs 7 bC, powers 9 other sections, needs 1 fuel every 10 years (comes with 1 fuel when installed, must have)).
- Engines (+1 Action point to spend each year. Max 1 engines/ship + 2 more max for each reactor).
- Solar Sails (costs 3 bC, When moving away from the sun, Planet - Planet Trip costs 1 AP less).
- Docking Bay (costs 5 bC, docking at space stations/spaceports costs 1 AP less).
- Laboratory (costs 5 bC, A scientists can work here to produce 1 Research).

If this is acceptable then I am happy to start

Edit: This would leave me with 05bC to begin with, are there any additional running costs such as crew payments?

Those without price listed cost 1 bC
Otherwise you are good to go!

[Ralnis]

Any calls for a freelancer who wishes to make money off of the fuel from the Elysium Cities. Anyone...anyone...?

I'm interested. How much fuel, when, and is your colony in dangerous landing terrain? would go for a 50/50 pay split.

Freelancers can smuggle goods that normally wouldn't be able to be traded, such as solar panels to the moon.

Plus, they can undercut shipping prices from Earth to Mars if youre importing goods.

They can also enable trading between regions no mars like an atmospheric cargo plane for a fee.

So I dont think intercolony trade is worth it quite yet - not unless theres bulk transport, though yes in theory as for the solar panels: Sarama would be rather pro-moon so might be willing to work with someone on that for only a small cut.

It could be as soon as year 2 for 1 fuel and no dangerous landing terrain or year 6 for two fuel. Also Omerta is pro-moon and carries the industry of the Elysium cities, both with two of the factories and around 3 of the ores. So I can sell you a solar panel for some cash if you want.

[Aidannadia]

So wait, 18 years or so after launch, are we gonna have some boom in population to handle?