Ship Shares
Ship shares represent contacts, credit rating, savings and favours owed that a Traveller can put towards ownership of a space vessel, worth roughly one million credits. Travellers can pool their ship shares towards the use of a vessel, but cannot trade ship shares for cash. It is very unlikely that the Travellers will be able to own anything but the smallest starship outright at the start of their life after their career, so most crews end up working to support a mortgage on their spacecraft. The more ship shares that a group of Travellers can put together, the bigger a ship they can afford.
There are also specific ships that a Traveller might gain as part of the mustering out process that involve Ship Shares. Each time you roll a full ship as a benefit after the first gives you a 25% payment towards your ship. That is not Ship Shares which can also be obtained as part of the mustering out process.
Lab Ship: You receive a lab ship with 25% of the mortgage paid off on it. This lab ship is standard but you must roll 1D times on the Spacecraft Quirks Table. If you roll this benefit again, an additional 25% of the mortgage has been paid off. - If you roll this benefit four times, the lab ship will have no mortgage and is all yours.
Ship's Boat: You receive a ship's boat or other small craft with a limit of MCr10 and TL 12. If you roll this benefit again, gain Pilot (small craft). Note that this can be any vehicle or dwelling that the Traveller would like as is appropriate for their history. A Ship's Boat, a luxury yacht for a water world, a small mining craft, etc.
Ship Shares: You obtain one or more ship shares that can be put towards obtaining a ship. Each share is worth one million credits subtracted from the ship's mortgage. Travellers joining in the campaign might explore the option of their Ship Shares being part of an existing ship that they have been a previously silent owner on using the Character Connections during Character Discovery.
Additional uses for Ship Shares
Passive Income Ship Shares can also be used as additional passive income. Each share is worth Cr1,000/year as an additional pension of Cr1000 every year. This represents being a part owner of a ship, somewhere out there in the galaxy, earning dividends for those who invested in it. Ship Shares are used as desired by the players, for income, purchasing parts and upgrades of a ship, etc.
Repair Credits Travellers can also use them for "repair credits" at a Type A starport. This is "I have credit at Torpol for repairs up to a maximum of X credits" and you can split that up among as many systems as you want. This requires the Traveller to decide the tradeoff of an automatic payment every year that is flexible or to build up an account at a particular Starport for future repairs. The Traveller will earn additional interest on their credits as they build. Creating a balance of record keeping versus playability
For those familiar with the Pirates of Drinax traditional core campaign Ship Credits cannot be used to repair the Harrier. If a Traveller chose to use "repair credits" those could be used to repair the Harrier.
For repairing the Harrier there are three types of Repair Units.
- Structural = Mcr.25 worth of standard starship component or heavy industrial
- Technical = Mcr .75 worth of standard starship components or light industrial
- Cosmetic = Mcr .1 worth of raw materials for custom fitting, taking 8 hours per 1 RU
Subsidized Merchants Additional options: From JTAS 6- Mega Corporations and Subsidized Traders, and JTAS 9 - The Syndicate
Subsidized merchants were created to fill the gaps not addressed by mega-corporate bulk freighters and independent free traders. Large freight lines tend to travel the main routes and free traders chase the biggest profits wherever they may be. Whilst these practices serve the majority of the population, they leave a significant minority under served or even completely bereft of interstellar commerce. Subsidized routes fill that void.
Using Ship Shares as part of the Syndicate or as a Subsidized Merchant
If the conglomerate or corporation that owns the ship permits it, the Travellers can obtain more favourable terms in their contract by trading in Ship Shares. In such cases, Travellers may spend Ship Shares to purchase a higher degree of route and revenue control.
Route Control purchases provide additional weeks with which the Travellers may operate a subsidised merchant independently per year. For example, if the Travellers purchase 10 weeks of Route Control, the owner of the ship has 10 fewer weeks per year during which they dictate which systems are visited. This gives the Travellers considerably more freedom to travel outside the boundaries specified in the contract.
Revenue Control gives the Travellers additional percentage points of the trade revenue earned by the ship. Revenue Control purchases are on a sliding scale that becomes gradually more lucrative the more Ship Shares the Travellers invest. For example, the standard contract gives the owner 50% of all revenue year-round. If the Travellers spend 10 Ship Shares on Revenue Control, they gain 5% more of the revenue. This means that the owner receives only 45% of the total revenue and the Travellers’ share increases to 55%.
| Ship Shares | Route Control | Revenue Control |
| 5 | 5 weeks | +2% |
| 10 | 10 weeks | +5% |
| 15 | 15 weeks | +12% |
| 20 | 20 weeks | +20% |
Ship Share purchases are always negotiated in increments of five and non-refundable so the Travellers must exercise caution. Spending them on route and revenue control should only be done if they intend to make a long-term commitment. Shrewd Travellers have been known to parlay Ship Shares into great riches over time. Some have even spent those riches to buy their subby from its owner after several years of service.
When using Ship Shares with the Syndicate the Travellers can spend to 'purchase' a ship but the ship will always remain in control of the Syndicate.
