[TML] [Merchant Shipping] Some ideas I came up with to make merchant shipping more interesing

[Anthony Jackson]

Jerry W Barrington wrote:

> I've never understood this.  Given the effort it takes to restart a power
> plant, why would it ever be shut down?  Sure, if you're doing maintenance
> *on* the plant, or for running silent.

I would assume that you do maintenance on the power plant almost every 
time you stop at a port. It's also possible that continued operation 
adds wear and tear, though given the wear from starting/stopping, it's 
probably only sensible if you're going to be stopped for more than a 
day. Also, who says it takes that much effort to restart a power plant? 
Sure, its time consuming, but that doesn't make it hard.

> It's not fuel consumption: the design systems allow for the plant running
> for a month anyway.  And no reasonable batteries are going to run the ship's
> systems for days or weeks in port.  Pay the port for electricity when I've
> got my own plant?  I don't think so.

Well, it's not like the cost of electricity at the port is going to be 
substantial. The same factors which make it cheap to keep a starship 
power plant running apply equally well to ports.