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

[Tom B]

Some older (by modern standards) reactors can't load-follow. Other newer
ones may well be able to. I'm not sure what a fusion reactor will or will
not do in the Traveller universe.

An interesting paper from the UK discussing the flexibility of nuclear
power:

http://www.cessa.eu.com/sd_papers/wp/wp2/0203_Pouret_Nuttall.pdf

Maybe your reactor can load-follow.

Canon in the Traveller universe includes plants being shut down (at least in
MT rules). It may or may not make sense. It may make sense in some cases and
not in others.

But your comment about modern ports not having mechanisms to secure you is a
bit off base - they may not manacle you to the pier, but if you're in enough
arrears or they have good reason to believe you're going to do something
illegal, I wouldn't be surprised to see a port police boarding party.

Also A fair number of modern deep water ports require harbour pilots. This
may well be common in a TU as well. And you can't just pull a supertanker
out (or even a 200' yacht) and bugger off without the local port authority
and the local port police (and coast gaurd) coming down on you if you do so
in an illegal fashion.

I'm not sure who will chase you or how if you welsh on your docking fees in
a 36' keelboat, but I expect they'll do something unpleasant to you if you
bugger off with thousands in unpaid bills for a freighter and run for
international waters.

I'll ask a friend of mine in USCG to see if he has any input/idea how this
works.