[TML] Space Piracy (was: Scientific realism)

[Richard Aiken]

On Fri, Jun 6, 2008 at 4:45 AM, Brad Rogers <brad at fineby.me.uk> wrote:
> On Thu, 05 Jun 2008 14:52:51 -0700
> "Kelly St.Clair" <kellys at efn.org> wrote:
>
> Hello Kelly,
>
>> It seems to me that the most profit for space pirates would come from
>> taking and selling the /ship/, with the cargo to cover repairs to
>> both vessels, resupply, and beer.
>
> It's often the case with piracy now;  Ship worth more than cargo.
> However, the cargo is far more easily fenced than a bloody great big
> ship.

And it matters not - really - how much a ship is technically worth.
What matters is only how much someone is willing to pay for it.  In
the real world, cargo ships "worth" the same (or more) as Traveller
ships get abandoned all the time.  Running them is a
extremely-high-overhead business.  When the bottom drops out of the
transport market (this happens in cycles - see GT: Far Trader),
suddenly nobody is willing to pay the cash/credit necessary to run
(still less to formally mothball) a "bloody great big ship."

-- 
Richard Aiken

"Never insult anyone by accident." Robert A. Heinlein