Chapter 4D: To acquire an asset

Did I miss the bit where someone successfully purchased all of the repair materials that we need?

Yup, its due to your Specialist (Trade). Lower numbers in that dice are always cheaper. When you sell, you will roll 4d6h3 ;)

They will, soon enough =)

Sorry, I didn't notice you'd updated the thread with the prices filled in!

Can I try to see what other trade goods there are without losing the two presented now? If so, I'll definitely roll to see if we can get something better.

Also, I really want to get those grav-plates (with the ridiculous reduced rate), but I see literally nowhere to effectively sell them, other than eventually Castand, but they don't really need them. Would they be useful outside starships? 15K is a lot of our funds to tie up in something we won't be able to get a return from for quite a while! Honestly, I would have my best bet to buy them here, then immediately turn around and try to resell them right here at Draco III!

The data drives are also tempting at 20% off, but not sure where I will be able to sell them. At least they seem to have a more general application and, while there is no one eager for them, I should have a decent chance to unload them along the way. Plus they don't take up much space, so even holding them for a bit shouldn't hurt.

Honestly, freight is looking better if we can qualify so we can get enough money to properly speculate!

And along those lines, in game terms, how much certification and such can we get done in the 17 weeks we have?

It's really, really, really hard to walk away from 40% off. If I should be able to have a reasonable chance to sell it for even "list price" in the next couple of worlds, I'd like to do that.

So, assuming the single-dip is a reasonable bet, then I gotta take the 40% off for 1 or 2 tons, and then add in .2 tons of the data store. The .2 tons is intended to go all the way to Dianreti III to try for a double-dip, unless I get a good enough price along the way. Dragging around .1 and .2 tons for a while shouldn't be an issue.

Also, if I get stuff now, since we're gonna be cooling our jets for a while, can I try again later, just before we finally leave?

As for adding stuff, let me make a couple comments:
- Weapons: The only thing I can see us getting is a Sandthrower as discussed above. It's the only thing that we can even pretend to afford. Can it be bought new? Can my trade help buy it?
- Armor: With an armor of 5 and the HPO, we are about as armored as we're ever going to get. I hope that's enough.
- Fighters: You mean "former soldiers" or spaceships? If the latter not happening.
- Crew & Former soldiers: We need to work on that to get us up to about 12 people. That way the synths are extra, not absolutely required.
So, given that, the only things we can add are crew and a Sandthrower. We have four months to find both.

I wasn't sure what to add since Hank seemed to have it covered. And there was a lot going on so I did... just kind of firget...
Plus Slaine would like to try and make some creds.

So, current status has the crew at Valeria, Hank, Corbin, Jil, and Erin. Adding in Mariela and the synths get us to the minimum 10. That is what Valeria and Hank know about. With just that, we have most ship roles covered and Erin can always man the Sandthrower or (hopefully eventual) Plasma gun. That means we are left with one gaping miss, which is a team medic. So ...

Now, if Slaine were to join us, we wouldn't need the medic. But, irrespective of that, we should have a medic as a direct member of the crew. And it seemed like Slaine would want to remain an Agent, meaning even if he is with us, he is more of a passenger, not crew. If we get all of Douklan, Slaine, and Mercer, to join us, then we'd have some good buffer past our minimum, but none of them would be hard required. So I think getting the medic now would be good, if we can.

Please describe the results from that background check. Tell us more about Mercer and his professional history. Of course, he was approved, no need to roll. But why? How? Did he bribe someone?