Type A Trader

Commercial Ships
Trader	Freighter	Liner	Explorer	Resource

The Type A Trader is an elementary commercial starship. It carries speculative cargo and passenger service along unscheduled routes on mains, so designs emphasize independent operation without specific logistical support.

There is a summary list.

Description

Trader designs are on the smaller side, generally between 100 and 500 tons, with the largest not exceeding 1000 tons. The cargo-to-passengers ratio is typically around 9 to 1; that is, there are nine tons of cargo space for every passenger stateroom, more or less.

Unofficial Census Data:

5% Compact Free Traders (100 tons).
75% Free Traders (200 tons).
8% Stretch Traders (300 tons).
5% Fat Traders (400-600 tons).
7% Frontier Traders (700-900 tons). Also Exploratory Traders, Flat Traders, and Spice Traders.

The construction is on the fine line of least expensive options with maximum capabilities. They operate with minimal crew, and in some cases under-crewed to maximize profit. There is rarely separation between passenger areas and crew areas. Many designs incorporate Low Berths to carry more passengers.

The design is for operation to smaller population worlds, places with poorer starports or unknown port status, or unscheduled routes. Most designs incorporate Fuel Scoops and Fuel Purifiers to allow wilderness refueling. Many designs are streamlined with good landing capability as they assume the ports lack orbital facilities. Other designs add small craft for carrying passengers and cargo from ship to surface and back again.

Designs always incorporate weapons and almost all examples are armed. Rarely are the weapon load-outs consistent between ships. Sensor upgrades are another frequent enhancement.

Ships larger than the 500-1000 tons for the traders are design optimized to either Type M Liners to carry passengers, Type R Freighters to carry cargo, or Type T Transports for moving other items.

Specific Mission Modifiers

Type A Ship mission classification
Code	Master Ship Mission	Example
A	Commercial Merchant	Merchant Vessel
AA	Armored Merchant	Armored Merchant
AC	Commercial Communications	Communications Vessel
AF	Commercial Far Traders	Far Trader, Free Trader
AK	Commercial Courier	Courier Vessel
AP	Commercial passenger	Packet Ship
AQ	Commercial Mother Ship	Colony Ship, Sleeper Ship, Generation Ship
AW	Commercial Station	Space Station, Trade Station, X-Boat Station, Far port

Free Trader

Free Trader is the term given to an independent interstellar merchant ship, which plys the space lanes carrying cargo and passengers. These free traders are small and relatively cheap type of merchant ship operating as Fledgling Lines. Usually, a free trader is a 200-ton vessel capable of Jump-1. This restricts their operation to a Main or Cluster of systems. An example of this type of ship is the standard 200-ton Beowulf class Free Trader.

The Ship Mission Code assigned to these ships is A or A1 based upon the jump drive capability.

Far Trader

Far Trader is a variant designation of a free trader. A far trader has a higher jump capacity than a free trader; usually a Jump-2 capability (twice that of normal). A standard example of this type is the 200-ton Empress Marava class Far Trader.

The Ship Mission Code assigned to these designs is AF or A2 based upon the jump drive capability.

Deep Trader

The Deep Trader or Fast Trader is another, rarer, variant of a free trader. Built for areas of low stellar density, jump-3 or jump-4 capable. Since these ships are generally custom-built or produced in low quantities, no standard example exists.

The Ship Mission Code assigned to these designs is A3 based upon the jump drive capability.

Related Terms

These are terms related to the Trader ship designs and frequently used in conjunction with or as synonyms to "Trader".

Tramp Vessel

Because Trader ships frequently operate on unstable schedules they are referred to as tramp vessels, tramp traders, tramp liners, or tramp freighters, a vessel that does not run regularly between fixed ports. These ships focus on the speculative cargo trade and as the routes become establish they tend to be supplanted by larger liners and freighters.

Some crews view the term tramp, and its many synonyms and translations, as insulting. The word includes definitions of unreliability and criminality. In cultures where these activities are strongly frowned upon causes friction. Other crews embrace the definitions of freedom from corporate and governmental control.

Subsidized Trader

The opposite of the above, Subsidized vessels have been hired by a local world or corporation to make regularly scheduled runs between two or more worlds. The goal is to provide a regular schedule of cargo, passengers, and mail between these worlds. Typically these worlds are low population worlds with poor ports and not considered profitable to normally schedule routes. The patron of these routes guarantees a minimum income regardless of the volume of traffic, hence the subsidiary. Most of these deals allow the ship to engage in speculative trade with the understanding the regular cargo has priority.

Image Repository

A top down schematic of a Beowulf with a typical shuttle.

A simple crewsophont sketch of a tail-sitter Tequila class Free Trader.

The flattened spheroid Tachyon class Light Trader, a rarely encountered design.

An image of a variant Type A class Free Trader.

An early model Beowulf under spaceflight.

A contemporary trade vessel, a Jayhawk class Far Trader, which is also known as a Marava II class Far Trader.

The venerable Wulf class Free Trader.

The A1 is externally identical to the Early model A2, a Garu.

A Salamander-class coming into a starport to trade.

A very merchant prince-customized Jayhawk class Far Trader.

A Star class Armored Merchant on a trade mission to a potentially hostile rich world.

Merchant Vessel - Trader: An Eakhau class Trader on route to destination with a crew of crafty Aslan females.

References

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Far Future Enterprises or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

Marc Miller, Robert Eaglestone, Don McKinney. Starships (Far Future Enterprises, 2019), 68-69.

Type A Trader

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