On Wednesday, April 8, 2020, 11:06:26 AM MST, xxxxxx@gmail.com <xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:

[A lot of BIG <snip>s]

Just a thought on economies as this seems germaine:

I do recall that someone built a massive spreadsheet for GT for (I think) the Spinward Marches and let GT's trade mechanics define where the trading mains would naturally form and the smaller routes (I think three levels). Somewhere, on an old computer, on an old drive, I have the map that comes out of that. It looks *a lot* different route-wise than the standard Spinward Marches map. 

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Back when GDW offered the original, CT,  'Merchant Prince', they also offered an AppleSoft BASIC prg that let you cruise around the 'Marches.

I soon discovered that, as above, the optimal trade routes differed from the 'standard' at the time.

Interestingly, I found that even a 'liner with limited cargo could still turn a nice profit as long as care was taken to maximise cargo profitability & not maximal passenger potential. 

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