Mail call

[jason taylor]

In Pre-starflight Terran whaling voyages it was a custom for in-bound ships to carry mail from outbound ships.

Could similar things be done with this? For instance a business be made specifically for carrying mail spacers drop at a port?

[JMason]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

In Pre-starflight Terran whaling voyages it was a custom for in-bound ships to carry mail from outbound ships.

Could similar things be done with this? For instance a business be made specifically for carrying mail spacers drop at a port?

I thought there was some mention that there were "mail" probes that you could upload (encrypted) electronic messages, and they would jump to the next sector and broadcast the messages to receiving stations (or other probes that then would keep passing the message on).

As far a physical mail and packages, I would assume that FedEx/UPS type companies exist for that purpose, and use the same sort of Hub and Spokes approach that most trade has.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by JMason

I thought there was some mention that there were "mail" probes that you could upload (encrypted) electronic messages, and they would jump to the next sector and broadcast the messages to receiving stations (or other probes that then would keep passing the message on).
.

You might be thinking of the X-boat network but an X-boat is a piloted 100 dton ship with Jump-4. Nothing smaller than 100 dtons _can_ Jump canonically.

X-boats don't go everywhere either. One of the sources of cash for small traders is taking mail to smaller pop worlds not on the X-boat network.

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

You might be thinking of the X-boat network but an X-boat is a piloted 100 dton ship with Jump-4. Nothing smaller than 100 dtons _can_ Jump canonically.

X-boats don't go everywhere either. One of the sources of cash for small traders is taking mail to smaller pop worlds not on the X-boat network.

Quite. The situation I was thinking of would often require considerable detours with each ship working a different area and having kin in different worlds. The primary purpose of the x-boats is to carry government mail and that is handled satisfactorily by a route that goes through nerve centers.

[Blue Ghost]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

In Pre-starflight Terran whaling voyages it was a custom for in-bound ships to carry mail from outbound ships.

Could similar things be done with this? For instance a business be made specifically for carrying mail spacers drop at a port?

Er....isn't that what the X-Boat system is all about?

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by Blue Ghost

Er....isn't that what the X-Boat system is all about?

The X boat system goes by fixed routes and therefore won't get a lot of feeder routes and frontier worlds. Furthermore it is mostly for government mail and not meant to handle all the mail of trillions of Imperial citizens aside from the fact that said citizens have their own reason not to want that("Dear Sally, I would tell you how much I love you but I can't because I do not want it to be seen by Imperial counterintelligence which of course is not snooping because it always scrupulously respects the rights of Imperial citizens").

[thrash]

"Mail and Incidentals: Subsidized merchants may receive mail delivery contracts,
usually as an adjunct to their established routes. Five tons of ship cargo capacity
must be committed to postal duty on a full time basis, the ship must be armed, and
a gunner must be a part of the crew. The starship is paid Cr25,OOO (Cr5,OOO per ton
of postal cargo area) for each trip made, regardless of the actual mail tonnage
carried. Such tonnage will not exceed 5 tons per trip.

"Other ships may be approached to deliver private messages, at times through the
ship's owner or captain, and at times clandestinely through a crew member. Private
mail is usually intended for delivery to a specific point (such as the Travellers' Aid
Society building, or a tavern keeper), and is generally accompanied by a Cr20 to
Cr120 honorarium. Throw 9+ for a private message to be awaiting transmittal, and
determine randomly which crew member is approached to carry it. Serving as a
carrier for private mail also serves as an introduction to the recipient as a depen-
dable, trustworthy person."

Book 2 (1981), p. 9.

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by JMason

I thought there was some mention that there were "mail" probes that you could upload (encrypted) electronic messages, and they would jump to the next sector and broadcast the messages

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

You might be thinking of the X-boat network

There were also "jump torpedoes", or sometimes "jump message torpedoes", occasionally mentioned in CT. (1977 Book 2, Leviathan adventure.) These, along with RPV drones, were alternatives to missiles taking up space in the ship's magazines.

Presumably one purpose of those subsidized mail contracts was to secure connections from the X-boat skeleton to the rest of the Imperial worlds.

The post-90s-networking view of the universe will have the digital information being much more important than the physical mail. That (canonically) is transmitted by ships when they arrive in-system, and received up until they leave, so most of the mail travels at lightspeed outside of jumpspace. "Freight" might include most parcels for individuals, perhaps containerized by shipping companies that are the analogs of UPS, etc. So physical "mail" as opposed to "freight" would be the pretty small remaining proportion of "stuff moved".

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

There were also "jump torpedoes", or sometimes "jump message torpedoes", occasionally mentioned in CT. (1977 Book 2, Leviathan adventure.) These, along with RPV drones, were alternatives to missiles taking up space in the ship's magazines.
.

The existence of these was not only ignored by later Canon but actually forbidden.

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

The existence of these was not only ignored by later Canon but actually forbidden.

Yep. Nevertheless, that may be what JMason was remembering.

Whether or not you want to forbid them in YTU is one of those questions of taste and worldbuilding. At least partly, eliminating jump torpedoes seems to stem from a desire to have a minimum volume for a jump drive and thus starships. That 100-ton limit also excluded FTL-capable fighters and shuttles -- and was perhaps even the primary motivator, not the message torps -- but it would be odd and more disbelief-stretching if you could build a scout ship and a jump torpedo, but somehow not a jump-capable Rampart or cutter.