Size of Yachts

[Pomphis]

News covering Oligarch Yachts mad me aware of how small and cheap OTU yachts are. They are more the equivalent to private trains or business jets than to proper superyachts. The 3I certainly has multibillionaires able to spned several hundred MCr or a billion or two on a yacht, so yachts of several thousand dt should be not that unusual.

[Anaraxes]

Certainly -- especially since the point of a superyacht isn't utility, but conspicuous consumption. They might favor exotically arranged dispersed structures forming anything from abstract art to the owner's initials, or outer hull layers for decoration and display rather than function (unable to tolerate atmospheric entry at any speed, for instance).

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by Pomphis

News covering Oligarch Yachts mad me aware of how small and cheap OTU yachts are. They are more the equivalent to private trains or business jets than to proper superyachts. The 3I certainly has multibillionaires able to spned several hundred MCr or a billion or two on a yacht, so yachts of several thousand dt should be not that unusual.

Is that a surprise? The first yachts were schooners and bought for the characteristics that someone wanting pleasure or at least wanting to keep up with the Jones's would want. They would want it to have good looks speed and maneuverability to play with.

[jason taylor]

By the way one way to use yachts in an adventure could be modeled on the Hornblower short story "the guns of Carabobo". A millionaire bought a war surplus vessel (a small escort type one: the Admiralty doesn't just let ships of the line slip from it's fingers). Said millionaire happened to have a Venezeulan mother so he hired naval veterans and secretly took a letter of marque from Bolivar. In the process he embarrassed British neutrality and Hornblower had to track him down. The millionaire was a worthy antigonist, not only cleverer than most but more admirable.

Anyway something like this can be the basis of a story. Someone could be using a yacht as a gunrunner or even a privateer and embarrass the Imperium in the process.

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by Pomphis

News covering Oligarch Yachts mad me aware of how small and cheap OTU yachts are. They are more the equivalent to private trains or business jets than to proper superyachts. The 3I certainly has multibillionaires able to spned several hundred MCr or a billion or two on a yacht, so yachts of several thousand dt should be not that unusual.

Bear in mind that a displacement ton at 13.5/14 cubic metres or 500 cubic feet is roughly 5 register tons, so a '200DT Yacht' or about 1,000 tons as motor pleasure yachts are measured today.

Looking at some of the sites selling such yachts, that's about a 60m superyacht - by no means the largest, but far from small.

[Dr. Beckenstein]

But aren't these mega yachts just a way to show that you have truckloads of money to waste?

None of this oligarchs uses his yacht to move from point A to point B, they use them just to show off their wealth. Easy to do in a small harbour, when the next paparazzo is just a few yards away. When they need a telescope to spot your yacht - and then it is only a small speck of light - the result is somewhat disappointing.

[DeadParrot]

When OT was published, the 1970's Earth pleasure yachts were much smaller then the current mega yachts. Many of the 70's era yachts would be little more then launches for some of the current mega-yachts. Probably why the yachts in that version were fairly modest vessels.

Don't see any in game reason why a wealthy person or corporation couldn't have a space going example of their wealth and power that ran into thousands of tons of displacement. Good way to lobby powerful nobles.

[Rupert]

A few hundred million credits (rather than the MCr45-50 of a standard 200 DTon yacht) should buy the mega-rich something around 500 DTons, assuming it costs as much as a warship (and therefore that it's fairly high performance). A billion credits should buy 1,000-4,000 DTons, depending on performance, how much of the 'armour' is gold or iridium, and so on.

[thrash]

Given the existence of things like pirates and "trade war" in the OTU, I imagine conspicuous consumption among the wealthy (who are almost entirely nobles, or quickly become nobles) tends to buying actual warships, rather than passenger ships duded up to cost as much as warships. Remember Sparkling Distress?

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by thrash

Given the existence of things like pirates and "trade war" in the OTU, I imagine conspicuous consumption among the wealthy (who are almost entirely nobles, or quickly become nobles) tends to buying actual warships, rather than passenger ships duded up to cost as much as warships. Remember Sparkling Distress?

I assume they're buying small warships, removing some part of the armament (probably most of the missile launchers and their magazines) to make space for luxury staterooms and entertainment spaces.

Such a 'yacht' might not win a fight with a peer, but they'd make a straight-up attack by pirates very unlikely to show a profit. They'd also be a very attractive target for hijacking by infiltration and the like (a get warship and a very rich noble to ransom in a single move!), and that's the sort of thing that PCs can be involved with on a personal level (on either side).