CMDR Eldrich Thames Logbook, Entry #24, February 24, 3306
24 Feb 2020Eldrich Thames
After more than a year since my previous logbook entry (during which among other things got my Elite combat rank promotion, became a King of the Imperial Navy and bought a Cutter) I think it’s about time I start putting my exploits in writing once more.Particularly since my next major exploit is, as far as I can tell, very likely something no other Commander in the Galaxy has done before – or at least hasn’t done it at the scale I’m planning to do it.
This is actually an idea I had for a while now, but it required the right ship – namely, a Cutter – to do it. Now that I have the ship, and it’s mostly fully engineered, I can finally move ahead with it.
Enter the “Colonia Galleon Project”.
For this project I’ve prepared my Imperial Cutter – christened the “Urca de Lima” after a legendary though ill-fated Spanish treasure ship from the early 18th Century – with 608 tons of cargo space. The “Urca” is equipped with shields and defensive countermeasures but no weapons to save on weight and energy requirements – the idea is to avoid being interdicted but escape as fast as I can if the worst comes to pass.
All installed modules have been selected and engineered to be as lightweight as possible, with the exception of the FSD, which is A-rated and engineered to maximize jump range. I also went to Guardian space and brought the materials required to build a class-5 FSD Booster and Hybrid Power Plant. Thanks to this, the “Urca” is capable of making jumps of up to 37.99 LY fully laden.
The plan is simple: during the next few days I plan to visit several stations where Rare Commodities are being sold, buy a few tons of each, and once the “Urca” is fully loaded haul this highly valuable cargo all the way to Jaques Station in the Colonia system, located over 22,000 LY from Sol.
Simple, right? Highly profitable, right?
Well… not really – and that’s why seemingly no one has done it before. For some reason the Pilots Federation has imposed a strict rule on the selling price of Rares. Unlike ordinary goods, Rares aren’t subject to supply and demand, but distance. The farther the buying market is from the source, the higher the profit.
However the profit increases are currently capped by the PF at around the 160 LY mark. Beyond this point profits no longer rise on distance. Thus, selling a full cargo hold of Rares won’t make you any richer than the guy that sold them a couple hundred Light-years from the nearest source. Why? Only the bigwigs at the PF know. Therefore there is zero incentive for space truckers to bother doing it.
But the people in Colonia still demand their occasional Lavian Brandy or Fujin Tea. So someone has to cater to their needs, right?
Well, that one’s going to be yours truly!
CMDR Thames signing out!
