Bay 12 Games Forum

2 is clearly the frontrunner to a hostile takeover- stay away from all costs.

1 trades profit now for a good buddy later.  Getting in good with the law now is probably worth it if we don't take option 3.

3:  Right now, assuming that production is additive (we can make 10 haulers with 3x3.4=10.2 parts) we could produce 79 ships in that time if we didn't add any lines or docks.  Adding two docks would bump that up to 84*.  That'd leave us 16 short, getting us a penalty of 32k, for a total profit of 48k, which comes out to ~571 a ship.  That's actually pretty good at current prices, so it's worth the money, and is stable.  The 30k advance would cover the dock expenses.

Adding THREE docks and two lines (which we could just barely afford with the advance- lines now then docks) would get us 89** ships.  11 short, 22k penalty, total profit 58k, ~651 a ship.  Even better.

Getting a loan would let us build a fourth, fifth, and sixth dock and four more assembly lines now to get the whole 100*** ships.  This would be no penalty, but 25k in interest.  The total profit would be lower than last time, but we'd be in a MUCH stronger position.  However, we wouldn't have cash to cover the interest payments.  Unless we could negotiate something with either the bank or the Safe Caravans company, this option isn't available.

* 9 this month, three months of 10, three months of 11, and one month of 12.  We'd lose five from not having the docks.
** 9 now, 3x 10, 3x 12, 1x 13
*** 9 now, 3x 10, 3x 15, 1x 16, though there'd probably be overflow that I can't be arsed to calculate


In conclusion, I say take offer 3.  Attempt to negotiate more payments forward or a better interest rate/repayment schedule.  If you can't do either, buy three docks and two lines.  Turn one line to the engine and another to the hull- we can turn these lines into something else when the deal's over.

...crap.  We can't do this because we can't afford to pay salary!  Um.  I guess we can do the first part option, where we build two docks now with the advance.  We have 16k to last us for 8 months, which will cover salaries (which are 9600 for the duration.)  We can use the final payoff to start building what we discover.

Only trick is this'll make for a boring eight months where we just sit and R&D.  They may be pissed that we're 16 ships short, but oh well- it's covered in the contract.

I didn't even think about taking the hit! That could work.
BUT I also didn't think about the 4 months it'll take to construct the docks.

If you can come up with a balance that has us solvent at the end, you got my support 100%.

(Edit:I've calculated it, and we can afford to fail to make exactly 25 ships plus whatever funds we have left over. This takes the full delivery bonus away. So we are good without ANY docks. 8*10=80. So we, without ANY changes, get 40k profit at the end. I think we should do this.)
So, I changed my Opinion.

1) Accept our sister's thought and don't change the Production. Produce guns from the line and sell them for the cost to produce (don't want our worker's skills getting rusty). Also accept the Safe caravans contract.
2) 10 Llamas (Come on, 0.1 total short? We should get it from spare parts.)
3) Continue the current projects, but as a side project ask our sister to also design a "cargo pod" with easily duplicated specifications for our Llamas to tow.
4) Efforts to procure funding to increase production, and Commission 2 new Docks and 1 new assembly line.

How about a Romantic Infatuation with Mystellar? That might provide a reason to stay, and explain the conversion as well. And make Ram uncomfortable I'll bet.

TRIPLE WIN!

(Edit: OR!!! With Maelrigar. That might be very interesting...)

Join the Game

The problem I see is that any emission that you have the ship making can be detected. How do you propose to make it secret? What do you say, that it's a flaw in the system?
Our ships are cheap haulers, not fat juicy cargo freighters. It'd just flood the area with noise of low-profit targets and end with us not having a single ship to sell, since we are broadcasting crazy signals wildly. What does that say about our engineers? Best to ignore that crazy idea for now.

Ram's thought is something to consider. We could broadcast about how our new experimental armed tugs are being kept in a safe asteroid so that their guns can't accidentally damage any nearby shipping as we run trials on them. Maybe a set of 20-30 of them tugs. Accidentally "leak" the location we are storing them and keep the area unoccupied by our people. Someone would probably run off with them pretty quick. We would still need ships to lose, and the profit margins to afford it. We might be liable for any damages that those lost ships cause though, so we want a financial cushion first. Those ploys are for bigger companies to make. First we gotta grow and become more stable. Besides, we already produce at capacity and sell just as quickly.

Guys, why are you in such a big hurry to get into debt? Seriously, you don't need a loan. We need to let the company stabilize a little better. Get some Petty cash going so we can afford to be flexible. If we have lots of Loan Debt and something happens, how are we to get a loan to fix it? The key here is to stay solvent. We aren't just currently competitive, we are the top competitor in our field. We need to stay on top yes, but we can't go off in crazy directions that puts our core in jeopardy.
Also, we hired Tavian for a reason. We can't ignore it in favor of blood. He needs to be listened to.
And, why are we trying to create something new when we can improve on the old. If we improve the current Modules to be better, we can increase the amount of people who want Llamas. This would also decrease the amount of effort it requires to design new ships or retool our factories. This equals to increased production. In particular, if we can reduce the weight of the A18, we can increase the effectiveness of our engines without retooling, and we might decrease the cost of producing them. So let's Develop the Hull A18a!
Lastly we WILL need another assembly line to produce for new designs, since we will take a retooling hit and we'll need the extra production to fill our dock space on every refit. While we COULD get a standard assembly line, Let's take a Guns for Fun line to keep their people employed (good PR, and because they are an experienced crew. Might be worthwhile) and to get the blueprints

1) Explain to your sister that a Combat Pilot stating designs are unsafe is pretty damn significant and that the design should be fixed.
2) Offer a cash bonus for increased production on the lines to squeeze out a 10th Llama, otherwise 9 Llamas.
3) Continue Research assignment, but add an additional one to improve the Hull A18 in all ways for Tavian, and set our sister to examine how to retrofit the Llama line with the new design without disrupting production too severely.
4) Attempt to get a standing contract for a set amount of Llamas from someone at a consistent price. Buy 1 of the "Guns for Fun" Lines to get the blueprints and experienced workers. Retool it to produce the new engine when it is done.

(Edit: I should explain to you guys what we have from my Point of View. We have a Tug Boat. A workhorse that acts as a locomotive for moving cargo behind it in external containers or towing ships. I imagine it gets lots of use in asteroid belts. It seems like it'd do well moving rocks to smelters. A Cargo Vessel is not what we are known for yet. Arming our Tugs might be an idea, but because of where we are the only person we would want to sell to would be the fleet. Armed Inspection Boats might be a good path to design towards, but we should have the modules and get a contract with the Military first. No matter what though, Maneuverability is good for us. Power is also good because it allows them to pull bigger ships. We might want to look into designing "carts" for our tugs to pull too. External ships with no engines and minimal comfort that can be delivered to destinations and dropped off.)

This should in no means be an exhaustive list. This is just things I found checking some books and doing a tiny bit of digging.

Druid Spells:
Level 2
Soften Earth and Stone (PHB, Page 280)
Earthen Grace (Spell Compendium, Page 76)
Desiccate (Sandstorm, Page 114)
Halo of Sand (Sandstorm, Page 117)
Scimitar of Sand (Sandstorm, page 120)

Level 3
Meld into Stone (PHB, Page 252)
Stone Shape (PHB, Page 284)
Tremor (Spell Compendium, Page 223)
Haboob (Sandstorm, Page 117)
Soul of the Waste (Sandstorm, Page 121)
Storm Mote (Sandstorm, Page 121)

There are other spells you can probably argue for. Sandblast from sandstorm pops off the top of my head right away. Either way you should get it since it fits well. As for spells go get, get useful things. What that means to you might mean something else to someone else. For example, why the heck would anyone pick Obscuring Mist over Shield of Faith? This is not a choice I would have made, but I am sure RAM would rather have that utilitarian spell over the buff. His choice of spells might even save my butt someday. I picked Trade Image and Reduce person over other spells because I can see scenarios where they will come in handy (and because there are very few offensive spells I am familiar with available to me.)

Personal preference makes a great deal of effect in the spells you pick.

Just a fair word of Warning, it was an Ashworm that almost killed Stihe. She'll probably react in unpredictable ways around them.