Explain To Me How The Merc Trade Works In BT

[idea weenie]

One idea for dealing with pirates, while also keeping hirer confidential, would be the attacked sending a report on the raid to Comstar, and asking them a pointed question about if everything in the raid for contract number (as specified by raiders) is accurate and within contract limits.  The local Comstar office would first look through their database to see if that contract number exists (fairly easy to do, also easy for someone to fat-finger the letters/numbers), and at the same time is sending a list of th damages by the attacked party to the main office.  If the contract exists, then the main office copies the details for that contract from the main database to the requesting station.  The main office also looks over the damages, so if there is a contract they can determine if the damages were excessive or not.  If there was no contract, then the unit will face some very pointed questions, and potentially getting labeled as pirates.  Since it is happening at/near the Comstar Merc Contract HQ, the new Pirate Hunting Contract pops up very quickly.  The requesting station (once it receives a copy of the contract with names edited out) will go over the contract vs damages and explain to the attacked party if they can get compensated.

Of course, at every step of the process, the attacked party is paying for the investigation.  They pay for the contract lookup, the contract transmission, the time used by the Adepts/Precentors to look over the contract, etc.  So having a good reputation is important here, as even though you just blew up the local radar tower at the spaceport in addition to stealing the cargo that was being loaded, the attacked party knows that you operated per the contract, it wasn't just because one person in the spaceport tower mooned the raiders' CO.

ComStar charges a huge amount for HPG transmission.  Most communication appears to be more like a telegram rather than a long, rambling e-mail with video attachments and things.  Unless speed is really important, you could save a lot of money by just paying a guy going on a jumpship voyage to take along a data disc and give it to people at the next planet.

With the mention of a Yottabyte storage in the final Jihad book, I could see companies storing the addresses/imagery locally, and sending short codes to a planet detailing which image to use in their mass mailing, which group of people it should go to, what the discounts should be, and any other special promotions.

So instead of transmitting the logo via HPG, they have already sent a data packet of several dozen logos via jumpship, and the mass mailing campaign selects one of them (and possible variations on colors).  They don't send the specific address of each person, they just send a series of numbers that corresponds to specific mailing groups.  They don't specifically state BOGO LRM ammo, they just send a '03' in the special offer field telling to use special offer number 3, and a final comment field that lists corporate plans, so the on-planet representative can adjust as needed.

An example of the logo might be a shiny sphere graphic used in part of the logo.  Instead of transmitting the full data on the colors used in that part of the sphere, the outline is already in the corporate servers.  They then receive an X-Y coordinate where the shiniest part of the sphere should be, the direction of shade, and how rapidly the shade changes.  Similar to Adobe Acrobat where you create the sphere by typing in values.  All that is transmitted is the values, instead of the full colors.

[haesslich]

Not so sure about that. Why? the only advantage a jumpship has over an HPG is the ability to carry physical goods. In a universe of HPG transmissions, however, there is no need to do so. Likely the HPGs work like the post office, but with digital information, handing messages or mail off from one HPG to another depending on the routing information. A high speed squirt of data later and the receiver gets it at the destination. At which point it either goes out as an email (or equivalent), or goes to a printshop to be snail-mailed (FREX magazines or physical books). Heck, I would imagine for regular traffic companies set up standing contracts with local printhouses to print of editions of books or magazines for the local clientele.

Damon.

Comstar charges based on message traffic and size - and also, not every system has an A-circuit connection to the main network. Some systems get a batch every few weeks or depend on Comstar couriers because they're not seen as big enough to support the level of investment that building an HPG requires.

Plus, those "couriers" are also going to carry small goods to these systems they're sending transmissions for. You jump in, drop off the dropship who was coming here anyways to trade, pick up the guy who you left here two weeks ago, and dump messages to the local planetary government.

Also, there are security reasons to run your pony express, which may factor into things.

[guardiandashi]

my thoughts since I never really thought about it much are kind of like this:
contracts:
the contracts are typically mostly boiler plate specifying the type of contract, duration and similar.
retainer, raid security, garrison, training, etc.  within some contracts (such as retainer) there is an enormous amount of leeway for specific duties as requested. much like most jobs today where there is essentially always: and other duties as requested.

I am sure there are distribution flags that can be set on contracts for a fee explicitly denying the release of the details of the contract to various parties for a period of time up to and including "forever" what this means is that the summary report might read like:
merc unit (A1254890) redacted has been retained by insert name (redacted) to conduct contract type (redacted) from the period of insert date range (may or may not be redacted) duties include (redacted) ....
and on and on, so when the target of the "raid" gets their requested copy of the "valid" contract, its not much more than there was a contract, and someone did it. there typically wouldn't be breadcrumbs for them to track down who it really was that did a hot drop into their city and went on a shooting, kidnapping, and raping spree they just know that someone did it and at least parts of the event was sanctioned.

now what they can always do is complain to comstar / MRBC that "someone" did actions on planet during times, and you would like to take out a contract and complaint, branding them as war criminals /pirates for "reasons" at which point the hiring party would get (shortly) as in up to a few months later notification that there is a complaint that one of their possibly retained units are accused of "insert complaint" at which time "someone" reviews the complaint and either laughs it off, or acts upon it based on the reputation THEY are trying to maintain.

as far as ratings, as I remember it, there are a number of factors that determining your units rating:
your specific unit size and type (doesn't directly factor in)
your units support capacity, (can you maintain and repair your unit) you get a higher rating if you can without outside resources.
transportation, (how much of your unit can you transport and to where)
technology when 3050-3055 rolls around the tech base of your unit becomes a factor, if you are rocking star league and clan tech you get a bonus on your rating.
mission history success and failure.  successful missions (contracts) increase your rating failed ones lower it.  you can also (as a unit) request arbitration if you failed objectives if they were not feasible to achieve, (basically you argue that your employer lied about the nature of the mission/contract, and that you tried in good faith to fulfill the contract) this can lower the employers rating and or impose sanctions on them if the review agrees with your complaint (as a unit)

being a member of a merc unit does not automatically absolve you of committing crimes depending on the nature, but shooting up a weapons emplacement MAY be considered when you blew up the apartment complex on the block that was backstopping it.  unless you blatantly just opened up on the apartment building just because you could.

as far as data transmissions using the HPG system, I agree that "spam mail" as a general thing may or may not be a thing, (I suspect it is) but that a lot of groups pay for what amounts to local "markup code" based inserts.
So lets say someone subscribes to the "Girls of Tharkad" (hot girls on a cold planet.... ) magazine, if they get it on Tharkad it is likely to have one set of adverts in the magazine, if you receive it on luthien, or New Avalon, many of the adverts will be tailored to your current location at the time of receipt and depending if it is an ezine, or hardcopy, printed at a local printer.

as I remember it the charges for comstar service while somewhat high aren't really THAT bad.
factors were the size of the transmission (1 cbill per page of text) priority, and distance so if you are sending 1 page of text 50 jumps (roughly) that might cost 50 cbills at the standard priority rate, less as a just make sure it gets there "whenever" and more depending on the priority all the way up to: I want it there today... even if that means you have to wake up all the hpg operators this is an A1 emergency price is no object message.