NPC Cargo Transport is the use of Ship and Vehicle squadrons which meet certain conditions to move Raw Materials without requiring a character to be physically controlling the squadron leader. Cargo Squadrons are created at certain Facilities and Stations which function as Cargo Bases. The Cargo Base must be linked to one or more Cargo Sources which can provide Raw Materials. The Cargo Base has a Cargo Manifest which specifies how much of each Raw Material should be retrieved for storage onboard.
NPC Cargo Transport operates as a "Pull" type logistics system. The Base acts as a Raw Material "vacuum", sending out squadrons of transports to bring materials back to the base. All activity is initiated at the Base, and all tags are applied to the Base. The Sources are linked to the base, and the ships must start at the Base. The Raw Materials must be in a Source to be moved.
Each character can only control a limited number of transport squadron slot points, as determined by the equation below. Only ships or vehicles that are considered Transports (see below) count against the total slot points. Escorts can be added for free, up to the maximum of 12 points in a single squadron.
Total Available Points = 30 + ( (Space Command + Diplomacy + Management) * 6)
Mace has 0 in Space Command, 1 in Diplomacy, and 3 in Management. Therefore, he can control 30 + ((0 + 1 + 3) * 6) points worth of transport points, for a total of 54.
Mace starts his first Cargo Squadron using a pair of BFF-1 Bulk Freighters, each of which take up 6 points, for a total of 12 points used. He has 42 points remaining.
Mace starts his second Cargo Squadron with a Goji-DF Turtle Tanker (2 Points) and a CR-92 Battle Corvette (10 Points). Only the Goji Tanker counts against his total, as the Corvette is not a transport vessel. The squadron uses 2 points, for a total of 14 points used between both squadrons. He has 40 points remaining.
NPC Cargo Transport incurs a cost for each travel between a hub and a source, or vice versa. This cost is based on the type of Destination, the number of hours it takes to travel between the Base and the Source, and the value of both hauler and cargo. The Berthing Fees are determined by the Destination (the Base or a Source), and its economic factors. Larger facilities and stations have higher fees. The Haulage Fees are determined by the value of both the Transport vessels and the cargo within. Longer travel times have higher fees.
The combined Berthing and Haulage fees are then modified based on the number of concurrent active squadrons controlled by the player.
where:
- B: Berthing Fees at the Destination (Base or Source)
- M: RMP of the Destination.
- T: Tax Level of the Destination's planet or system, or 0 in Deep Space.
- C: Civilization level of the Destination's planet or system, or 0 in Deep Space.
where:
- I: Haulage Fees
- H: Hours of travel between the Base and the Source.
- F: Assessed value (2x RMP) of all freight-hauling transports in the squadron.
- L: Assessed value (2x RMP) of all loaded cargo.
where:
- O: Concurrent Cost Modifier
- P: Number of Cargo Squadron Points in use.
Total Cost = (Berthing Fees + Haulage Fees) * Concurrent Cost Modifier
The table below gives example cost modifiers for common "Points in use" values.
| Point In Use | Cost Modifier |
|---|---|
| 12 | 100% |
| 24 | 100% |
| 36 | 100% |
| 48 | 100% |
| 60 | 100% |
| 72 | 108% |
| 84 | 147% |
| 96 | 192% |
| 108 | 243% |
| 120 | 300% |
The fee is assessed once each at the beginning of both the outbound and inbound legs of travel. It is NOT charged for each travel segment of the leg.
The value of H, travel time, does not include Travel Planner delays or Cargo Transfer delays, and is NOT rounded to an integer.
Cargo Bases can have one or more tags assigned via inventory. Each tag can have a fitout created which stores one or more Raw Material types, a desired quantity, and a priority. A higher priority (larger number) indicates that the material is more important and will be requested before a lower priority (smaller number) material. 100 is the highest priority, then 99, 98, ... to 0, which is the lowest priority.
Each fitout entry is limited to a maximum quantity of 20,000,000 m3 and a maximum priority of 100.
Tags should be applied to the Cargo Base, not the Cargo Source!
Cargo Bases will aggregate fitouts from each tag to create an overall Manifest for the base, up to a maximum of 5 tags. When the same material is present in multiple tags with different priorities, a weighted average priority will be created. The Base Manifest is limited to 12 entries. If more than that number of materials are present in the aggregates tags, the lowest priority materials will not be included in the manifest. The Manage Cargo Manifest page accessible on a Cargo Base will show how much of each manifest entry has already been fulfilled.
If no tags are assigned, a default manifest will be created which prioritizes the most common construction and production materials, ordered by cost of transport.
Lando owns a Depot Station IV above Bespin. He creates two tags with associated cargo fitouts and assigns both tags to his station.
The first tag is for his normal mining operations, and specifies 15,000 units of tibannagas. The second tag is for a special order, and specifies 10,000 units of meleenium and 5,000 units of tibannagas.
The overall Manifest for the station will be 10,000 units of meleenium and 20,000 units of tibannagas.
The Cargo Manifest does not care about the ownership of Raw Material piles, for the purposes of determining fulfillment. All piles of a particular type are counted, regardless of who owns them, when determining how much more of a material is required.
A minimum transport limit can be specified for each cargo base. A cargo source will not be considered as a candidate to provide materials if it does not contain the minimum specified of materials. This is intended to minimize inefficient travel to nearly-empty facilities. This can also be set to zero to consider all valid sources.
When a Cargo Squadron is created, it will look at the manifest for the Base, and select the highest priority Manifest entry that:
- Is not already being serviced by another squadron
- Is not completely fulfilled
- Has a Cargo Source with available material of at least the minimum specified amount
- Is reachable, based upon the travel capabilities of the Squadron leader
A Cargo Squadron will only service one Manifest entry at a time. Additionally, each Manifest entry will only be serviced by one Cargo Squadron at a time. This may occasionally result in inefficient travel if there is only a small amount of required material remaining unless a minimum amount is specified in the manifest.
Only facility and station types listed below can act as Cargo Bases and manage Cargo Squadrons. Each base can be linked to multiple Cargo Sources, from which the Cargo Squadrons will pull Raw Materials. Bases are limited to a maximum of 25 linked Cargo Sources. Any valid Source in the same system can be linked to the Base. The Base and Source do not need to be on the same planet.
Facilities
Bacta Refinement Facility
(1 Squadron)
Dry Dock
(1 Squadron)
Factory
(1 Squadron)
Hangar
(1 Squadron)
Lab
(1 Squadron)
Landing Pad
(1 Squadron)
Naval Shipyard
(1 Squadron)
Starport
(3 Squadrons)
Warehouse
(1 Squadron)
Stations
Centrepoint Station
(4 Squadrons)
Depot Station I
(2 Squadrons)
Depot Station II
(3 Squadrons)
Depot Station III
(4 Squadrons)
Depot Station IV
(5 Squadrons)
Medical Factory Station
(1 Squadron)
Merchant Space Dock
(2 Squadrons)
Shipyard I
(1 Squadron)
Shipyard II
(1 Squadron)
Shipyard III
(2 Squadrons)
Shipyard IV
(2 Squadrons)
Trading I
(2 Squadrons)
Trading II
(4 Squadrons)
X7 Factory Station
(1 Squadron)
One of the following conditions must be true in order for a Character to use a Cargo Hub to control Cargo Squadrons:
- The Character's Faction owns the Cargo Hub, and the Character has appropriate NPC Cargo permissions.
- The Character's Faction commands the Cargo Hub, and the Character has appropriate NPC Cargo permissions.
- The Character owns the Cargo Hub.
- The Character commands the Cargo Hub.
Whichever condition is met first determines who pays for a particular Cargo Squadron, and therefore which materials can be moved by that Cargo Squadron.
Finn works for Resistance Fighters Inc. and has permission to control Cargo Squadrons. He can use the company-owned Shipyard IV to control Cargo Squadrons and move materials for Resistance Fighters Inc. even though it is currently managed by Yolo Shipbuilders for production purposes.
Rey works for Yolo Shipbuilders and has permission to control Cargo Squadrons. She can use the same Shipyard IV to control Cargo Squadrons and move materials for Yolo Shipbuilders, because they are assigned as the commander.
Cassian owns a personal Shipyard II in deep space. He assigns Yolo Shipbuilders as the commander so they can produce ships. Cassian can control personal Cargo Squadrons to move materials that he owns into the station. Rey can control Cargo Squadrons for Yolo Shipbuilders and move materials that they own into the station.
The facility and station types listed below can act as Cargo Sources.
Facilities
Alazhi Farm
Bacta Refinement Facility
Dry Dock
Factory
Hangar
Lab
Landing Pad
Mine
Naval Shipyard
Recycling Plant
Silo
Starport
Warehouse
Stations
To be considered as a Cargo Source, the following conditions must be met:
- The entity must be powered.
- The entity must not be in a hidden city.
- The entity must not be under construction.
- The entity must not be a wreck.
- The entity must not be disabled.
- The controller must have access (owner, commander, pilot, or 'Assign' privilege).
NPC Cargo Transport squadrons must contain at least one of the entity types listed below. Other members of the squadron can be any entity type that is able to be squadded. This gives flexibility when creating squadrons, allowing the controller to maximize cargo capacity or add escorts.
Ships
Vehicles
All characters can control Squadrons consisting of ships or vehicles they own or command. Characters in a Faction and possessing the correct privileges can control Squadrons consisting of Faction-owned or commanded ships or vehicles.
Cargo Squadrons will only transport Raw Materials that are owned by the entity paying for the Cargo Transport!
Each entity assigned to a squadron must meet all of the following conditions before Cargo Transport can occur:
- The entity must be undocked and located at the same position as the Base.
- The entity must not have any passengers (Character, NPCs, Droids, or Creatures).
- The entity must not have any docked ships, vehicles, or stations.
- The entity must not contain any undeployed items.
- The entity must not be disabled.
Cargo Squadrons travel using the Travel Planner system (see Movement rules). A short but skippable delay occurs between each segment of the travel. The controller of the Cargo Squadron can order the delay skipped from the Active Cargo Squadrons page.
Cargo Squadrons use the appropriate piloting skill of the controller, modified by the controller's Space Command skill. See Garrisons for more details.
Loading or unloading cargo takes time. The base time for transferring cargo to or from a Vehicle is 30 minutes. The base time for transferring cargo to or from a Ship is 180 minutes. The Cargo Loading Time delay cannot be skipped.
The base time is then modified based on the number of concurrent active squadrons controlled by the player. Note that the modifier can be less than 1.0, so transfer times are faster than the base time when a player is controlling a small number of squadrons.
where:
- E: Concurrent Time Modifier
- P: Number of Cargo Squadron Points in use.
The table below gives example transfer times for common "Points in use" values.
| Point In Use | Vehicle Transfer | Ship Transfer |
|---|---|---|
| 12 | 15 minutes | 90 minutes |
| 24 | 15 minutes | 90 minutes |
| 36 | 22 minutes | 130 minutes |
| 48 | 38 minutes | 230 minutes |
| 60 | 60 minutes | 360 minutes |
| 72 | 86 minutes | 518 minutes |
| 84 | 118 minutes | 706 minutes |
| 96 | 154 minutes | 922 minutes |
| 108 | 194 minutes | 1166 minutes |
| 120 | 240 minutes | 1440 minutes |
Cargo Squadrons can loiter at the base if they cannot find a valid Cargo Type to transport or a valid source for the chosen Cargo Type. This setting is selectable when the squadron is created and can be toggled on or off at will once the squadron is active. A Loiter fee is paid at the beginning of the Loiter period to keep the Cargo Squadron on retainer. The controller will receive an event each time a Loiter period begins.
The Loiter period is 24 hours.
Cargo Squadrons will loiter indefinitely. You will be charged the Loiter Fee each time the squadron begins a new Loiter period.
The controller must toggle off the Loiter feature to prevent future Loiter periods and avoid paying the Loiter fee continuously!
where:
- R: Loiter Fees
- H: Hours of time spent loitering.
- F: Assessed value (2x RMP) of all freight-hauling transports in the squadron.
- L: Assessed value (2x RMP) of all loaded cargo.
where:
- O: Concurrent Cost Modifier
- P: Number of Cargo Squadron Points in use.
Total Cost = Loiter Fees * Concurrent Cost Modifier
Cargo Squadrons can be manually ordered to Return To Base at any time. Doing so will disband the squadron once it reaches the Cargo Base.
Cargo Squadrons can also be manually ordered to Disband Immediately. This will halt all ongoing activity, including travel or cargo transfer, and immediately disband the squadron. The squadron will NOT automatically return to base if this option is used.
A Cargo Squadron which is commanded to Return to Base or Disband Immediately while Loitering at the base will NOT refund any portion of the Loiter Fees
