NationStates Jolt Archive

Much of the interplanetary trade inside Sol system, and in fact the NationStates galaxy, goes unnoticed and mostly undocumented. This thread is intended to reverse that by providing a central repository for this information. All information here should be considered public knowledge and can be used for background descriptions in space-based RP.

Information posted here should be limited to interplanetary trade in Sol system only - no inter-system trade notes should be posted. Also note that information here should be taken with a large grain of salt. Claims of hundreds of thousands of super-freighters that dominate the space lanes will generally be considered idiotic - as well as claims of tens of thousands of ships protecting them.

Santa Barbara does not have hundreds of thousands of trade vessels, but the number is definitely in the thousands.

The majority of these are small, efficient Bolden MSS's with no fighting capability, but there are large freighters owned by the megacorps as well. Even these, however, have minimal (if any) fighting capacity.

The major trade routes are from Earth-LEO, Earth-GEO, Earth-Luna, Earth-Mars (orbit), Mars orbit - Asteroid Belt.

Trade routes are protected by the Santa Barbaran Interplanetary Trade Guard (SBITG), a recent organization created by the Corporate Federal Conglomerate. SBITG has the job of enforcing regulations by the Trans-National Exchange (TNE) and the Registry of Shipping (RoS).

The regulations are, in general, for safety and security only. SBITG does not enforce any tax laws, since there aren't taxes, and it values it's lack of overt presence. The SBITG is somewhat like the US coast guard in it's activities, though with far fewer interventions. So far, there hasn't been much work involving pirates, and space piracy is only a minor concern (if any).

Ultimately, the defense of trade routes from belligerent nations falls to the Integrated Theater Defense Organization (ITDO), the military arm of the CoFedCo. SBITG vessels, although the largest are heavily armed, are not up to the same standards (and expenses) of the more powerful ITDO warships.

Well... (in "the future" Knootoss) Knootian commercial shipping is rather extensive within sol, but is largely confined to the Earth-Mars routes. This mostly trade concerns "Martian Free Trade Agreement" nations and the many nations on earth with whom agreements have been reached.

I do believe that, as part of an old agreement, there can be Valinon ships protecting Knootian commercial shipping.

Knootian transport of goods and persons is relatively cheap while not overly luxurious, and there aren't a lot of laws concerning what can and what cannot be shipped so shady deals are easily made. The ministry of economic affairs vehemently denies accusations of Knootian traders being smugglers of illicit goods and people. Piracy, however, is something no Knootian has ever been accused of and most ships of the merchant fleet are either imported or tactically weak.

The Knootian fleet is mostly oriented towards exploration and scientific research, vessels being bought from Sunset. (Preferably second hand with upgraded sensors etc.) Oh, yes, it is rumoured that they can also fight. :P

((OOC: Think 'ferengi', only slightly less stereotypical, less criminal and not into piracy. The military fleet is like that of the the United Federation of Planets only *really* peaceful and no steel penises of doom.))

Sunset Interplanetary Trade
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Merchant Ships

Merchant shipping in Sunset is a private enterprise conducted by a mix of several dozen mega-corporations and several thousand independant owner/operators.

The mega-corps generally maintain a fleet of a dozen to a hundred medium to ultra-heavy bulk haulers. These are responsible for the vast majority of resource movement into and out of Sunset. Grain carriers ship large amounts of Martian wheat to Titan, Terra, and Venus, while ore and gas haulers come the other way moving heavy metals from KBOs and the Saturn rings along with gases from Venus and Saturn. The average corporate cargo hauler is in the range of 100,000 to 1,000,000 tons - though there are some that range far above that.

The independant ships are generally the results of lottery winnings or the patient accumulation of capital over several generations of a single family. The independants have fallen into a particular groove of moving the many specialty and luxury items produced and desired by the people of Sunset and the nations of Mars. The typical ship is a light or medium freighter in the 10,000 to 100,000 ton cargo range with a typical cargo of fine furniture from Terra, exotic Cetagandan goods from Titan, or even Pink Bunny Cola from Knootoss.

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Merchant Protection

Most merchant ships carry some form of protection against piracy and hostile nations. With no weapon laws in Sunset the ships are only limited by what is practical and what is obtainable.

Corporate ships are generally moderately armed - and usually capable of taking on your average raider or light capital ship in a fair fight. The most typical weapons are turret based plasma cannon valued as low maintenance, low cost weapons. Some of the larger or more prominent corporate haulers will mount surplus torpedo systems or more rarely last generation systems. Some also carry fighters - SDF surplus DA-99's, 100's, and 102's are the most common. Point defense is also common with the last generation SDF systems being a common purchase.

The independants are much more scattered in their choices of weaponry - if any. A few go unarmed trusting to speed and nearby warships to protect them. Others go the opposite and mount systems that place them in a light cruiser catagory. These are often 'hazardous salvagers' or similar - not quite pirates, but definately not adverse to picking off a poorly protected hostile freighter or two. Fighters are definately less common - they take a lot of space to launch and maintain. Space that would be better used in carrying profitable cargo.

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Sunset Defense Force Merchant Protection

Because trade is viewed as the lifeblood of civilization as well as a primary source of taxation the Fleet devotes a good portion of it's patrol activities to watching the primary space lanes used by Sunset and other nation's merchant fleets. Sub-divisions of the Sol theatre command are tasked with watching the primary Sunset trade lanes as well as the other minor lanes where possible.

The major trade lanes are Mars-Titan, Mars-Terra, and Mars-Venus. The minor lanes are Terra-Venus, Mars-Luna, and Titan-Terra. Corporate merchant ships will often form convoys along the major lanes, extending their protection to independant ships for contracted rates. Sometimes the especially well-armed independants will do the same - contracting their protection to the corporate ships. While technically not directly accompanying the merchant ships SDF warships can sometimes be found shadowing a convoy if intelligence indicates a possible threat.

Some of the largest corporations have their own warships as well. These are either surplus SDF warships - Cohort II's and III's are popular - or custom ships converted from freighters or purpose built for convoy protection. While not the equal of a SDF warship they are typically up to the task of beating off a few pirates or raiders long enough for SDF, TYCS, or allied forces to respond in force.

Most of the local interplanetary trade is controled by private groups, being the FBC -Federal Business Combine- Trade Division the current largest holder on the sector. Here is an overview of the main rotes:

Earth-Mars Trade Route: The oldest and most active route taken by federal corporation, this routes is the backbone of the martian interests of the federation. Although the martian colonies the fededration held were purely scientifcic -thus inhibiting any form of private commerce-, upon the decree that declared Chasma Dominia a "semi-independant federal state", commercial and civilian movement boomed between the colony and motherland.

Earth-Thaenothil Trade Route: Located between the orbits of planets Venus and Mercury, the space station Thaenothil stands. Sin ce it was created as part of a space population project, commercial and civilian movement had been prescent, under control of the FBC. It is currently a route of great economical importance, and it is expected to surpace the Earth-Mars route in a matter of years, in commercial terms.

Muthmag-Mars-Earth Minning Route: Located deep within the Solar Asteroid Belt, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, and under control of the FBC Minning Group, the asteroid colony of Muthmag is the center of a vast network of minning facilities scattered over a wide area of the Belt. Due to the severe lack of raw materials on motherland, the minning activities on the Belt are of prime importance. Transport of raw materials is controled by a state-private joint enterprise. Reffinning facilities are located on martian orbit, from where they are then sent towards it's final destiny on Earth. This route, although not as money-making as others, is the backbone of the national industrial system. Taking it out could create a terrible productive breakdown, due to the lack of materials.


Those are the three main routes. They are tighly controled by federal agencies, but security is never perfect. Smugglers and pirates are not abscent from any, specially on the Muthmag-Mars route, making from raw material's tarffic a very profitable and widee business on the Federation.

Piracy

While there are a lot of friendly ships out there there is also a lot of open space and a clever pirate can survive for quite some time. Most piracy of Sunset merchant vessels is actually privateering - attacks by hostile nations' capital ships. These attacks are responded to where possible, but this and common piracy still takes it's toll.

Approximately .5% of all shipping every year is damaged or lost to piracy at a cost of tens of billions in lost trade. Most of this cost is born by the independants as their very trade style makes them more vulnerable. Losses used to be much higher, but with the current ToY/Arda situation most ships are taking the time to convoy up. This is lowering losses, but also raising delivery times and allowing nations with merchant fleets not affected by this cold war to make inroads into Sunset shipping.

LRR lives on trade.

The LRRSF itself is a freighting fleet. All LRRSF ships have cargo capacity, and the unorganized fleets (numbers four and five) are made of mostly freighters.

LRRSF freighters usually do not transport LRR goods, because not much is made in LRR. However, asteroid and gas mining does produce an excess of input that can be traded with other countries.

LRR freighters have a large capacity and are usually very well armed and armored.

LRR trades with anyone who will accept our freighters, provided their government is up to shape.

LRR lives on trade.

The LRRSF itself is a freighting fleet. All LRRSF ships have cargo capacity, and the unorganized fleets (numbers four and five) are made of mostly freighters.

LRRSF freighters usually do not transport LRR goods, because not much is made in LRR. However, asteroid and gas mining does produce an excess of input that can be traded with other countries.

LRR freighters have a large capacity and are usually very well armed and armored.

LRR trades with anyone who will accept our freighters, provided their government is up to shape.

The Traileric interplanetary trade program is just retired war vessels outfitted to carry cargo intead of marines,also,most have all non-defensive weaponry dismantled.Some with valuable cargo have escorts.

The most heavily travelled external route for Guild ships is Mars-Venus, transporting liquified and/or frozen flourine, hydrogen sulphide, and carbon dioxide mostly for the replenishment of the Martian atmosphere, but also for the synthesis and sale of flourosulphuric acid in conjunction with the Eniqcir-based CMC for industrial purposes.

Spaceplanes regularly shuttle between the surface and the Martian Rings to trade said acid and other industrial chemicals as well as optical components and other products which require the extreme precision and perfection best achieved in zero g for agricultural products, mostly beef. Similar operations are taken up between Tellus and the Civillian Barge Arêtê, permanently stationed in Tellurian orbit.

Internal routes shuttle goods between a large number of stations in the asteroid belt, Tellus, the Martian leading and trailing trojan points, the Kytherian leading trojan point, the Jovian trailing trojan point, Jupiter, and the sub-Mercurian stations.

Plans are underway to establish a greater presence in Martian and Kytherian trade.

Vernii runs a cargo transfer station somewhere near Jupiter, got it from a space nation in return for helping them during a war. Theres a trade port in Galmorra on Earth, and there's at least two Verniian intersystem liners that visit the system. There's a huge potential for a massive increase in freight shipping thanks to Valinon's discovery of a wormhole network in the region. Gregor is connected to Alpha-Centauri by one, and from there its a short 3 LY jump to Sol.

OOC: We only have 10 merchant ships that Hyperion Transport Systems lease from Bolden (the Boldem MSS's, the same kind Santa Barbara uses) but hope to expand our fleet shortly. We run from Mercury, Earth, and Mars. So far, we have no interests in Venus.

Tsaraine has no trade as such; trade is the tool of dirty capitalists, after all. What it does have are supply routes, which I shall detail here.

Supply from Earth to High Stone, at the Earth/Moon L3 point, is carried out pretty easily by spaceplanes launched from the ground. All Tsarainese supply routes pass through High Stone, it being the major orbital facility.

Outside the Earth/Moon planetary system, there are essentially three different destinations; Maraldi on Mars, Far Stone in the Asteroid Belt, and Kel Meralkharant/Io in Jovian orbit.

Freighters to Far Stone carry supplies on the way out, and bring refined metals back to Earth from the asteroid mines. Freighters to Maraldi and Kel Meralkharant take supplies to those territories, but don't bring much back; Kel Meralkharant is a military base and Maraldi is still very small.

The freighters out to Kel Meralkharant also take supplies to the NDA-administered Burninatonian territories of Io, and come back occasionally with sulphur if the homeland needs a lot of that; Io's manufacturing capabilities were mostly wrecked by the war and the lack of maintenance afterwards.

Piracy
Guild ships have, as of yet, experienced no attempts at piracy in the entire history of the Republic. Exactly why cannot be pinned down for sure, but everyone has their own theories.
1) There isn't much worth stealing.
2) When there is, hijacking is just too much trouble. Most Guild ships can't be diverted from their courses at launch without nearly always ensuring that they will be lost in space forever for lack of delta-v, as they never carry any more than what is necessary for their mission. And if you were to try to tow a Guild ship? Way too obvious. There would be nowhere to hide.
3) Guild routes are just way too far off the beaten path and the ships are too far apart to make it worth it to go after them. In addition to the remote locations, they usually follow long-term Hohman transfer orbits out in the middle of nowhere. 'Tis very rare to find a brachistochrone freighter.
4) Though most Guild ships are unarmed, no freelance pirate (that is, non-privateer) wants to risk coming up against that rare one which has an HPD.

The LRRSF freighters are generally converted combat ships, and thus heavily armed. No attempts at seizing an LRRSF freighter have ever been made.

Also, you'd have to find one and manage to pull it out of hyperspace to even have a chance at getting it. The LRRSF runs thousands of small outposts and quite a few big ones, which allow a freighter to run to a safe harbor quite easily.

Also, LRR freighters do not take regular paths, so it is very hard to predict where one is going.

*bump*

DA Intrasolar Trade

Despite DA's economic situation being rather critical (Drop from frightening to all consuming/ powerhouse) since about a month ago, the old trade lines are still rather well- used.

With a significant (Though in no way 'large', compared to major space powers) extraterran population, a need for constant transports from earth to the colonies does certainly exist. On the other hand, since DA Earth is entirely urbanised, and basically stripmined, the need to import ressources from the outside to be actually capable of production is a given, too. This results in fairly extensive traffic.

The most important trade route is currently the Terra/ Mars one (Though there is hope that the Terra/ Neptune route will soon increase in its importance), followed by the Terra/ Jupiter and Jupiter/ Mars routes.*

Other, minor routes are the Terra/ Neptune, Jupiter/ Neptune and Mars/ Neptune routes, finally the supply routes for the Sisgardian Craftworld in the Kuiper Belt.*

There are also tertiary routes to support mining colonies in the Kuiper- and Asteorid Belt, and to foreign Holdings, which aren't specified.

Piracy used to be a minor problem, but since a civilian freighter was lost due to a (suspected) Eldar attack near Uranus, convoys are generally used, for normal cargo as well as passengers, this reducing piracy to almost nothing.

The standard freighter/ ferry is between 100- 550m/ diameter, usually a sphere or an ellipsoid. Planetfall capabilities are limited, orbit to surface transports are usually done with transport shuttles (This being clearly easier in the non- Terran territories).

Protection is usually done with frigates/ Destroyers/ cruisers, again, spherical or ellipsoid ships, between 100- 200, rarely 300m/ diameter.

Incidentally, The internal trade bilanz between Earth and the outer territories is negative. The (comparably) insignificant amount of people in the colonies needs only a limited amount of supplies from Earth, while Earth needs quite literally giant amounts of raw materials from the colonies.

* Moons are generally considered a part of a planetary subsystem, thusly, the moon is included in the Terran trade lanes, same goes for the Galilean moons (And Themisto/ Thebe)/ Jupiter and Triton/ Neptune)

Der Angst, when did you take Triton as one of your territories? I've had Neptune's moons for a long time, more than a RL year now, without anyone else claiming those moons without my permission. I've given away two of Neptune's moons, two of the small ones, but not to you.

Moontian's colonies have been set up to be self-reliant, but there is much trade and travel between the homeland on Earth and the colonies on Neptune's moons; as well as trade to the international trade station orbiting Jupiter.

The company concerned with trade is the Falcon Import/Export Company, and operates a fleet of Flaming Arrow armed transports and Orion fighters for escort; completely independant of the defence forces.

Original Triton thread is likely DEAT, the second one (Expansion) should be easy to find once the search function works again, and in any case, I would suggest realising that NS is 'a bit' too big for everyone to know everything, deal.

There is a f*cking reason I'm never claiming entire planets/ moons (Well, as long as they don't have a surface area of at least 2% earth surface area), this being what is stated above.

Grr, Argh, want to edit, where is the edit button?

Anyway... It should read 'There is a f*cking reason I'm never claiming entire planets/ moons (Well, as long as they don't have a surface area of less than 2% earth surface area), this being what is stated above.'

Merchant ship estimates are though to be around the lower thousands, exact numbers unknown due to the absence of taxes, ship registration protocol, and other administration duties that New ArAreBee doesn't bother with. Number estimates come from dock fees and surveys.

Corporate haulers make up a significant bulk of traffic from and to New ArAreBee, the main routes being Mars-Terra, Mars-Titan, Mars-Belt, and Mars-Misc. Out going ships tend to carry consumable, various expert systems, civilian/military hardware, arms, and various civilian transport craft (Examples: Automobiles, Aircars, VTOL, Occasional Spacecraft). Freehauler traffic usually follows this trend also, although they tend to make up a small chunk of brand name and luxury goods due to advertisements targeted at space opera enthusiasts.

'Piracy' is bizarre business in New ArAreBee, literally in most cases due to Hazardous Salvager licenses. Most piracy consists of InterCorporate Industrial feuds, privateers targeting rival corporate haulers, executive craft, and the like. The most famous example including the current Belter War in which (relatively) massive mercenary fleets are now fighting over asteroid claims. Hazardous Salvager Act was passed and signed by a near unanimous amount of New ArAreBee member polities. The Act itself was more of an amendment to previous Industrial Feud Act, in which the proper rules of war were laid out for organizations and individuals. Hazardous Salvaging was generally included in that by various court precedent, but was made official in the face of the pirate purges of Old Mars.

Mars-Terra Traffic:
Primarily the shipping of goods between the DohNutAh colony and Mars. Exports proceed from their on various wet naval craft. In order for maximum profits, several major corporations have taken up the use of Manifold (not to be confused with FTL drive) Navigation, using the gravity wells of the many bodies in the solar system to get from one place to another for almost zero fuel, at the cost of massive travel times. Supply trains have been in going for several years now, using FTL jumps to close up holes.

Mars-Titan Traffic:
Mostly an export business due to the large economies around Saturn. Imports tend to consist of the more cheaper NRRB agricultural products, legal arms, and narcotic industry. Clever marketing tends to raise profits, however the SLAGlandic companies tend to 'toot the horn' louder then most New ArAreBeen countries want to, reducing possible profits.

Mars-Belt Traffic:
Belt traffic tends to consist of an unequal exporting of produced goods, and importing of raw goods. Arms and consumable are in high demand, as are spacecraft. Quite large service market has developed with the 'importing' of Memetic Engineers, Political Scientists, and Geneticists. Various Soldiers of Fortune 500 companies have had good business here, as well as Mining Corporations.

Mars-Misc. Traffic:
Tends to consist of an amalgamation of traffic along unfrequented space lanes. Mars-Mercury, Mars-Venus, and Mars-Transaturn. Interstellar trade also falls in here, although that has been rising as of late and is expected by many to be in it's own category by most Trade Journals in the future.

Manifold Drive:
In addition to the Triumvirate, Bleux Security, the patent holder on the Drive, sells their FTL method. It was mostly sold 'in nation' only, but has recently been offered on the open market. The drive itself tends to be more fuel efficient then the Black Knight drive, in exchange for a rather large increase in complexity and slower start-up sequence. Many figures don't want to deal with drive cores Slave-AI, but various spokespersons have been increasing the popularity and quieting the discontent over AI rights involved with the drive.

I have a fairly large merchant space fleet. Main hub is an orbital station in Geosynchronus orbit over Squornshelous (on Earth). Probly about 2000 ships all around. Nothing economically dominating, but definitely a prescence. They go to anywhere that'll let them in to buy and sell. Mostly staying within the Sol system. Every convoy that leaves the system gets a military escort of 2 small patrol ships (about 150 m long).

History [[OOC: This was ALL RPed out]]

Wazzu interplanetary trade started with aerospace giant TransCorp centuries ago. Advanced, electro-chemically powered shuttles (and later small spacecraft made of space-station like modules) were able to make regular trips between Luna and Earth, and even occassional (if uncomfortable) trips to Mars...when its orbit took it close to Earth.

The first real trade ships were made on Luna, from rebuilt factories in the abandoned Derkesthai colony (ISAF Lunar Region). The small fast clippers, and later slower, larger (but still somewhat small) Zero-G only speciallized cargo ships were able to make trips as far as Saturn...as long as planets were in the right places for refueling/pit-stops. These ships were bought out and used SOLELY by the Wazzu based (but non-government participating) Hermes Spacelines.

In the years prior to the Isolationist Era (just now ending), TransCorp was pushing out ships of many designs at an incredible rate. Trade was soaring from Venus to Saturn/Titan.

Then the Planetary Engineering Crisis came to a head (and there were internal problems)...Wazzu's forign trade didn't really stop, it just stopped growing...even slowed some. Stagnation as a result of isolationism.

For the past hundread years, Hermes Spacelines has been maintaining its fleet mostly by shipping the goods of other nations at amazingly low rates...pushing out the Wazzu small buisnesses and independants that had just started to grow (and creating a large "outcast" community). Perhaps it was fortionate that that was the designed function of TransCorp made ships.

The old ships were made cheaply. They had no artificial gravity, no force fields, no plasma weapons, no FTL communications, and no FTL drives. Indeed, they had only two advantages, durrability (materials being the one area of science where Wazzu was far above the competetion) and a seeming disregard for conservation of energy (a mathematical trick that allowed a ship to travel faster then conventional physics said it could...a result of one of many failed FTL experiments.*)

Before the Isolationist Era, Hermes Spacelines was set up as the Sol-system's most competetive slow, economical carrier. It dealt with people who didn't have the means to travel by gravship, and in massive goods that would not expire in the 2 week trip between Titan** and Earth. This remained its market area through the "modern" day.

Today, Hermes Spacelines is still one of the most efficient, and slowest carriers of goods and people in Sol space. Its merchant ships still fly with hulls as strong as the toughest 3rd world (Cardboard!) combat starships, though Hermes ships certainly aren't a match in armament. For protection, they rely on the also aging Wazzu Merchant Defense Forces, which lead them in convoys between planets.

Venus shipping has dwendled, as that planet's economy has not boomed as expected. Mars remains Wazzu's primary IP shipping hub, followed closely by Wazzu Elysium (Derkesthai Lunar Complex). Occassional trips are made to Juipiter (Therian trade).

The independants that once roamed prosperously in Hermes' shadow are now mostly outcast, surviving by trading with the shunned Kuiper, Asteroid, and Commet colonies or flitting lawlessly between Sol's various seedy havens.

But now the hive of (mostly) human activity in Sweden has awoken, Wazzu is getting ready to engage the world. Where will it's trade go next?



*Wazzu did eventuall develop an FTL drive system, but it is expensive, slow, and dangerous to mental health.
**Wazzu's major IP trading partners were (and continue to be) fellow MFTA nations, but a fair amount of nation-to-nation trading took place with some Titan and non-MFTA MIDAS nations as well. IP trade with other nations was less common, but did occur on a regular basis (much of it through the Hermes Spaceport/Facility...an international venture not to be confused with Wazzu based Hermes Spacelines).

The Nation of Auman is renowned for its complete and total lack of a civilian merchant marine. In fact, Auman conducts very little inter-plantetary trade in comparison to most space bound nations, instead it chooses to be as self sufficient as possible. Though, Mars is not the most bountiful planet in the galaxy and as such trade is necessary. What cannot be synthesized or mined from the guts of an asteroid is purchased off world...Luxury items like real wood, exotic foodstuffs and the like are bartered for in trading guilds around Mars and shipped via corporate freighters contracted by a third party investor.

Danneland dosent have any interstellar trade routes itselfe, but they do have one of the heaviest food imports in the galaxy. Since Danneland houses over 2.5 billion people, and none of them are farmers. Instead Danneland has signed several "food contracts" with various trade corporations to make sure it has a steady flow of supplies to feed its citizents.
Other than food Danneland dosent import or export much from space, mostly land trade with other earth-based nations.

Der Angst, when did you take Triton as one of your territories? I've had Neptune's moons for a long time, more than a RL year now, without anyone else claiming those moons without my permission. I've given away two of Neptune's moons, two of the small ones, but not to you.

Moontian's colonies have been set up to be self-reliant, but there is much trade and travel between the homeland on Earth and the colonies on Neptune's moons; as well as trade to the international trade station orbiting Jupiter.

The company concerned with trade is the Falcon Import/Export Company, and operates a fleet of Flaming Arrow armed transports and Orion fighters for escort; completely independant of the defence forces.OOC: Moontian, I'll send you a telegram about this, but I have had a colony on Triton for just over a year RL as well... and when I claimed it, I actually did a keyword search on NS to make sure no one else had specifically claimed it. I also performed the same search just about once a month after that to make sure no one tampered with my claim. You obviously never specifically mentioned "triton" or else I would have knwon, and talked with you. I apologize for the misunderstand. And also, I was the one who gave the territory to Der Angst, I remember that clearly.

If you have any real problem with my claim, let's talk it out, but I have had a massive colony on Triton for quite some time. And like I say to (mostly) all who wish to colonize it, it's a big planet, and I do not consider myself the boss of it. If you want me to reduce this down to a simple royalty or trade agreement or alliance or something for the misunderstanding, then so be it... but just don't get hostile or anything :)

http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=6891369#post6891369

That's proof of claim, current as of today, as far back as before Jolt... but ask any of my allies, I have had a large colony on Triton since at least August 2003 (my nation was resurrected)

http://www.bateshome.com/jordan/zdf.jpg (http://www.bateshome.com/jordan/ccdex.htm)

Bryn Shander's primary trade routes are L2-Luna, L2-Earth, Luna-Earth, and Earth-Astroid Belt. With our new colonies orbiting Mars' new moon, Mathilde, a new route has opened up between the Earth System and the Mars system.

Ships also regularly travel to Jupiter to harvest Helium-3, and the ships stop at the asteroid Axis in the Asteroid Belt on the return trip. Once there, the majority head to the Earth System, but some unload their cargo at Axis and return to Jupiter, while more head to Mars.

Trade in Bryn Shander is conducted with many kinds of craft, ranging from civilian shuttles and comercial freighters, to surplus military supply ships and surplus cruisers. With little regulation in the matter, many merchants are heavilly armed, often with up to a team of mobile suits on board their ships.

Piracy is a bit of a problem due to the lack of regulations on surplus military hardware and abundance of shoal zones of debris for the pirates to hide in, but the arms race between pirates and merchants has done little more than drive up the economy.