Hello Ya'll. So I put everything into a spreadsheet to figure things out. This is all the data. I calculated everything assuming your freebee doesn't pay upkeep on runs, which may be wrong, and drag you into more debt. Here's all the data. Name Ships Score Ships total Upkeep Profit Total Extra Ayrlego 10 2 122 230 108   Bastion 4 1 5 18 13   BlackDeathGR 8 3 55 273 218   Bodi 9 3 55 40 -15 Captured Ship! Bregir 34 9 712 308 -404 Lost a Class 4 Breshaun 5 1 5 109 104   Brickwolf 2 1 0 30 30   Capt Wolf 15 3 310 845 535   Captain Genaro 9 2 75 108 33   Charlatan Bay 4 1 0 13 13   Dukesc 41 10 1637 834 -803 Lost 2 class 7, class 2 Elyzabethtowne 0 1 0 22 22   ETTC 17 4 320 211 -109 Lost Class 3 Faladrin 5 2 0 35 35   Flavius Gratian 2 1 0 0 0 Sank Garmadon 5 2 0 230 230   gedryn_y 7 2 5 117 112   gulagurag 6 2 0 27 27 Lost Class 4 Kai NRG 8 2 40 192 152   Kaiju 7 2 5 83 78   Kings Harbour 2 2 0 14 14 Captured Ship! KolonialBeamter 40 6 1850 1439 -411 Lost Class 7 Kot_Z 7 2 5 25 20 Lost Class 5 Kwatchi 8 2 35 40 5 Captured 2 Ships! Legostone 29 4 360 1035 675   MAESTRO 8 2 50 461 411   Maxim I 9 3 25 439 414   MCTC 14 3 242 725 483 Lost Class 6 Mesabi 10 2 122 180 58 Is Awesome Mike S 9 2 90 116 26   MKJoshA 26 4 662 18 -644 Lost Class 7, 2 Phred 31 10 905 686 -219 Lost Class 6 Pombe 4 1 0 0 0 Lost Professor Thaum 6 2 0 81 81 Lost Class 4 Puvel 5 2 0 216 216   Rassilion 4 1 0 37 37   RNTC 14 3 227 338 111   Sebeus I 2 1 0 0 0 Sank SilentWolf 21 5 220 428 208 Lost Class 3 Sir Stig 7 2 5 35 30   Spud the Viking 2 1 0 34 34   Umbra Mantis 7 2 5 439 434   Link to my data https://docs.google.com/a/d.umn.edu/spreadsheets/d/1eJn44HDfrZswK7VEGfUn3r3HuOiL6g_n1FDaYzRNBG4/edit?usp=sharing Couple thoughts on the data. Again, not clear on the whole freebee upkeep costs. Second, losing a ship adds a lot of loss. And a lot of people lost ships... Finally, I didn't do data for the factions. Searats were the only faction with trade ships, but they certainly lost a lot as well.  Here's a scatterplot. Notice how scores decrease as ship levels rise.... Screen Shot 2017-10-28 at 1.38.47 AM by North White, on Flickr The highest profit by anyone was @Legostone, who did it with 29 ship levels. The Second and third place came from MCTC at 14 levels, and @Capt Wolf at 15. Additionally, MCTC lost a class 6 ship! The Secret? I'll get to that... Ship cost versus levels Screen Shot 2017-10-28 at 1.39.02 AM by North White, on Flickr Look how exponentially expensive having a large fleet is!    So, thoughts. Earlier tonight I mentioned a strategy of having 2 class "2s" and a class 4. I'll refer you back to the first graph. Check out the three dots above the main pack. Those dots each made almost the same amount as adding another class 4 would. Thus, I give you the sweetspot. Any combination of ships that has an upkeep score of less than 125 before being calculated, should make a profit. I would propose 2 class 2s (one free!) and a class 4 to defend them. This gives you a score of 105 (Again, assuming no upkeep on one of them) which only takes 5 Dbs out of your profit. These can be supplemented with a few class "0s" or "1s" which could hold extra cargo points and perhaps generate more revenue.  addtitionally, more ships means a less likely chance of losing your entire investment. The ships in the sweet spot I mentioned? @Maxim I: 4, 2 (free), 3. Total Upkeep? 25 Dbs MAESTRO: 4, 4 Total Upkeep? 50 Dbs @Umbra-Manis: 3, 4: Total Upkeep? 25 Dbs Obviously, we can't control external factors such as pirates, but we can control how we go to ports. And right now? Fleets of three are in. Additionally, the whole five or more rule prevents larger fleets without having to pay more. To have a group of five or more costs another 100 Dbs. I already mentioned this, but I think that operating large ships shouldn't be so prohibitively expensive, especially as they're currently functionally useless in a TMCRA. I mean with a one in seven loss rate, I can't afford to send out a big fat ship with high cargo stats. And, as anything above a "5" starts getting really expensive, I just can't seem to find a good way to get it to work. Maybe @Legostone has a trick... I might analyze the data further more to take into account for ports, but this is just going over costs for ships and whatnot. Please correct me if I screwed up. It's 2AM and I should sleep. Finally, Please note that this isn't me complaining or praising the game mechanics. This is just me plugging values into a sheet, and telling you what I make of them.