Affording a spaceship?

[SCAR]

Originally Posted by Ragabash Moon

Well, it kiiinda is in that the ship computer contains an AI.

Another option originally posted by munin in a thread I created last year on this issue:

Originally Posted by munin

When one character pays points for a spaceship, they should have all of the advantages of being the spaceship's owner -- they get to make decisions about where the ship goes, what cargo or passengers it carries, etc. They might delegate day-to-day operation to a character who has paid points for skills appropriate to being ship's captain, but they're still the owner.

For a more team-based approach, the players could all chip in by being part-owners in an "organization" that owns the ship, by taking the Patron advantage at 6 or less with the Equipment enhancement. For example, if starting wealth at TL10 is $50k, then Patron (Powerful Organization; 6 or less; Equipment, +100%) [15] gets them co-ownership in "assets" worth up to $500M* (i.e., a spaceship). They get to use the spaceship, and, once per adventure on a 6 or less (each), they get some organizational benefit. If they decide that the organization should sell the ship (effectively dissolving the organization), they have to trade Patron points for Wealth points.

"Organizational benefit" might include an opportunity to use organizational assets (including people) to help you with a personal problem (gambling debts, a unique investment, applying social pressure, etc.), letting you make decisions for the duration of the adventure, an opportunity to set goals for the organization, etc.


* maybe use the partial wealth multipliers from GURPS Spaceships 2 for finer control of value? [10] gets you assets worth $50M, [11] for $100M, [12] for $200M, [13] for $300M, and [14] for $400M...

In your case, the Spaceship IS effectively the Patron, and the PC's share the cost of the Patron, and occasionally the ship does something unexpected on its own!

[Ragabash Moon]

Originally Posted by SCAR

Another option originally posted by munin in a thread I created last year on this issue:



In your case, the Spaceship IS effectively the Patron, and the PC's share the cost of the Patron, and occasionally the ship does something unexpected on its own!

Well, not quite. As I said in another thread, it's more like Andromeda or EDI in reverse. The first mate of the ship is an AI who uploaded a copy of her mind to control the ship.

The actual owner is an NPC (as is the first mate) and they are going to be hiring the characters, but since they also sometimes will be fighting alongside the PCs (but not always), I wanted to keep their point totals as fair as possible.

[Engurrand]

You can build ships as characters, so you could build the spaceship as an Ally with Minion. That does make your ship's potency directly dependent on your character's point total, and things like enhanced move, hyper jump and all it's gadgets can get quite expensive.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Engurrand

You can build ships as characters, so you could build the spaceship as an Ally with Minion. That does make your ship's potency directly dependent on your character's point total, and things like enhanced move, hyper jump and all it's gadgets can get quite expensive.

I quickly got frustrated with that approach, as the point totals went Sky high. The ST alone was ridiculous.

[Engurrand]

Originally Posted by ericthered

I quickly got frustrated with that approach, as the point totals went Sky high. The ST alone was ridiculous.

Yeah, probably Patron is a better fit for most point budgets.

[the_matrix_walker]

I prefer the Mobile Headquarters... the point cost is affordable at most point levels and fixed regardless of your CP total... the only drawback is having to take labs and major systems as perks, but even that isn't too bad.

[fredtheobviouspseudonym]

The Greek shipping industry was built by guys who got a used Liberty ship cheap -- (Uncle Sugar didn't want to pay the storage costs) and ran them into the ground hauling loads around the poorer corners of the world. See Onassis, Niarchos, and others. If you're willing to buy a ship for scrap prices, fix it up yourself, use cheap parts and cheaper labor, you can get from point A to point B fairly cheaply. But I wouldn't want to ride that barge.

[Flyndaran]

Merely staying afloat is a hell of a lot easier than maintaining livable atmospheric pressure and temperature for weeks or months at a time.

[Ragabash Moon]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Merely staying afloat is a hell of a lot easier than maintaining livable atmospheric pressure and temperature for weeks or months at a time.

Yeah, like the Firefly episode "Out of Gas"

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Ragabash Moon

Yeah, like the Firefly episode "Out of Gas"

I've never seen the show. I know, don't tar and feather me or take away my nerd card. I can't forgive Whedon for putting 50 some habitable planets in a single star system.