Labs (Laboratories) in UT & HT vs. Labs in Spaceships. What gives?

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

As a participant in all the playtests in question I can tell you that the subject did not come up as best as I can remember. The numbers might well be the same as in 3e.

"Lab" is an abstraction anyway. I'm sure HT is pretty good about specific items of equipment but a generic "lab" that covers an entrie field and is conicidentally the same cost and weight as all the equipment you need for a completely different science specialization seems like an obvious and arbitrary simplification of complex realities.

If nothign else you might notice that the HT/UT "labs" don't include buildings to keep the equipment in much less power and life support for the users.

Well, yes, it is an abstraction, but it's an abstraction that permeates the rest of the gaming activity.
'I need to fix a paper shredder. Now, I have an Electronics Repair toolkit in my inventory, but I wonder if it includes a screwdriver type #6 that matches one of its screws.'
'I am using a Silver Crescent type of punch, so he will get a +1 to Parry if he decides to defend with a Swampy Woodland arm parry, but -1 if he tries the Shaky Bamboo parry against it.'

These things are mostly abstracted by necessity, as a GM and player can not be expected to be proficient in the intricacies of all the skills out there. Or else there goes death to roleplaying and life to playing oneself only. Usually, when a player wants to perform a chemistry task, the GM has to answer what does the PC need in terms of tools.
The problem is that the tools in SS and UT/HT are the same, but with wildly different prices and masses.