Handling cinematic spaceship fights and other sci-fi stuff

[TerryW]

Small spaceships have costs comparable to cars and mopeds while the larger ones are basically boats as far as price goes.

That's definitely not GURPS Spaceships, unless you apply a lot of houserules.

You can get cheap ships with Spaceships rules, assuming you buy them used and worn out, but it's used light aircraft cheap not used car cheap. It also sounds like you want your ships to do some fairly unconventional things (By GURPS Spaceships standards) so you'd need the first PDF plus at least Spaceships 4 and 7.

If you're comfortable with just eyeballing the stats for your ships, and your players are having fun with that, I don't see a lot of need for Spaceships.

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by TerryW

That's definitely not GURPS Spaceships, unless you apply a lot of houserules.

You can get cheap ships with Spaceships rules, assuming you buy them used and worn out, but it's used light aircraft cheap not used car cheap. It also sounds like you want your ships to do some fairly unconventional things (By GURPS Spaceships standards) so you'd need the first PDF plus at least Spaceships 4 and 7.

If you're comfortable with just eyeballing the stats for your ships, and your players are having fun with that, I don't see a lot of need for Spaceships.

Dividing prices by about thirty gets a TL-11^ 30-ton (SM+5) hypershuttle down to about a year's income for the average T11 worker. That puts it at the same relative price as a 'Luxury Car' (B464) has to a TL8 worker's income. Dividing it by ten puts it in the same relative price range as a bus or small light plane (and makes a very cheap one cost like a car, but also eat up over $100/day in parts).

For the spacecraft stats other than knocking the prices down, all that the OP would need to do is define how the drives and FTL system work.

For combat, making ranges shorter is mostly just a matter of doing the same thing to the listed ranges, and possibly to accuracy as well. Damage vs spaceship screens, armour, and HP will take a bit more work to balance, but that's something they'll need to do whether using Spaceships or not.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Rupert

For the spacecraft stats other than knocking the prices down, all that the OP would need to do is define how the drives and FTL system work.

One thing that Spaceships is very useful for is defining all the parts and systems needed in a vessel.

[TerryW]

Small spaceships have costs comparable to cars and mopeds

A high end moped with lots of bells and whistles costs less than $5000. OP wants dimension-hopping ultralights that can be bought for about two month's salary. It's a lot easier to make the stats up then it is to try to beat GURPS Spaceships into shape.

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by TerryW

A high end moped with lots of bells and whistles costs less than $5000. OP wants dimension-hopping ultralights that can be bought for about two month's salary. It's a lot easier to make the stats up then it is to try to beat GURPS Spaceships into shape.

Dividing prices by thirty (as I suggested above) puts a cheap (1/2 price) TL-11^ 10-ton (SM+4) spaceship within that ballpark. A car-sized one (which will take some creativity as it's under-size) is under two months' income even new, but is likely to have very limited capability (probably pilot, a couple of passenger seats, and ~0.5 tons of cargo).

So what the OP wants is quite doable if they're happy with slashing prices. It does make large and huge ships much more affordable for your would-be galactic emperors too, of course. TL-10^ 30,000 ton battleships cost a mere $100 million, and TL-11^ million-toners about $10 billion.

[doctorevilbrain]

What I want to know is how can anyone know what are realistic prices for starship technology. Most of it doesn't exist and some of it is impossible anyways. I'd like to know how those prices were figured out, especially for starships.

[newton]

Originally Posted by doctorevilbrain

What I want to know is how can anyone know what are realistic prices for starship technology. Most of it doesn't exist and some of it is impossible anyways. I'd like to know how those prices were figured out, especially for starships.

I assume they don’t actually know they just assign prices that seem reasonable by the capabilities of the system.

[Opellulo]

Originally Posted by newton

For what it’s worth, I don’t think ships and tech are actually that cheap in star wars there’s just a really strong secondhand market.

I really liked the idea suggested in "The Last Jedi" that the galactic war between Empire/Order and Resistance is fueled by a constant stream of
weapons flooded to both sides by weapons manufacturer so that it will never end. "The Frontier" not like in Old West by like in some eastern European/African country...

But it has become a bit too real in those days.

[Pomphis]

Originally Posted by Rupert

So what the OP wants is quite doable if they're happy with slashing prices. It does make large and huge ships much more affordable for your would-be galactic emperors too, of course. TL-10^ 30,000 ton battleships cost a mere $100 million, and TL-11^ million-toners about $10 billion.

And it should make cars and everything else manufactured also much cheaper than before. Whether a computer is in a spaceship or a car or a home does not really affect it´s price after all. The OP could simply increase income and wealth by a factor of 30.

If the issue is the relative price of cars and spaceships, the problem is to find an explanation of why components put into a car should be much more expensive than components put into a spaceship.

[Pomphis]

Originally Posted by newton

I assume they don’t actually know they just assign prices that seem reasonable by the capabilities of the system.

And seem reasonable compared to other stuff. A spaceship laser should be more expensive than a laser rifle. A sensor with 10,000 miles range should be more expensive than one with a range of 1 mile. A spaceship power plant should be more than expensive than the one of a car.