Yet another Signature Gear Question

[Anaraxes]

So price it at materials + labor of the Enclave scientists and techs necessary ot have produced it + overhead. If the Enclave has no notion of income, it still issues housing, food, power, etc. What's the opportunity cost of them having done something else? How much would yo have to give the Enclave to get them to set aside those resources again to repeat the operation? Twenty people for year costs most than one person for a month.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Khannis

Yes, but what's the normal cost?

Powered Combat Armor is $90,000 at TL9 (with Helmet).

[the_matrix_walker]

Originally Posted by Khannis

Yes, but what's the normal cost? I know what I have to do after I get a number, the problem is just that, getting a number. Because cost is based on the fact that you want to trade something, and in this case, even if there was anyone that wanted to sell it, no one would want to buy it.

I find it hard to believe no one would want to buy a unique suit of powered armor...

[Sunrunners_Fire]

Originally Posted by Khannis

To be more specific, me and my friends are tinkering with the idea of playing in the Fallout setting (perhaps with a few adaptations), and one of the character ideas we've been throwing around is that of an West Coast Enclave Remnant in the 2270-80s, and he would obviously have a precious, although somewhat battered, suit of Advanced Mk I Power Armor. For those unfamiliar with the setting, what this basically means is that this armor was built with closely guarded technology, that is no longer available (at least in the campaign area). So if the suit was somehow lost or destroyed, the character couldn't possibly buy another under any circumstance, and could only conceivably find another in abandoned hidden bunkers, of which there would be at most 3 or 4 in a 500km radius around the campaign starting area (so VERY hard to find).

So how could I work out it's cost? It has absolutely no market value since very few people know they exist, and fewer yet know how to operate or repair it. Even in the extremely unlikely event that a "prospector" (salvager) found one, it wouldn't be able to do anything with it except perhaps strip down the components and sell them.

Signature Gear ("Advanced Mk I Power Armor", G$∞) [1]
... is how I would do it (and have done it for similarly "priceless" pieces of gear in other games that the player wants plot protection for).

[Khannis]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

So price it at materials + labor of the Enclave scientists and techs necessary ot have produced it + overhead. If the Enclave has no notion of income, it still issues housing, food, power, etc. What's the opportunity cost of them having done something else? How much would yo have to give the Enclave to get them to set aside those resources again to repeat the operation? Twenty people for year costs most than one person for a month.

I agree. But how would I calculate that many variables?

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Powered Combat Armor is $90,000 at TL9 (with Helmet).

That's just an arbitrary value from the rulebook, and it's based on a whole lot of different assumptions for that matter, like a similar structure to what many countries have today, that is that high-end military equipment is produced by private contractors to supply the government.

Originally Posted by the_matrix_walker

I find it hard to believe no one would want to buy a unique suit of powered armor...

Fallout has something called "Power Armor Training", that simulates the knowledge necessary to operate a suit of Power Armor, and the time spent with the necessary equipment to interface the armor's systems to the wearer. Only two organizations possess this kind of knowledge and equipment, and neither of them is willing to share it beyond it's members to maintain their superiority. It follows that if no one who would want to buy it knows how to use it, it is useless, as simply strapping it on would result in unbearable weight.

Originally Posted by Sunrunners_Fire

Signature Gear ("Advanced Mk I Power Armor", G$∞) [1]
... is how I would do it (and have done it for similarly "priceless" pieces of gear in other games that the player wants plot protection for).

That might do it, but isn't it too cheap for such a powerful piece of equipment? It effectively makes the user invulnerable to most small arms fire and highly resistant to everything else save for anti-tank level stuff?

[Sunrunners_Fire]

Originally Posted by Khannis

That might do it, but isn't it too cheap for such a powerful piece of equipment? It effectively makes the user invulnerable to most small arms fire and highly resistant to everything else save for anti-tank level stuff?

It has no price in G$ and the GM has declined to give it one. That [1] purchases plot protection for the gear. It doesn't resolve how the character acquired the gear.

[vierasmarius]

Originally Posted by Khannis

That's just an arbitrary value from the rulebook, and it's based on a whole lot of different assumptions for that matter, like a similar structure to what many countries have today, that is that high-end military equipment is produced by private contractors to supply the government.

It's a piece of speculative technology. Any price will be an arbitrary value, so why ask us? Only you can decide what's appropriate in your own campaign world.

[Khannis]

Originally Posted by vierasmarius

It's a piece of speculative technology. Any price will be an arbitrary value, so why ask us? Only you can decide what's appropriate in your own campaign world.

You're right, and I apologize if I came up as a rude or obtuse. What I meant to say was that the arbitrary value from the rulebook was based on totally different assumptions, and therefore irrelevant to what I am trying to accomplish, that is, balance a priceless, but very powerful item on a character.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Khannis

That's just an arbitrary value from the rulebook, and it's based on a whole lot of different assumptions for that matter, like a similar structure to what many countries have today, that is that high-end military equipment is produced by private contractors to supply the government.

It's a reasonable value for what power armor would have cost before the war, and adjusted for TL what it costs the Brotherhood and the Enclave to make it now.

Either it's priceless gear that can't be meaningfully produced in the scope of the campaign (and in which case it doesn't matter if somebody somewhere is selling it; if the PCs will never meet them). In this case it's a gadget.

Or it's a piece of gear from a higher TL that can be produced by anybody with the know-how and tools. Use the book price and adjust for TL. Then charge a rarity based UB for how hard it is to get it.

[benz72]

You can sell it in the game. Why not use the values from the game?