Silver Very Fine Overly Expensive

[Alden Loveshade]

This could apply to any weapon that's Fine or Very Fine, but I'll use a Thrusting Broadsword (TL3) as an example.

Thrusting Broadsword = $600
Thrusting Broadsword, Very Fine = ($600 x 20) = $12,000. Additional cost for Very Fine quality = $11,400
Thrusting Broadsword, Silver-Coated (or Silver-Edge) = ($600 x 3) = $1800. Additional Cost for Silver-Coated = $1200.

Logically, then, a Thrusting Broadword, Very Fine, Silver-Coated, should cost $600 (Thrusting Broadsword) + $11,400 (Very Fine quality) + $1200 (Silver-Coated) = $13,200.

Instead, GCA figures the cost as $36,000.

This is because it uses *3 for Silver-Coated and *20 for Very Fine quality, which implies that it costs 20 times as much to put a silver coating on a very fine sword as on a good quality sword.

I fixed it manually on one item by changing the *3 modifier to +$1200 and the *20 modifier to +$11,400, but that will only work for one item.

Could this be fixed? I was thinking maybe the program could do something like (basic cost *3) + (basic cost *20) - basic cost.

[ericbsmith]

Originally Posted by Alden_Loveshade

Could this be fixed? I was thinking maybe the program could do something like (basic cost *3) + (basic cost *20) - basic cost.

No, that's the way it's intended to work - at least in the Basic Set. Cost multipliers multiply cost, multiple multipliers multiply cost multiply. Or something like that. So that system will not be changed.

However, these rules were later changed in GURPS Low-Tech using the Cost Factor system. Cost Factor (CF) essentially turns most cost multipliers into percentage based enhancements, which work the way that you are expecting these multipliers to work. So, really, what you need to do is load the Low-Tech data file. You may want to pick up that book (or PDF) too, as it'd probably help in using many of the items in that data file.

[Alden Loveshade]

Originally Posted by ericbsmith

No, that's the way it's intended to work - at least in the Basic Set. Cost multipliers multiply cost, multiple multipliers multiply cost multiply. Or something like that. So that system will not be changed.

However, these rules were later changed in GURPS Low-Tech using the Cost Factor system. Cost Factor (CF) essentially turns most cost multipliers into percentage based enhancements, which work the way that you are expecting these multipliers to work. So, really, what you need to do is load the Low-Tech data file. You may want to pick up that book (or PDF) too, as it'd probably help in using many of the items in that data file.

You are correct that I did not have Low-Tech loaded, so I loaded it. Thanks.

Personally, I disagree with the multiply multipy interpretation of Basic (in any case it seems to me to defy logic), but this is perhaps not the place for that discussion.

In any case, I tried it again with Low-Tech loaded and still got $36,000.

[ericbsmith]

Originally Posted by Alden_Loveshade

In any case, I tried it again with Low-Tech loaded and still got $36,000.

Are you using the new versions of the modifiers which use +X CF instead of *X for a cost?

[Alden Loveshade]

Originally Posted by ericbsmith

Are you using the new versions of the modifiers which use +X CF instead of *X for a cost?

Now that I loaded Low-Tech and looked through the modifiers, I see Low-Tech Composition: Silver-coated, Low-Tech Weapon Quality: Very Fine, etc. Yep, those give exactly the result I was looking for. Actually, I think the GCA4 Low-Tech version of the math as plus and plus is a little cleaner than my idea of multipliers and a minus, although they both give the same results.

That works fine thanks!

(Although to me this confirms my thought that the description in Basic can easily be misleading. I would guess the Low-Tech way of figuring it is what they had in mind from the beginning).

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by Alden_Loveshade

I would guess the Low-Tech way of figuring it is what they had in mind from the beginning).

It is not. It is a deliberate change in strategy.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Alden_Loveshade

Actually, I think the GCA4 Low-Tech version of the math

There's no "GCA" version of the math, CFs are a rule (first in Dungeon Fantasy 1 and then later in other products). GCA is doing it correctly.

You could do the same thing by hand using the CF rules as written and get the same results.