Evening, er Morning I guess, Greg,
The answers are on pgs. 266, 348 and 354. In summary in case you are still waiting for a book, and with my own TU ideas:
1 - You can buy refined for cr500/T or unrefined for cr100/T (say at a Class C Starport or if you're just cheap, er frugal
).
2 - The fuel scoops are more than just big strainers. They include hoses (manual or automated) and pumps for dipping liquid, with heaters for melting ice, in addition to the actual ram scoops for skimming gas giants. The whole setup includes basic filters to keep out the worst of the bigger material (aquatic life forms and such) and the basic cracking and pressurizing gear to turn it into unrefined hydrogen fuel.
3 - Dipping (water or ice) requires a Hydro UPP of 1+ and is subject to local regulations. The book suggests a d20 roll vs Law Level UPP. Failure requires a permit and fee, failure by more than 10 and it's illegal.
I'd say instead a d20 roll vs a DC5 with the following DM's:
-(Law Level - Hydro)
-5 if Starport C
-10 if Starport B
-15 if Starport A
Hey, those ports are there to make money after all. And if there's not much water or a lot of regulation it'll be harder too. And inversly so.
Of course that presumes the players remember to check
To be fair you should tell them if they have any K/Interstellar Law skill or maybe even any working background like Merchant, Belter, or Navy (and maybe others).
Permits would probably be cr 10 + {cr10/T x (Law Level - Hydro)} Treat a negative in the brackets as zero.
Fines, if the players flaunt the law and are caught, might be 1,000 times that.
The book suggests about 4 hours to fill up by dipping.
I'd suggest something like 10% of the displacment tons of the hull per hour for liquid water or 5% of the displacment tons of the hull per hour for frozen water. And it would be a simple task with a DC of 5. Failure doubling the time and requiring a second roll. If the second check fails the scoops are disabled (and require repair) after 1d6 x10% of the fuel is collected.
5 - Skimming requires a Gas Giant and a trip to and from the orbit of the same of course. The book suggests there is no regulation of this process and lists a time of about 10 hours and a Pilot check vs a DC of 15.
Again I'd suggest something a little grittier. I'd use a skimming rate of 2% of the displacment tons of the hull per dive. Each dive taking about an hour and requiring a Pilot check vs DC 10 with failure indicating an abort event and requiring another check immediately. If the abort check is made then no damage is suffered but no fuel is collected on that dive. If the abort check is failed treat as an attack with a USP equal to the degree of failure and damage of 1d6 per USP with a threat range of 20 and a critical of x1. Alternate the damage between the standard and radiation tables.
For these reasons IMTU GG skimming is NOT legal for commercial ships and NOT recommended for anybody. Of course the military does it routinely but has the best Pilots in it's fuel shuttles. And the professionals who do it for a living often hire ex-Navy Pilots and uses decommissioned Navy fuel shuttles. It's no place for amatuers but that doesn't stop them from doing it out of desperation or thrift.
Hope that helps or inspires your own take on it. Remember it's your game to make up the rules to if you can't find them or don't like the style suggested. Have a good game this weekend
Ah I see I was checking and typing too slowly and Paraquat Johnson beat me to the post, but I was ever so much more wordy
