Ship Upgrading Costs question

[ElcidBarret]

Hey guys,

I'm Ref'ing a game of MGT (love the system) and my players have been making enough money trading that they're looking at upgrading their ship with guns, better M-Drive, and the like. My question is, should they just be paying the base cost of the component in the Ship Design Rules? Are there any rules for this I'm missing (maybe in one of the expansions)? On a similar vein, any ideas for how long things should take? The Design Rules say building a ship is one day/million cost, but it seems to me that retrofitting new things in would take longer (and be more expensive) than simply building them in from the start...


Cheers.

 

[far-trader]

Welcome aboard ElcidBarret

Without complicating things too much I'd start with the 1 day/MCr as a base line.

Also apply that to the removal of any old fixtures if upgrading or replacing.

And if changing anything beyond the fixture's original volume by type (Drives, Fuel, Cargo, Quarters... for example - Upgrading the Maneuver Drive to a bigger one by sacrificing Cargo space) add half the cost.

Figure labour costs are included in prices.

eg 1 - simple weapons swap:

Double turret with two missile launchers changed to two beam lasers. Two missile launchers cost MCr1.5, removal takes 1.5 days. Two beam lasers cost MCr2.0, installation takes 2 days. Total time for weapon change out is 3.5 days. The players may sell the removed missile launchers for 90% value if functional, or they may keep them for later use by paying the labour costs of 10% the value.

eg 2 - complex performance upgrade (made up tons and MCr for eg):

Original Maneuver 1 (5tons MCr7.5), Power 1 (5tons MCr15.0), and Fuel x2 weeks (2tons) upgraded to Maneuver 2 (10tons MCr15.0), Power 2 (10tons MCr30.0), and Fuel x2 weeks (4tons) by taking space from Cargo hold (12tons).

Removal of original drives (MCr22.5) requires 22.5 days. Installation of new drives (MCr45.0) requires 45 days. Extra cost for conversion of Cargo hold (12tons) to +5tons Maneuver (MCr7.5 x0.5 = MCr3.75), +5tons Power (MCr15.0 x0.5 = MCr7.5) and +2tons Fuel (inconsequential) is MCr11.25 and takes another 11.25 days.

 

[atpollard]

Without complicating things too much I'd start with the 1 day/MCr as a base line.

That is clever. I like it.

 

[ElcidBarret]

That's pretty much exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!

 

[far-trader]

Thank you, and you're welcome.

On review though I think there does need to be some cost associated with Fuel and Cargo designation. Rather then inconsequential I think the base hull cost of MCr0.1 per ton might be better. So amending eg 2 above, changing 2tons of Cargo hold to 2tons of Fuel would cost MCr0.2 and take 0.2 days.

 

[ElcidBarret]

I put this system into effect today, after my players made a slightly distressing amount of money smuggling Illegal Weaponry and decided to upgrade their guns, M-Drive and Sensors. Played out quite well, and they seem content with the way it works out.

Plus, I now have them trapped on a planet for weeks! Bwa ha ha!

 

[cryingblackoil]

Poor suckers! Never give 'em something without any trouble, that's what I say.

 

[ElcidBarret]

Yeah, that's definitely something I need to work on more. I've been letting them get away with murder (literally, in several cases). I need to make them actually role-play through more of the challenges. Smuggling should be more than just a few dice rolls!

 

[kaijupanda]

I'm surprised to not find anything in my books for this. When my players got their first ship, the first thing they wanted to do was customize it. I like this method better than what I cobbled together. I didn't consider the time to remove the old part. For shame, brain! How dare you slack off like that!

My group usually hung onto the old bits for parts in potential repair jobs. If they decided to get rid of it later, I treated the junk as salvage, unless it was untouched and in good condition, in that event I just figured out the price based on supply and demand and the TLs.

I used the build times from the book and made my players pay full price for the part plus 10-25% in labor, more if there was a substantial gap between the TL of what they were adding and the world. In that event, there'd also be higher chances of something going wrong.

I should note here, they played like Battletech. They destroy their target, strip it for better parts, then head to the nearest place that can slap it on. It got ridiculous. When they ran out of space, they started sacking other things. Eventually, the five of them, we're sharing one double bunk stateroom. The ship didn't last long after that, when much to the players horror, realized in stripping what they did, the extra life support went with it.

They changed their play style after that.