The Economics of Gravitics

[Golan2072]

Grav vehicles are expensive. Even with the (quite excessive, in comparison to Striker) LBB4 proce corrections reduce the Air/Raft from Cr600,000 to Cr60,000; my Striker-designed low performance Grav Car costs Cr30,294. In comparison, a Ground Car costs Cr4,000 in LBB3 and 400 with LBB4 corrections; a cheap Striker sedan design costs Cr3,472. LBB3 lists the cost of living in a reasonable quality for a month (lodging and food) as Cr300; LBB2 lists the salary of a Gunner as Cr1,000 per month and that of a Pilot as Cr5,000 per month; LBB4 mercenary salaries (not including shares) move between Cr300 and Cr2,000; LBB1 lists retirement pay as moving between Cr4,000 and Cr10,000, depending on the number of terms served.

All of this leads me to believe that a large portion of the population on TL8+ worlds (where Grav is available) either have to save money for a very long time to but a Grav Car (as is IRL for an expensive ground car), or have to ride the Monorail or the 'Tube. Only the upper middle class (ship crews and military officers) and abouve (corp execs) will have easy access to personal Gravitics.

 

[Andrew Boulton]

"Only the upper middle class (ship crews and military officers) and abouve (corp execs) will have easy access to personal Gravitics."

Yep. Think of them as helicopters or jets. Too expensive for mere mortals.

They get cheaper at higher TLs, but even then many people can't afford (or don't need) them.

 

[zakrol]

How does that square with the MT chargen fact that in all Average Stellar TL societies and above everybody has Grav Vehichle-0 skill? Does this hold true in later versions?

It seems to suggest that grav vehicles are as common as wheeled vehicles for our TL.

 

[mike wightman]

It could be that grav vehicles are easy to fly thanks to their computerised controls, so much so that by the time an average stellar TL teenager has mastered their version of GTA piloting the real thing is as easy as pressing a few buttons.

Look at how easy it is for the US to train UAV operators, compared with real pilots...
http://www.defensetech.org/archives/001574.html

 

[far-trader]

Originally posted by Zakrol:
How does that square with the MT chargen fact that in all Average Stellar TL societies and above everybody has Grav Vehichle-0 skill? Does this hold true in later versions?

It seems to suggest that grav vehicles are as common as wheeled vehicles for our TL.

No, not necessarily "everybody has Grav Vehichle-0 skill" but all PCs (and presumably similar NPCs) all have Grav Vehicle-0 skill. That is characters with backgrounds including interstellar careers and the like. The PCs are ordinary folk but they have a knack for extraordinary talents and exposure to experience. So your average cubicle worker living in an arcology probably doesn't have a clue how to operate a grav-car, and wouldn't need to, he tubes everywhere. Plonk a PC into his world and the PC might be the one who is stranded, not having any idea how to call a tube ride or get it to take them where they want. But then I've always been against some of the silliness that automatic background skills based on homeworld create.

There is also the possibility that there exists another level of grav-car, the commercial civilian level, which could be made much cheaper that the mil-spec multiworld capable versions that the design systems turn out. This was covered in a 2 part (iirc) magazine article (MT era) but I don't recall for sure which magazine. If I remember right there were personal civilian grav-cars in the Cr4,000 range.

 

[aramis]

MT puts the costs CONSIDERABLY higher than CT Bk4.

Cr250 * soc for dirtside life, per month. Therefore, a working wage for a Soc 7 is going to be at least KCr1.75, preferably KCr2.

Assuming that Soc upkeep includes 50% for housing (KCr1), 25% transport (KCr0.5), and the rest split between food and recreation, we quickly find Cr250/month for payments,

So, figuring KCr3 down (one year of payments savings) I can put a 12 year contract at 3%APR, compounded monthly.
Or, if there are two people, I can put a 5year contract at Cr481.53 with the same down.

So, given the upkeep costs from MT, we can assume Soc 7 CAN afford a KCr30 vehicle per family.

Also, remember, if you buy a TL12 vehicle on a TL 13-15 world, it will cost less in Local credits.... and also in CrImp.

 

[Golan2072]

Originally posted by Aramis:
MT puts the costs CONSIDERABLY higher than CT Bk4.

Well, it seems that the Rebellion has resulted in rapid inflation...