Im confused about the ships points cost. Are these actually purchased from your available points when you choose the hull or are they just used for the optional components later on. The actual rules in the book are unclear and seem to be at variance with what was described in the ship building news section where the ships points cost was deducted from the start.
I had to re-read twice also but you need to substract the SP value from the basic hull from your ship points.
So if you rolled 60 shippoints you could take a light cruiser for 55 and add components worth 5 SP. Being a bit funky you'll take the command bridge which adds +1 SP.
Think of ship points as how much capital the RT Dynasty has to buy the ship. As stated above the largest chunk of the points are spent on the Hull, after that you then have to 1 of each of the mandatory ships component types. These do not cost any ship points (as they are assumed to be included with the base hull) and some will even increase the amount of Ship Points you have left but they do take up Space and Power. You then buy any optional comonents with the remainder of the Ship Points (such as weapons) but you are still restricted by the Space and Power constraints. Any left over Ship Points at the end of the process are added to the partys Profit Factor.
are you stuck with that ship forever? or can you buy a new and better one later on?
Thought so. It was explictly clear in the rules. I was going to go for a light cruiser, but I think a Frigate is more acceptable now. I guess its a payoff between having a large ship with vanilla abilities or a smaller vessel with a few tricks up its sleeve...Thanks for the prompt replies...
horizon said:
I had to re-read twice also but you need to substract the SP value from the basic hull from your ship points.
So if you rolled 60 shippoints you could take a light cruiser for 55 and add components worth 5 SP. Being a bit funky you'll take the command bridge which adds +1 SP.
They should have removed the plus sign, since it is confusing people. I'm pretty sure any +X SP on the Essential Components are costs, not an increase to what you can spend. (since Essential Components don't normally cost anything). So, a command bridge costs you 1 SP.
I'll also point out that it's a hell of a lot easier to add Components as the game goes on, than to change your hull. So, I would recommend erring on the side of the hull you want, rather than trying to get a lot of Components.
That is my interpretation as well, the plus on the essential components mean the hull costs more
The SP + does reduce available ship points.