I have three questions regarding seemingly missing acquisition rules. Hopefully I just missed them, if not I would like to see an official response. I can create my own house rules in the meantime.

1. Retainers: In the acquisition section it mentions that the Armoury chapter has rules for acquiring retainers. I can find no list of retainers or services in that chapter.

2. Component Craftmanship: Also in the acquisition section it has an example of a captain upgrading the craftsmanship of his macrobatteries from common to good. I cannot find any rules discussing the effects of ship component craftsmanship.

3. New Ships: When purchasing new ships do you have to purchase all non-essential components separate or does the new ship come with a certain amount of ship points to create like your first ship does? (I know that the SP cost of the hull is the penalty to the roll, just need to know if this represents a bare bones ship.)

Retainers use the same rarity and quality rules. If you want a cook, they're probably Common. Want a great cook, and they'll be Best quality.
Guardsmen presumably have the same availablity as their kit, Scarce. PDF would be Poor Quality guardsmen. The Poor/Competent/Good/Best stats will be about the same as starship crew ratings.

2. It has been stated that there are currently no rules for craftmanship in starship components. Either the GM decides what it does or you have to wait for a ship book.

3. If the GM allows the ship to come with non-essential components, then it does. If the SP cost is the penalty, then total the SP cost if you are trying to buy it all at once.

Talkie Toaster said:

As I see it:

Professional and conscientious skilled personnel are Good for -10 [Most SM's are best -30]

Sisterhood Unit
Equipment is another matter. Light Power Armour [Very Rare], Bolters [Very Rare], Power blades [Very Rare], Other not to rare stuff stuff [micro bead, basic med kits, charms, etc].

Call it Very Rare as the highest rarity with 4 additional components [could be more, Space Marines would be Near Unique with at least 5 or 6 additional components] for -40 [sMs -75 to -80]

200 Sisters plus logistical support [Cogboys to do armour maintenance, etc] would be in Major Scale for a -10

So at least -60 [and somewhere over a -100 for an SM company ] before adding vehicles or Heavy Weapons [another accessory each for another -5 each?]

Guard Regiment

Guard infantry would appear to default to the order of Good quality, Scarce [Thanks to the Guard Flak Armour] + 4 components [Armour, Lasguns, Microbead , Common stuff]

At regimental strength that would come out around -45 including low end Heavy weapons [Flamers, Stubbers and Missile launchers as a component]. Which looks about right since it means a Weak Imperial Governor [PF 40] is going to have to work at raising one [Acquiring the components separately as a lot of -10 or better acquisitions] or accept lower quality personnel.

A squad would seem to come in around 0, for those people who want a red shirt group as their initial acquisition [as would a company of Poor quality Frateri Militi rabble, for the Ministorum types who want to bring their own armed congregation ]

Chimera/Valkyrie
A Chimera isn't too much trouble [Good Quality, Negligible scale, Rare + 2 additional components to cover the guns, comes out at a 0 mod, a PC could start with one as his free acquisition], enough to mechanize an infantry regiment [Major scale for a net -40] would be a stretch for a bottom end RT party but possible. And a separate acquisition roll, which implies extra time taken. Valkyries should be about the same.

Honest Grazghul's Used Ardware in the Undred Undred Teef could probably knock that down to -20 but they'd be Poor quality. And the exchange rate between Thrones and Teeth is not as good as it used to be.

Dahak said:

Mr Adventurer said:

Which is what a normal Imperial Guard Chimera or the equivalent is likely to be.

While nominally servicable Rhino's can be turned out made entirely of plywood [During the Badab Uprising IIRC] due to being STC, it wasn't a great success. Chimera's don't seem to come in as wide range of qualities new. Not new or worse and you talk to Honest Grazghul and his like.

It wasn't a total bust though as those plywood transports had a great ablative effect.

Dahak said:

that's where I have a problem. I think acquiring a Sister Battle Unit is wayyyyyy easier then acquiring a full fledged lunar class cruiser with 100'000 people on board, shuttle ships, warp drive, guns etc.

I also think accquiring 200 Sisters of Battles dressed in Bikinis and sporting Las Vegas Boxing gloves, are way more difficult to accquire then the ones with battle armor and flamers. -100 would probably be the same scale as buying a planet.

I know what you mean. I had the devil of a time getting mine, and the bitching... Really I begin to doubt that it was worth it.

Dahak said:

Why are you counting the rarity of their equipment? If you're hiring Sisters Militant, then the equipment they use will be the equipment they've brought with them - that is, they would have that equipment whether or not you hired them, so why are you paying for it? Same can be said for pretty much everything else standard-issue for a given soldier, if you're hiring readily-available soldiers (mercenaries, etc). The only extra equipment you'd need to buy would, IMO, be anything extra that you want them to be equipped with above and beyond their standard.

Dahak said:

Again, surely the need to requisition equipment depends on whether or not the unit is readily available. If you've requested an already-raised Imperial Guard regiment from the Departmento Munitorum, then they've already been issued their lasguns and armour and so forth. If you're actually raising a regiment from nothing, then you'd need to acquire the equipment as well, but the basic availability of the men would be easier, as they're not trained guardsmen yet; just people.

My inclination is to give people of different professions a distinct availability (with relative quality to determine craftsmanship), rather than working on the premise that all humans are equally available for purchase. So, a Space Marine would be either a Very Rare or Near-Unique acquisition (subject to Scale in either case, and requiring frequent upkeep as you try to justify long-term secondment to their superiors), assuming a standard Battle Brother. A Terminator is, however, a Best-Craftsmanship Space Marine, while a Scout is Poor Craftsmanship (in that they're better and worse than the 'common' baseline represented by the availability). Their equipment is irrelevant - they bring that with them.