So I have a Lunged-Gand player who asked if it was feasible to have their crew quarters modified to support a Ammonia Atmosphere. I love this idea!!! I totally am willing to support this effort but told them i'd have to figure out the "how".

Here's my initial thoughts but would appreciate any suggestions:

The mechanics : Takes up a hard point, costs maybe 3,000, and uses some of the ship's fuel when it is running, so maybe +100 credits each time they refuel the ship?

The Flavor : An "Atmospheric Converter Doodad" which converts Oxygen into Ammonia. They convert a cargo bay or other room to have Atmospheric Seals and a very small "airlock" between atmospheres. Independent ducting, for venting or collecting the expelled methane, which Gand's exhale.....[which I can't wait to use thematically, when I damage a subsystem and cause a methane leak and/or explosion...muwhahaa! ] (I hope my players don't think like me and try to figure out a way to capture it and try sell it as a minor fuel source )

Alternatively to paying credits, since this is not a standard item this Player has essentially dropped a possible side quest into my lap.

Mission thoughts:

• Hunt down and salvage clone wars star fighter used by Jedi master Plo Koon (not entirely accurate since Kel Dor breath Helium, but meh, its a "magic air converter"), or less well known Gand Jedi during the clone wars "Vaabesh"
• Break in and steal a "Atmospheric Converter Doodad" from some sort of chemical manufacturing plant. Possibly a criminal meth-like lab.
• Take on obligation with a gearhead who is willing to design it but wants the PC's to do some other mission in exchange.

I see this less as needing a side quest and more as just going to an appropriate manufacturer for a conversion kit.

Mechanics-wise, I'm not sure I see this as being something that takes up a hardpoint. It seems to me that hardpoints are more stuff that seriously affects the ship, like adding new weapons, hangar bays and stuff like that, versus just sealing off a room and changing out the tanks providing life support to it.

But more into the point of what you were asking, I think it's a great idea, and I think the cost is decent, but if this seems too prohibitive for something that's almost completely fluff, I'd lower the cost. Essentially, ships are already prettty well airtight (from being in space and stuff) and they already use gas filtering mechanisms (CO2 to O2 for most), so once you change that filtration mechanism for that one room, it should theoretically continue to fill that room with ammonia just like the rest of the ship can get filled with oxygen, so unless you normally charge money for life support systems, I wouldn't sweat it.

I also don't see need to use a hardpoint, unless you want it to have more of an in-game effect, like increased Strain Threshold or faster recovery. (based on the sound system in Fly Casual) Even that would be limited to a small area, affecting only the Gand on board.

Reminds me of a plan I had for an adventure. The group disbanded before I could implement it. We had a Gand pilot and I wanted to have an adventure on Gand, so that the situation flipped. Everyone but the Gand would need breathers. Ships built for Gand are going to have the appropriate life support, too, so in that system, the Rarity would be rather low.

No offense, but I do believe

you've already wasted time and effort with your initial deliberations: This is clearly a case for basic handwavery, for what it's worth.

10 hours ago, ThreeAM said:

The mechanics : Takes up a hard point, costs maybe 3,000, and uses some of the ship's fuel when it is running, so maybe +100 credits each time they refuel the ship?

Why should the provision of an ammonia atmosphere be more difficult and expensive than an oxygen one, in the first place? When you've handled 10^-18 mbar pressure, 3 K temperature, and ionising stellar radiation, atmosphere is only a question of flavour.

If you insist: The Environmental Converters in WEG went for cr. 4,000 and 4 t; they "[provided] comfortable environs [...] throughout the ship[...]".

Were I your GM I would just give it to you. But it would be a cool Home Alone style trap you could pull to any would-be kidnappers or shipjackers.

If I remember correctly, I do believe there is a ship attachment in one of the sourcebooks specifically designed for just this purposes.

2 hours ago, Tramp Graphics said:

If I remember correctly, I do believe there is a ship attachment in one of the sourcebooks specifically designed for just this purposes.

It's a much more complex system designed for having multiple different environments (not just atmospheric mixes) that can be switched between for visiting dignitaries. Comparatively speaking, just changing the atmospheric mix in a cabin is much less involved.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I have concluded, as many have suggested, that it should not take up a hard point. And after deliberating on it some more I realized that anything more than a minor effort or cost would effectively be putting a higher burden on this player just because they chose a non-oxygen breathing species. I don't want to "punish" them by inflicting a high cost/effort to get something the other players get for free.

I also recognize that I will have other story opportunities to utilize and highlight this species difference.

I like the thought of a multi-atmosphere ship. Plenty of opportunity to mess with players and NPCs alike as you force them into certain areas.

Also, you may want to consider the HT-2200. If I remember right, fluff from WEG has it with 4 cargo holds, each independently controlling environment, including temperature, pressure, lighting and atmosphere.

10 hours ago, Edgookin said:

I like the thought of a multi-atmosphere ship. Plenty of opportunity to mess with players and NPCs alike as you force them into certain areas.

Also, you may want to consider the HT-2200. If I remember right, fluff from WEG has it with 4 cargo holds, each independently controlling environment, including temperature, pressure, lighting and atmosphere.

Very interesting, I will look into this. With this ship I can envision them being able to take on some specialized/delicate cargo missions (eg crates of krayts) where the cargo has to be maintained through out... could be very profitable.