Iirc, the starter kits in Terrinoth were all a deal, with values above the default 500. They allowed characters to begin play with thematic gear that would cost just a little too much otherwise. One of my players (thanks @Khesh ) noticed that this is not the case for Android, where most of the career packages fall short of the default 1,000 credits.

Here are the numbers for all the careers, thanks to Snurf from the Genesys Discord server:

Academic : 715 to 820

Bounty Hunter : 800 to 910

Con Artist : 800 to 820

Courier : 755 to 785

Investigator : 850 to 1010

Ristie : 920 to 1000

Roughneck : 620 to 800

Runner : 950 to 995

Soldier : 870 to 925

Tech : 790 to 1025

tldr; the career starter packages are not a deal for thematic gear, but rather a device to speed through character creation.

Here is Sam's response:

The starter packages are designed both to help point players in the right direction when selecting gear, and also to provide a quick series of choices for people who don’t particularly like to spend a lot of time focusing on gear. We don’t expect all of them to add up to 1,000 credits, as we were more concerned with making sure characters had an appropriate selection of starting gear. If you’re worried about maximizing the value of your starting gear, then you certainly should use the 1,000 credits given to you during Step 7 (if you take a favor to take additional credits, you should also not use the starting gear options, as it will not take your extra money into account).

I get where he's coming from. I would have preferred kits that erred on the side of a bonus, especially for newer players, but 1,000 credits is plenty to work with.

Funny I can see it, oh well.

I was just about to type I bet the reasoning is people who wanna jump in and aren't focused on the bookkeeping. I would make the list you did and just point out you can take a grand, or these packages plus X based on archetype package.

They serve their purpose

17 hours ago, verdantsf said:

I get   where he's coming from. I would have preferred kits that erred on the   side of a bonu   s    ,  especially for newer players, but 1,000 credits is plenty to work  with  .

FFG could have also included more petty-cash in the kits to bring their average values closer to 1,000 credits. However, knowing they're generally worth less than 1,000 credits, it should also be pretty easy for a GM interested in equalizing the starting equipment packages to simply adjust their petty-cash values up to compensate.

For example a Courier's package might include 230+1d100 Credits worth of petty-cash (instead just 1d100), a Soldier's 25+1d100 credits, etc.

If said courier or soldier also wanted to owe a Favor for more wealth; I would simply add it to the extra cash value I'd assigned to each career's starting kit, and let them spend all but the 1d100 credits of petty-cash however they wished. The extra couple dozen credit's worth of gear some archetypes will end up with seems like a negligable benefit for having to select your equipment from a far more limited list.

Those number are close enough. I feel like if you are worried about a few hundred credits you are worried about the wrong things in the game. I'd just call it an ease-of-choice tax.

Oh, for me, it was just more of a surprise due to the difference with Terrinoth where it was ease-of-use & a discount. No big deal overall, though. Plus, the 1,000 credits in SotB vs. 500 in Terrinoth sure is nice.

Could this be solved by posting the delta per archetype and then give the player X credits after the fact? While I personally wouldn't sweat the credits, I can recognize that some folks will and it would be simple to accommodate both play styles. Are the numbers as posted the range of the delta, or absolutes?

I don't think it's really something that needs solving per se. I just brought it up because I told the players in my campaign, "hey, don't buy your gear separately with 1,000 credits, it's a better deal to go with the starter packages." I was wrong and wanted to give a heads up here, since it's an easy assumption to make.

If they take the starter package, also hand them 300 credits spending money? It would then make the packages more appealing since all but perhaps Roughneck would end up with slightly more then 1,000 in gear and money.

I think the starting packages are attractive for a quick start, but I would also let my players total up the gear they chose after the first session and get a refund check in the mail for later. In the case of the Academic or Courier, I would point out they could add the cheapest ice breaker to their pad if they priced things out at character creation.

16 hours ago, verdantsf said:

I don't think it's really something that needs solving per se. I just brought it up because I told the players in my campaign, "hey, don't buy your gear separately with 1,000 credits, it's a better deal to go with the starter packages." I was wrong and wanted to give a heads up here, since it's an easy assumption to make.

I agree its not really a problem, so much as a quirk to be aware of. I would feel really bad if one of my players lost a fifth of their starting wealth to trap-options disguised as a 'convienience' (especially so if they're a cyborg, g-mod, or owe a favor for bonus wealth). Documenting a few adjustments to the starting equipment packages in my campaign primer (alongside all my other house-rules) is a negligible price for me to pay for peace of mind.