Its just my 2Cr, but I feel that the cost of starfighters and other starships should be increased.

I dont have the book in front of me, but starfighters seem pretty cheap.

Id expect starfighters to cost in the hundreds of thousands of credits, not tens of thousands.

If not Millions!

Well, remember that this is the Star Wars Roleplaying Game, not the Star Wars Military Spending Budget Simulator.

FWIW I agree.

You could get a Spitfire in 1939 for £12,000 which was about $60,000 in 1939 and around a million dollars in todays money. An F-86 sabre cost about $200,000 in the fifties or about $1.8 million adjusted for inflation and an F-15 about $30 million in 1998 ($43 million today).

I believe that some of it comes down to sheer economy of scale and apparent seeming-lack-of-inflation.

Well, there is the fact that much of the technology used to create ships has been around for thousands of years. Think of it in terms of what a computer used to cost compared to what it does now.

Also, in Star Wars, Luke balks at Han's price of 10,000. Saying they could almost buy a ship for that.

Well, there is the fact that much of the technology used to create ships has been around for thousands of years. Think of it in terms of what a computer used to cost compared to what it does now.

Also, in Star Wars, Luke balks at Han's price of 10,000. Saying they could almost buy a ship for that.

I think the general consensus is that Luke is using a bit of hyperbole due to Han's inflated transport price.

However, I do agree with the general sentiment. Starfighters are equivalently cheaper than modern-day fighter jets simply because of efficiency in construction, availability of material, and an undefinable number of variables in the hypothetical exchange rates between real-world and Star-Wars-galactic economies.

#handwave

Well, there is the fact that much of the technology used to create ships has been around for thousands of years. Think of it in terms of what a computer used to cost compared to what it does now.

Also, in Star Wars, Luke balks at Han's price of 10,000. Saying they could almost buy a ship for that.

I think the general consensus is that Luke is using a bit of hyperbole due to Han's inflated transport price.

However, I do agree with the general sentiment. Starfighters are equivalently cheaper than modern-day fighter jets simply because of efficiency in construction, availability of material, and an undefinable number of variables in the hypothetical exchange rates between real-world and Star-Wars-galactic economies.

#handwave

This is also a setting where the fighters can land just about anywhere, fuel up in all but the most primitive of places, be fixed with parts yanked out of a scrapyard, and otherwise act like automobiles from the 1970s.

Well, there is the fact that much of the technology used to create ships has been around for thousands of years. Think of it in terms of what a computer used to cost compared to what it does now.

Also, in Star Wars, Luke balks at Han's price of 10,000. Saying they could almost buy a ship for that.

I think the general consensus is that Luke is using a bit of hyperbole due to Han's inflated transport price.

However, I do agree with the general sentiment. Starfighters are equivalently cheaper than modern-day fighter jets simply because of efficiency in construction, availability of material, and an undefinable number of variables in the hypothetical exchange rates between real-world and Star-Wars-galactic economies.

#handwave

This is also a setting where the fighters can land just about anywhere, fuel up in all but the most primitive of places, be fixed with parts yanked out of a scrapyard, and otherwise act like automobiles from the 1970s.

That's because they are built like old WW2 fighters. In fact that is the origins of the dog-fights that you see in the first movies, heheh.

Yes, this system has 25,000 years of space flight behind it. The cost of a ship is like the cost of a car today. Most people can afford one if they try. Also, economies of scale really work well here. Think how many of a given craft exist after 30, 40, 50 years of construction. Want to build up a new fighter, just jump into the junkyard and rebuild one from spares.

It's very easy to make 10K credits sound like a lot of money (especially for a poor farm boy like Luke). You don't want to give your players an insane amount of cash for jobs, otherwise they'll simply buy all the equipment they could ever want and need.

You want to give your players something to work towards. Higher value jobs should be for illegal trafficking, but even then Han Solo was pretty much going to cover his debt to Jabba by giving him 17K by the sounds of things. Rebels will most likely reward by repairing and helping players restock rather than raw money, unless the information/job is really that important.

A 5K reward sounds great, but once your players realise that the 5-10K being awarded is split evenly among the party and will mostly be used on ship maintenance, there's not too many opportunities to really save up, especially when payment (unless you negotiate for an upfront fee) happens once a job is finished.

Want to build up a new fighter, just jump into the junkyard and rebuild one from spares.

I don't know. I think Anakin building his pod and C-3P0 in his spare time are right up there with midichlorians as 'dumb things in the prequels'.

I like to pretend that Starfighters are made in factories that look something like

At least Rebel fighters are. There is a TIE factory in The Force Unleashed with automated production lines and robotic arms. Add some alien slave labourers chained to the machines and overseers with shock whips and I think that is a good look.

(For roleplaying practicality I think cheap starships works, but the Star Wars in my head they cost more like what a transport aircraft costs today, while buying a speeder is a similar investment to buying a car.)

Luke got 2K for his speeder in A New Hope, which became the down payment for Han's services.

For a Space Ship to be almost 15K more does sound about right I think, again taking Luke's words in A New Hope into account.

In Phantom Menace, the T14 hyper drive generator was 4K credits I think. Which is the big important engine for star ships if I remember correctly.

Well, there is the fact that much of the technology used to create ships has been around for thousands of years. Think of it in terms of what a computer used to cost compared to what it does now.

Also, in Star Wars, Luke balks at Han's price of 10,000. Saying they could almost buy a ship for that.

I think the general consensus is that Luke is using a bit of hyperbole due to Han's inflated transport price.

However, I do agree with the general sentiment. Starfighters are equivalently cheaper than modern-day fighter jets simply because of efficiency in construction, availability of material, and an undefinable number of variables in the hypothetical exchange rates between real-world and Star-Wars-galactic economies.

#handwave

And due to the quantitative easing that the Empire's Central Galactic Bank has imposed... Oh, wait...

Incidentally, doing a spot of research, you can get this 1947 AC-47 Skytrain for $65,000:-

This 1985 Beech King Air for $2.25 million:-

and this 1976 Cessna 340a for $160,000

Not that that means anything. Just mildly interesting.

Much easier to steal one, buy used, or have some large group like the Rebellion or Empire let you borrow it.

Please lets not forget that those prices in A new Hope were from 1977 where 20,000 was a lot of money.

Almost as much as a house!

A brand new hig-end car in 1977 was $10,000.

A used small courier ship "might" go for $20k...but a transport commercial ship? No way.

Consider a Freightliner truck in todays economy is two - three-four times as much as a common car (a new freightliner tractor goes for over $100k)

Regardless how the rulebook chooses to price them, starships IMC will be as much as x10 due to availability and desirability. Oh, and no junk yard (er..magic item) shops to just go buy ships off the shelf. The rebellion is getting their ships direct from the shipyards, under the table...so price doesnt really matter anyway. Im moving on now....

Luke got 2K for his speeder in A New Hope, which became the down payment for Han's services.

For a Space Ship to be almost 15K more does sound about right I think, again taking Luke's words in A New Hope into account.

In Phantom Menace, the T14 hyper drive generator was 4K credits I think. Which is the big important engine for star ships if I remember correctly.

Did a bit of digging, and here are some (Saga Edition, don't hate) prices for used transports:

Barloz-class Freighter 17,500

YT-1300 Transport 25,000

Ghtroc 720 Freighter 23,000

YT-1300 Transport 25,000

Gymsnor-3 Freighter 19,000

Kazellis Light Freighter 23,000

GY Orbital Service Shuttle 20,000

Vaya-class Scout Ship 15,000

Suwantek TL-1800 Transport 15,000

So yeah, apparently, fifteen thousand ain't too far off the mark for a good piece of used hardware (for the discerning buyer, anyway).

Saga Edition

They lifted the prices directly from WEG/D6, and I thought spaceships were remarkably cheap then.

Saga Edition

They lifted the prices directly from WEG/D6, and I thought spaceships were remarkably cheap then.

Okay.

The low "used" prices from the prior RPG books is probably based off of Luke's comment during the Mos Eisley cantina scene about how he and Ben could "almost buy their own ship!" for the amount that Han was asking. Since WEG created and/or influenced a fair chunk of the early EU, they took Luke's line and ran with it. Kinda like how some folks did all sorts of backflips to have Han's "less than 12 parsecs" boast actually make psuedo-scientific sense; I prefer to think of it as him boasting to try and impress a couple of local rubes, not being aware that Obi-Wan knew better and partly conveyed it through his facial expression in that scene and his line to Luke about "if the ship's as fast as he's boasting..."

I distinctly remember there being two prices (WEG d6) for freighters, star fighters well those that wasn't restricted like the X-Wing or certain Imperial craft.

The larger amount was for it being brand new whilst the lower amount which i think was maybe half was the resell value noting there was nothing to stop the gm later revealing it was far from the bargain they assumed...

You can buy this cargo ship, built in Russia in 2002 for $9.6 million, for the knockdown price of $5.2 million. Recently reduced from $7.2 million as well.

You can get this 1991 model (ship behind tug) capable of carrying 3,500 tons of cargo/161 twenty foot containers for $2 million, or the nearest reasonable offer.

You really can buy anything over the internet. They don't seem to have an automated shopping cart set up though. what is this? 1996?

Can I purchase the Red October with its infamous Caterpillar drive?

I could do you a decomissioned whiskey class sub for $497,000

http://www.projectboats.com/whiskeysub.html

There is a discount available if you want to buy more than one!

I am aware of an old adage with plane manufacturing: 'You can build a stealth bomber that costs three cents as long as you build three billion of them.'

It's all about the scale of manufacturing, rarity of materials and demand. With that in mind it's very difficult to compare the cost of a Z-95 with an F-15. We're not strip-mining asteroid belts or devoting continents to manufacturing our technology.

I am aware of an old adage with plane manufacturing: 'You can build a stealth bomber that costs three cents as long as you build three billion of them.'

It's all about the scale of manufacturing, rarity of materials and demand. With that in mind it's very difficult to compare the cost of a Z-95 with an F-15. We're not strip-mining asteroid belts or devoting continents to manufacturing our technology.

Well except for the asteroid belts that the Empire "relocated" for a few of their larger projects ...