Pricing Starships

By LibrariaNPC, in Star Wars: Edge of the Empire RPG

Has anyone come up with a solid way of setting up a price for a starship that is not in the current book or statted (and therefore priced) in another RPG?

I've been working on a few that were not placed in the previous RPGs, so trying to determine a price is a bit challenging. I'm also curious about this for player purposes, as I've always run into at least ONE player per campaign that is interested in ordering a custom ship; we had a few rules for it previously, but nothing like it in EotE.

Anyone have any suggestions or something they've put together? Any thoughts on the matter would be greatly appreciated.

I have old Star Wars resources from WEG and d20 that I use. I would do a web search and see what you can find out in the holonet.

I have old Star Wars resources from WEG and d20 that I use. I would do a web search and see what you can find out in the holonet.

I know that most of the ships I have in mind are on Wookieepedia or the Star Wars Exodus Visual but not all of them have prices, nor are all of them there.

I also have a good number of the old resources (piles of the stuff from WEG and WotC's d20 version), but again, doesn't always cover what I'm looking at statting.

What ships are you looking for prices on and we'll see what we can come up with.

Well, my group was asking about a few ships from The Old Republic MMO, just to have stats on hand in case we end up going from Rebellion to that era after we get a better feel for the mechanic. I started up with that list on the thread here , but pricing is a concern.

The other concern with previously made prices is the discrepency. In EotE, a YT-1300 is drastically different cost AND capability wise when compared to the previous editions, making the other costs either too high or too low.

The final concern is the hotshot pilot wanting to custom design a ship if/when he can scrape up the credits for it (or builds up a large enough obligation of his own by doing so). He voiced the thought when he was looking around at a few of the ships with the party as a party ship, but as the rules don't exist and I'm not math savvy enough to come up with EVERY permutation, I'm at a loss.

Could always have him design it, then YOU quote him the price. compare it to stats with others in book and even some the homebrewed ones here on forums

Stock freighters are 25-100,000 depending on new or used. My group just bought one and what we did is tell me how much credits they wanted to spend and then I used increased obligation for the rest to a Hutt they already working with.

The one you linked new would be 100,000 I'd say

Stock freighters are 25-100,000 depending on new or used. My group just bought one and what we did is tell me how much credits they wanted to spend and then I used increased obligation for the rest to a Hutt they already working with.

The one you linked new would be 100,000 I'd say

They can get much more expensive than that. We have the Citadel at 200,000 credits and the YV-929 at over 350,000 credits. Even the YT-2400 starts at 130,000 credits.

OCR Starships of the Galaxy had a nice, albeit long-winded starship creation system that (more or less) precisely calculated the cost of building the ship, and how long it would take.

I think SE had something similar, but I never really got into that design system, it was rigid, boring and lacking in depth...

Stock freighters are 25-100,000 depending on new or used. My group just bought one and what we did is tell me how much credits they wanted to spend and then I used increased obligation for the rest to a Hutt they already working with.

The one you linked new would be 100,000 I'd say

They can get much more expensive than that. We have the Citadel at 200,000 credits and the YV-929 at over 350,000 credits. Even the YT-2400 starts at 130,000 credits.

I was referencing standard stock freighters I don't consider Citadel or YV-929 in that category.

Stock freighters are 25-100,000 depending on new or used. My group just bought one and what we did is tell me how much credits they wanted to spend and then I used increased obligation for the rest to a Hutt they already working with.

The one you linked new would be 100,000 I'd say

They can get much more expensive than that. We have the Citadel at 200,000 credits and the YV-929 at over 350,000 credits. Even the YT-2400 starts at 130,000 credits.

I was referencing standard stock freighters I don't consider Citadel or YV-929 in that category.

Well, both are light freighters, and both can be bought in a factory-fresh "stock" configuration, so... :P

OCR Starships of the Galaxy had a nice, albeit long-winded starship creation system that (more or less) precisely calculated the cost of building the ship, and how long it would take.

I think SE had something similar, but I never really got into that design system, it was rigid, boring and lacking in depth...

Starships of the Galaxy had that exact set of rules, and while it involved a bit of math to figure out, it did work out pretty well.

Stock freighters are 25-100,000 depending on new or used. My group just bought one and what we did is tell me how much credits they wanted to spend and then I used increased obligation for the rest to a Hutt they already working with.

The one you linked new would be 100,000 I'd say

See, that's where I start hitting snags. A YT-1300 only costs 100k, while the YT-2400 costs 130k (may be slightly off), but the capabilities are pretty different; the 2400 has better armor, manueverability, hull, system strain, and weaponry (twin cannons instead of standard). Yes, it takes an Encumbrance hit (of only 25) and losing a SINGLE Hard Point in comparison.

If you crunch the numbers, the YT-2400 has the better armor (estimate 8,000 credits on the low end to cover an equivalent modification), an extra set of cannons (14,000 credits), and linking them (another 7,000 credits), for a grand total of 29,000 credits. . .and that's without factoring in the manueverability bonus!

In the end, I'm at a loss on pricing things, so. . .

There might be something in Suns of Fortune, or perhaps for a yet-to-be announced Smuggler sourcebook, but right now there's not anything official. Even the pricing systems in the two Starships of the Galaxy sourcebooks (OCR and SWSE) are intended to handle "player-designed custom ships" than "stock" mass-produced ships (which invariably wind up costing less due to economies of scale).

Honestly, your best tactic is to look at the established prices of other ships, either in the FFG books or on Wookieepedia, find the price of a ship that seems "close enough" to the homebrew ship design you've got, and make a best guess estimate as to what the final cost would be.

There might be something in Suns of Fortune, or perhaps for a yet-to-be announced Smuggler sourcebook, but right now there's not anything official. Even the pricing systems in the two Starships of the Galaxy sourcebooks (OCR and SWSE) are intended to handle "player-designed custom ships" than "stock" mass-produced ships (which invariably wind up costing less due to economies of scale).

Honestly, your best tactic is to look at the established prices of other ships, either in the FFG books or on Wookieepedia, find the price of a ship that seems "close enough" to the homebrew ship design you've got, and make a best guess estimate as to what the final cost would be.

Probably as close as we'll get for the time being.

If anyone has another idea, I'm all ears, though!

What makes people think that the price should purely match the statistics? What about costs versus economies of scale? The more you produce the more units the fixed costs get divided into while the per unit costs then drive the actual cost of production. Also, the costs of doing something after the fact are typically more expensive than with the system (like adding weapons to a ship that didn't have any or replacing what was there).

Trying to use economy of scale in a massive galactic market is madness. For game purposes, its far better to simply go with "better = more expensive" with few exceptions.

Trying to use economy of scale in a massive galactic market is madness. For game purposes, its far better to simply go with "better = more expensive" with few exceptions.

Well, there's quite a few exceptions to "better = costs more". Just looking at my copy of Stock Ships, there's the Nova-Drive 3Z, which is superior to the YT-1300 in almost all respects, but costs half as much, as well as the Kazelis light freighter, which in purely d6 terms outperforms the stock d6 YT-1300 in every aspect but cargo capacity.

Then you've got ships that cost a lot more but mechanically are sub-par, such as the Buado space yacht and the Crescent-class transport (has a slightly higher base speed and better back-up hyperdrive, but that's it) to name a few. There's also the Luxury 3000 from the EotE corebook, which costs a bit more than a YT-1300 but is frankly more of a flying death trap if you get into a fight (pathetic Armor, no on-board weapons).

As for trying to apply "economies of scale," like it or not, for many of the official ships, that's exactly what's been done if you try to recreate most of the stock ship designs using the various "build your own ship" rules when it comes to calculating the final cost

Trying to use economy of scale in a massive galactic market is madness. For game purposes, its far better to simply go with "better = more expensive" with few exceptions.

Well, there's quite a few exceptions to "better = costs more". Just looking at my copy of Stock Ships, there's the Nova-Drive 3Z, which is superior to the YT-1300 in almost all respects, but costs half as much, as well as the Kazelis light freighter, which in purely d6 terms outperforms the stock d6 YT-1300 in every aspect but cargo capacity.

Then you've got ships that cost a lot more but mechanically are sub-par, such as the Buado space yacht and the Crescent-class transport (has a slightly higher base speed and better back-up hyperdrive, but that's it) to name a few. There's also the Luxury 3000 from the EotE corebook, which costs a bit more than a YT-1300 but is frankly more of a flying death trap if you get into a fight (pathetic Armor, no on-board weapons).

As for trying to apply "economies of scale," like it or not, for many of the official ships, that's exactly what's been done if you try to recreate most of the stock ship designs using the various "build your own ship" rules when it comes to calculating the final cost

The economy of scale argument would suggest that the YT-1300 should be vastly cheaper than the 3-Z since it was produced in far greater numbers. That the 3-Z was produced in more modest quantities and has superior capabilities for a lesser price just goes to show that whoever initially priced it had little idea of how to price it.

Well, both are light freighters, and both can be bought in a factory-fresh "stock" configuration, so... :P

You are correct, I miss spoke. I should of said common friegther. Which to me is they YT-Series type freighter's.

The economy of scale argument would suggest that the YT-1300 should be vastly cheaper than the 3-Z since it was produced in far greater numbers. That the 3-Z was produced in more modest quantities and has superior capabilities for a lesser price just goes to show that whoever initially priced it had little idea of how to price it.

Regarding the 3-Z, that's actually addressed in universe as the production company had almost no R&D costs to recoup, instead tweaking what CEC saw as an "outdated design" so Nova-Drive could afford to sell at a substantially reduced price that undercut the competition.

Plus, the Corellian Engineering Corporation is probably akin to a major automotive manufacturer, in that they're reliant upon brand-name recognition to sell a ship and trading on the legacy of their brand to be able to sell their ships at an increased cost, so they could turn a profit on the ships as well as recoup their R&D costs. There are a lot of people in the real world that will by a specific brand of car based solely upon who made it, even if a comparable vehicle by another company is available for less. And I'm sure that the Star War universe is no exception, with folks that only buy CEC-produced ships no matter how much cheaper or superior another company's light transport is. CEC's a business, and like most businesses, if they can get away with charging more for their product and folks will keep buying it, they're gonna do it.

Besides, it's never said that Nova-Drive made a huge fortune off the 3-Z; could well be they sold enough to keep solvent and turn a decent profit.

It's actually pretty similar to what happened with D&D 3rd edition and the d20 license. WotC had to spend a good chunk of money to design & develop the d20 system, but third party publishers could crank out supplemental sourcebooks at a much lower cost as they didn't have to cover design & development costs. Granted, the quality of those 3rd party supplements was often sorely lacking, but there were a few gems to be found in the glut.

Does any of this have a bearing on the game? Nope, but it's an in-verse look at why some ships are likely priced as they are, as opposed to your rather dismissive conclusion of "the author had no idea what they were doing."

You can't base price purely on statistics. Capabilities, etc. need to come into play. More weaponry, storage capacity, number o people it carries, electronics, etc. all make a ship cost more. Economies of scale do come into play, but use modern shipbuilding as an example. Ships are still incredibly expensive even when slightly more "mass produced." I'd make custom ships incredibly expensive and daunting to locate someone able to do the upgrades.

The economy of scale argument would suggest that the YT-1300 should be vastly cheaper than the 3-Z since it was produced in far greater numbers. That the 3-Z was produced in more modest quantities and has superior capabilities for a lesser price just goes to show that whoever initially priced it had little idea of how to price it.

Regarding the 3-Z, that's actually addressed in universe as the production company had almost no R&D costs to recoup, instead tweaking what CEC saw as an "outdated design" so Nova-Drive could afford to sell at a substantially reduced price that undercut the competition.

Plus, the Corellian Engineering Corporation is probably akin to a major automotive manufacturer, in that they're reliant upon brand-name recognition to sell a ship and trading on the legacy of their brand to be able to sell their ships at an increased cost, so they could turn a profit on the ships as well as recoup their R&D costs. There are a lot of people in the real world that will by a specific brand of car based solely upon who made it, even if a comparable vehicle by another company is available for less. And I'm sure that the Star War universe is no exception, with folks that only buy CEC-produced ships no matter how much cheaper or superior another company's light transport is. CEC's a business, and like most businesses, if they can get away with charging more for their product and folks will keep buying it, they're gonna do it.

Besides, it's never said that Nova-Drive made a huge fortune off the 3-Z; could well be they sold enough to keep solvent and turn a decent profit.

It's actually pretty similar to what happened with D&D 3rd edition and the d20 license. WotC had to spend a good chunk of money to design & develop the d20 system, but third party publishers could crank out supplemental sourcebooks at a much lower cost as they didn't have to cover design & development costs. Granted, the quality of those 3rd party supplements was often sorely lacking, but there were a few gems to be found in the glut.

Does any of this have a bearing on the game? Nope, but it's an in-verse look at why some ships are likely priced as they are, as opposed to your rather dismissive conclusion of "the author had no idea what they were doing."