[...]

... A single power armor fits that description ( -30 for very rare , +30 for scale, which is explicitly included in 'total acquisition modifier', as per the example of pag. 271).

[...]

Profit factor is sort of a nebulous concept but power armor is considered "very rare" [...]

Basic power armours in Rogue Trader are actually Extremely Rare , not Very Rare.

I'm not getting involved in the argument, I just wanted to point that out.

Edit: Also, It's -30 for Extremely Rare; -20 for Very Rare.

Profit factor is sort of a nebulous concept but power armor is considered "very rare" which per Battlefleet Koronus is the same relative value of a good craftsmanship lance weapon. An object larger than a saturn v rocket that can punch holes clean through a ship's hull.

But yeah, profit factor as written and rolled with a d% is silly. I trust we all knew that?

[...]

... A single power armor fits that description ( -30 for very rare , +30 for scale, which is explicitly included in 'total acquisition modifier', as per the example of pag. 271).

[...]

Profit factor is sort of a nebulous concept but power armor is considered "very rare" [...]

Basic power armours in Rogue Trader are actually Extremely Rare , not Very Rare.

I'm not getting involved in the argument, I just wanted to point that out.

Edit: Also, It's -30 for Extremely Rare; -20 for Very Rare.

My fault for the confusion sry. It's Very Rare in RT core, and I wrote the post as such, then I remembered they changed it to Extremely Rare in the errata, but somehow I only changed the number (from -20 to -30) and not the text as well.

Good thing Rouge Traders are far from 'almost everyone'

Except if you look at what's in the source books the vast majority of them don't have it. Lure of the Expanse lists eight famous RTs and only one of them has it and if you read up on her it goes on to say she's the product of a Dynasty that settled multiple systems in the Calixis Sector a long time ago and her family is so stupidly rich already that they use their warrent for recreational treasure hunting. The only other example I can think of off the top of my head is the current head of House Winterscale who isn't so much a RT as he is THE RT.

So yeah having a level 1 arch militant start with power armor is stupid.

Power Armour is honestly not that good for Rogue Traders. They tend to get into protracted negotiations and do things on a grand scale, so having a suit of armour that works for 1d5 hours is potentially disastrous. If you try to deploy troops in power armour, the enemy army could just retreat and wait until their suits run out of power, and then kill a bunch of helpless enemies.

One of my players got a set of Power Armour treasure from Stars of Inequity that has the Alien quality of never running out of power, so it's probably some of the best Power Armour in the galaxy. And also Xenotech. He wears it everywhere, and revels in the precious armour points it provides him.

The other problem is that presumably Rogue Traders will behave like people on this forum and have house troops armed with lascannons, digital melta rings, Krak missile launchers and probably a few Xenotech weapons on their person, and all of those have penetration greater than what Power Armour will provide.

The RT got the starship through his warrant, not because he personally is truly obscenely rich,

I'll take a good field and some best quality void sealed carapace over PA any day of the week for my RT.

Also the upgrade that lets me make it glow like I'm at a rave, because well... I can.

Except if you look at what's in the source books the vast majority of them don't have it. Lure of the Expanse lists eight famous RTs and only one of them has it and if you read up on her it goes on to say she's the product of a Dynasty that settled multiple systems in the Calixis Sector a long time ago and her family is so stupidly rich already that they use their warrent for recreational treasure hunting. The only other example I can think of off the top of my head is the current head of House Winterscale who isn't so much a RT as he is THE RT.

So yeah having a level 1 arch militant start with power armor is stupid.

You think it's stupid, other people don't. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion OFC.

Just because most RTs in the fluff don't have power armor, it doesn't mean they can't afford it, just that they chose to use their wealth/time to acquire more useful stuff. If a RT doesn't plan on doing frontline fighting very often, why spend the money on power armor ?Especially if the power supply only lasts 1d5 hours, which means frequent changes, which implies logistics and uncomfortable standing around while your underlings change the batteries.

The RT got the starship through his warrant, not because he personally is truly obscenely rich,

But he still is rich enough to keep it going (supplies, repairs, new crewmen, ammo, torps, attack craft etc.). In my view of WH40k getting all of that regularly is harder than getting a suit of power armor once.

Kroots with Macro Hammers AND power armors.

I wonder what's next.

Maybe next they will turn him into a Dreadnought when he dies?

Kroots with Macro Hammers AND power armors.

I wonder what's next.

Maybe next they will turn him into a Dreadnought when he dies?

I'd rather go for Tau battlesuits TBH. Lighter, stronger and less permanent