Trade off of Older Ships: usable in GURPS, MgT2 and CE.

This Exercises the Sense of Technical DEBT of the GM and the Players. If you want to exercise your Total Cost of Ownership Calculations which includes Factoring Technical Debt ( as well as various BATNA and opportunity cost Calculations Intuitively; to create a Conditioned Response where the Player or GM reflexively looks at the Total Cost of Ownership, Technical Debt Trade-off, and Opportunity Costs). Sheet is here

I’m biased to Due Diligence, this is a Gaming Preference. This does not fit a lot of campaigns.

The trade-offs of older ships are the following:

2-2.9% Deflation and Inflation Value of the ship Based on its Age. GM can Roll 2d6-2 the Lower the Better. The value of the ship DEFLATES as the work to keep the ship running smooth INFLATES.

This value is Unknown to Players, but it’s not hard to figure it out, its just more complicated by their Negotiation and Sticker Price the GM puts out to make this challenging.
on writing this I realize I really should use 4 significant values, not 2. If I can manage 6.
The Technical Debt Inflates (In the form of Maintenance) as the Value Deflates.

Increased Maintenance Costs and Manhours. Take the Maintenance cost and Manhours (of the lowest rank engineering crew) and multiply by 1.02^(Age of the Ship). You can move the value up by 1.020 to 1.029 and the additional manpower and cost can reflect Lemons and Values of old Models. (My brother and I use Honda and Toyota Cars at around 10 years old). You can measure this in percent “inflation” of WORK or deflation of value: 2% or 2.9%

Assumptions are:

There are an Engineering Crew calculations

CE is p. 127.
MgT2 on the Ships stats and on pg. 145.

That this Maintenance Crew has duties that amount to 8 hours x 5 days preventive maintenance or more.
This also increases the Coordinated Work needed to Jury Rig the ship during Combat. Use the Increase in Manhours as the Time Scale.
This increases also the Consumption of Spare Parts. Multiply this to the Spare Parts for engineering consumption.

a 60-year-old Free Trader has 3.2x more Engineering Crew. at the 0.2 extra this means their shifts may not just be 40 hours. Three (3) 43 hour shifts*.

in MgT that’s 3 Engineers instead of 1.
CE’s TL9 Merchant freighter now has 3 Engineers.
GURPS ISW Hero-Class 200dton thats 1 Engineering (Maintenance with Mechanic or Repair Skills) that becomes 3, maybe 2 Maintenance Crew and 1 Engineer.
GURPS spaceships Outlander Class TL10 (Traders and Liners) one Eng and 2 technical is now. 6-7 Technical.

Lower Cost of the Ship. Always note the ship’s Original Value (and Date of that Value; like 60 years ago). You can measure this as % deflation of Value. x0.3 to the Cost.

MgT2 Free Trader at 13.5M.
CE TL9 Merchant 10M
GURPS ISW 3 Hero-Class 200dton 20.4M
GURPS spaceships Outlander Class TL10 (Traders and Liners) 14M

*This is interesting Role-playing and problem solving if the crew will ask for OT and if the ship can afford it.

Benchmarks.

My Honda Civic of 2007 which runs pretty well and fairly easy to maintain despite its quirks was when we originally bought it 16,000usd. Now 2020 its 4,000usd.

How this Works:

This is an ISSUE Track. You get 1d6 roll for an Issue Track when you get a ship. There are odds you get multiple Tracks. Use this for both COSTS and Hours

before the ship comes into use or in any time prior the GM can roll here. 1d6.
if he rolls a 6 he rolls again + 1 additional time. Every time he rolls a 6 add 1 additional 1d6 roll. GM just notes that when he rolls a 6 roll an additional time.
Roll until all the Rolls are used up.
so if he manages to keep rolling 6s he can have 3 or all 5!
NOW. the GM determines the Tech Debt Level of the Ship has.

Take the Ships Maintenance Hours (and Cost) with 1.02 to 1.029 (GM can roll 2d6-2) Work Inflation Modifier.
Take the Cost and Hours Maintenance Required per week and multiply to the Ship’s
Compare to the TABLE. to get the Effect on the Ships’s Performance and Requirements.
GM can roll a 1d6 (can be modified by +1 or -1, or Boon or Bane) to get WHERE the ship is in its tech debt level of the ship.

Examples Maintenance Hours.

Example 4.3x 40 hours = 172 hours per week.
Determine how many Manhours of Maintenance Hours Work Debt the ship has.
GM can just assign 2d6-2 Years x 52 (weeks in a year) x 172.
GM rolls a 5

Example Maintenance Cost

Maintenance Cost = 45M x 0.001 /52 weeks = 870Cr;
870Cr weekly maintenance for BRAND NEW x 4.3 Work Inflation Modifier = 3,741Cr per week

Due Dilligence

A major Overhaul reveals this Problem. This is a 1D Man Week Timeframe/Time Scale activity. Use this to determine the Difficulty of the Engineer spotting the problems.

In MgT2 and CE this is 1d6 Man-day makes this Formidable Difficulty. in GURPS that would be -10 if they have 1d6 days to inspect. The Broker and Talker is the one who can help the Engineer get the Time to do Due Diligence.

Technical Debt Table

		age of ship here			52 weeks * age of ship
		Weekly Hours of Work (1 + Inflation% ^ Age) * Engineering (typically 40 hours per week)			Weekly Cost (Brand New Cost of the ship/1000/12)
		Week Hours * Age of Ship in Weeks			Week Cost * Age of the Ship in Weeks
Tech debt level		Performance and Requirements Penalty (measure in Manhours per Month
d6		d6	1	2	3	4	5	6
1	100	Maintenance	Thrust	Jump Fuel@	Piloting Penalty	Power **	Power@@
2		< 100% required	-5%	5%	0	-5%	5%
3	0.8	up to 80%	-10%	10%	-1	-10%	10%
4	0.6	up to 60%	-20%	20%	-2	-20%	20%
5	0.4	up to 40%	-40%	40%	-3	-40%	40%
6	0.2	up to 20%	-80%	80%	-4	-80%	80%
		None	Malfunction	Malfunction	Malfunction	Malfunction	Malfunction
		*(thus reducing the Jump Range of ships with jump >1. so a ship with Jump 2 can only jump 1 if they cannot make the Jump Fuel Requirement)
		**(% Sections of the Ship Have no Power).
		***If Rolled Roll again and select an additional one. Every time a 6 is rolled select one more.
		@ Additional Jump Fuel required
		@@ Additional Fuel for Power

EXAMPLE

the GM determines, rolling a d6, to get a 2

the GM rolls how much technical debt the ship has with a d6 and rolls a 4 the ship. The ship needs 40% more fuel to Jump. The ship’s cargo has additional Fuel Tanks installed to compensate as a Workaround.

		60 yrs	3,120 wks
		172 hrs	$870
d6		Work hours	Cost	d6	1	2
1		536,640 hrs	$2,714,400	Maintenance	Thrust	Jump Fuel
2				< 100% required	-5%	5%
3	0.8	429,312 hrs	$2,171,520	up to 80%	-10%	10%
4	0.6	321,984 hrs	$1,628,640	up to 60%	-20%	20%
5	0.4	214,656 hrs	$1,085,760	up to 40%	-40%	40%
6	0.2	107,328 hrs	$542,880	up to 20%	-80%	80%
				None	Malfunction	Malfunction

Key Takeaways

Making this made me realize Taking on More OVERHEAD of an older ship is a young man’s game. a Young crew “HUNGRY” are better off taking on an older ship. As we mature and move to higher-value work we delegate and give these jobs to the younger crew who need the experience and get Brand Newer ships having appreciated the Opportunity Cost of a Brand new ship.

That handling NPCs or Real People – when modeled properly competes with the other Duties – Opportunities and special Operations.

That Older ships – like my brothers OLD 2009 IdeaCentre Lenovo can be Upgraded – motherboard, processor, RAM, and drives – but will inherit problems like the old USBs and other such restraints. in the end, the Chasis is all that can be kept and the WORK finding something that FIT the Chasis is work that can be done to find new deals – its an opportunity cost.

Game in the Brain