Pavonis Sector Sessions - Week One

In my last post, I included some new rules and omitted a few thoughts. In running through a week of play, I have a few items to add. 

My first omission is how to get an advanced hopper, beyond the one that comes with the ship. They are available everywhere regular hoppers are so long as the planet has a tech level 30 or better. Their cost is three times the cost of a regular hopper. There is a twist, you can sell an advanced hopper anywhere regardless of the tech level. 

Second, I did not create improved versions of skimmers or robots. I will correct that now. 

All skimmers are now dual-powered electric vehicles and therefore can be gassed up with a fuel unit OR charged at any location with banking facilities. I am picturing more Car Wars than Teslas. The cost to recharge is the same as a fuel unit. Remember, if you drive into an area that doesn't have banking facilities, you will need a fuel unit for the next day or you are walking.

Robots are trickier. I hate the per-week cost as it adds to tracking so it is now gone. Robots are also electrically powered, run for a week, and can be recharged at night from a starship, hopper, or skimmer for no cost. The robots handle this themselves. If you let them run out of power, they will break down. It costs a repair unit and a fuel unit plus the time of an Engineer to get them going again. Don't let that happen. This seems to be a better tradeoff than a weekly price. 

I have also decided that medics can drive skimmers because they would drive ambulances. Duh. They still can't use guns of any kind. 

Additionally, Ubots can ride on the exterior of any skimmer. That is kind of handy. PS bots are small and can ride on the exterior pack of a utility suit, taking up no space. You still need to carry a life support unit. 

One official rule I would like to point out is r216d. 10 sidearms can be packed into a 2 CU crate in cargo. Since we have this rule, I would add that 5 heavy sidearms can be packed into a 2 CU crate. Makes sense. One modification to this rule is that holstered weapons take no space on a person, but you can only carry 2 regular sidearms like this. A heavy sidearm is twice as big, so you can holster only one. There is zero utility in this unless you play a game where you can lose a sidearm. 

 

Let's run down the first week in a snapshot. Duke started with 5,000 secs. He took 5 days to assemble his crew of 2 medics (Merci and Bill), 2 engineers (Hem and Ratchet), 4 gunners (Zap, Fred, Garrison, and Kal), and 3 pilots (Emily, Zev, and Avery). Emily has the same stats as Duke per the last time I played. She is the second in command. Their weekly pay totals 195, which is a steal. 

During this 5-day shopping excursion, Duke got creative with buying and selling RU and robots. The GM bots at the spaceport have a 1-in-6 chance of selling for 1.5x. Since the buying price is 120 and the potential sale price could be 1.5x of 100, you could score 30 secs by savvy selling.  

The dice note 20 LSU, 20 FU, 50 RU, white blocks
are crates of sidearms and black are HSA.

That does come in handy, but there is an easier way to make money. RU, LSU, and FU have a buy-and-sell price of 1. If you buy at 1 but sell at 1.5, that is a 50% return each time. You can do this right out of the gate at Regari. Since they are just 1 CU each you can do this quickly and easily. You just need to accept fractional accounting, which I do. 

One warning, I have noticed that you can't sell LSU easily if at all. I will keep an eye out for this event if it exists. 

Back to gameplay. Duke also bought 2 ship guns (TL-3), 2 hopper guns (TL-5), and 12 utility suits. Next, the crew flew to the colony to buy weapons. Surprisingly, this didn't take long and they bought 100 sidearms (TL-4) and 24 heavy sidearms (TL-5). At this point, all of the utility suits were given to the crew, along with 10 sidearms and 6 heavy sidearms. 

In cargo, we have: 20 fuel units, 20 LSU, 50 RU, a hopper with 2 sets of guns, 90 sidearms (TL-4), 18 heavy sidearms (TL-5), one TL-1 sidearm, 10 Ubots, and 1 GM bot. Duke has 2645 secs. 

With a couple of days left, Duke decided to head to the Ruins. This did not go well because of a decision I made. 

You can travel to the Ruins in your ship and the ruins have e084, Building Collapse. Everything is spelled out as if you have only two options, walking or driving a skimmer. Why can't you have a building collapse on the ship or a hopper? I decided this could happen because I watched Robotech many times as a kid. 

You can see it too, can't you? 

Because of this choice, Duke and the gang had very little to show for the remainder of the week. But it was interesting.