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Used starships - availability?

  • Thread starter Black Globe Generator
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Black Globe Generator

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Flush with filthy lucre from some job or another, your weary and wounded Travellers stumble down the ramp of the launch that ferried them to the downport.

Their goal? To buy a ship of their own.

How do you decide what's available?
 
BY giving them only choices that will make their life miserable later on down the road....
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Maybe you could use the starship encounter tables if you really don't mind randomness.
 
Well, you have 3 generic choices for used ships:

Civilian - this runs from your generic Star RV and Yachts, to colonization ships

Commercial - couriers, barges, prospectors, and freighters, etc...

Para-Military - may be decommisioned military or scout, most likely without weapons but military sensors could be intact

Your best bet is to make a few tables for each type. Throw some lemons on the list and a few 'jewels in the rough'. The tables don't have to be any bigger than 6 ships per table, but be prepared for the group to want to look through each or to give one a 'test drive'.

Unless you want to get into black market starships...

d20 Star Wars had a nice used ship quirks table I wish I could reprint here for you, but it's copyrighted.

Hope that helped a bit,

Dameon
 
I like the randon encounter table idea.
Try 2d6 ships for sale and use the "quirks" table I saw around here.
 
CT's "Gunboats and Traders" comes to mind. It may come down to what they plan to do when they get this ship. What do you want them to do? It's kind of funny that the only ship they can possibly work out terms on is the one you want them to have.
 
If you have the TNE rules handy they have a very nice system for acquiring used and abused ships. The tables there might help.
 
Originally posted by Fritz88:
By giving them only choices that will make their life miserable later on down the road....
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I wasn't aware that there was any other way! ;)
Originally posted by Fritz88:
Maybe you could use the starship encounter tables if you really don't mind randomness.
This is how I've usually done it in the past. I use the starship encounter tables from LBB 2 based on starport type, assigning availability that corresponds with the frequency of the encounter - for example, a scout/courier is available on a throw of 6+, a free trader on a throw of 7+, and a fat trader on a throw of 8+ at a class A starport, while at a class D starport you may find a used Type S on a throw of 8+ and a Type A on a throw of 10+. I then rolled a die to determine the age - 1-4 is the number of decades old the ship is, 5 is brand new, and 6 adds another die roll of decades (i.e., 40 years plus 10-60 additional years).

(And yes, I am a big fan of random! ;) )

I plan on using the 77 Quirks table to add "personality" to whatever ship the travellers buy.
 
What about repossessed ships? You know, what do they do with those loan-skipper ships once they catch them? Auction them off
Such ships probably have some battle damage, a nasty surprise left in the computer system of by former crew, a reputation that might prove "interesting," and maybe even something hidden in the ship.

Another source I use is military surplus, those old scout ships, patrol ships, etc. that are 2 TL behind. I have them available with some weapons, which may or may not work. Of course certain components will have been stripped, the magazine emptied, and other parts damaged.

Sometimes the ships are one step up from scrap, but some PCs with a good engineer should eventually be able to get the ship into shape. All you really need is a good J-Drive and 1G and your good to go. Hey just buy two and use one for parts! ;)

Now if the PCs have a lot of cash, the grey market is the best place to go IMTU.
 
Here is another possibility. Pawn shops . Suppose the owner needed some extra credits to make a quick profit, got a loan on his ship's title, then died of a heart attack before it was paid off. After some time in legal/government redtape, the pawn broker now ownes the ship.
 
Then there are always Derelict ships like those found in Kinunir and Mission To Zhodane.

Of course you don't have to give them a Colonial Cruiser. The ship they find could be whateve is conveinient for you i.e. a seeker which was damaged in an attack before a jump and has a destroyed bridge. Or an old ship that missjumped into a fuel-less and food-less system. The possibilities are endless.
 
Finding a derelict ship can make for an adventure on its own. Derelicts tend to have LOTS of malfunctions and less-than-reliable systems. Keep your mechanical and electronic tool kits handy! Never know when some critical system may go boom . . .
I just wish I had some crunchier rules for maintenance aboard ship.

Best Regards,

Bob W
 
I've always assumed an A Port rolls half-pop times on 1d6-4; B ports pop/3 times on 1d6-4, C ports pop/3 times on 1d6-5.Roll weekly... most of these are repossessions. Roll 1d6 for the number that are repossessions, to a max of the number generated.

A broker roll is needed to find them. Broker, Edu, difficulty varies, TI is 1 hour. Costs are rolled like a time roll, but separately, at KCr1 increment.
 
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