Cost of Droids

[DB 2.0]

OK I'm working out of the R&E Droids book and I can understand the prices given being for a Prototype or Custom Droid, but for Production Models what should be the markdown? also what should be the markdown for building and programing the thing yourself?

I ask because I just "killed" the most popular Droid across all the SW games I'm in ATM, one of the players has written up the stats they would like for the replacement they want to design and build themselves.

the droid they handed me comes in around 6,000cr, the nerfed droid I'm happy with letting them have as the phase 1 prototype still comes in a bit shy of 5,000cr.

I've crunched the numbers on most of the most popular canon droids and the List price compared to the custom build price comes back all over the shop as to what the "Production Model Markdown" should be.

[Centinull]

I'm pretty sure the writers of the RPGs didn't use a formula and just assigned a price to the droid they felt right for the role of the droid. It's definitely not consistent, but some of it could be attributed to brand name and reputation.

Labor Droids are cheaper
Security Droids more expensive.
Assassin droids cost a fortune.
Used droids have a significant discount if they are abundant or obsolete.
Failed lines are cheaper (MSE and J9 Worker Droids)

If the droid is superior in it's role it should carry a premium cost.

[DB 2.0]

A 3PO unit retails for 3,000cr new, but to have a functionally equivalent droid built it costs you close to 5,000cr. A R2 unit costs 4,525cr new to custom build one your looking at close to 8,000. Both are significant markdowns for the General Production Models compared to a custom build made to the same specifications.

[Ral_Brelt]

Centinull, how do you figure the MSE to be a failure? They're used on every Imp ship and installation. That's a lot of contract for a failed model.

As to OP...the price for the model they gave you might be for a production model. But a prototype could very well be a factor of ten or one hundred higher than that due to research and design costs. Its not just about putting things together. There are abnormalities that crop up when you put this piece on that circuit. If they're trying it solo, make it the focus of a group of adventures as opposed to turn in credits, get goodie.

[Centinull]

[Centinull]

J9 Worker Drone, is a Verpine designed protocol droid. Verpine are brilliant engineers, but they suck at reading other species motivations, especially human's. The J9 has a flat personality, misleading name, and it's ugly. It tanked as a protocol droid.

Roche slashed prices to offset it's losses, and they actually started selling as "worker" droids. Smartest load lifters on the market

[DB 2.0]

on the MSE the original retail price of 2,000cr, didn't sell so they dropped the price to 500cr, still didn't sell so the Empire got them for 320cr/ea in bulk.

[DougRed4]

[Centinull]

Actually got the information from STAR WARS THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO DROIDS, by DEL REY

Wookiepedia was just something I could copy and paste easily. I could swear that it was mentioned in the WEG books somewhere, but I really don't feel like digging through the library to find out which one.

Before Episode I the WEG RPG and the Expanded Universe were cannon. They still are to me.

[garhkal]

Do they have droid engineering? They will need that skills if they want to actually build a droid up, not just droid repair. Not sure if they will need just droid programming or droid software engineering to load it up though.
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[DB 2.0]

one player has bean tinkering with Droids since day one, in fact his "Hobby" is his tied for 2nd best skills, he has both Droid Repair and Droid Programing at 5D (behind Astrogation at 6D+?), he has the points for picking up (A) Droid Engineering, but needs to put in the study time, but "Life" tends to get in the way, you know trying to run a Tramp Freighter operation, avoiding the amorous advances of a Crime Figure (and a darn fine figure she is to) escaping the dungeons of rival crime figures, having his Ex(?)-girlfriend shot at him with Rocket Launchers, dodging the Empire who depending on the day of the week think he's a Smuggler/Gangster/Black Marketeer/Rebeal/Illegal Salvage Operator (He only Smuggles when he has to, some of the Salvage is questionable and the Marketing is more Grey than Black, the rest are baseless lies or erroneous assumptions based on him being a victim of happenstance or circumstantial evidence).


Edit: although I'm working out of 2E the R&E Droid Book sais it adds to both Droid Repair and Programing, it drops most Repair difficulty ratings by one grade (according to the R&E Droid Book) and lets you tinker with Software using your Hardware skills (normally at one or two difficulties higher)

[Tinman]

Personally, I just stick with the system given in the "Owner's Manual" section of Cynabar's when it comes to anything related to building, modifying or programming droids, as it's pretty comprehensive and tends to be fairly well balanced.

As to the cost of in-production models, I tend to assume pretty much the same factors are involved as in real world retail pricing. Companies engage in price wars with each other (it's been noted that one can sometimes purchase Industrial Automaton and Cybot Galactica droids at a discount due to ongoing price wars between those two manufacturers, for instance.) Some models become "fashionable" for a time, and people will pay more for them, while some models and brands fall in and out of favor due to real or perceived flaws and resulting hits to reputation. Some companies can afford to undersell others because they use different sorts of production labor or they have cheaper access to base materials due to the location of their production facilities. The above is just for starters. These aren't things characters in your game are likely to hear about unless they take a particular interest in the economics of the droid market or you're running adventures in the Corporate Sector. (In the latter case, you could have all sorts of fun getting them to risk their necks becoming involved in industrial espionage and sabotage plots.) Otherwise the characters just see the end result in what it costs to purchase different droids.

If you want to be even more realistic, you could even have prices for the same model droid differ depending on where they're purchased (like any other equipment.) Different systems and cities have varying taxes, and there are shipping costs involved. Being a Standard class spaceport, there may well be an Industrial Automaton outlet at Mos Eisley, but between what they probably have to pay Jabba (or his successor) for protection and what it costs to ship their stock, you're likely to pay more than usual for whatever you buy there.

When it comes to the cost of buying a line model vs. building your own, you see the same thing with real world automobiles. The cost of the individual parts purchased separately can be a great deal more than the cost of purchasing the car already assembled. Depending on exactly what sort of droid you're building, TraitWare might have to be custom ordered if nothing currently on the market meets your requirements. (If you want to give a droid Attributes levels not commonly found in any other model, you're definitely dealing with custom parts.) Droid mass producers can afford to buy parts in bulk, direct from other manufacturers, and have pre-arranged shipping contracts and import/export arrangements with different governments where their facilities are. SkillWare prices are more stable because most droids use a common operating system language (excepting things like the MSE models, which use skill matrix modules, and such other oddities) and SkillWare cards are pretty generic. The companies that make those are also aware that it's possible to program a droid with the rudiments of a skill and let it learn on its own instead of buying their products (though not everyone knows enough about droid programming to do this) so they have some incentive to maintain reasonable pricing.

[DougRed4]

That's some great information, Tinman (and btw, welcome to the Pit!)

When you say "Cybabar's", are you talking about the 'Droids' book?
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Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green

[Tinman]

[Centinull]

Just came across it while thumbing through my collection for game ideas

Thrawn Trilogy Sourcebook, pg 197