Fortress Dropship, $4000000 a jump?

[EAGLE 7]

Several sources  cover cost for drop ships cost per jump on a jumpship.
Why is the Fortress Dropship as much as a mammoth and more than a Overlord?

[Tai Dai Cultist]

1) Because FASAnomics.

2) If you really want to try to rationalize it, perhaps it's no more than charging what the market will bear.  Fortresses are rare DropShips, and therefore the DropShip captain is correspondingly charging primo fees to haul its cargo/passengers.  JumpShip captains are no dummies and insist on their cut.

[HobbesHurlbut]

1) Because FASAnomics.

2) If you really want to try to rationalize it, perhaps it's no more than charging what the market will bear.  Fortresses are rare DropShips, and therefore the DropShip captain is correspondingly charging primo fees to haul its cargo/passengers.  JumpShip captains are no dummies and insist on their cut.

Rare also mean specific parts are harder to obtain and fewer mechanics who know how to maintain or fix specific systems unique to Fortress.

[EAGLE 7]

  Vengeance DS is just as rare, cost $150,000 a jump,
Overlord DS larger ship tonnage wise, almost  same rarity, 12 vs 13; same size crew numbers if consumables is in the price, less than 1/10th the price per jump.
   I have come to conclude originally a typist added 1 to many zeros, the editors missed it , and it has been perpetuated since the numbers first published.
    $400,000 a jump makes much more sense compared to other cost per jump.

[dgorsman]

12 vs 13 means... what?   A random generation table?  From where, which period,  etc.

Keep in mind, random tables don't directly reflect actual numbers in service.  It's just a tool for quickly selecting units.

[EAGLE 7]

   I understand but why would rarity effect price to haul per jump?

   By that thought process obsolete DS like black eagle etc..... should cost even more to hop between systems.
    I was just intrested to see if other people noticed what I thought as a discrepancy,  and wanted to see if anyone could explain a reason for the cost.
   It is a game, logic is not necessarily, and open to household retcon, it has bothered me since I opened the mercenary manual 16 years ago and saw the numbers for hauling a DS one jump.

[skiltao]

The Fortress is the best armed DropShip and one of the two best armored DropShips. As the Intruder and Achilles are likewise expensive, I have to imagine that the ships which are better armed and armored per ton of cargo are also charging more money per ton of cargo.

Vengeance DS is just as rare, cost $150,000 a jump

In the old DropShips and JumpShips book, the Vengeance is one category less rare than the Fortress ("rare" vs "unique") and, amusingly, the cost for renting a Vengeance is listed as "? ? ? ? ?"

[Tai Dai Cultist]

The take-home message from the merc handbook was to never negotiate away the House paying for your transportation, unless you're getting a REALLY big cash concession on the contract...

[Frabby]

One thing to keep in mind though: Military DropShips are deployment vehicles for hot, contested combat landings. When you absolutely need a bridgehead, you want to come in a Fortress; otherwise, you can hire cheap civilian transportation such as a Mule to ship out to your garrison posting.
The mission profile that calls for a Fortress is going to be vastly more risky, and thus vastly more expensive to hire a DropShip for.

[Colt Ward]

Frabby has a good point, but is the OP's question what the JS charges per jump or what the DS captain charges per jump?

Because the JS charging based on type of DS its docking does not make sense- except in relation to # of passengers.

What the DS captain charges to rent his ship per jump would IMO depend on what/why . . . if your DS is what is best suited for a garrison transfer through peaceful systems?  Not expensive . . . If you are going through systems that are simmering towards rebellion?  Yeah, more expensive- b/c I am also going to charge the transportees for the chance some rando noble is going to try to seize my ship for the duration of the emergency, promise big money, pay peanuts, maybe even get my lostech/rare ship wrecked, and worst of all getting commanded by some entitled gropo who thinks in 2D & lied to all his life by the maids about how size does not matter.  Which is IF my crew does not find itself in a detainee camp left with a promissary note for the supposed value of the ship (which will obviously NOT include any of my bank interest on outstanding loans) and no way to tell the banks it was stolen.

And if I am being paid to deliver a combat unit to a hostile DZ?  Oh, then it gets way more expensive and I am STILL going to push for the least hazardous DZ being the most practical DZ option.

Edit-  Biggest thing to keep in mind is the SB presents a simplification, to be used at the GM's discretion and you are likely getting a 'average' of the cost of jump with that last jump (hostile DZ) being the expensive one driving up the 'average' cost of each jump.

[skiltao]

I don't know if it's true for every ruleset, but some of them at least price combat drops separately from the non-combat portions of a trip.

[Luciora]

It makes sense for dropships and jump ships constantly on the move to charge less per trip since they are making more trips.  That Fortress isn't going making regular cargo hauls across the faction daily unlike a Mule or Buccaneer. Not to mention the amount of gunnery staff needed for the weapons you have to pay for the trip also.  Unless there is some kind of precedent for pure military dropships to be doing civilian duty when not on invasion call?

[Colt Ward]

You talking about DS in civilian hands or DS as part of the military?

[idea weenie]

From Heavymetalpro, here is one person who used accounting and expected loan payoffs to calculate costs per collar for various Jumpships:
http://www.heavymetalpro.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4122

So this provides some of the information about the cost charged by common Jumpships

[SCC]

Rare also mean specific parts are harder to obtain and fewer mechanics who know how to maintain or fix specific systems unique to Fortress.

LOL, BT seems to run on generic parts, otherwise we wouldn't have multiple DS that haul a lance.

[Talen5000]

Several sources  cover cost for drop ships cost per jump on a jumpship.
Why is the Fortress Dropship as much as a mammoth and more than a Overlord?

Because the Great Houses don't subsidise it as much?