ok, I am wracking my brains….after the players bop around the universe for a bit and get some profit factor under their belts…inevitably they're going to want to buy another starship.  can they flat out buy one (assuming they locate a suitable one) or should I handle it an endeavor?  buying a ship would seem to be prohibitviely expensive, maybe locating and salvaging one might suit them better. 

thoughts?  comments?

Page 274 of the Core Rulebook has the basic idea for how to buy a new Starship. Essentially to locate the Hull you subtract the Ship Point cost from your Profit factor (so a 40 SP ship results in an Explorer with a PF of 50 rolling against a 10), and that acquires a base Hull. Then you purchase components and find a Forge World to install them. The Core rules are a little vague, so most people spice them up with their own house rules like no matter what having to burn Profit Factor equal to 1/10th the SP cost of the ship you're acquiring. It should be a major investment for any RT to roll on up and buy a ship, much less construct a new one.

There are also some other homebrew rules lurking around on the forums, but I like to go with the "You salvage a vessel" route and then make my explorers either contract someone to safely deliver it to a Forge World, or else build a colony in the sysetm where you found the vessel and draw the resources you need to repair the ship to you.

Well realistically you shouldn't  be paying for just an empty hull as there is little reason for them to exist so other components should already be factored in

Battlefleet Koronus rewrites the rules for purchasing and installing Components, but it doesn't say anything regarding getting ahold of a hull.

lurkeroutthere said:

True, but it is possible to get a hull that has damaged or even destroyed Components still in place, or empty spots where those Components have been removed if it's been through the 'chop shop' of a breaking yard.

I'm thinking that if the group wants to add a new ship to their fleet then salvage is going to become very important to them.  which only gives me an opportunity to use Stars of Iniquity to generate me some star ship graveyard encounters…i'm looking forward to that, actually.

ok, so maybe a greater endeavor to locate the hull they want, maybe pick up some ship components along the way…then find a way to haul the hull back to footfall or port wander.  then a background endeavor to get the ship into service and recruit/press gang enough people to crew the vessel.  they might even be able to sub-contract with a chartist captain or lesser Rogue Trader house to help them with the salvage and just split the costs involved.  hmm…which opens up all kinds of possiblities on it's own, now that I think of it.

Erathia said:

Yeah, the rules as listed in the main rule book are somewhat lacking when it comes to the details on expanding your RT fleet.  in every campaign i've run so far, eventually the crew gets to the point where they actually NEED another ship or two in order to run their expanding little mini-empires.  either they need an upgunned transport or want to upgrade to a bigger/better/more bad ass ship for themselves…at some point or other, the players decide they need more ships.  I just want to make that process a bit more 'organic' than a simple Profit Facto roll, which is why I was thinking of the greater endeavor route.

In our game i wrote into my rogue traders back story that his older brother was in command of the dynasty's light cruiser which was found adrift and gutted, all crew slaughtered or missing. This meant that while it wasn't usable there was another ship in the background of the adventure being repaired and refitted.

Once we had progressed in the campaign enough the GM allowed us access to the other ship, turning our existing ship into one usable in background endeavours. This was a good way of allowing us something bigger to use once we had outgrown our frigate.

The rules as listed for buying an empty hull work well, but i'd suggest the GM offer a small selection of pre-built ships (the ones in the book work well) and use their total SP as the modifer for acquisition in addition to some social (and other!) challenges in a short endeavour.

"You have successfully acquired a new Sword-class Frigate. Congratulations"

"Hey, where are all the components? Where are the weapons? Where's the bridge?"

"I'm sorry, you failed your Scrutiny Roll when you were Bartering and the seller was only contractually obligated to sell you the Hull. Which they have now done. The office in which you conducted your negotiations is now mysteriously empty. As is your current supply of liquid capital."