Drive Disadvantage Increased Size

[AnotherDilbert]

Increased Size is way to cheap at +10%.
Late Jump is way to cheap at +10%.

I can do all drives as Budget, Increased Size. On civilian ships it will nearly halve total cost, so standard designs are uncompetitive.
On military ships I get bigger, but cheaper ships; with bigger I get more structure and hardpoints, so win/win.

 

[Sevain]

Yes. Either the disadvantages need to be severe enough to make you want to double your investment in drives, or the budget version cost reduction must be smaller.

 

[PsiTraveller]

That is brilliant, nice catch! The increased operating cost because of the increased size is still a lot cheaper than the huge savings on the cost of the unit. On a 1000 Ton Jump 4 ship the savings would be over 80 million credits for a 10 ton increase in size of the engines. The power does not even increase because power is calculated off the Hull size and Jump distance.

The same argument could be made for M Drives too couldn't it? a 50 percent reduction in cost for a 10 percent increase in size.

It would be interesting to redo the standard ships but give them 'Hulky' engineering sections. They are bigger, but cheaper to build. The new CER calculations would be interesting. The extra space would either be cut from Cargo space, or making communal areas smaller.

Is there an advantage to be had from building the parts bigger but more energy efficient? You keep the same cost, but have the drives consume less energy by 25 percent. I don't think so, off the top of my head you may save 5 to 10 million on power plant cost, but lose the 80 Million from J Drive savings.

 

[AndrewW]

Is there an advantage to be had from building the parts bigger but more energy efficient? You keep the same cost, but have the drives consume less energy by 25 percent. I don't think so, off the top of my head you may save 5 to 10 million on power plant cost, but lose the 80 Million from J Drive savings.

You do get extra tonnage from having a smaller power plant though, which could translate into more credits from being able to transport more cargo, an extra passenger stateroom or whatever.

 

[PsiTraveller]

That is true AndrewW, but if you have a 200 Far trader type A2 with Jump 2 specs you have 15 tons of Drive costing 22.5 million Credits. There are 64 tons of cargo space.
If you take the 10 percent disadvantage your engines now take up 16.5 tons and cost 12.375 MCr, a savings of 10.125 million credits.
For Jump Drives:
Assuming you took the 1.5 tons of space from cargo the A2 now has 62.5 tons of cargo space instead of 64.

Income from freight shipping for J2 is 1600 per ton, so 2400 lost credits in income per trip, meaning the break-even point is 4219 trips, about 162 years at 26 Jumps a year, if all you do is ship goods. Spec trading may reduce that time, especially if you have a good broker skill.

So the cost reduction is very cost effective for what you lose and gain.

Power Plant: Increasing size for the A2: 5 tons of plant worth 5 Million
You get 5.5 tons of plant worth 2.75 million. The 2.25 million savings is worth half a ton of shipping space (800 credits a trip), 2812 trips, or 108 years of savings.

Decreasing the size by 10 percent and increasing the cost by 50 percent means a 4.5 ton power plant costing 6.75 Million credits for a space increase of half a ton. In shipping terms that means a payback in 324 years.

If you have the volume available it pays off to increase the size of your gear. (when compared to the income loss from freight shipping, but unless you are speculating on tons of anagathics or million dollar exotics the payback time is pretty long)

 

[AndrewW]

If you have the volume available it pays off to increase the size of your gear. (when compared to the income loss from freight shipping, but unless you are speculating on tons of anagathics or million dollar exotics the payback time is pretty long)

It's not always about the credits though. Just saying it isn't as cut and dried as simple cost savings. if that tonnage you gain allows you to use a smaller hull then you would otherwise for example.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Also see tread "Consolidating General..." http://forum.mongoosepublishing.com/viewtopic.php?f=149&t=117595

 

[MongooseMatt]

Agreed, bumping Increased Size to 25% and Late Jump to 50%.