Rob Vetter (Mr. Out of Control) · 7 June 1988 · reply to #138
>Later "Trillion Credit Squadron" told about how to finance the
>fleet and "Fifth Frontier War" showed more than a 100 trillion
>credit squadrons in the sector (propably many more, since the
>map only shows some of the sector, and some ships presumably
>are held back to protect the rimward part of it).
I agree that there were "too many" ships involved in the war.
I can only assume this is because other portions of the
Imperium (and its opposition) are supporting this front, and
that it must be considered "key" because of four major races
holding it in contention (Zhodane, Imperium, Aslan, and Vargar)
as a stepping stone for greater advancement in the region.
> [...]
>
>It's those high-population worlds that does it. Look at Mora, a
>world with 10 billion people. According to "Trillion..." each
>contributes Cr 500 per year to the naval budget. That's Cr
>5.000.000.000.000 (five *trillions*).
> [...]
>
>If we use the rules in "Striker" we get a slightly smaller figure:
>a yearly budget of "only" 3,08 trillion Cr. Of this, a mere 30% goes
>to the Imperium (and how many meson guns can Mora get for the
>remaining 70%?), giving us a paltry 9 trillion credit squadrons
>with a little bit left over.
> [...]
>Can this universe be saved?
If I remember (and I don't have the books with me), population
is the only thing used as a modifier for GPP. I was a little
dissatisfied, because looking at our world, it is also clear
that tech level, government type, and law level play major
roles in determining per capita income, GPP, and military
spending.
A tech level 3 world is going to have a smaller GPP than a
comparable tech level 10 world. And, because it is going to
spend more time worrying about feeding and sheltering its
people, a smaller percentage of its GPP is going to be
available to be skimmed off by the Imperial, Sector, and
Subsector defenses. (There's NO WAY a country like Afganistan,
whose per capita income is $400 odd dollars, can support a tax
of $500 a head.)
Similarly (and I'll try not to get into any political debates),
certain governments promote production better than others.
Other governments (notably captive governments) are likely to
produce less.
Law level should also be used a a modifier. A very high law
level means a higher spending percentage by the military. A
very low law level means a lower spending percentage.
Another thing that both rule sets seem to overlook is that the
highest cost incurred by the military (and by most large
endeavors), is personell. A fleet can't be run without trained
people (ah, er, well, even robots cost money and maintenance),
and trained people imply salaries, trainers, support personell,
etc. I'd *guess* anywhere from a very efficient wartime 10
times crew salaries to a top heavy 25+ times crew salaries
during peace time (you could also say 1/5 to 1/20 of the budget
is actually used on ships). If the entire military budget of
Moria is used on hardware, you may indeed have 50 squadrons,
but if no one is there to use or maintain them, a scout ship
with a laser could disable them all.
I've played a little with all of the above as modifiers, and
while I haven't done the research to make it "right", things do
seem to look "better".
-Rob.