It's generally easiest to look at Mercenary prices from the enconomic viewpoint.
Estimate the length of the ticket and the size and equipment level of the
unit that will be hired. Figure out what it's payroll will be for the length
of the contract (about Cr 325 per person in the unit). Add maintenance costs
on it's equipment ( 10% of purchace price per year; divide by portion of year
the ticket lasts for, minimum 3% ). Add any specific costs that will be
required by the ticket. Total, and multiply by 1.25. This is the Basic
Mission Cost; the estimate, plus margins for unexpected variable costs.
Since this is a commercial activity (in addition to a military one...) you
have to allow a profit margin. Mercenary tickets should use a Profit Margin
Multiplier of 1.3 [safe simple mission] to 1.5 [average] to an extreme of
2.0 [success-only and difficult ticket].
For instance, let's hire a Platoon sized infantry unit as a Striker unit for
a classic Blitzkrieg. It's estimated to last for one month; just to be safe,
the ticket was written for two, with an extension for two more in case of
lasting hostilities at the same cost.
The unit size, including some support personell and headquarters, is
fifty five people. Equipped as medium infantry, with Gauss rifles, equipment
runs about Cr 2000 per person. The payroll is (Cr325 x 2months x 55 personel)
or Cr35750. Equipment costs are (Cr2000 x 55 x 0.03 (min. maint. costs) ) or
Cr3300. The total cost is then (1.25 x (Cr3300 + Cr35750)) or Cr48,800.
Given that this is a more or less 'average' mission, this should be
multiplied by 1.5, for a total ticket of roughly Cr75,000 for the two-month
mission. Of course, if you had to have the unit imported from an off-planet
location, you'd have to include travel costs of about Cr110,000 per jump...
[and you wonder why local mercenary units are so popular 8-) ! ]
== George William Herbert == I support Open-Access Computing! UCB OCF
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==Anything, Anywhere, My Price.== Quantum Mechanics can explain everything
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