"Susan M. Shock" [email removed] says:
>Are there rules relating to costs involved in salvaging a ship?...
>Are there fees, such as salvage fees, registration fees, etc.? Taxes?
>How much can they expect to sell it for? (They want to sell it to the Imperial
>Navy). Are there any published rules sources, JTAS/Challenge articles, etc.
>that I could refer to?
The only thing I have is an article on salvage rights and Pocket
Empires (many of whom might consider themselves the rightful heirs
of the Third Imperium, and thus the owners by default of all salvaged
hardware; makes the salvage business unpleasant). I do have a few
thoughts on the matter, though.
Since you mention the Imperial Navy as a possible buyer, I assume
you are playing during the Third Imperium. This leads to an easy
transferance of some of today's salvage laws. While I don't profess
to be an expert on salvage law, the following comes to mind:
-Designated "War Grave" sites are off limits to most salvage, and
any salvaged materials traceable to a War Grave could get the
salvaging party in a lot of trouble.
-A salvaged item like a ship has enough of a documented history
that a rightful owner may be easy to track down. If such is the
case, the owner has a certain period of time in which to claim the
salvaged item as his own. This claim requires proof of ownership
and payment of a percentage (like 10% or so; anyone got a better
figure?) of the item's value to the salvagers. If no owner claims
rights to the salvage within the set time (generally a year or more)
then the item may be kept by the salvagers or auctioned off to the
highest bidder (or just plain sold, depends on the local laws).
Cases where ownership is obviously open (such as three-century-old
privately-owned no-heirs-remaining ships) may be expedited.
-Salvaged items with no "provenance" (ie. no traceable history or
owner) may not have to wait the year to be sold.
-Everybody pays taxes. For the salvagers, a ship would count as a
"capital gain" if kept, or "income" if sold or claimed.
-Salvagers might have a licensing law similar to the procedure
that starmercs go through, but I doubt it. Salvage in Imperial
space can be done by nearly anyone, and trying to license and
regulate it would be more work than it's worth. Note that this
might be different in certain systems, but would only apply to
salvage _within_ that system. System governments that license
salvagers are also probably licensing belters, and are probably
rather anal about it.
-In most instances, salvage is Imperial "business" and salvaged
items like ships would be registered at the local Navy or Scout
base (Navy preferred). There may indeed be a fee for registering
a salvaged item, but it would be determined by your opinion of
the Imperial Navy. If the Navy considers salvagers to be scummy
people in a scummy business, then the fees will be high. If the
Navy is less prejudiced about these matters, then the fee is likely
to be fairly low (either fixed Cr100 or Cr1000 per item, or 0.1%
of value).
-Salvage with living persons aboard is considered "Rescue" and uses a
different set of rules and regs. See the very beginning of _Aliens_
for the typical salvager's opinion of "Rescue work".
Of course, if you are playing in unclaimed space, or in the New Era,
all bets are off. Salvage rights will then depend on local governmental
need & greed. You have been warned ;)
James Kundert [email removed]
[email removed]
"It's a monkey thing. You wouldn't understand."