I have been looking at the relative cost of items vs the relative PC wealth expected per table 11-5, and am finding that at best, a PC can only afford a maximum of 3 or so items that at the PC's level... Armor, weapons, augmentations, magic items, upgrades, all of it. They can only afford one, maybe two items of level+1, and definitely only one of level+2. Does that seem right?
I also ran the numbers on the wealth per encounter, encounters per level (~14) to reach the next, and expected distribution of wealth for a 4 PC party and found that past level 1, the PCs will receive approximately twice the wealth given in 11-5, which seems ...interesting. Then you figure out the balance of selling back things for 10%.
Assuming that a PC went from level 1 to level 10, they should have 66,000 wealth, and will have received approximately 107,000; however, at level 9, fully kitted out, they would have 45,000 of that set in weapons/armor/items, and would have 4,500 if they sold it to re-kit with level 10 gear. That means their actual wealth at level 10 would be 4,500 + about 35,000 wealth over the journey from level 9 to 10, for a total of ~40,000 wealth. Am I missing something here? Should you only upgrade weapons/armor/items every 3-4 levels to keep to the power level expected by the game? You cannot even try to "buy-up" a level +1 item and extend it's usefulness, since you'd have to spend almost all your wealth on it...
Consumables' expenses. Above tier 1-2 that stuff gets expensive very, very fast.
I must not have been clear... The math looks like, assuming that you upgrade gear every other level or so, that you DO NOT have enough wealth come your way to reach the 11-5 PC Wealth by Level amounts. Let alone pay for consumables on top of that.
Wealth per encounter should already account for the salvaging percentage, returning to the per-encounter loot yielding double expected WBL. Based on that I went with consumables gobbling up the difference, being steadily acquired and used up.
When I ran the numbers, I worked out that if you wanted to stay on the WBL chart, you should keep weapon/armor type equipment for 4 or 5 levels before selling it. You can buy an item at level+1 or level+2 (if you have the cash), just don't sell it and buy a new one until its level-3 or level-4. Might have been off slightly, but it should be around there.
So I was on the right track then, thinking that you need to stay several levels below your character level to actually have the WBL suggested. Glad I was not imagining things.
Comrade, for the wealth per encounter to account for the salvaging percentage it would have to be closer to 10 times WBL, rather than 2 times, if the intent was to upgrade frequently. Unless it is a mistaken holdover from a salvage value of 50%, I have to think the intent is that you either keep your equipment 2+ levels below your own, or only upgrade equipment to your level 3-4 times across the 20 levels of a full character.
So I was on the right track then, thinking that you need to stay several levels below your character level to actually have the WBL suggested. Glad I was not imagining things.
Comrade, for the wealth per encounter to account for the salvaging percentage it would have to be closer to 10 times WBL, rather than 2 times, if the intent was to upgrade frequently. Unless it is a mistaken holdover from a salvage value of 50%, I have to think the intent is that you either keep your equipment 2+ levels below your own, or only upgrade equipment to your level 3-4 times across the 20 levels of a full character.
The designing loot part is quite clear in its indications to classify useful stuff at full value while not-useful stuff as part of its wealth value at the 10% mark.