So far, only the mechanic has "crafting" present in his class abilities at all.
But crafting is pretty easy.
CRB pg. 235
"Crafting items requires you to have access to tools and a
workshop or similar space. Most starships have an appropriate
area set aside, and such space can be rented at the same price
as lodgings in major cities (with the size of the lodging being
equivalent to the size of the workshop, which limits the size of
items that can be constructed and how many people can work
on a single item at one time)."
Which ranges from 3 to 40 credits "per night"
Not having an engineering tool kit will give you a -2 penalty to engineering checks, but that's as far as it goes.
Now at least anyone can craft spell gems (equivalent of scrolls), as long as they have enough ranks in mysticism.
I believe for spell gems, specifically, you also need to actually know the spell (as well as have ranks in mysticism equal to the level of the spell gem to be crafted).
To craft a Spell gem, you have to know the Spell you’re encoding into the gem. If a Spell requires expensive materials as part of its casting (such as raise dead), you must provide those while crafting the gem, and the gem’s price is increased by the price of the components. You can create larger, compound Spell gems with multiple Spells in multiple lattices, with a price equal to the total price of all Spells stored within it. Such Spell gems can be used to cast only one Spell at a time.
I believe for spell gems, specifically, you also need to actually know the spell (as well as have ranks in mysticism equal to the level of the spell gem to be crafted).
Yep, missed that paragraph.
Crafting is on page 235 in the CRB. That was already said in the first reply.
The expansion bays in the starship only reduce crafting time and/or provide a bonus to the check (I can't remember which), none of them are needed to craft on a ship. Just you, your skill, and some UPB's (which can only be bought in lots of 1000 for some reason).
"A player character can create all the items presented in
this chapter as long as he has the skills, materials, tools, and
time needed to construct it."
"Crafting items requires you to have access to tools and a
workshop or similar space."
There's no such thing as a crafting tool for sale - it's just regular stuff available in a workshop, comes with the place.
Tool Kits are a whole different matter, but there are no Crafter Tool Kits available (yet).
Having to find an item before being able to craft it is pure homebrewing from your GM. Is there no infosphere or space internet in your game? You can get schematics for 3D printed trinkets now, let alone in magic-future.
Since you have to pay the same price in UPBs as you would in credits, I guess he's restricting crafting just as a leash on the party firepower.
Or, alternatively, you are interpreting the rules wrong, and players do not need a Formally Defined Crafting Tool Kit in order to craft something. They just need suitable tools, of which a tool kit could entirely provide for. The mechanically defined function of a Tool Kit is not the only purpose it can ever be put towards, and since the rules say you need "tools", they do not say you need "A toolkit with the Crafting Tools tag". . .
Maybe I should've written "tools =/= Tool Kits" to make myself even more obvious.
There are no Tool Kits for crafting.
"The types of tool kits are: disguise kit (required
for Disguise checks to change appearance), engineering
kit (Engineering checks without one take a –2 penalty),
hacking kit (required for most Computer checks; see page 137
for more information), navigator’s tools (grants a +4 bonus
to Survival checks when orienteering), professional’s tools
(provides a +4 bonus to Profession checks for one profession),
rider’s kit (provides a +4 bonus to Survival checks to ride
creatures), and trapsmith’s tools (provides a +4 bonus to
Engineering or Mysticism checks
to arm or disarm traps)."
All you need to craft is a workshop, UPBs and "tools", whatever that means, not "tool kits". If my players want to craft, I just assume any rentable workshop worth its name comes with all the tools required - the players just need to come up with the UPBs.
Or as I said before: "There's no such thing as a crafting tool for sale - it's just regular stuff available in a workshop, comes with the place."
Stopping a player from crafting because he can't find "crafting tools" it's just a way for the OP's GM to prevent the party from getting anything they want - he probably prefers to keep a tight lid on what they can acquire.
If he really wants to debate the point, just show this bit to the GM:
"In general, any minor piece of equipment with a real-world equivalent
(alarm clock, camera, digital keys for vehicles you own, timer, watch,
and so on) can be purchased with GM approval, costs 5
credits and has light bulk."
And spend 50 or 500 credits getting the most expensive tool bag in the pact worlds.