Wealth by Level is a useful tool for providing GM and PC guidance on appropriate gear balance in the context of the game. I get it, it’s useful, and I’m glad we have it in the game as a guideline.
Unlike Pathfinder, however, the application of WBL to an advanced society and economy like the one depicted in Starfinder needs to (or at least should be able to) account for much more than your typical roving band of fantasy adventure heroes. Corporations, advanced banking, investments, planetary economies, interplanetary economies, etc. all exist and are commonplace elements of Pact Worlds societies.
Since Starfinder is a game about science-fantasy adventures, the relevant application of WBL is rightly on adventuring gear. No one is seeking to play Starfinder Drift Barons or Starfinder Accountants. This is acknowledged in both leveled gear and the explicitly stated “can’t sell starships for cash” part of the SFCRB.
Also, before anyone makes the “post scarcity” argument, that’s clearly not in play as a signficant factor. Treasure/wealth/gear are clearly explicit rewards of the game. The problem, however, is that in order to steer PC wealth towards leveling up their gear appropriately, some really wonky stuff is thrown around for the rest of the Starfinder economy. Here are a few examples:
1. A sleep pod (communal showers/restrooms) costs 1 Cr per night. A 1-2 person suite is comparable to a standard hotel room by today’s standards and cost 10 Cr per night for 2 beds. Quite the deal! Yet a 0-level spell costs 20 Cr. But spellcasting requires skill has a rarity component, etc. Fair, and true enough. However, the hotel has to be a profitable business.
2. Starship passage (good) costs 300Cr / day of travel per person. Makes sense as space travel encompasses much more than a standard hotel room, right? But is it really worth 60 times what a hotel room would cost (Suite, 1 bed = 5 Cr/night)? It could very well be that starships are that expensive to operate, but then there's the following examples (#3, 4, & 5).
3. In the Penumbra Protocol, renting a private hangar for the PC’s starship is a measly 10 Cr/day. This is despite the fact that “Cuvacavra is a densely populated metropolis with only one allocated area for landing spacecraft”. If the goal is to make starship operations costs irrelevant, simply say something like “docking fees are assumed to be paid out of starship operation funds” and move on.
4. In The Reach of Empire, the PCs will be paid 4000 Cr for delivering supplies to the colony. This is presented as PC wealth. I certainly hope that’s profit after starship operations costs are accounted for because I question the viability of starship freight transport, otherwise.
5. Starship salvage is effectively ignored. The only time I’ve seen it addressed is in The Diaspora Strain and it amounts to “they carried nothing of value” from a NPC, as though the ship itself is of no intrinsic value.
6. The apparent setting conceit that robots exist but can't be purchased by PCs.
However, in addition to providing in-game rewards for PCs, the use of economic hurdles, items of value, mining and salvage and host of other topics are all excellent fodder for stories. Greed-motivated villains, piracy, bounty hunting, mercenary work, ‘get a job, keep flying’-style merchant campaigns, etc. all need at least a somewhat plausible 'economy' in order to make sense contextually. Sure, non-adventuring economic topics shouldn’t take the focus away from adventuring but they don’t have to be dismissed, or worse, made nonsensical or trivial in a way that calls attention to it. Saying “your ship is like a corporation and the UPBs and credits that pay for it aren’t available as PC personal wealth” is perfectly acceptable. Creating scenarios where selling a relatively commonplace weapon will pay for living expenses for an extended period of time isn’t.
I really hope that a future supplement addresses or expands topics like cost of living, downtime money-making activities, starship operation costs, salvage, & trading outside of the constraints of WBL. If we can accept level-gated gear, we should be able to accept separate sources of wealth, income, and expense that can only be applied to certain areas. Let’s not close off story opportunities or internal setting logic because of a fear that PCs will break WBL restrictions.
Everything credit related that's not written on a character sheet should be hand waved. There is no possible way to create a plausible economy in this game, don't even bother. Here are a few of the questions you'd have to tackle to even come close:
What's the relative value of a credit on every planet?
Which planets are currently operating primarily on a Star Trek style money-less system?
What is the interplanetary import/export tax system like?
How many countries have implemented a UBI?
How much does it cost to feed a ysoki relative to a dragonkin?
What is the rate of inflation of the credit?
What's the average yearly income of an individual on any given planet?
The point is, even accepting that there's a universal currency that's stable and secure has hopelessly destroyed any kind of realistic economy.
I highly recommend using level as a rough idea of personal prestige, which allows you to transact larger and larger favors of nebulous value. I think cost of living, down time, salvage etc should be rolled up into that nebulous value, and should scarcely ever interact with credits on the character sheet.
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5. Starship salvage is effectively ignored. The only time I’ve seen it addressed is in The Diaspora Strain and it amounts to “they carried nothing of value” from a NPC, as though the ship itself is of no intrinsic value.
Ships are always being salvaged for parts.
CRB page 305
REFITTING AND UPGRADING STARSHIPS
As the PCs go on adventures and gain experience, they need
an increasingly powerful starship to face tougher challenges.
...
This could represent salvage gathered during their exploits,
an arrangement with a spacedock, or called-in favors from a
wealthy patron. Some GMs might require PCs to visit a safe,
inhabited world before they can spend these Build Points, but
this shouldn’t be allowed to impact the campaign too much.
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All of your points are well stated, but in the end I don't think that the starfinder team is planning on an Ultimate Campaign equivalent for starfinder any time soon, if at all. I don't think that is the direction that they want starfinder to go. Now, that said, you are likely not the only one wanting such things so I suspect that if you look to third party material you might be able to find what you are looking for, either now or soon.
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Ultimate Slice of life?
Some philosophers speak of our society as a society of control. The planetary range network combined with the dematerialization of money and most things allow government and power structures to have a tight control on people life. And Starfinder is supposed to be in the future, so, chances are that this premises can be applied.
PCs are Starfinder, and that's the only reason they have a license to kill. They are part of an organization that is recognized by other organizations and governments. They are part of the system.
So, when they kill someone and take his gear, it's acceptable as it's their function. Noone will annoy them unless they really mess up. But when it comes to ships... things are very different. Starfinders need a ship to operate, but that's all they are allowed. They can't sell it because it's not exactly theirs, it's given through their missionning and accepted as loot as long as they only possess one and never sell it. If you start selling ships as loot, expect people to ask you where you got it, and quickly determined it isn't yours. And the ship gets back to where it belongs.
Also, prices have nothing to do with the actual cost of things. If private hangars were expensive, people would not be able to land, and that's bad for business, hence private hangars are cheap.
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