Booster Thruster Housing power

[Samantha DeWinter]

Do booster thruster housing modules provide the power for their contained thrusters, or do you still need the PCUs free to power an entire second set of thrusters for your ship? The flavor text suggests it's entirely self-contained, but "Fuel" is not "PCU", which is left undefined.

Since they "recharge" for 24 hours after use, I'm inclined to assume the RAI here is that the thrusters are self-contained, but I wanted a sanity-check here.

For context:
https://aonsrd.com/Starship_ExpBays.aspx?ItemName=Booster%20Thruster%20Hous ing&Family=None
https://aonsrd.com/Starship_Thrusters.aspx

[Samantha DeWinter]

Say you want these on a medium ship. 9 BP to get +3 speed for 5 rounds (at the cost of +3 to piloting DCs) seems pretty worthwhile. But the same thing, costing an extra *80 PCU* when PCU is already the major limiter in many builds, seems prohibitive.

[Pantshandshake]

I think you're meant to install another set of thrusters, so you'd be on the hook for the extra PCU, based on the "(the thrusters must be purchased separately and be an appropriate size for the starship)" line.

[Hanomir]

That's not how I read it, and the obvious uselessness of the BTH bay if you did need to buy an extra set of thrusters with associated PCU and BP cost is pretty good evidence.

As written, you're paying an expansion bay and 3 BP to get 5 rounds per day of +25% to the speed your regular thrusters. That's fairly reasonable - low cost, limited utility, but enough extra speed (especially on ships with an 8 or 12 speed who go to 10 or 15) to matter in a pinch. Add some horacalcum thrusters and you can get to 16 and watch a bunch of Redshift racecraft designers shoot themselves. :)

The text about needing to buy thrusters separately is confusing, but it's pretty clear it refers to the fact that you still need to install actual thrusters in the first place to get a boost from BTH - it isn't a drive system in and of itself.