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Something I've been tossing around and I'd like to get some feedback on what I have so far basically it . . .
1) Explains why you don't need to buy fuel or other things for the ship.
2) Provides 25 tons of cargo space.
3) Allows someone with the mining profession to make some money..
at a cost of 7 PCU and 10 BP. Full write up below.
Autoamated Resource Acquisition Systems Bay
PCU 7; Cost (in BP) 10
This modification equips the ship with a variety of equipment such as mining lasers, drills, tractor beams, ram scoops and processing systems to allow it to harvest resources from space to supply its own needs.
Using this system anyone is able to harvest raw materials from asteroids, gas giants and even syphon hydrogen atoms from the void of space itself with automated programs converting them into the materials necessary for the ship to continue functioning providing fuel, food and raw materials for missiles and other shipboard systems.
A person with the mining profession is also able to use this system to acquire saleable materials (gold, silver, PCB's) as per the normal profession rules though this is dependant on their being a suitable area as defined by the GM for such mining to occur (asteroid belts are a rich resource of valuable materials as are certain planets).
The ARA bay also adds 25 Tons of cargo space as a cargo hold. However it is only designed to convert outside materials into useable resources in the absence of those outside materials it is of little use unlike the recycling bay used on supercollasal ships which converts their own internal resource and rarely require outside supplies though many also contain an ARA bay to suppliment their own resources over time.
Thoughts?
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I did consider that the problem with going that route is the cost i.e. one that only automates fuel would be largely unwanted because as written fuel isn't paid for in games anyway just swept under the BP rug. While UPB's cost 1,000 credits each which would be far greater than any profession check and unbalanced i.e. profession (skill + d20 + mod) x 2 = credits earnt for a weeks work. So a UPB would at a minimum represent several weeks earnings as you'd generally earn between 2 (no skill, no mod, 1 on dice roll) to 90 (20 ranks, 20 dice roll, 5 mod) credits. Even if you let it harvest 1 UPB that is 11 to 500 weeks normal profession checks and valuable items (pound of gold, etc) are similarly unbalancing.
You could go with a cheap 1, 1 model that adds a bit of roleplay on top of the cargo space. However unless earning value vastly increases you simply aren't earning enough in this game to justify UPB's or actual valuable items beyond the ship over a week harvests resources for itself and 80 credits of saleable goods. I suppose if you had a reasonable group you could multiply it by party numbers so it'd be mining skill + dice roll times 8 and then everyone gets a 1/4 of the profits as they spent the week harvesting an asteroid and couldn't do other things.
To be honest I've been considering lowering the costs for it hence the request for feedback because I'm not sure its worth that price. Cargo bay's are free, fuel and the like is handwaved and I don't think 7/10 is justified for essentially a mining kit. Maybe 3/5?
Or if your not that concerned about party wealth maybe you could do something with more time e.g. survey check find a node, 1 months harvest . . .
None: Nothing worth harvesting
Poor: Only enough to supply ship
Normal: Can function as per profession and supply ship
Abundant: Can get some gems minerals
Rich: can get some UPB
it'd be tricky to balance though.
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I presumed that this would be for a game where fuel costs aren't handwaved. Otherwise, my answer would have been much shorter.
On another note, it doesn't cost 1000 credits for 1 UPB. I think you're getting hung up on the numbers given in the UPB section. Its actually 1,000 UPBs have 1 bulk, and the cost is 1,000 credits for 1,000 UPBs, thusly:
SFS Legal UPB (1000)
Source Starfinder Core Rulebook pg. 233
Category Trade Goods
Price 1,000; Bulk 1
Oh i misread that given the deacription I thought it was 1 upb equals 1,000 credits. That makes it easier the machine can straight up make x credits of UPB's. As would materials just let players take X credits worth of raw materials e.g. UPB, gold, diamond thats not going to affect anything because whether you choose gold, iron or diamonds you still have X credits worth meaning you'd have more iron than gold but the value would be the same.
As for actual items while i would like replicators there's already a prototype in one AP i think thats glitchy and ubreliable. So i cant have it create say a laser pistol without invalidating that plot.
I'm really thinking i should vary the rules though and have it multiply by party/ship crew so if there's 4 players and they spend a week mining its 4 times the normal profession check that they then split. I'll post an updated one after work when i can check the AP and how that replicator works. Hmmm yes ive a few ideas already.
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Ok revised version.
Advanced Resource Acquisition Systems Bay
PCU 3; Cost (in BP) 5
Most starships use the Resource Acquisition System to harvest asteroids, gas giants and even the "void" of space itself for raw materials to convert into the fuel and other resources they need to operate. These systems proved so successful they have now released the Advanced Resource Acquisition System to allow ships not dedicated to mining to not only harvest the resources their ships need but produce a small degree of goods for other use.
This modification modifies an existing RAS or adding a new ARAS equipping the ship with a variety of equipment such as mining lasers, drills, tractor beams, ram scoops and processing systems to allow it to harvest resources from space to supply its own needs. In addition to which the a Cargo hold is modified blocking off an area capable of storing 5 tons where the resources diverted for crew use are stored.
The ARAS has two modes of operation computer controlled and manually operated. In computer controlled mode an operator targets a suitable source of resources such as ansteroid and activates the mining equipment over the next week the ship will harvest the target converting the mined resources into the fuel and other internal resources it needs as well as a small amount of UPB's for the crew. In manually operated mode a user uses their own mining knowledge to target rich resource nodes, eliminate excess waste and improve efficiency. In addition to which they are able to direct the retention of specific raw materials rather than converting them into UPB's.
Computer operated
(Ship Tier + D20 roll) * 2 = Number of UPB's produced e.g. (5 + 7) * 2 = 24 UPB's.
Manually operated
(Mining bonus [rank, mod, etc] + D20 roll) * (2 * Crew) = Number of UPB's or equivilent credit value of raw materials produced. e.g. party of 4 (12 + 3) * (2 * 4) = 120 credits worth of UPB's or other raw material (gold, diamonds, iron)
Crew number is the permanent number of people on the ship mining and getting a share of the profits e.g. party of 4 = 4, party of 6 = 6. Alternatively a GM may wish to assign a set number to this multiplication value.
However it is worth noting an ARAS is only designed to convert outside materials into useable resources not recycle internal resources in the ship. For this reason supercollasal ships will usually install both an ARAS to harvest external resources and a recycling centre to reuse internal ones allowing them to operate almost indefinately.