Just want to make sure I have this correct because I'm having trouble squaring the upgrade price and total value columns on the Weapon Improvement Tables (PC pg 267) and the Improving Equipment crafting rules (PC pg 236-7).
So simple version first. If I want to buy a Commercial Starfall pistol that will cost 30 creds. If I want to buy a higher grade Starfall pistol that will cost the Total value of the Improved item plus the base price. So, 380 (350+30) creds for a Tactical Starfall pistol and 1030 (1000+30) for an Advanced Starfall pistol.
Now, if I wanted to craft an Advanced Starfall pistol per the rules of PC pg 197 "You must supply raw materials worth at least half the item’s Price" so that would be 515 creds of material. Then, after a successful crafting check you can create the item, either by immediately using up materials equal to the remaining price or working multiple more days to reduce that remaining cost (based off of the Earned Income Table PC pg 187).*
Upgrading an item, rather than making it from scratch uses the same crafting process, except as noted.
1) The original item provides raw materials equal to its price.
2) Craft Check DC is based of item level of the finished item
3) You do not need the formula, but if you have it you can work multiple days improve an item by supplying UPB equal to half the difference between the two items.*
That means that for our Starfall pistol example, the Commercial price is 30 creds, and the Tactical Total Price is 380 creds. The difference is +350, the value listed in the Upgrade Price Column (PC 367). Likewise, the difference between and Advanced (1030) and a tactical is (380) Starfall pistol is the +650 creds listed in the table.
So far so good. But now we get to the part where I'm lost. PC pg 237 has a sidebar titled Skipping Grades In Crafting. Now, based of the process described earlier the cost to improve a weapon from Commercial to Advanced should be the difference between their total costs. From Commercial to Tactical that should be +1000, but the sidebar says "Chk Chk could improve his commercial painglaive into an advanced painglaive in one day with a DC 19 Crafting check and 650 UPB". I'm not addressing the cost reduction piece cause that makes sense, but what I don't understand is why that extra 350 credits in cost vanishes.
Typing this out, I've kinda rubber ducked the problem, and the conclusion I've come to is that the sidebar is just wrong, since it's inconsistent with the process it's supposed to be giving an example of, but I'm gonna post this anyway so other people can check my logic and tell me what they think.
*Side Note: In the crafting rules (PC 197) it says nothing about needing a formula to reduce crafting costs by spending more time, however on PC 236 it says "You do
not need the formula to improve an item ... but Crafting without a formula means you will have to provide raw materials equal to the item’s price." and "If you have the formula for the item you can improve an item by supplying UPB equal to half the difference between the two items, but you must work multiple days to reduce the materials needed to complete the item as usual with the Craft activity."
Am I reading this correctly that I would need the formula to UPGRADE a common weapon at reduced cost, but not to CRAFT the higher-grade weapon from scratch at reduced cost? Does this bother anyone else? It seems like inconsistent rules for what a formula does.
It is kinda strange that regarding having a formula or not, the rules for upgrading an item have different rules than crafting an item.
Ignoring the painglaive example and just following the rules in various scenarios, I get:
tactical zero knife: 362 credits
advanced zero knife: 1012 credits
Crafting an Advanced Zero Knife (level 4 item).
Without formula from scratch (standard crafting process):
Time: 2 days minimum.
Materials cost: 506 credits.
Completion cost at minimum days: 506 credits.
Can earn 7 or 8 credits per day of extra downtime spent (assuming a successful crafting check). Up to a maximum of 506 credits (the entire completion cost).
Without formula with tactical zero knife to upgrade from (typical upgrade crafting):
Time: 1 day.
Material cost: tactical zero knife (362 credits) + 650 credits (the entire remaining cost of the item).
Completion cost: 0 credits?
No option to spend additional time to earn income and reduce the cost.
Without formula with commercial zero knife (skipping upgrade level):
Time: 1 day.
Material cost: commercial zero knife (12 credits) + 1000 credits.
Completion cost: 0 credits.
No option to spend additional time to earn income and reduce the cost.
With formula from scratch (standard crafting process):
Time: 1 day minimum.
Material cost: 506 credits.
Completion cost at minimum days: 506 credits.
Can earn 7 or 8 credits per day of extra downtime spent (assuming a successful crafting check). Up to a maximum of 506 credits (the entire completion cost).
With formula with tactial zero knife to upgrade from (typical upgrade crafting):
Time: 1 day minimum.
Material cost: tactical zero knife (362 credits) + 144 credits.
Completion cost at minimum days: 506 credits.
Can earn 7 or 8 credits per day of extra downtime spent, up to a maximum of 506 credits.
With formula with commercial zero knife (skipping upgrade tier):
Time: 1 day minimum.
Material cost: commercial zero knife (12 credits) + 494 credits.
Comlpletion cost at minimum days: 506 credits.
Can earn 7 or 8 credits per day of extra downtime spent, but only up to 175 credits total (half the difference between commercial and tactical tiers).
Looking at that, I notice that without the formula there is a bit of a tradeoff between upgrading a basic item and skipping a tier compared to just crafting the higher level item directly. Upgrading only takes one day, but always costs full price. Crafting from scratch takes 2 days minimum but if you have additional time you can earn income to reduce the total cost.
What I get when I follow the rules text for the painglaive:
tactical painglaive: 380 credits
advanced painglaive: 1030 credits
Commercial to tactical (no formula):
Time: 1 day.
380 - 30 = 350 credits.
Commercial to tactical (with formula):
Time: 1 day minimum.
380 - 30 = 350 credits total.
Initial cost: commercial painglaive (30 credits) + 160 in materials.
Completion cost: 190 credits.
Can earn income to reduce cost up to the 190 completion cost.
Commercial to advanced with formula (with formula and skipping tier):
Time: 1 day minimum.
1030 - 30 = 1000 credits total.
Initial cost: commercial painglaive (30 credits) + 470 credits.
Completion cost: 500 credits.
Can earn income to reduce cost up to 175 (half the difference between tactical and commercial tiers)
And yeah. I am seeing more than a few places where the example doesn't match the rules text.