High Tech Goods, Low Tech Worlds

Ingo Siekmann wrote:
> a space / free trader question: How much do you have to pay for high
> tech goods on low tech worlds that have to import them?
>
> IIRC, this topic had been handled in one sourcebook, but I can not find
> it. Can anyone help me?

GURPS Basic page 478 "Anachronistic Devices" box. "For each TL
by which the listed TL of the device exceeds that of the
campaign, _double_ the cost and weight". Doubling may not seem
like much, but keep in mind that the availability of money also
increases with TL (GURPS Basic page 27).

Now this doesn't specifically refer to imports, but it can be
used as a basis depending on the details. For example an area
that's right next to two more advanced areas can probably buy
more advanced equipment at the standard price. Competition
between the two areas keep prices down. On the other hand if the
higher tech items are provided by a monopoly the price could be
anywhere from 2.5 (for a relatively benevolent monopoly) to 10
times (for a monopoly that also enforces manufacturing laws) the
standard.

--
Jefferson
http://www.meanspc.com/~jeff_wilson63/rpg/
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On Thu, 27 Dec 2007 15:20:08 +0100, Peter Knutsen wrote:

>Ingo Siekmann wrote:
>> a space / free trader question: How much do you have to pay for high
>> tech goods on low tech worlds that have to import them?


>If I were you, I'd look in GURPS Traveller: Far Trader, first of all.
>That may very well be where it is.

Yep, lots of good crunch in Far Trader on flow of trade influenced by
relative tech levels and economic factors.

BP
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Ingo Siekmann <Ingo-Siekmann DeleteThis @web.de> wrote:
> Hallo,
>
> a space / free trader question: How much do you have to pay for high
> tech goods on low tech worlds that have to import them?

Like others have mentioned, the simple way is simply doubling the price
per TL difference, which is generic and doesn't distuinguish between
gadgets from the future and trade between worlds of various TLs. The
more detailed way is reading GURPS Traveller: Far Trader, which deals
specifically with trade between worlds of different Tech Levels,
although aimed specifically at the Traveller setting.

Far Trader is nearly a serious economy textbook in the way it treats
the subject. It's good and detailed, but I still don't grasp the
full trade system it describes.

Ofcourse even after that, everything is still guidelines. In any
realistic situation there are bound to be exceptions. A very big
factor is how easy and common trade is in the first place. If
travel from one world to another is fast and cheap, prices will
be lower than when it's an expensive, epic journey frought with
danger. A low population backwater world will have a much harder
time getting the goods it needs than a world that's on several
important trade routes. And when trade is rare, hard and expensive,
the price of unique high tech goodies with a function that can't
be duplicated by low tech goods, will be astronomical.


mcv.
--
Science is not the be-all and end-all of human existence. It's a tool.
A very powerful tool, but not the only tool. And if only that which
could be verified scientifically was considered real, then nearly all
of human experience would be not-real. -- Zachriel
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On Thu, 27 Dec 2007 10:55:23 +0100, Ingo Siekmann
<Ingo-Siekmann.DeleteThis@web.de> wrote:

>Hallo,
>
>a space / free trader question: How much do you have to pay for high
>tech goods on low tech worlds that have to import them?

Let's get this straight: price are ALWAYS a result, NEVER a "given
factor".

Prices go high when a "good" is scarcely available, when it is highly
requested, or when it is difficult to obtain.
Prices go down when the opposite happens.

So, you need to think: on YOUR campaign, given THAT situation in
politics, economy, etc., what is the main factor?

Examples:

1) Hi-tech goods are REALLY helpful, but impossible to reproduce in
the lower-tech worlds (at least for now): prices will go up IF there's
a single source, or could stay low because competitors will ALL try to
sell to the lo-tech planet... Of course, many hi-tech planet could
ally to keep prices high at the expences of the lo-tech planet, and
any reference to modern-day Earth is PURELY INTENTIONAL.

2) Hi-tech good cannot be used with the lo-tech infrastructure.
Supercomputer aren't that useful without telecommunication, cars
without roads, etc.: the lo-tech planet will not buy that much, i.e.,
not enough to push prices high.

In the end, just decide an "interesting" situation for YOUR campaign
(or talk about it with you GM), and explain it.

Example:

The Lo-Tech Planet has a desperate need for Refined Whateverium, due
to this new technological McGuffin.
We can do lots of money from it... Too bad everyone knows, and an
entire fleet of ships is giong there. Not everyone will play nice,
however.

See? The campaign can easily become a "Space Pirates" campaign, or a
"We Fight Space Pirates" campaign, or a "The Wild West Is Out There"
(with a kind of inverted gold rush in it)...

Feel free to aks for other help on this topic.
Korin Duval

--

"Truth requires a great amount of courage;
Fiction requires a great amount of maturity."
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