 September 22, 2009 - 7:17pm | Well, the only difference between a military skeinsuit and a civilian skeinsuit is that the military skeinsuit is camouflaged. There is no entry in the Dragon/Polygon Q&A's that discusses the difference. The whole of the information on Skeinsuits is this: A skeinsuit is made of light ballistic cloth that absorbs damage just like an inertia screen. Skeinsuits absorb one-half of the damage caused by projectile, gyrojet, fragmentation, explosive, and melee weapons. Needles will not penetrate skeinsuits. A character wearing both a skeinsuit and an inertia screen would take only one-fourth damage from ballistic attacks. The suit is ruined when it takes 50 points or more of damage. Two types of skeinsuits are available: military and civilian. Military skeinsuits are camouflage green. Civilian skeinsuits look like regular clothing.So the question is what can be done to establish a greater difference between them for their extra 200cr cost? View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
 September 22, 2009 - 8:02pm | What more needs to be done? Civilian skeinsuits reflect many different fashion styles meaning a low rate of production and thus a higher cost to produce. Military skeinsuits are mass produced in basically one style for lower cost of production. Simple economics. The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of
the strong. * Attributed to Mahatma Gandhi |
 September 22, 2009 - 8:10pm | good question I had the royal marines issue a civilian skein suit and called it the Dress Blues uniform. Just cause it seemed to be the thing to do for a military based game. I would say that the military skein suit is very obviously made to soak up damage but the civilian skein doesn't advertize that you're going out to rumble. Its not much of a difference but would be important in an urban/ spy campaign. A GM could have NPC bouncers/Guard prevent a PC from entering a location while wearing a military skein suit saying, "we dont want no trouble here." If the PCs have skads of credits they can just go get a civilian suit. or change into the coveralls they got from the Sereanna Dawns survival kits and they frogot about. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 September 22, 2009 - 8:19pm | That's my thought as well. I always envisioned the military versions to be very basic and available in a few different camo colors while the civilian versions look just like regular clothes and thus to more effort to not look obviously like armor. That extra work to make it "not armor" accounted for the extra price. As Georgie said, lower production runs and higher costs translate into higher end user costs. Ad Astra Per Ardua! My blog - Expanding Frontier Webmaster - The Star Frontiers Network & this site Founding Editor - The Frontier Explorer Magazine Managing Editor - The Star Frontiersman Magazine |
September 22, 2009 - 9:35pm | So for 200 Credits over a 300 cr outfit, you're only getting the ability to not stand out in the crowd? I seriously doubt production costs would figure into the difference. Chances are, those suits are made by the same companies, so it doesn't likely affect their bottom line to make one suit look one way and other look another way. View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
 September 23, 2009 - 12:09am | Well in the real world, if you are buying body armor from a supply company as a private citizen you end up paying more for the same kevlar vest at the same shop then if you were law enforcement or military. Everything is always more expensive in the private sector. |
September 23, 2009 - 1:27am | That's because the government offsets the costs through tax write offs and military discounts. But the difference isn't 40%. It's generally between 10-20%. And that discount doesn't apply to items on sale at an already reduced cost. They can either pay the sale discount or the military discount, not both, and the sale discount (which the public also have available to them) is often lower than the military discount. The military discount just makes sure the military personnel always pay a reduced cost. A civilian can get the same and better cost reductions if they know where to look and are willing to make the effort and wait for the sale. Since RPG's assume fiscally responsible characters, then it's safe to assume that the characters would always be able to get the same discounts as the military personnel. View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
September 23, 2009 - 7:44am | If the price difference bothers you that much, change it. Split the difference and make them both 400cr. Make them both 300 if you like. It will be easier to simply change the price then it will be to justify making one better then the other. The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of
the strong. * Attributed to Mahatma Gandhi |
September 23, 2009 - 5:09pm | well, take it from someone who works in private law-enforcement and knows this stuff first hand, if you want to buy body armor, and you have a license, you pay a dramatically lower price then the average person walking into a supply store off the street or ordering from a catalog. The same Kevlar vest that retails for 350.00 I can get for 199.00 and i would guess thats a little more than 10-20%. Civillians are naturally charged more for body armor not because of any government tax incentives or write-offs its because the manufacturers offer a lower than retail price for "need basis" consumers. Now some agency do receive stipends and additional discounts but the truth of the matter is, the average person ends up just payng a little more if your not in an industry that requires public safety licensing. Now on the game side of this, Its natural that a civillian version would cost a little more. Why? Simple the other variety is made for the military by a government contracted supplier. For example you would pay a lot more per unit for a Hummer H1 then the government pays for the almost identical vehicle, a humvee. Now sometimes the government does get fleeced by the supplier and the tables get turned but in general any company that wants to keep a government contract will charge the government less for the same or similar product that they charge a civillian. |
 September 23, 2009 - 5:13pm | i always assumed the civilian one is like a jumpsuit or customized into clothes. I make the military version take up 100 pts. the military version is pretty obvious, it is thickened at vital areas etc. I make the military version socially unacceptable or illegal to wear for civilians depending on the local government. At least I got to scare an alien rabbit thingy...... |
 September 23, 2009 - 5:32pm | i always assumed the civilian one is like a jumpsuit or customized into clothes. I make the military version take up 100 pts. the military version is pretty obvious, it is thickened at vital areas etc. I make the military version socially unacceptable or illegal to wear for civilians depending on the local government. I have thought about doing the same thing. How has it played out for you? Time flies when your having rum. Im a government employee, I dont goof-off. I constructively abuse my time. |
September 23, 2009 - 6:31pm | i think it has worked well. the characters have two sets of skein suits. one for incognito civilized work and one for more serious business... even with 100 pts they still get shredded in a hurry. At least I got to scare an alien rabbit thingy...... |
