| From: | TopCat <topcat@******.net> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: Killing in Shadowrun... |
| Date: | Fri, 24 May 1996 05:08:13 -0500 |
>>You make magical supplies, so you don't need to pay retail for them.
>No corp makes magical supplies... Mages make their own, or get
>talismongers (which are basically mom-and-pop stores). And making it is
>most of the cost, anyway.
As I believe Mike already mentioned, corps do in fact make their own magical
supplies.
>>You have mages on salary so you don't have to pay them extra to handle their
>>wards.
>Mage salaries COST... :)
Sure they do, but the mage also owes you 10 years at X salary because you've
paid for his training and private schools and perks and his parents made him
sign a document when he was 13 that forces him to do at least 10 years of
corporate service to repay this debt while collecting your base salary.
>>You make all sorts of equipment so that comes really cheap.
>Nope... If you make it, and don't sell it, you've effectively bought it
>yourself. Even if you make it yourself, it represents the same amount of
>money, through a combination of expenditure & lost income.
Not exactly, because it also shifts that money "lost" to security assets
gained, so it balances, if not adds (500 nuyen item normally sells for 5000
nuyen, you give it to security guards and it is still a 500/5000 nuyen item,
only now it's working for you, cost you 500 and gives you the benefits of
anyone else's 5000 nuyen item because you made it in-house).
>>Your security guards are well-trained and well-equipped, most if not all
>>were brought up inside the corp. They come MUCH cheaper than contract
>>security (like KE), training and equipment is handled by the corp at little
>>to no cost. If you want your people trained by outside groups and equipped
>>by outside sources, then it'll cost you a ton.
>Training costs a fortune, TC... For example, training a US Air Force or
>Navy pilot is estimated at a million dollars a pop. And infantry grunts
>are about $400,000... It's an expensive thing.
The US Armed Forces are notorious for overspending. I should know, I was in
the Army and experienced this wonderful training first-hand (MP's). Didn't
stay long because the situation didn't exactly agree with me and I wanted
the minimal term anyway (figuring, and rightly so, that if it worked, I
could re-up). The various corporations that supply the US Armed Forces are
making money hand-over-fist and don't show any sign of ever letting go of
the stranglehold they have now. Not like we'd want them to let go, because
we like 'em (I'm fairly perplexed at the whole of the situation myself, but
I know enough to know that the motherload of job security rests in the
contracts that those corps have).
-------------------------------------
"I was thinking of the immortal words
of Socrates, who said: I drank what?"
-- Real Genius
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TopCat at the bottom...
