From:	cmpetro@*********.com cmpetro@*********.com
Subject:	Street Index.
Date:	Tue, 24 Aug 1999 13:34:00 -0500

Mick Rissling wrote:
>
> I know that I am probably gonna get jumped on for this, but - I don't
> use the Street Index (a sudden gasp from the crowd!). I understand the
> reason for it and I admit that it looks good on paper, but everytime we
> played with it there was too much trouble to make it worthwhile. I do use
> it as kind of a scale for commonality of equipment on the sreet (I realize
> that there is an Availability number, but I use that as "general"
> availability (number produced, number sold, etc)). The St In becomes, for
> us, a rough guide to an equipment's commonality (is that a word?) among
> street types.
> Anybody else not use it, or use it in a fashion that may be more
> palatable to my group?
>
Cybertroll responded:
>Terrible mistake in my opinion. All the items are very easy to find now,
>and they cost almost nothing compared to the real street prices. Street
>Index it's not only for paper. It reflects how hard is it to find the
>item, and how expensive it is. For instance the Ranger Arms sniper rifle
>normally costs 4000 Y. But in the streets it's a rare item so it costs 4
>times that price (SI:4) which equals to 16.000 Y. Now 4000 is cheap, but
>many players would reconsider to give 16.000 for it.

It's not wheater or not to use it, but when to use it. If your character get's
a permit (for those items requiring one), you can obtain what you want wihtout
the street index. Or if you have a really good contact you could adjust the
index. But don't forget that street index can also make stuff cheaper, I seem
to remember street indexes of 0.5, though not many. Of course I always let my
GM worry about that. We tend to go on shopping sprees and he set's the prices
at what "feels right". Our last one was around 300k or so, and didn't include
any cyber or bio.