vehicle capacity

Ryan, fixated on tangential thinking, said:

Well, a basic jeep chassis shouldn't cost more than a basic tank chassis 5
times larger. The Pink Bicycle vs the camo'd tank is spurious.

In addition to the whole signature thing is the difficulty in hiding it in the
first place. I can lay the pink bicycle down in the grass and you won't see it
50 feet away let alone across the field. That tank, isn't going to be put into
a little tuft of grass and be invisible.

[Tomb] So, the bicycle apparently has a neat "hide while horizontal"
ability the tank does not which should cost more.

If I make a battle ship have the same signature as a pt boat it should cost
the same? I don't think so. That BB has far more combat capability being
carried around than that MTB.

[Tomb] Which you pay for in OTHER RESPECTS (weapon costs). A Pt boat
that carries X armament and has Y signature is indistinguishable from a
battleship which carries X armaments and has Y signature WITH ALL OTHER
ABILITIES IDENTICAL. If your BB has extra abilities, it pays for them WITH
RESPECT TO THOSE ABILITIES. If you've loaded the thing up with a cloaking
device that gives it a Pt boat signature, then as far as the matter of being a
target is concerned, IT IS A PT BOAT.

A stealthed size 5 tank should cost far more than a size 1 personal vehicle. A
stealthed size 2 vehicle should cost a good deal more than that size 1
vehicle.

[Tomb] NO NO NO. In a one-off balansive system (what we _are_ talking
about as it is the only reasonable system DS2 ever has a chance of
implementing generically), a stealthed size 2 vehicle
_identical_in_other_systems_ to a size 1 vehicle should cost NO MORE. It
has the EXACT same in game effect and so should cost EXACTLY the same amount.
Now, if you think your size 2 vehicle should have more stuff on it... poof!
The costs are no longer the same!

[Tomb] The real point: In a cost-only system, you can build vehicles
with trade offs (heavy armour, slow, big gun vs. fast, small gun, light
armour). You can still differentiate. But you don't COMPEL other people to buy
into YOUR particular view of technology or how a system is put
together. All you EVER charge for is things which provide an in-game
effect and these are costed IDENTICALLY regardless of how the PSB works.
Period.

This is the most inclusive system, because it lets people like Ryan and myself
who want realistic vehicles design them to OUR own prejudices, and it lets
people who want a more free form system with the
Mega-Gun-Skateboard do just that. In Ryan's proposed world, the system
isn't as generic and it suits him but not the others (since designing
the Mega-Gun-Skateboard is impossible, of course!).

Why be exclusive of other potential game buyers? Those who want limits
(myself/Ryan/others) can impose them as we see fit.... it's more
satisfying and we'd apply our own limitations anyway, so why not just