Crown Meridian Ship Catalog · Chapter 10
Ownership, Service and Refit
What a Crown hull costs new and used, who services it, what the paperwork is, and when to buy a newer generation or upgrade the one you have.
Condition and Price
Apply the condition multiplier to the catalog price (Vehicles Manual, Chapter 12). All generations exist at once, and the older generations are the used market.
| Condition | Multiplier | What you are buying |
|---|---|---|
| Factory new | ×1.00 | Warranty, clean registry, full service history |
| Serviceable used | ×0.55 | Ten to twenty years old, maintained, documented |
| High hours | ×0.35 | Deferred maintenance, tired systems, incomplete records |
| Salvage title, flying | ×0.25 | Recovered and returned to service; title annotated |
Crown's documentation helps a used hull: the registry history of a Crown ship is more complete than most, and Crown yards keep the records.
Which Generation to Buy
| If you want | Buy |
|---|---|
| The cheapest Crown hull that does the job | The first generation, serviceable used |
| The sturdiest cutter | The CM-440A |
| The best gun platform in the cutter line | The CM-440B |
| A frigate that survives its own damage | The first-generation CM-640 |
| A frigate that carries more craft | The CM-640A |
| The most open slots | The latest generation of the line |
Service and Parts
Authorized service is common across Irnan and League ports. A Crown yard works on any Crown generation.
Parts are Common for every generation in Directorate and League space. Outside it, the oldest generation of a line drops one availability level.
Gray market. Moderate. Crown's firmware locks complicate modification. A crew that wants to strip a lock needs a technician who has done it before.
Authority heat. Low. A Crown ship carries a registry that authorities trust. Installing military systems without certification changes that at once.
Financing
Crown's customers finance through long-term federal loans, fleet contracts and insured commercial leases. A used hull at high hours or below is usually bought outright, because insurers will not cover it.
Inspections
A Crown hull passes a port inspection more easily than most. An inspector can open any compartment through the inspection blocks, and the registry transponder reports a clean history. The same visibility is a cost: a Crown hull carrying a hidden compartment or an uncertified military module is found, and the inspection treats the find as evidence.
Upgrading a Generation
An owner may upgrade a hull to the next generation at a Crown yard. The rules are in Chapter 4, Generation Upgrades; the cost is on each line's Generation Table and in Chapter 12.
Example. A crew owns a CM-440 and wants the CM-440A. The upgrade costs 14 retrofit points and 39,000cr, taken from the hull's unspent budget of 83 points (190 less the 107.0 it spends). The yard keeps the ship for 2 weeks. A crew that needs the CM-440A's open slot and extra Hull Points pays 39,000cr against 449,000cr for a new CM-440A.
When an upgrade is not worth it. A Classic generation is not upgraded away from without a reason. The CM-440A is the better ship in a collision, and the CM-440B costs 9 more points and gives up Reinforced Compartments against collisions and cascades.
Authority and the Directorate
Crown is an Irnan Directorate maker. Directorate authorities know its ships, and their inspectors trust the paperwork. In League space that trust carries over. In Funtari or Jaziri space a Crown ship is mildly notable: the armored wedge reads as federal.
