[Overbyte]

Recently a player said.. "I want to buy as many of these things as I can get my hands on"
And I told him.. "well the Availability is high so they are hard to get"
And he said.. "Well I want to buy everyone I can find".
So that got me thinking about how I could estimate how long it would take to get something without having to roll a bunch of times.
So with the help of AnyDice.com (a very cool site.. check it out).. and the aid of some statistics.. I made this table.
Perhaps it will be of some use to others:


                Availability Test Dice                  
Avail       8    10    12      14    16   18   20     22   24
    8     2.0    1.5    1.1   0.9   0.7   0.6         
    10    2.8    2.0    1.5   1.2   0.9   0.7   0.6      
    12    0.0    2.8    2.0   1.5   1.2   1.0   0.8   0.6   
    14    6.3    4.0    2.7   2.0   1.5   1.2   1.0   0.8   0.6
    16    9.7    5.8    3.8   2.7   2.0   1.6   1.2   1.0   0.8
    18   14.9    8.5    5.4   3.7   2.7   2.0   1.6   1.3   1.0
    20   22.9   12.6    7.7   5.2   3.6   2.7   2.0   1.6   1.3
    22   35.1   18.7   11.1   7.3   4.9   3.5   2.6   2.0   1.6
    24   53.4   27.5   15.9   10.4   6.8   4.7   3.5   2.6   2.0

Sorry the formatting isn't a bit better.
The numbers in the table are the multiple of base time that it will take to get the item.

For example:
You want to find a Krime Canon on the Black Market (Avail 20F, Cost 21,000)
Base time is 1 week. You have a Negotiation 6 + Charisma 6.
The chart says 7.7 so it will likely take 8 weeks to find one.

However if you are willing to pay double (+4d6) then you will have 16 dice and the chart says 3.6 so maybe only 3-4 weeks.

[Spooky]

Cool!

[adzling]

awesome stuff!

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

Hmmm.  Interesting, but does it really necessarily apply to / answer the question you're proposing it does?  While I suppose 'all I can get my hands on' might require a roll for every item, and you can only start rolling for the next one after you've gotten your first ... well, I suppose it'd become a GM's decision as to how many are available at any particular time.

For example, an Ares Viper slivergun has an availability of 8F.  However, once you've found (with your, for example, 14 dice) a weapons dealer who carries them, it won't take you another just-under-a-week to find another one - the guy is likely to acquire them at a rate of 'the crate fell off a truck' at a time, with a crate carrying 4, or 6, or 8, or 12, or 24, or whatever, and then sell them as he can.

While I agree the table is useful in figuring out how long it'd take to draw in a seller of a single item, it might be at least as useful to have a way to decide how many items might be available from any particular source.  Unfortunately, that can come down to deciding how many of those brass tacks come in a case.

[Overbyte]

Hmmm.  Interesting, but does it really necessarily apply to / answer the question you're proposing it does?  While I suppose 'all I can get my hands on' might require a roll for every item, and you can only start rolling for the next one after you've gotten your first ... well, I suppose it'd become a GM's decision as to how many are available at any particular time.

Yes. This is something I've always wondered about. I've always assumed that availability is for quantity of 1. Which makes a lot of sense for big ticket items, but may not make as much sense for small items (like ammunition). I actually posted this question a long time ago on the boards but there wasn't much feedback/consensus on this, and it probably ends up squarely in the "whatever the GM feel like" department. And although multiple items was the impetus for creating the table it may actually be more useful when you are looking for a very high availability item and you don't want to roll tons of times since you are going to fail far more than you will succeed. If I did the math right the table should give you the "expected value" for the time which is the average time to acquire. Then you can adjust that however you want. Also, if you go to a fixer and ask for an item he can maybe give you a rough estimate of the time it is going to take (perhaps doubling the average).

"Hey.. I'm looking for a Panzer XXL Assault Canon. Know where I can get one?"
"No.. that's a tall order"
"How long will it take you to find one for me?"
"I don't know, maybe three or four months?"        12 pool, 20 availability, 43,000 cost, base time 1 week, average = 7.7 multiplier
"Alright, tell your contacts I'm willing to pay double"
"OK. I'll put some feelers out"