I'd take one and squeeze on board a 6g ships boat for the boarding party as well
That's what *I'm* talking about! Only, any self-respecting pirate's gonna try 'n steal that.
That's what *I'm* talking about! Only, any self-respecting pirate's gonna try 'n steal that.
Gray Lensman
SOC-13
I'd take one and squeeze on board a 6g ships boat for the boarding party as well
What he said and I just stole your entire post for my ATU.
Thanks
abomination
SOC-12
IMTU they're not called corsairs. They are fast merchants. Sometimes there's a profit to be had moving a fairly large amount of stuff somewhere quickly.
The fact that they have four hard points doesn't mean they have to be armed to the teeth.
The fact that they have four hard points doesn't mean they have to be armed to the teeth.
True, but why build them at all?
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Enoff
SOC-13
Where is this transforming Corsair? I tried to read all through this thread but no reference.
Only Corsair I know of is in the CT Traveller Adventure book.
picture
http://www.lexweb.us/vargrcorsair.jpg
Seems a dangerous ship if you are in an underfunded, under crewed free trader.
stats:400-ton hull, Jump-2, G-5, Model/2 computer, Two triple beam laser turrets and two triple missile turrets.
I don't know about all these extra vehicles, two G-Carriers and one modular cutter with two open modules and space for a spare?
* With two triple missile turrets I would clear a lot of storage space for all kinds of missiles.
Only Corsair I know of is in the CT Traveller Adventure book.
picture
http://www.lexweb.us/vargrcorsair.jpg
Seems a dangerous ship if you are in an underfunded, under crewed free trader.
stats:400-ton hull, Jump-2, G-5, Model/2 computer, Two triple beam laser turrets and two triple missile turrets.
I don't know about all these extra vehicles, two G-Carriers and one modular cutter with two open modules and space for a spare?
* With two triple missile turrets I would clear a lot of storage space for all kinds of missiles.
Enoff
SOC-13
As to the word "Corsair" I never thought of this as a class of ship just as a term for some sort of action like "Viking."
Quote from Wikie
Corsairs (Fr. corsaire, from It. corsaro[1]) were privateers, authorized to conduct raids on shipping of a nation at war with France, on behalf of the French Crown. Seized vessels and cargo were sold at auction, with the corsair captain entitled to a portion of the proceeds.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corsair
Quote from Wikie
Corsairs (Fr. corsaire, from It. corsaro[1]) were privateers, authorized to conduct raids on shipping of a nation at war with France, on behalf of the French Crown. Seized vessels and cargo were sold at auction, with the corsair captain entitled to a portion of the proceeds.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corsair
Well, Corsair is just one of those words that has gained meaning through evolution of usage. I mean, we all know that. So, in the far future of the Traveller Universe, it's probably code-speak for Vargr "pirates". A cultural and racial nomenclature to identify the doggies when they make bad in space, verse some fringe human state with a similar design meant for the same purpose.
To me the Corsair, as mentioned earlier, is just a generic design. Each state or entity that uses them probably has their own versions of them. We just see the generic type for simplification. Ergo the four hard-points and rather large cargo capacity.
To me the Corsair, as mentioned earlier, is just a generic design. Each state or entity that uses them probably has their own versions of them. We just see the generic type for simplification. Ergo the four hard-points and rather large cargo capacity.
far-trader
SOC-14 10K
It's mentioned (first iirc) in CT Supplement 4 - Citizens of the Imperium as the ship muster benefit for Pirates. It's called "Corsair" in that table, and in the description where it's also noted as a "Type P" with the obvious meaning being "Type Pirate" I suppose. It is a 400ton Book 2 design with Jump Drive - D (2), Maneuver Drive - F (3) and Power Plant - F (3). A model/2 computer and 3 hardpoints fitted with triple turrets but only 1 beam laser each.
My personal take is it is a a Provincial (Type P) Subsidized Merchant. A ship designed for frontier trading. Why? Because of the other details. It has 10 staterooms and 20 lowberths (just like the Free-Trader) and could easily carry passengers. It also has decent cargo capacity with 160tons. Naturally it could serve as a decent Corsair in the Privateer sense. And of course some end up in the hands of Pirates through various means.
The large clamshell cargo doors are a fair design for a merchant, but the variable tansponder is obviously illegal or special privateer addition. The (imo) nonsense about variable geometry is (imo) pointless. The note about being able to take a 100ton ship into it's cargo hold is also (imo) unrealistic, and not terribly useful for either a pirate or merchant. I also disagree with it being unstreamlined and not having any small craft, for either a merchant or pirate, but especially a pirate, that's a serious Achille's heel.
As for the Vargr version with it's Cutter and G-Carriers, that makes sense. The Cutter is perfect for boarding and the G-Carriers are excellent for planetary raids.
Someone who shipped Rare Earth elements or Computers might want to ship so valuable a cargo with a little more protection ... hence the need for a fast, well armed merchant (later put to other uses by new owners).
A Navy might want a cargo ship to resupply the fleet with a little extra resistance to commerce raiding ... hence the need for a fast, well armed merchant (later put to other uses by new owners).
Just offering suggestions, the basic design still got left behind as the game transitioned from a small ship CT to High Guard.
Jason M Durkish
SOC-10
I am thinking that the raider crews build there own ships.
Probably financed by crime syndicates . Or the raider crews might also work for a crime lord who owns the ship .
Probably financed by crime syndicates . Or the raider crews might also work for a crime lord who owns the ship .
I can see the construction of a corsair taking place in stages. a legitimate ship builder puts the hull together, then the new owners sell it off to another buyer who ships it off to a backwater world where weapons, and specialized gear are added.
So on the books the vessel is a legitimate merchant ship, at least for the first two or three owners. After it gets far enough down the paper trail for the original manufacturer and owner to have plausible deniability, the ship becomes a corsair..
So on the books the vessel is a legitimate merchant ship, at least for the first two or three owners. After it gets far enough down the paper trail for the original manufacturer and owner to have plausible deniability, the ship becomes a corsair..
In my TU, the unstreamlined Corsair is a pirate vessel for interstellar organized crime cartels, intentionally designed with an Achille's heel so the captain and crew won't be tempted to take the ship and go off on their own. It's recognizable (which is why it is known as a Corsair) and dependent on the crime cartels' networks of hidden remote asteroid bases for fuel and concealment, as well as on the cartels' agents for the intelligence network, bribes/blackmail, carefully planned diversions, and other activities needed to make it effective in the face of official efforts to prevent piracy.
The cartels themselves get the bulk of their income from front "insurance" companies that collect payments from shipping companies to insure shipments to higher-risk systems, as well as from corrupt unions and other such sources. The corsairs make examples of those who choose not to buy the insurance or who otherwise earn the displeasure of the cartel. Unless the target tries to fight or run, the corsairs will typically offer a captain the opportunity to ransom his cargo for an amount that typically means a loss for the trip but leaves the ship intact and the passengers and cargo safe. Occasionally the corsairs will demand a specific cargo (most often in the course of delivering a lesson to some uncooperative ground-side company) and the captain will find that the demanded cargo just coincidentally happened to be loaded closest to the ship's cargo doors by the dockworkers at the last port.
Has the advantage that the player can buy off a piracy result before leaving port, or at least has some assurance of leaving the encounter with ship and lives intact if they decide not to resist - unless of course the pirate they encounter is not a Type P Corsair but is instead some freebooter or other agent violating Cartel territory.
Patron Zero
SOC-13
My take on a Corsair as such is a retired express boat tender or like-outfitted other vessel of equal tonnage (or less) operating solely for purposes of hijacking other ships or supporting smaller craft in that same venue.
That said, why could not a ship operating as a commerce raider employ a bit of ingenuity to lessen their detection as such making said vessel appear far less a threat than it actually is.
Essentially speaking of wolves in sheep's clothing as outward appearances can be deceiving and have consequences for those looking casually upon such.
IMTU, one particularly nasty band of happy cut-throats operated a refitted and modified express boat tender that actually could reconfigure it's hull-silhouette as to appear a smaller and more compact vessel.
This little trick achieved by means of 'compressing' the hull, more-so collapsing the internal maintenance bays by way of hydraulic-mechanical means, so the 1000Ton raider now appeared as a smaller ship of say 800, 600 or 400Tons dependent on the configuration when encountered.
While 'officially' christened The Regulator, the unique vessel was referred to as the Phantom Puffer-fish by both those actively pursuing such and those traveling through the 'waters' it was sighted in.
That said, why could not a ship operating as a commerce raider employ a bit of ingenuity to lessen their detection as such making said vessel appear far less a threat than it actually is.
Essentially speaking of wolves in sheep's clothing as outward appearances can be deceiving and have consequences for those looking casually upon such.
IMTU, one particularly nasty band of happy cut-throats operated a refitted and modified express boat tender that actually could reconfigure it's hull-silhouette as to appear a smaller and more compact vessel.
This little trick achieved by means of 'compressing' the hull, more-so collapsing the internal maintenance bays by way of hydraulic-mechanical means, so the 1000Ton raider now appeared as a smaller ship of say 800, 600 or 400Tons dependent on the configuration when encountered.
While 'officially' christened The Regulator, the unique vessel was referred to as the Phantom Puffer-fish by both those actively pursuing such and those traveling through the 'waters' it was sighted in.
GypsyComet
SOC-14 1K
I look at the chassis as just another Type R variant, though not an optimal one. Some Type Ps *appear* streamlined, but the variable identification features (which are largely limited to altering the shape and pitch of those wings the Nishemani is shown with, or the visible shape of bridge windows, or other cosmetic options) render the ship unable to do hot re-entries without things falling off.
The variable identification features only make sense as concealment if there are enough of the ship class in use for legitimate purposes to hide among.
"Is this the ship that attacked you?"
"No Officer, this one is a Trin Yards 95, and the one that attacked us was clearly a Tobia 64. The fins and chin turret are distinctive."
Some regions of the Imperium really need longer legs to get around in, and a Subbie can't keep a schedule with only J1. Not every corner of the Imperium uses the Nishemani, of course, but some areas are also adjacent to some wild "client" states. Instead of hiding amongst similar ships, a potential Corsair might also hide in bewildering variety. Both versions of The Beyond (spin-rimward of the Marches) are rife with oddball states flying any number of unusual hulls, the Solomani probably build merchants and corsairs on the same hulls on purpose (recall the USSR's use of "trawlers"), and who knows what the states of the Old Expanses, Hinterworlds, and the Gateway Domain are flying...
The variable identification features only make sense as concealment if there are enough of the ship class in use for legitimate purposes to hide among.
"Is this the ship that attacked you?"
"No Officer, this one is a Trin Yards 95, and the one that attacked us was clearly a Tobia 64. The fins and chin turret are distinctive."
Some regions of the Imperium really need longer legs to get around in, and a Subbie can't keep a schedule with only J1. Not every corner of the Imperium uses the Nishemani, of course, but some areas are also adjacent to some wild "client" states. Instead of hiding amongst similar ships, a potential Corsair might also hide in bewildering variety. Both versions of The Beyond (spin-rimward of the Marches) are rife with oddball states flying any number of unusual hulls, the Solomani probably build merchants and corsairs on the same hulls on purpose (recall the USSR's use of "trawlers"), and who knows what the states of the Old Expanses, Hinterworlds, and the Gateway Domain are flying...
Simple standover tactics really?
Just who makes them and how would still need a bit of a macroeconomics perspective wouldn't it? How well are the IN and local security forces equipped to patrol and make safe the spacelanes?
leo knight
SOC-12
I considered them cheap or obsolete patrol vessels that had "fallen into the wrong hands," something along the lines of a revenue cutter. As for the camouflage features, I thought them strictly after-market. IMTU, I ruled you could have a streamlined (for fuel skimming) corsair, or a shapeshifter, but not both.
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