Amazing Ship Generator

[Spinward Flow]

During the age of the merchant explorer trade ships had to have their own rigging for cranes to load and unload cargo.

The way that I would model that (using CT) would be the difference between a cargo hold (Cr0 per ton) and a hangar bay (Cr2000 per ton) as per LBB5.80, p32. Both can be used to hold cargo, but the hangar bay would have "additional support elements" for docking and replenishing other craft (fuel links, docking arms, etc.) that could be put to use loading and unloading cargo instead of small craft (up to the hangar bay displacement capacity tonnage).

Reasonable perspective, in line with my thesis that most pirate ships should not be Corsairs or the like but fast small craft- get in, match course, threaten and receive fast transfer of goods, get out. At the most the Corsair is a mothership threatening with distance weapons, but not risking closing or getting into a time trap with hours lost in maneuvering while navies or LE can be closing.

To put it politely, there is no such thing as a "fast transfer of goods" as a result of a hijacking by pirate forces. The transfer of goods from cargo hold (or equivalent) to cargo hold is NOT going to be a "zero time action" that happens instantly (matter transporters are a TL=17 advancement, after all).

As a pirate, your real problem with the small craft form factor is that small craft just don't have the displacement to carry powerful weapons+computers AND boarding crew AND have plenty of cargo space to stow pilfered goods. Even with an armed Cutter, you've got (at best) 30 tons to allocate towards boarding party and cargo hold for loot. That's not a tremendous amount of space to play with.

At best, you would want to have a pair of armed Cutters working in tandem to pincer move on 1G merchantmen, one with a boarding party module and the other with a cargo module to load up with stolen goods. When you start thinking about it, that's 2x 50 ton Cutters for a Corsair mothership to support ... which is a LOT of tonnage(!) ... and that mothership is going to need to be "home base" for that entire boarding crew and the pilots and gunners for the Cutter crews. So right from the get go, you're looking at needing something on the order of 400 tons minimum for a Corsair, with 1000 tons being ideal since 1000 tons gives you enough hangar, crew and cargo space to make piracy "worthwhile" ... especially if your hangar bay is large enough to enclose entire 200 ton Traders to jump with internally as prizes.

The "fastest" way to plunder a prize ship is to take the entire ship, preferably jumping out of the system with it (to throw off pursuit). Trying to take only "part of a ship" (cargo, some loose cash, kidnaps a prisoner or few for ransom) will usually be a lot harder than just docking with the prey and jumping out of system with the prize ship "in tow" through jump (which then gives you a whole WEEK to decide matters where no one can interfere).

So an A2 Far Trader (Jump-B drive) could dock with a surrendered Type-S Scout/Courier and make J1 with the Type-S "in tow" through jump as "external cargo" (kinda sorta), during which the boarding party will have a week in jump to seach/ransack the Type-S without concern for reprisals.

An Express Tender could be loaded with 5x 10 ton Fighters and 1x 50 ton Cutter+Boarding Module and operated as a mothership for a band of pirates that can capture an A2 (or two!) and using the Corsair Tender to jump out of the system one the ships are taken as prizes.

A Type-T Patrol Cruiser can dock with an A2 Far Trader and "tow" it through jump as external cargo.

Being able to jump away with a prize ship makes it possible for piracy to be handled less like a mugging and more like a kidnapping.

 

[Dragoner]

I would argue our classic Type A and Type R designs are the space going descendants of RO-ROs.

I don't want to argue for changing these ships, or against any head-canon that makes them relevant in your universe. Just brainstorming how it would be done realistically, thinking about stuff. The biggest argument against the tail sitters is from the game side is that they are boring, like here is a circle with a rectangular access way and solid panels as a privacy screen, repeat twenty-seven times. I know from making them. Simply a lot owe more to the classic dungeon, and would be usable with Snap Shot, which is fun gaming.

 

[Grav_Moped]

Interesting point about containerization and piracy: Which container is "the good stuff" in? Look at a container ship, and consider that its most valuable cargo isn't going to be above decks.

Yes, that Free Trader might have a couple of containers of drive components. You'll need to offload 43 4Td standard containers to get at them, though.

 

[Condottiere]

Fast And Fusionous: Jumpin' Hijack Flash

 

[kilemall]

Problem with the capture methodology is the target ship has to surrender intact. Any fight risks disabling the value of the ship without escape vectors, and the crew may set sabotage charges/programs depending on desperation/discipline/risks.

Most freighters are slow waddlers, just not conducive to an escape velocity once seized. Most patrols are going to be 4G+, and signals are not needed, just a sensor readout showing closing/matching vessels. Whether seizure or potential smuggling, that’s going to be investigated even with radio silence/jamming.

What I have in mind is more precision raiding- pirates know which container has the drives/computers/radioactives and which has the worthless textiles/grain/iron ore. Problem of the freighter crew to get the right one out. Small craft match course enough to pick up the containers, never board, on their way out before the patrol can catch up. Freighter crew more likely to comply if they are not put in personal risk.

ACS freighter in the Traveller system definitely act as river boats/light intercoastals/tugs re: some container external conceptions/feeder freighters. I suppose you could think of that as an Amazon van, I wouldn’t as I think of the last mile as grav haulers.

Re: belly landing, I can go on about justification, but really it’s about gameplay and ship options. The Types A, A2 and Type R are the haulers most players will have their hands on and the sort of flexible missions open to them. Freight, colony, exploration, merc, smuggling, science, just a lot of options. Using the available deck plans and their options is worth a little nudge to suspension of disbelief effort to make them fit rather then trying to sim it all.

 

[Spinward Flow]

Freighter crew more likely to comply if they are not put in personal risk.

This is the real deciding factor.
Lighten their bank accounts a little, but no one gets hurt (or financially ruined) ... they're more willing to comply.

It's when pirates "get greedy" and intend to "take no prisoners" that resistance becomes maximal (along with the risks).

Ransom can be (financially) painful, but you can recover from it.
It's more difficult to recover from dead.
And multi-parsec kidnapping ... sometimes that can be worse than death AND bankruptcy combined ...

 

[aramis]

That's sort of the point. The OTU (from LBB5 on) has artificial gravity. LBB 2 didn't say anything about it one way or the other.

You could have an ATU that doesn't include it. You could even have one with antigravity that doesn't have artificial gravity!

The first adventure, however, establishes AG and IC.

Gravity: The ship decks have grav plates built-in to provide a constant 1G floor field. These plates may be turned off only through computer instructions. In addition, the ship itself is under the influence of acceleration dampers which negate the effects of acceleration while maneuvering.

Emphasis original. Line breaks removed.