awarded baronies
- Thread starter flykiller
- Start date
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
Early retirement.
The only title that seems mobile is sector duke.
The only title that seems mobile is sector duke.
GypsyComet
SOC-14 1K
The Imperial Nobility, which are those noted in any recent (T5 compliant) UWP, have two purposes based on rank.
Knights Tenant (the "B" listed for nearly all worlds in the Nobles column) vary in specific job quite a bit, but they are in general the most accessible Imperial Noble on a world who is linked to it. His job is relating to the world and its population.
Higher ranks, from Baronet to Duke, of the "High" or "Landed" sort are also enumerated by the UWP, and assigned by Trade code or similar. Their jobs are, broadly, to keep their world or worlds (in the case of Marquis, Counts, and Dukes) functioning as Imperial members. How much that entangles them in the local government varies considerably from world to world, and sometimes from generation to generation. Worlds with more than one High Noble divide the development and trade tasks between them by the trade codes that place them there.
Ceremonial/Functionary/Ministerial Nobles also have jobs, but instead of the job being defined by the Title, the Title is defined by the job. They are NOT enumerated or constrained by the UWP. In order to have absolute regulatory authority over a largish orbital station, for example, the position holder needs to be a Knight, so anyone appointed or promoted to that position is *made* a Knight. If that Knight does a decent job, he'll get to keep his Noble Title when he retires, which leads us to the third group of Nobles...
The "Honor" Nobles are those with Title but no specific "noble job". Most PC's with Noble SOC will fit into this group.
Yup.
It can be a matter of retirement with little enough distinction that a Functionary Baron is allowed to remain a Knight after retirement, for example, or it can be a messy affair of stripped titles for mistakes made.
Read Marc's "Agent of the Imperium".
what kind of yachts should be available to nobles?
(off-hand I'm thinking built locally where possible, imperial funded, imperial navy staffed ... ?)
(off-hand I'm thinking built locally where possible, imperial funded, imperial navy staffed ... ?)
Code:
baronial yacht
hg2, tech 12, 12000 dtons, wedge/streamlined/landable
crew (154 total)
command
capt, executive officer, chief engineer, chief gunner
4 pilots, 3 navigators
operations officer, comms officer, computer officer, flight officer, ship's physician
crew
8 aides, 46 engineers, 23 gunners, 6 service
mission
30 service
12 boat pilots
13 marines (1 lt, 3 ssgt's, 9 sgt's)
154 staterooms
recreation facilities
mission
10 full nobility suites (200 dtons)
imperial country (200 dtons)
engineering
computer model 6fib (x2)
jump 3
maneuver 4
635 energy points
fuel purifier
full internal fuel tankage for 3 parsecs of jump and 4 weeks of power plant ops or 26 weeks of power plant ops
weapons
2 factor 8 particle accelerator weapons bays
2 factor 9 missile launcher bays
defenses
armor 4 (+4 inherent to tech 12)
1 factor 1 nuclear damper screen
2 factor 6 repulsor bays
2 factor 9 sand caster batteries (two full gunnery stations, full battery backups, full reload magazines)
8 damage control stations
features
medical facility (80 dtons)
lowberths (20)
brig (8 cells)
carried craft
6 lifeboats (capacity 2 pilots + 32 elb ea) (two for patrol ship crew, two for victim crew/passenger rescue/evacuation)
4 ship's gigs
2 gig bays (20 dton boats)
2 barge bays (40 dton boats)
2 grav carrier bays (8 dton carriers)
cargo
64 dtons (4 months endurance)
128 dtons (baronial cargo)
Are ye high, sir?
This vessel is waaay to overtonnage for a mere baron, hell something over 10Kt is gonna be for a Duke maybe..maybe, but most nobles and low level ones like barons are all in the ACS (sub-2400 ton) range, BCS is a little too much ship.
Indeed; looking at cost-of-ownership alone, it will take an exceptionally wealthy landhold to support anything much bigger than 600dt or so without raising enduring complaints from one's subjects.
A Marquis might rate something up to around 1Kdt in size, perhaps limited by Imperial decree in order to avoid the temptation to spend ever-increasing sums in an attempt at outdoing nearby peers and as a result building hulls that increasingly begin to resemble gunboats rather than pleasure craft.
A fiscally-responsible-yet-luxury-minded Baron should be able to build a very comfortably-opulent starship in the sub-Kdt range if they are not concerned with hauling large quantities of payload across long Jumps.
Bear in mind that in the OTU 200dt Safari Ships are reportedly used by megacorporations to woo potential and recurring clients; they do so with quality amenities and skilled personnel rather than cavernous displacement.
GypsyComet
SOC-14 1K
It is not the size that seems out of place so much as the armament. Landed Barons are glorified farm brokers. An old, multi-generational Baronial family could easily afford such a ship with the right long-term investments, but they really should have bought or subsidized a fleet of freighters instead.
pendragonman
Absent Friends Margrave
On the other hand, a shrewd Emperor just might actually encourage such spending as a way to keep members of the peerage broke. If they are too busy one-upping each other, they won't have the monies required to keep large militaries of their own and thus be less likely to successfully rebel. Especially when this kind of thing will foster envy and hard feelings between the peers.
Just look at the Tokugawa Shogunate for how successful this kind of policy can be.
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
Enforced trickle down economics.
On the other hand if every third Marquis is in command of a personally-owned BatRon, the Duke is going to wish the subsector navy only had a few militia battalions to contend with in its place.
As Magnus also alludes to above, megayachts need to not be gunboats (or for that matter, troopships) in disguise.
If I were the Duke and some vainglorious Marquis under me started building a 50Kdt monster yacht, I would make it clear that such a vessel may not mount hull armor greater than a cruiser, and may only mount sandcasters and lasers -- no other weaponry nor screens. This would permit any cruiser in my subsector navy to take it out easily, while it can still keep most corsairs at bay.
Another issue is security: how do you keep tabs on 2500 Stewards to make sure none of them are compromised by your enemies? Smaller ships have fewer secrets, in practice...
GypsyComet
SOC-14 1K
In general, Imperial nobles, and particularly the Landed, are given broad latitude to improve the territories they oversee. As long as a subsector is improving, the subsector Duke is happy. If the Duke can report improvement, the Archduke is happy. If the Archduke is happy, there is a good chance the Emperor is happy, and no one loses their jobs, or their heads.
The message trickling down is clear: do your job properly and you will be filthy rich as a result; cut corners, harm the Imperial economy, or ignore your mandate, and lose that title, the lands and money that go with it, the respect for your family name, and possibly your life. AotI makes it clear that the Imperium is quite willing to replace the incompetent, stupid, or criminal. With prejudice if called for.
There are also large-scale object lessons sprinkled across Imperial history regarding rebellion, inappropriate banditry, and other forms of power hungry behavior.
Fifty turrets will obliterate any pirate short of a Vargr invasion.
The other tool the Duke in this situation can wield is Arbellatra's Denebian Writ. "Thank you for providing such a fine, if irregular, ship to the protection of the Imperium. We expect to see the "Glory of ___" reporting to the Naval Depot by Holiday for evaluation and Imperialization. In the future, please consult the outstanding Naval contracts before embarking on Capital hull construction, so that the Navy may make more ready use of your deeply appreciated efforts."
Drakon
SOC-14 1K
Agreed, one needs to think of the purpose of a noble yacht. The way I see it, it acts as a mobile embassy for the noble's systems. As an embassy, the ship becomes sovereign ground, which makes things more secure than the local 4 star hotel. Richer systems may want to make a bigger show.
so ... too big. ok, I'll provide an alternate.
but gudak is the #2 yard in the subsector (though it's 1% of shakamash's capacity) and I had thought the ship to be a showcase and research lead for what gudak can do, and I doubt the sub-duke of shakamash (pop9techF) would be shown up by the yacht on display here, and the baroness being a comodore would have professional interests in the main naval base (j3 distance) and trade interests in unishpiir (j3, though across a sector boundary) and would have no reason to have any ship less than j3, and by the time a ship is j3 (and m4 - gudak is a long ways inside the local star's 100d) and has facilities suiteable for a baron, it's' going to be a little bit big.
but ok, I'll make a smaller one, and a game referee can choose.
but gudak is the #2 yard in the subsector (though it's 1% of shakamash's capacity) and I had thought the ship to be a showcase and research lead for what gudak can do, and I doubt the sub-duke of shakamash (pop9techF) would be shown up by the yacht on display here, and the baroness being a comodore would have professional interests in the main naval base (j3 distance) and trade interests in unishpiir (j3, though across a sector boundary) and would have no reason to have any ship less than j3, and by the time a ship is j3 (and m4 - gudak is a long ways inside the local star's 100d) and has facilities suiteable for a baron, it's' going to be a little bit big.
but ok, I'll make a smaller one, and a game referee can choose.
better?
Code:
baronial yacht revised
hg2, tech 12, 1200 dtons, wedge/streamlined/landable, 918MCr
crew (38 total)
command
capt, executive officer, chief engineer, chief gunner
3 pilots, 2 navigators, ship's physician
crew
12 engineers, 6 gunners
mission
4 service
2 boat pilots
4 troops
26 staterooms
recreation facilities
mission
1 baronial stateroom (20 dtons)
4 staff staterooms (32 dtons)
imperial country (80 dtons)
engineering
computer model 2
jump 2
maneuver 2
48 energy points
fuel purifier
full internal fuel tankage for 2 parsecs of jump and 4 weeks of power plant ops or 24 weeks of power plant ops
weapons
2 factor 4 beam laser turret batteries (full gunnery station, full battery backups)
2 factor 3 missile turret batteries (full gunnery stations, full battery backups, full reload magazines)
defenses
2 factor 5 sand caster batteries (full gunnery stations, full battery backups, full reload magazines)
2 damage control stations
features
medical bay (12 dtons)
lowberths (8)
carried craft
2 lifeboats (capacity 2 pilots + 32 elb ea) (two for patrol ship crew, two for victim crew/passenger rescue/evacuation)
2 ship's gigs
1 baron's gig
1 grav carrier
cargo
45 dtons
Not sure if I understand the question.
If you would like me to add to or modify the information in the spreadsheet, PM me the details and I will see to it. Alternately, the document is editable by anyone; you can go to the document yourself and make the changes, if you prefer.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mRGZE7RZZJrchoaudEX9-wXeZTTJves6ohYiigK2STU/edit?usp=sharing
EDIT: Note - if anyone does add new card information to the spreadsheet, make sure that it is entered TWO places:
1) On the tab of the Domain with which the world is associated, and
2) On the "ALL" Tab.
2) On the "ALL" Tab.
Last edited:
As a command platform, your personnal vessel (call it Yatch if you want it less austere than a SDB, but even in Holiday you remain in charge) may benefit of a larger troop (goon)deck. The list of assistants is likely larger than 4 (how many assistant move along the president when he/she goes to Camp David or MV for Holiday? - that is your minimum). The Duke wont care if that ship is a 2,000 or 3,000 tonners, with hold space fitted with squash and basketball courts as long as its firepower is no challenge to its own goon squadron.
Have fun
Selandia
I find it difficult to conceive of anything that could be called an "imperium" where this would be an issue.
but to allow referee choice, I'll draw up a third version that includes deckspace for a goon squad and status retinue.
(huh. perhaps cast the imperium as greek diaspora. the greek city states would fight wars with each other every summer, "for freedom and justice". just because actually, it's just what they would do.)
