** Given the constraints of a TL=9 16-ton Light Fighter, is it feasible for such a small vessel to successfully engage in piracy operations? Consider the limitations in armament, speed, and cargo space, and how it might adapt to these challenges.
Independently ... on it's own ... SOLO ... it wouldn't be all that effective as a pirate.
A TL=9 16 ton Light Fighter could be successful as an attacker (
"heave to and prepare to be boarded or we shoot!") but in terms of capture/prize/ransom/theft you've got a problem. A 16 ton Light Fighter CAN DESTROY rather effectively ... but it's going to need "backup" to do more than just destroy.
A 16 ton Light Fighter is going to struggle with being able to carry a prize crew for boarding, if the intent is to capture and take the target of piracy. For any kind of capture/conquest you need additional crew. As soon as the pilot+gunner leave the Light Fighter (leaving it uncrewed) it becomes "deadweight" as a non-combatant. Under MOST boarding scenarios, a small craft (emphasis on SMALL) of such low tonnage can have (for the tech level) extremely efficient weaponry and agility, but it can't carry extra crew for boarding operations (with a high probability of success).
Remember, the name of the game in piracy is to STACK THE DECK
so heavily in your favor that your prey are cowed into
Anticipatory Obedience. That way, compliance is the easier/cheaper option than defiance.
Having a "big stick" is useful for intimidation, but if you have to USE it you're very likely to break something you want to keep for yourself (and then fence later on at a profit!).
A 16 ton Light Fighter can do the intimidation/damage/destruction part ... but on its own it'll have trouble with the follow through of capture/conquest/indefinite compliance when operating solo, if for no other reason than the fact that once a "common merchant" (Free/Far/Fat Trader, etc.) stops maneuvering, it can jump within 40 minutes (2 combat turns) if it has the fuel to do so (and hasn't been damaged by an exchange of fire). So for any kind of piracy action, you're really going to want to have a parent craft (preferably jump capable) "nearby" which can maneuver in to dock with the "common merchant" who has surrendered. That way, any prize crew along with docking maneuvers isn't being done by the Light Fighter threatening to shoot the prize (thereby "keeping them covered and under scrutiny" during any docking and boarding maneuvers by the other craft).
But that's the "solo" option.
As soon as you've got multiple Light Fighters working together ... and especially if
some of them are towing external loads (such as 16 ton Cargo Boxes loaded with boarders) things change rather dramatically.
If you've got as little as 2x Light Fighters + 1x 16 ton Box (pick variety) being towed externally by one of the Light Fighters, now you've got your Attacker+Boarder situation under control.
Alternatively, you can have a Free Trader that keeps a 16 ton Light Fighter in a portion of the internal cargo bay converted for use as hangar space by the 16 ton Light Fighter. The Light Fighter forces a surrender by the target and the Free Trader moves in to dock with the boarding crew to complete the capture.
Perhaps a better way to think about it is that a 16 ton Light Fighter is a "tip of the spear" ... but you need the "shaft of the spear" behind that spear tip in order to make it
really dangerous as a weapon (and therefore useful as a weapon to force surrenders without a fight). You use it to
threaten ... but you don't want to have to USE it to damage what you're trying to capture and steal for yourself. A spear point without a shaft behind it is basically a makeshift dagger (which is good for some things, but not everything when you're attempting piracy).
** Given the constraints of a TL=9 16-ton Light Fighter, is it feasible for such a small vessel to successfully engage in piracy operations?
The answer to the question is YES ... but the 16 ton Light Fighter needs to be part of a piracy operation, rather than the Be All End All of piracy all by itself. A solo Light Fighter attempting piracy is going to quickly wind up in a "dog catches car" type of situation.
But if there's another craft following up behind the 16 ton Light Fighter operating in mutual support, then YES IT CAN be a part of piracy operations ... a potentially
unfairly effective part of a piracy operation!
The best way to think of a 16 ton Light Fighter (in context) is to make it a "mobile turret" that can force a surrender, but then have another craft (take your pick) operating as a mothership move in for the boarding action while the Light Fighter keeps the target "under the gun" and "covered" in case there are any "sudden moves" that can be taken as defiance. So what you wind up with is more of a "pincer attack" in which the Light Fighter is simply a (necessary) part of the piracy operation, rather than being the entirety of the operation all unto itself.
Take this CT version:
FL-0206611-420000-10001-0 MCr 20,0 16 Dton
bearing 1 1 1 Crew=2
batteries 1 1 1 TL=9
Pass=4 Cargo=0 Fuel=1 EP=1 Agility=0
To be fair, that's a LBB5.80 design ... but with Agility=0 it's basically WORTHLESS as a combatant.
You can deliver a boarding party of 4 with it (and most Free/Far/Fat Traders only have a crew of 4 themselves, so good odds for a prize crew!) and that's about it. If this thing gets shot at, it's almost certainly going to be HIT, which will result in "bad day all around" for anyone aboard REALLY QUICKLY.
I prefer this version, which uses LBB2.81 standard A/A drives for maneuver and power plant, instead of LBB5.80 custom drives.
Code:
Fighter Strike/Fighter Escort (TL=9)
16 ton small craft hull, configuration: 1
0 tons for Armor: 0 (TL=9)
5 tons for LBB2.81 standard A/A drives (codes: 6/6, TL=9, EP=2) (Agility=6 requires EP: 0.96)
1 ton for fuel (09d 21h 17m endurance)
4 tons for bridge (crew: 2) (pilot, gunner)
2 tons for model/2 computer (TL=7, EP: 0)
1 ton for mixed triple turret: missile, pulse laser, missile (TL=9, codes: 1/1/1, EP: 1, 3 missiles per battery, 12 reloads)
2 tons for 1 small craft stateroom
* External Docking: 184 tons capacity
1 ton for missile magazine (20 reload capacity)
= 0+5+1+4+2+1+2+1 = 16 tons
The way that I think about this option is that it was originally designed for system defense for use in support of other system defense craft. Mission tasking could be anything from interplanetary "lane patrols" (thanks to 9+ day fuel endurance and small craft stateroom for crew) to acting as "mobile artillery" for (orbital) bombardment (using missiles) of ground installations and bases used by criminal organizations. A pulse laser is included for "shot across the bow" type warnings (which do not expend precious missile ordnance) and potentially for self-defense in an anti-missile role.
It packs a surprising amount of (para)military capability into an extremely small package which can take on LOTS of different "tip of the spear" types of mission roles, but will need follow-on backup to "complete any victories" and "mop up any opposition/take prisoners" once the shooting has stopped. It's not a "best at anything" type of design, but rather a "good enough" for a wide variety of mission tasking to be dangerous to adversaries (which is all it really needs to be). It's a "mobile missile/laser/missile turret" that is so agile it's difficult for adversaries to hit (if they're also limited to TL=9).
As tech levels advance into the TL=10+ range, the advantages of this design diminish (as higher computer models become available), so this concept does become obsolete/vulnerable by TL=13+ (in LBB5.80 combat rules), but until then it's "good enough for government work" ... and via the second hand surplus market, enterprising merchants (who want to improve their own security measures) and avaricious pirates who want to "stack the deck" a bit more in their favor against their preferred chosen prey ...
Small craft is the way to go.
My approach would be to small craft up for boarding and/or looting, and the Corsair as mothership and distant support. High cheap Gs for course matching and the Corsair has extra loot cargo and jump capacity.
THIS. 
