CT Mercenary Cruiser, big or small?

[Cymew]

I looked at the Mercenary Cruiser in The Traveller Book one day. I thought it looked like a medium sized craft with some punch. I imagined that it was a craft for a regular sized merc company and some of their support materials, capable of defending itself fairly well in a ship to ship fight.

Mator (who doesn't seems to have continued posting here since his first post) showed me that cruiser in the MT books and said that since it wasn't a 10000 ton ship it was probably fairly puny and not a much of a fighting ship. It has lousy values compared to the MT dreadnoughts, he said.

So, anyone know if that CT ship have been detailed more somewhere? Is it a puny ship for a rundown merc company, or a fairly decent ship with some ability so fight and transport troops?

I have a very vauge picture of what constitutes a "big" ship in CT really. And it sounds like such a ship could be useful in a future campaign. But then only if it actually could fight for itself with at least some planet defender ships.

 

[Falkayn]

Cymew,

From what I can gather, the classic mercenary cruiser is an 800-ton ball of fun (because it's spherical).

800-tons is normally fairly low in terms of ship tonnages (in terms of canon, ships get up past 100,000 tons). So if you want to have a fight with the Imperial Navy you WILL lose.

OTOH, 800-tons is a lot larger than most tramp traders, and in many backwaters of the Imperium and on its borders it is enough to command some respect.

Mainly though, it is a large bus to ferry troops around in, and a mobile command base once they get there. The number of troops it can hold is around a platoon (give or take a few), so it is the perfect size for a small PC-led mercenary force.

Larger mercenary companies do probably exist, and may either have a few mercenary cruisers, or (more likely IMO) have even larger ships that are ex-military ... starmercs is a term someone made for mercenaries that are hired for their ships alone, they might even have an old destroyer or other large patrol ship.

Of course this all depends upon when and where you are talking about as mercenary units in the middle of the Third Imperium won;t have much to do except security duties and so are likely to be small, elite forces. During more turbulent times they might actually get quite large, and include significant numbers of standard/normal troops.

 

[Tanuki]

I have deckplans for the mercenary cruiser at http://www.sff.net/people/kitsune/traveller/

 

[The Oz]

Originally posted by Cymew:
So, anyone know if that CT ship have been detailed more somewhere? Is it a puny ship for a rundown merc company, or a fairly decent ship with some ability so fight and transport troops?

I have a very vauge picture of what constitutes a "big" ship in CT really. And it sounds like such a ship could be useful in a future campaign. But then only if it actually could fight for itself with at least some planet defender ships.

The CT mercenary cruiser (Type C, "Broadsword" class) is not meant for serious fighting in space as it has a low Agility (Agility-1, as I recall from Supplement 9) and no armor or other defenses. It is a mobile base for its platoon of ground troops. It could probably deal with one or two small system patrol ships (like armed Type S scoutships), but not with armored system defense boats or anything that could be called a real warship.

I wouldn't call the Type C a "puny ship for a run-down merc company;" it costs over MCr400. It's intended as a ship for a fairly elite commando platoon to use as a secure mobile base for sudden strikes against hopefully unsuspecting (and lower-tech) targets. Note the use of the terms "commando" and "unsuspecting;" if this ship has to fight its way to the target you've blown the mission already.

IMTU, to allow more "cover" for such ships, I created several other 800-ton ship designs: the "Fat Man" class of merchants, the "Steadfast" class of colonial corvette, etc. This allows a "Broadsword" to sneak up on a target in a busier star system by pretending to be something else.

 

[Zutroi]

the 'Ball-o-Fun' is a horrible design (IMHO)! With very little work it can be adapted to carry a full COMPANY of mercs, although it grows to 1000 tons in the process!

It's also an absolute blast to game with! Although my players have never had one 'for their very own', they have had the opportunity to board and capture a few of these, and they are great fun!!

 

[kaladorn]

An 800 dton vessel can pack enough firepower to rip apart most PC-type ships (free traders, scouts, hunters, yachts). So it is a very capable vessel in that sense. It can even put up a bit of a struggle versus patrol cruisers or system defense boats.

Once it starts facing destroyers, light cruisers, or god forbid anything larger (10K-200K or more dtons), it was irrelevant.

But in a small system where it could arrive and perhaps they only had a cheap SDB or no defense but some atmospheric fighters and you were fielding a platoon of well trained veterans in combat armour or something like equipped to TL-12 or 14, that was quite a potent force. It often combined orbital superiority with mobility for its embarked troop platoon.

For some similar thoughts, you might check out some books (Officer Cadet, Lieutenant, Captain... etc. by Rick Shelley).

Remember, it was not meant to stand against Imperial assets. It was operating mostly under their jurisdiction. It was meant to stand against pirates, some local assets, and maybe some peon client-state or unaligned world's forces. And even then, not always by its lonesome.

 

[Cymew]

Thanks all for your thoughts on the Broadsword class vessels. I had actually forgot that there was an adventure by that name that might contain some info about it.

It does sound like it is a bit oddly named, since there are quite bigger cruisers out there. I guess it all boils down to the pre- post High Guard era.

I think I'll try to play around with a few ball-of-fun of my own and see if I can re-create that 1000 ton version...

 

[savage]

yep I agree with the high guard /book 2 synopsis.
Broadsword is apply named as a weapon for ground forces.
In combat, I've seem them fall to a couple heavily armed pirate ships so there's not a lot of space combat ability to it. But toss in a couple escorts to play in front and maybe use it as a support vessel and it does the trick. Nothing like a portable base. I'd say 1400 tons is a bit more like it.

Savage

 

[vegascat]

With a ship weighing in at 800 Tons carring a single platoon, it is of a scale where PCs can have a major effect instead of just being part of the side show. If you throw the PCs into a 1000 man group, they can get lost in the shuffle. If instead, they are 15% of the characters involved, they don't have as many NPCs to hide behind. The ship is also small enough to be threatened by a small pirate fleet using far traders. Keeps it interesting for your players.

 

[Spacehand Arioch]

I actually liked the Merc cruiser design. Sure it looks like hell but it was very cost efficient (in MT anyways, smallest surface area for size).
I had created an upgraded version, J3,M4 or 5, 6 missle turrents and 2 PA turrents with improved armour. Of course the troop contingent was removed as well as the cutters. Its primary purpose, Pirate hunting.