Define 'Blockade Runner'...

[Scott Martin]

Geting away from WW2 "back to the future" you can build a "blockade pod" just under 5Td (a 5m diameter sphere) using FF&S which will carry a payload of about 20 T (15 cubic meters) with an accelleration of 7 G's, for a cost under 6 MCr (not counting the strap-on missiles)

Of course if you aren't using accelleration based on mass, and do the 10T/displacement ton thing, then rate this beast at 14G

This is at Tech/12 (the lowest tech at which this is even feasable) at tech 13 things look a lot better (double the power/weight of the fusion plants running the HEPLAR, accounting for about 70% of the weight and most of the cost) and at Tech/15 these are almost efficient delivery vehicles.

On the WW2 distraction, don't forget that in space there is nothing to hide under and most "natural" bodies are very cold: shuting down your fusion plant doesn't shed the latent heat from your multi-megawatt powerplant, and your "short burn" will be noticable out past the OOrt belt with anyone who is looking (Since HEPLAR is a *massive* X-Ray source due to the exit velocity of the plasma)

If anyone wants info on the "Blockade pods" I'll clean them up and post them, if not they'll go into my "mostly done" file for when I need something like that.

They'd also make a fairly decent lifeboat / escape pod, but I have a much more cost-effective (and survival effective) deep space lifeboat somewhere in this clutter...

Scott Martin

Crunched some numbers, and a "Blockade Pod

 

[sinistral]

Howabout a tug jumping with a chunk of asteroid and barrelling insystem with it as armour?

Like the pod. They should MIRV and have decoys etc.

 

[boomslang]

A quick burn in the outer system and a slow drift in with power plant down to minimum etc. and try to slip past without being noticed.

Under Book 2, this works until you get within 1/8th of detection range, or 1/4 light-second. Then the blockade can see you and will open fire. You'll need to do all your decellerating close to the planet; even using a slingshot capture, you'll need to not be going too fast once the shooting starts; this precludes a start from the outer system unless you plan to take several *years* drifting in, or know a way to delta-vee a lot faster than 6-Gs in a short timeframe.

There are two different problems in blockade running: the trip in, and the trip out. The trip in is hampered by the fact that you need to be decellerating towards a spot (the planet) which your pursuers can easily anticipate and zero in on. The trip out is hampered by the fact that you have to jump yourself, which means you must be a starship and not just a fast boat; the huge vector you'll have, combined with the evasive maneuvering you'll be doing, preclude a rendezvous with a jump tender.

Given that the planet is blockaded, we can assume it still has active defenses, or else instead of being a blockaded planet, it would be an "occupied" one. So there is some minimum altitude below which the blockaders are reluctant to venture, and once grounded, the runner won't be subject to bombardment. The factor that distinguishes space blockades from naval ones is the comparative lack of intervening terrain to hide behind. A blockade on High Guard can shoot at pretty much anything on the ground within range, therefore they need to be kept out of range.

In addition to not being able to outrun lasers, one needs to consider whether or not missiles may be outrun. There are a lot of differing opinions on this issue; IMTU, missiles are grav-propelled, and therefore top out at 6-Gs. This makes for some fun dogfighting. YMMVIYTU, however.

IMTU, an optimal blockade runner has 6-G acceleration, just enough fuel/engines for J-1, and plenty of sandcasters (the DMs for sand are stackable IMTU). Other than double-occupancy staterooms for life support, the rest is max cargo and an illegally-short powerplant fuel load. (It needs to top up its tanks on the ground for the jump back out.) It operates from a mothership which is safely on station in deep space a parsec or less away.

Smuggling IMTU is a whole 'nother ballgame... it involves a network of high-capacity, low-cost deep-space "mules" which haul the cargo across the subsectors and then rendezvous in the wilderness with the regular traders and seekers and whatnot for local distribution.

 

[mike wightman]

Welcome aboard boomslang

By "outer system" I should have said "outside the two light second" military sensor range

That last light second is going to be the worry, unless you either:

allow the ship to be missed as a sensor contact due to its stealthy nature(unlikely);

or,

adapt the ship's boat rules, "throw 10+ for the [ship] to escape on contact and avoid the attack... throw 8+ to avoid being hit by enemy fire if the escape atempt fails".

If neither of these are allowed then 6g, sandcasters, armour, and a Shepherd onboard...

 

[boomslang]

If neither of these are allowed then 6g, sandcasters, armour, and a Shepherd onboard...

And don't forget "nerves of steel".

The trip out is the easier of the two, since you just accelerate all the way to jump altitude, spewing sand overboard liberally. It's the trip inbound that leaves you a siting duck for the swarms of blockader missiles converging on you. Either way, you'll need to count on some fire support from the planetary defenses to swat as many of the missiles chasing you as they can (Book 2 allows this sort of thing, if you read between the lines; Book 5, not so much).

Also, make sure that as a runner you don't fire your lasers in your own Laser Fire Phase; the opponent can Return Fire and you'll have moved out from under your sand cloud but not yet had a phase to deploy another one. Important safety tip.

Again, if IYTU missiles aren't tremendously faster than ships, as a blockader the only chance you'll have to attack an outbound runner with missiles is to position some ships very high in deep reserve, so that they can try to stay above the departing runner, and rain missiles down on to him, rather than waste them in a tail chase they can't win. But this can spread your blockade too thin, letting more inbounders slip through.

With careful rules tweaks, blockades make a good challenge for player-characters, on both sides.

 

[Chuck Anumia]

Originally posted by Sigg Oddra:
If neither of these are allowed then 6g, sandcasters, armour, and a Shepherd onboard...

Perhaps a Jewish Carpenter onboard?

 

[Ran Targas]

I think a nuclear proximity mine would be another neat toy to keep near an airlock. Maybe dump some contraband and hide the mine in it just for kicks.

 

[mike wightman]

Mines used to be a good way to deter pursuit - they are pretty effective in Triplanetary too.

A missile that is launched and then allowed to drift, activating when the pursuit ship comes within range could be a nasty surprise - especially if its hidden in a sand cloud

 

[boomslang]

A missile that is launched and then allowed to drift, activating when the pursuit ship comes within range could be a nasty surprise - especially if its hidden in a sand cloud

Yeah, but they're easy to avoid by simply flying an off-axis pursuit course that only parallels that of your quarry. Danger space for a missile warhead is about a 2500 km radius; in space combat terms, that's point-blank range... remember that even doggo, a missile left behind can be detected at 75000 km.

Note also that with all the sand you're flinging about, you pursuer will likely have numerous idle laser gunners sitting at their consoles looking for targets of opportunity... anything that the quarry dumps overboard becomes one... if they don't get it in their Fire Phase(s), Anti-Missile Fire still gets a crack at it.

And besides, nuclear warheads aren't the sort of thing I normally allow PCs handy access to...

 

[Ran Targas]

^ It's always fun to give a group of PC's a nuke, especially if there is already some conflict growing. A little fissile material seems to go a long way to spreading some good, ole fashion paranoia; making 'who's got the nuke' one of my favorite games!

 

[GypsyComet]

Originally posted by Colonel Johnnie Reb:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Sigg Oddra:
If neither of these are allowed then 6g, sandcasters, armour, and a Shepherd onboard...

Perhaps a Jewish Carpenter onboard? </font>[/QUOTE]Glued to the dashboard?

 

[GypsyComet]

Originally posted by Ran Targas:
^ It's always fun to give a group of PC's a nuke, especially if there is already some conflict growing. A little fissile material seems to go a long way to spreading some good, ole fashion paranoia; making 'who's got the nuke' one of my favorite games!

A similar flavor of amusement comes under the TNE weapons paradigm, where your Purser winces every time you fire a missile...

 

[wordserpent]

Since most big Navy ships have 6G acceleration, I would expect any blockade runner to have the same.

A Black Globe Generator would be great too. Just Turn it on and drift undetected to a predisposed location, then turn it off and land. As no energy gets in or out of a black globe, you'll probably not be seen until you take the screen down.

Of course de-cloaking in the middle of a cru-ron can have it's own drawbacks. Remember that you can't see out of it either.

Getting from the edge of a star-system to an inner planet can take a long time. Plenty of time for the Blockade ships to detect you. So you might want to jump in-system from the other side of that systems star and use it to hide your arrival. Since star-systems are so big, the chances are that the Blockading ships will be nearby the planet that they ae trying to interdict since that's the hot-spot that they have to protect.

Having detection drones placed at various points throughout the system can definitely put a damper on any smuggler's day.

 

[Ran Targas]

I guess it really depends on what kind of game you're running and whether your players enjoy the cat-and-mouse of a WWII sub battle or would rather play out a tail chase like Smokey and the Bandit.

Some players would rather gouge their eyes out than play through surveying a sensor net for holes or trying to figure out patrol paterns. Others get their rush from figuring it all out.

 

[SanDragon]

The black globe would have to flicker to match background radiation levels.

Or your cru-ron will see a 'black hole' drift in.