Piracy Redux

[pendragonman]

Opinions tend to be just empty words, could you be more specific. The world mentioned in my first scenario has only TL 9 Fighters to protect it, yet appeared able to chase off the pirate. Five fighters cost less than one subsidized merchant. How little defense do your worlds have? Can a Free Trader loot the starport unchallenged?

Ignoring an 'inside job' could you describe a plausible pirate example. I am interested in what might be possible.

Let's look at your TL 9 planet, outside Imperial space (say, for the sake of argument, in Vargr country). Let's also say that it has that squadron of fighters.

Besides the "cold, aloof, government" not interfering in the 506 incident from above, there are other ways an act of piracy can happen, that also is not necessarily an inside job.

That set of fighters relies on a sensor network for target vectoring. We have two possibilities that would allow the act of piracy to go unhampered.

1) The sensor system is automated, i.e. it is entirely computer controlled, vectoring the fighters without human interference at any level between detection and vectoring. This possibility allows piracy for any of these reasons:
a) one of the sensors fail from some simple component failure. Anything from the sensor becoming blind to the relay comm unit cooking would do. All that this would take is a government in a budget crunch and delaying maintenance. I'm sure we all are familiar with delayed maintenance at the government level?

b) localized planetary power grid failure. See delayed maintenance. Also possible by human error.

c) overload of the controlling computer causing delays in detection or communication. A case like this can happen when the controlling computer is not improved when the sensor net is expanded.

2) The sensor system is human interfaced. i.e. a person uses the sensors to locate potential targets, then vectors in the fighters. Now suppose it is the tail end of a long shift and the poor operator just has to go to the head. That few minutes he is gone is long enough that the fighters miss being vectored in in a timely fashion. This would take a fast pirate, but it is still possible. Do we really need to discuss how many ways people can make errors that can cost people? Exxon Valdez. Chernobyl. Three Mile Island. Electing George Bush. Do I need go on?

Of course, there is also the possibility that the sensor net is laid with an inadvertent shadow (or hole in the net). Like not placing one to cover the dark side of a moon.

There is also the "shift change" of the on duty flight of fighters. The end of shift group, in a hurry to get home, land a few minutes early. This would create a window of opportunity for a pirate. Especially since this kind of laxness can occur at a planet that has not had any "hot" combat with raiders or pirates recently. Alternately, the new flight could have some sort of delay in launching.

Now, that covers your fighter defended planet. Suppose the planet relies strictly on planetary based missile batteries. Even at missile acceleration there is a large amount of time needed to get out to, say, 90 diameters.

Notice that in neither of these cases is the star port an open target.

 

[Renaissance Man]

I always built my starships with access to scoops and purifiers in MT. Even if your ship operates in more well-travelled areas, there is still a chance of a misjump, or mishap that makes refined fuel hard to find. Space travel is hazardous enough without also being poorly equipped for such eventualities.

 

[Icosahedron]

Just a couple of thoughts from reading the whole thread:

I'm with RM. Blackbeard didn't sit in the English Channel delivering a broadside to shipping within sight of Portsmouth.

I can't speak for the OTU cos I don't use it, and it looks horribly hemmed in, but IMTU there are wild frontiers where worlds support handfuls of prospectors and homesteaders and where port defences are nil. If they had a fighter down there, it would take a couple of hours just to clear the chickens out of it.

In fact the reason the pirates don't attack the port may be that there are more valuables aboard the 'Beowulf' than there are at the bedrock-and-beacon-hut that passes for a starport in these parts - and fewer rifles defending it.

However, somebody has to supply the homesteaders and collect the prospectors' finds, and whoever does it will be riding 40MCr of sitting duck booty.

Of course, the Imperium will send roving patrol craft every month or so, more often where there have been reports of piracy, but it will be a sub-hunter style mission, waving the flag and doing the Imperial duty. The equilibrium will not be eradication of piracy.

In the OTU, perhaps there would be opportunities if the Main World is a satellite of a gas giant - especially if you employ jump masking and ships have to travel to the opposite side of the giant before they have a line to their destination.

 

[Matt123]

Omer,

Why the need to "kill" them outright?

All you need to do is "mission kill" them, cause enough damage - or threaten to cause enough damage - to make them break-off. After all, a pirate can't easily get repairs and repairs cost money which a pirate might not have.

A pirate must make sure the game is worth the candle. otherwise they're flying a damaged ship with no way to repair it. This isn't the Age of Sail, you can't careen your corsair on some planetoid to replace the jump drive!


Have fun,
Bill

Must admit I like the pirate debate. Not to pick on your post Bill, but you have picked the very reason why the merchant would heave to under orders from the pirate & not risk the shooting battle. Insurance would cover the loss & the cavalry would not be far away, but...

Why would the pirate make the demand to pull over via radio instead of tightbeam laser comm. Now you have intercepted the merchant & are raiding it whilst the defence forces are still blissfully unaware. Aim to be in & out in 30 minutes or so & destroy the comms as you leave.

Now consider why a backwater starport would have Fighters as its primary responce unit, let alone nukes loaded 'just in case'. More likely & cost effective are a couple of multi-role customs cutters on duty with a couple of SBD's somewhere in the system on patrol.

In the OTU the occasional appearance of a 400tn Patrol Cruiser is intended to be an effective part of piracy deterance. Sadly this implies most backwater systems have little available to effectively deter Pirates.

& of course all you need, as pointed out by another poster is one lucky score of say a far trader with enough fuel in the tanks for an immediate Jump one to the next system. If you can find a buyer, enough profit to retire for at least a year or two.

Cheers!
Matt

 

[jawillroy]

Dan, as a general rule I'd agree with you that frontier fueling isn't something that a merchant's going to make a habit of, not where there's any other options. Although someone without the options might. A skipper; a smuggler who suspects he's known in that world's port, but who needs the fuel; the pirate.

The option of frontier fueling can be taken up in aid of "this one big score." But a ship in passenger/cargo service? No. "This is your captain speaking; we'll be facing minor delays as we head over to Wapapitame V to fuel up. Please stay near your vacc suits at all times, and be prepared to take instructions from the steward in the event that we should come under attack. Thank you and enjoy the fright."

So I don't think the gas giant's going to be a cruising ground for pirates in any system that has any other source of fuel, though a GGs moon might be a decent place to lay up.

 

[jawillroy]

Looking at TCS as a guideline - and I generally assign lower budgets IMTU - a world's naval budget is assumed to be cr500 per person with a modifier for government type; this gives a world with a population @ 100,000 a budget of Mcr50, which'll buy a couple of fighters and a few missile emplacements. A world like that won't be able to defend itself, much less any merchant coming insystem. It'll be dependent on someone else's ships for defense at best.*

Actually, when considering the CT trade rules, I wonder if this might be one way a Merchant's Bribery skill might assist in commanding lower prices to buy, and higher prices to sell... "Gentlemen, I'd like to sell you these nerf pelts for fifty thousand credits per unit. And I'd be willing to buy your purest handwavium at ten thousand credits per unit. And I think that when you consider the state of your defenses here you'll agree that you should take the deal. Why, a fellow with a little ship like mine...just exactly like mine... could run roughshod over your whole town, here."

* Might this not be a source of business for an armed merchant: Wapapitame IV needs some sort of protection and can't afford its own ships, but can pay crXXXXXX per month for an armed vessel to maintain patrol.

OR! Wapapitame IV needs some sort of protection and can't afford its own ships, but the captain and crew of the SS PILLAGE will be pleased to accept Mcr XXX to make certain that no stray missiles find their way into any of the planetary habitat domes.

Now, mind, none of this would happen anywhere well-travelled or highly populated, but there's places out on the fringe where this all might happen. Heck, IMTU there's a whole LOT of places like this.

 

[atpollard]

Let's look at your TL 9 planet, outside Imperial space (say, for the sake of argument, in Vargr country). Let's also say that it has that squadron of fighters.

That set of fighters relies on a sensor network for target vectoring. We have two possibilities that would allow the act of piracy to go unhampered.

1) The sensor system is automated, i.e. it is entirely computer controlled, vectoring the fighters without human interference at any level between detection and vectoring.

2) The sensor system is human interfaced. i.e. a person uses the sensors to locate potential targets, then vectors in the fighters

Of course, there is also the possibility that the sensor net is laid with an inadvertent shadow (or hole in the net). Like not placing one to cover the dark side of a moon.

There is also the "shift change" of the on duty flight of fighters. The end of shift group, in a hurry to get home, land a few minutes early. This would create a window of opportunity for a pirate. Especially since this kind of laxness can occur at a planet that has not had any "hot" combat with raiders or pirates recently. Alternately, the new flight could have some sort of delay in launching.

First, thank you for the specific examples. This puts a little meat on the bones of “yes there are pirates” or “no there are not pirates”.

For the sake of argument, assume that this backward world has not been attacked for 50 years, the system is old and worn and the people are understaffed, underpaid and lazy. The end result is a massive system failure on multiple levels using 3 or 4 of the ideas in your post.

Turn 0: The Pirate is sitting just past the 100 diameter jump limit in a sensor blind spot (1,280,000 km from the planet) at rest. A Merchant arrives 200,000 km from the pirate [sensor range =600,000 km] at rest – this allows the pirate to detect the merchant without being detected by the merchant [sensor range =150,000 km] and delays the distress call.

Turn 1: The Merchant accelerates at 1G to 10,000 km per turn [1000 seconds] and heads to port. The Pirate accelerates at 4G to 40,000 km per turn and attempts to intercept the merchant. The Pirate is 170,000 km from the merchant and both ships are 1,270,000 km from the planet. Both ships are off the planetary sensor net and the pirate is undetected by the merchant.

Turn 2: The Merchant accelerates to 20,000 km per turn still heading to port. The Pirate accelerates to 80,000 km per turn to intercept the merchant. The Pirate is 110,000 km from the merchant and both ships are 1,250,000 km from the planet. Both ships are off the planetary sensor net. The Merchant can now detect the Pirate and challenges the unknown ship via radio. The Starport officer on duty is now aware of an incoming ship (the merchant) and powers up the beacon and calls for the cargo handlers to report for duty.

Turn 3: The Pirate orders the Merchant to “halt and be boarded, or run and be destroyed”. The unarmed Merchant broadcasts a Mayday and complies. The Merchant decelerates to 10,000 km per turn. The Pirate decelerates to 70,000 km per turn to intercept the merchant. The Pirate is 50,000 km from the merchant and both ships are 1,240,000 km from the planet. The Starport is finally aware of the pirate problem and orders the fighters to intercept. The pilots dress and head to their fighters this turn.

Turn 4: The Merchant decelerates to a stop. The Pirate decelerates to 30,000 km per turn to intercept the merchant. The Pirate is 20,000 km from the merchant and both ships are 1,240,000 km from the planet. The Pilots warm up their fighters, taxi to the runway and launch next turn.

Turn 5: The Merchant is stopped. The Pirate decelerates to a stop and intercepts the merchant. The Pirate/Merchant are 1,240,000 km from the planet. The fighters accelerate at 6G to 60,000 km per turn and are 60,000 km from the planet and 1,180,000 km from the Pirate – beyond the tracking range of 900,000 km.

Turn 6: The Pirate has 16 minutes to loot the merchant. The fighters accelerate to 120,000 km per turn and are 180,000 km from the planet and 1,060,000 km from the Pirate – beyond the tracking range.

Turn 7: The Pirate has 32 minutes to loot the merchant. The fighters accelerate to 180,000 km per turn and are 360,000 km from the planet and 880,000 km from the Pirate – within tracking range. The pirate navigator reports that the fighters have entered weapon range (at –5 to hit) and the pirate captain decides to leave now rather than risk possible beam weapon attack.

Turn 8: The pirate accelerates at 4G to 40,000 km per turn towards the safe jump limit (1,280,000 km) and is 1,280,000 km from the planet at the end of the turn. The fighters accelerate to 240,000 km per turn and are 600,000 km from the planet and 680,000 km from the Pirate.

Turn 9: the pirate jumps to safety.

From this scenario, Pirates require a great deal of luck. The pirate ship had only 32 minutes to loot the cooperative Merchant.
1. If the Merchant had fired off sand and run for the planet, the Pirate could not have intercepted before coming under attack by the Fighters.
2. If the fighters had been ready to launch immediately, they would have intercepted the pirate.
3. If the fighters had Lasers, they would have been able to attack the Pirate for two turns before he jumped to safety [unless the pirate looted for only 16 minutes and jumped from less than 100 diameters].

Fighters were able to reach shooting range of the 100 diameter limit on the fourth turn after launch and would physically reach the 100 diameter limit on the fifth turn after launch. That leaves a pirate operating within 100 diameters of a world less than 80 minutes from the moment he is detected to get the goods and jump away. How long does it take to charge the jump drive and jump?

Now, that covers your fighter defended planet. Suppose the planet relies strictly on planetary based missile batteries. Even at missile acceleration there is a large amount of time needed to get out to, say, 90 diameters.

Planetary based defenses would create a kill zone within 900,000 km of the planet (the limit of planet based sensors to track the target) and a Pirate haven between 900,000 km and 1,280,000 km (the jump limit). At 1G it would take 8 turns (2.1 hours) for a Merchant to run the gauntlet and draw the pirate into the planetary fire range. Sounds like an Amber Zone to me. Of course even a single Launch with military sensors orbiting at 680,000 km from the planet might be able to extend the planet’s missile range to the jump limit.

The time for a missile to travel from surface to jump limit would be the same as the fighter – it will impact on the fifth turn, so that gives the pirate only 4 turns (67 minutes) to do his thing and leave.

 

[rancke]

CT Ranges are not infinite; military sensors are 1LS, civil 1/2 LS.

Can't shoot what you can't see.

Quite true, but as I understand it, this is one of the features of the CT ship combat system that is just plain wrong. An object as warm as a starship can be detected at much further ranges. Unless, of course, all ships have stealth fields or subspace heat sinks...


Hans

 

[rancke]

Given:
A size 8 world with a size 1 moon orbiting at 500,000 km.
Planetary defense consists of 40 Fighters (10 dTons, 6G, TL 12, with a model 3 computer, triple missile racks, 3xHE and 6xNuke missiles). All fighters are based at the Ground Port and 2 are in orbit at any moment (on patrol). The ground spaceport mounts the equivalent of 10 Triple Missile Turrets and 10 triple Pulse Laser Turrets for planetary defense. [EDIT: The Ground based defenses in my example are to answer the inevitable question about why the pirate does not attack the Port instead of the Ships. ]

A pirate can do what it likes in any system without system defenses, so it's good that you provide the world with some. You do realize that it's a rather limited number of worlds with economies that can afford 40 fighters but not, say, 20 fighters and an SDB?

A pirate ship (400 dTon Patrol Cruiser) is hiding in a lunar crater on the far side and scans for incoming ships.

You're already skipping a few steps there. Where did the pirate come from? Who paid for it? What has it been doing before it arrived in the system? How did it hide in the crater? How long has it been hiding there?

An unarmed Fat Trader arrives at the 100 diameter limit with no velocity.

Why is it unarmed? It's visiting a star system with very limited defenses and piracy is a fact of life. If it was my Fat Trader, I'd have it armed to its teeth.

From pg. 54 of TTB, the Fat Trader is 1,280,000 km from the world and will require 372 minutes to travel to the port at 1G. For the sake of simplicity, assume that the path of the merchant will pass within 50,000 km of the moon on a straight line course to the dirt-side port. The 372 minutes = 22,320 seconds = 22.3 turns to arrive at port.

The radius of the circle that the trader can arrive at is 1,280,000. That would give the circle a circumference of a bit more than 8,000,000 km. Assuming the captain of the Fat Trader chooses his target randomly (and not, say, deliberately avoid Moons Where Dangerous Pirates May Lurk), the chance that he'll arrive in a spot where a direct route to the world leads him within 50,000 km of the moon is 1.25%.

DETECTION [from TTB, pg. 75]: “Commercial or privately owned ships [like the Fat Trader] can detect other ships up to one-half light-second (1,500mm) away [1500mm = 150,000 km]. Military or scout ships [like the Fighters and the Pirate] can detect other ships up to two light-seconds (6,000mm) away [6000mm = 600,000 km]. Tracking: Once detected, a vessel can be tracked by another ship up to three light-seconds (9,000mm) away [9000mm = 900,000 km].”

Here I have to be a lot vaguer, as I can't do geometry in my head.

(I note as an aside that you pirate is a dedicated pirate, since it has a military-grade detection suite. This increases its logistic problems, as it cannot masquerade as an innocent merchant ship.)

Anyway, even if its detection is not blocked by the moon, the section of space that it can detect is limited. 75% (?) of the ships that visit the world won't ever be detected and a lot of those that are detected will require a much longer chase than you describe. So one visitor in four will come within detection range of the pirate. With a population of the size that provides a military budget of the size you posit, how many ships visit per year? How long can the pirate stay on the moon before he runs out of life support?


Hans

 

[pendragonman]

AT, you are quite correct. The pirate does need a good chunk of luck. However, if you look at Earth's history of piracy, you will find that those pirates also required quite a bit of luck. Unfortunately, the very few that are successful encourage a large number more of those that just plain get themselves killed or caught (and hanged or exiled).

If the Player Characters are the pirates, well they would likely be the lucky few who make a big score right? So they encourage many more groups of NPCs who go ahead and try it, only to fail due to any number of reasons but the big one would likely be poor planning. Not enough guns or picking a rather bad system to do piracy in or...well you get the picture. So on the whole, more like 90% of pirates fail (probably a higher percent) and a (generous estimate) 10% succeed to some degree.

However, just like a "gold rush", a successful pirate will cause a large increase in incidents of piracy. Just not many successful ones.

Now, as to your estimate of 16 to 32 minutes to loot. Sixteen minutes is plenty of time to place the current crew of the merchie in "irons" and put aboard a prize crew. Maybe even (depends on TU) for the prize crew and the pirate to transfer some fuel...perhaps enough to jump to the gas giant. Thirty two minutes would definitely allow that much fuel transfer. Then, the pirate refuels the merchie fully, skims himself full and they jump off for wherever at their leisure.

Alternately, sixteen minutes is plenty of time to take passengers and crew captive for ransoms. Modern Corporations have insurance to cover kidnappings, so why not in the future? Sixteen minutes is also plenty of time to transfer some high value cargo, maybe even as much as 5 tons. Thirty-two minutes would surely be enough for 5 tons.

Also, only an underprepared pirate goes hunting with a cheap targeting system. The less you damage your target, the more likely there is plenty to steal. Therefore, they are likely to be able to return fire on any fighters that might be shooting lasers. Maybe not as good a shot as the fighters have at him, but probably not at -5 either. Also, inbound missiles can be intercepted, starting at the range they are first detected inbound.

 

[pendragonman]

Hans,

As to your remark about dedicated warships not being able to disguise themselves as merchies, I suggest you read up on the German Navy's merchant raiders from both WWI and WWII. I personally like the history of Raider Atlantis from WWII. It was a converted Hansa Liner that had been built with hard points via a subsidy from the German government. Quite successful, even though in the end it still ended up sunk. Its captain went on to lead the German Navy in the post-War years.

 

[rancke]

As to your remark about dedicated warships not being able to disguise themselves as merchies, I suggest you read up on the German Navy's merchant raiders from both WWI and WWII. I personally like the history of Raider Atlantis from WWII. It was a converted Hansa Liner that had been built with hard points via a subsidy from the German government. Quite successful, even though in the end it still ended up sunk. Its captain went on to lead the German Navy in the post-War years.

I was talking about being able to visit a decent-sized starport and passing a customs inspection. I accept that a ship can have a fake transponder and not get caught unless it arouses suspicion. I do not believe that a ship with a fake identity can survive a thorough forensic examination. So a dodgy ship that looks OK can probably survive. One that screams "pirate" by having military grade detectors and 4G maneuver drive will arouse suspicion and will have to stay away from most starports (Not the Class Ds and Es, of course).


Hans

 

[jawillroy]

"Quite true, but as I understand it, this is one of the features of the CT ship combat system that is just plain wrong. An object as warm as a starship can be detected at much further ranges. Unless, of course, all ships have stealth fields or subspace heat sinks..."

IMTU, I go with the LBB2 detection ranges. With distant targets, all that sensors can tell you is where an object was however many seconds ago. If it presents a heat signature, that'll flag it as a ship - but the array of possible future locations for very distant objects becomes great enough that it becomes difficult to really identify anything properly.

Sensors, properly read and analyzed closely, could find objects well beyond these ranges IMTU. But most merchant vessels don't have the resources for it - either in terms of electronic scan, or in terms of eyeballs on monitors interpreting scan. Most small merchant ships have tiny crews, and their bridges generally will only have a pilot and one navigator. If they operate in shifts, they've only got one guy up there most of the time, and he's going to be busy with more things than keeping eyes on the long distance scan. Military and scout vessels with better gear will also have more than one fellow working scan IMTU.

 

[atpollard]

A pirate can do what it likes in any system without system defenses, so it's good that you provide the world with some. You do realize that it's a rather limited number of worlds with economies that can afford 40 fighters but not, say, 20 fighters and an SDB?

You're already skipping a few steps there. Where did the pirate come from? Who paid for it? What has it been doing before it arrived in the system? How did it hide in the crater? How long has it been hiding there?

I agree with most of what you said, but I remember that Players always manage to somehow find a Military Sensor or Nuclear Missiles if they really want them. Thus I assumed that 'where there is a will, there is a way' for pirate logistics. I was (and am) focusing my attention on the mechanics of how a pirate could intercept a ship and escape with the loot.

For what it might be worth, a TL 9 fighter can be built on a world with a class C Starport (just like a shuttle) - the SDB cannot. Access to nuclear missiles by the planetary defense force is a bigger factor than the SDB in Book 2/The Traveller Book combat, but your point is valid for a post High Guard pirate. [A post MT pirate will use Stealth.]

Why is it unarmed? It's visiting a star system with very limited defenses and piracy is a fact of life. If it was my Fat Trader, I'd have it armed to its teeth.

There are those who would argue that traditional chase down and board piracy is NOT possible in Traveller, so perhaps the Merchant listened to the wrong crowd. … And you would go broke arming it to its teeth, but that falls under the ECONOMICS Holy War and this is the PIRACY Holy War.

The radius of the circle that the trader can arrive at is 1,280,000. That would give the circle a circumference of a bit more than 8,000,000 km. Assuming the captain of the Fat Trader chooses his target randomly (and not, say, deliberately avoid Moons Where Dangerous Pirates May Lurk), the chance that he'll arrive in a spot where a direct route to the world leads him within 50,000 km of the moon is 1.25%.

Anyway, even if its detection is not blocked by the moon, the section of space that it can detect is limited. 75% (?) of the ships that visit the world won't ever be detected and a lot of those that are detected will require a much longer chase than you describe. So one visitor in four will come within detection range of the pirate. With a population of the size that provides a military budget of the size you posit, how many ships visit per year? How long can the pirate stay on the moon before he runs out of life support?

Hans

A world of 100,000 people would have a labor force of 25,000+. If 10% are involved in space industries/trade, that means 2,500 workers who earn a living from the spaceport. If only 1% of the workforce (250 people) actually work at the starport and the starport receives only 1 ship per 10 workers per day, that still yields 25 ships per day or 175 ships per week. So my pirate will see 1 target within 50,000 km of the moon every 3.2 days (given your 1.25% chance). [In actuality, the moon orbits at 500,000 km, so the circumference is only 3,140,000 km and the chance of passing within 50,000 km of the moon is 3.18% or 1 ship every 1.25 days.]

In any case, the Pirate in my first scenario failed miserably and would not have escaped undamaged from even 5 Fighters.

See my later post for the ‘Jolly Roger’, a Pirate/Merchant that attacks busy systems at the jump limit. I am just exploring scenarios to see how hard it really is to be a 'yo, ho, ho' pirate. This exercise is designed to show what will and will not work and how many factors need to align for it to work.

 

[atpollard]

Why would the pirate make the demand to pull over via radio instead of tightbeam laser comm. Matt

The Merchant has only radio, so it would not hear your military comm.

 

[rancke]

With distant targets, all that sensors can tell you is where an object was however many seconds ago. If it presents a heat signature, that'll flag it as a ship - but the array of possible future locations for very distant objects becomes great enough that it becomes difficult to really identify anything properly.

I don't understand that at all. Any unidentified ship lurking near the world should get the attention of system defense and make them take a closer look.

Sensors, properly read and analyzed closely, could find objects well beyond these ranges IMTU. But most merchant vessels don't have the resources for it - either in terms of electronic scan, or in terms of eyeballs on monitors interpreting scan. Most small merchant ships have tiny crews, and their bridges generally will only have a pilot and one navigator. If they operate in shifts, they've only got one guy up there most of the time, and he's going to be busy with more things than keeping eyes on the long distance scan. Military and scout vessels with better gear will also have more than one fellow working scan IMTU.

I totally agree about merchants, but system defense presumably have more than a few scanners themselves.



Hans

 

[rancke]

I agree with most of what you said, but I remember that Players always manage to somehow find a Military Sensor or Nuclear Missiles if they really want them. Thus I assumed that 'where there is a will, there is a way' for pirate logistics. I was (and am) focusing my attention on the mechanics of how a pirate could intercept a ship and escape with the loot.

And I am trying to point out that the interception and getting away with the loot begins long before the pirate enters the system and doesn't end until long after the pirate jumps away. Just getting near the jump limit without being detected is a problem if system defense has invested in a few satellites.

Note that I don't actually rule out the act of piracy itself until the local defense force is, say, a full squadron (8) of deep space capable vessels. I just don't think it's all that easy for a pirate to intercept a merchant or to get away without leaving behind clues to his identity.

There are those who would argue that traditional chase down and board piracy is NOT possible in Traveller, so perhaps the Merchant listened to the wrong crowd. …

But if piracy is feasible and does exist, only fools would argue that they didn't . If piracy does exist, then merchant ships will be armed.

And you would go broke arming it to its teeth, but that falls under the ECONOMICS Holy War and this is the PIRACY Holy War.

The two are interlinked. I believe that if piracy is economically feasible, then some scumbags will finance pirate ships. So it's not just a question of "can you do it?", it's also a question of "Can you get away with it?"

As for going broke arming a merchant ship, you'd either not arm it and stick to safe routes or arm it and charge a premium for plying the unsafe routes.

A world of 100,000 people would have a labor force of 25,000+. If 10% are involved in space industries/trade, that means 2,500 workers who earn a living from the spaceport. If only 1% of the workforce (250 people) actually work at the starport and the starport receives only 1 ship per 10 workers per day, that still yields 25 ships per day or 175 ships per week.

Why are you assuming that 1% of the workforce work at the starport, and why would there be a ship per 10 workers?

It would be better to estimate how much trade tonnage a community of 100,000 generates and see how many ships you need to carry that. I don't know how to go about that, though, unless you'll allow me to use Far Trader. But for 100,000 people I'd expect the traffic to be quite low.

See my later post for the ‘Jolly Roger’, a Pirate/Merchant that attacks busy systems at the jump limit. I am just exploring scenarios to see how hard it really is to be a 'yo, ho, ho' pirate. This exercise is designed to show what will and will not work and how many factors need to align for it to work.

But some of the factors apply before you even enter the system and after you leave it.


Hans

 

[rancke]

Looking at TCS as a guideline - and I generally assign lower budgets IMTU - a world's naval budget is assumed to be cr500 per person with a modifier for government type;

This is a simplification, of course. A world's per capita GWP depends on TL, so if a world with TL 9 has a budget of X% of GWP, a world with the same population but higher TL and the same percentage would have a bigger budget. What I do is say that the Cr500 corresponds to a budget of 5% of GWP for the navy and 5% for the army, or 10% total. This is for a peacetime expenditure of a world surrounded by rival pocket empires. Factor in government modifiers and you get budgets that range from peacetime expenditures of 5% to wartime expenditures of 15%. And 15% is just what Striker says worlds will have after long periods of conflict.

Imperial worlds would have lower budgets, of course, because they're not isolated and surrounded by rivals (not military rivals, anyway . Striker says that they average 3%. A world with a smallish population in a pirate-infested backwater would expend more than the average.

this gives a world with a population @ 100,000 a budget of Mcr50, which'll buy a couple of fighters and a few missile emplacements. A world like that won't be able to defend itself, much less any merchant coming insystem. It'll be dependent on someone else's ships for defense at best.*

An annual budget of MCr50 will allow a world to maintain a fleet worth MCr500 or more.


Hans

 

[robject]

A world of 100,000 people would have a labor force of 25,000+. If 10% are involved in space industries/trade, that means 2,500 workers who earn a living from the spaceport. If only 1% of the workforce (250 people) actually work at the starport and the starport receives only 1 ship per 10 workers per day, that still yields 25 ships per day or 175 ships per week...

Whoa there, that's Planetary Economics Holy War material there. I'll have to make sure that's on my list... and it also touches on the Starship Traffic Holy War. Really courting disaster there, aintcha?

 

[pendragonman]

...SNIP...
An annual budget of MCr50 will allow a world to maintain a fleet worth MCr500 or more.


Hans

Yes, but an annual budget of 50 MCr will not be able to purchase the 500 MCr fleet.

...SNIP...One that screams "pirate" by having military grade detectors and 4G maneuver drive will arouse suspicion and will have to stay away from most starports (Not the Class Ds and Es, of course).

Class A, B, and C ports would not necessarily be hostile to a privateer, or to a ship with military grade sensors and high-G drives. Especially if said star port is in a "Wilds" area and the privateer has not been plying his trade near there. Plus, some concealed pop turrets can reduce the overall aggressive signature of the ship and change the ship's silhouette, making identification by witnesses/survivors more challenging. As will adding/removing antennae (fake or otherwise), adding/removing an L-Hyd tank, etc.

Then there is the "help the poor government official pay his bills" method of passing the port inspections.

Also remember, communications are at the speed of jump.