Boarding Actions

[phavoc]

I was going over the section, and I see a fatal flaw (at least for the poor Marines who are going to get stranded in space). The moment a Marine leaps off his launching ship towards the ship they are trying to board (at least while underway) they are screwed. Why? Because that ship is still under thrust, and the Marine has either suit thrusters, or none. So he would never have enough Delta-V to make it. Not to mention that he'd be trailing his launching ship as well. Anybody who has skydived will understand that analogy.

The only way a suited individual can board a ship through a boarding action would be to either have the ship to be boarded with no thrust capabilities, or if they got there via a boarding craft. You shouldn't be able to hostilely board through a boarding tube either while your target craft has any sort of maneuvering capability.

 

[Askold]

...Which is why crippling your opponent or threatening them enough to make them stop is vital for boarding actions in Traveller.

 

[MongooseMatt]

Yeah, throwing yourself out of an airlock is a risky business - not to be done against a fully functioning enemy!

 

[Condottiere]

Grapple lines.

 

[phavoc]

So effectively no ship that is under power can be boarded. Even at the 1km mark it won't work

pg163, CRB:

Once two ships are within less than 1km of each other (Adjacent range), any marines on board can launch a boarding action during the Actions Step. A boarding action takes 2D rounds to complete, after which its results are decided.

In one round the ship will have sped off. The only way to make this work (assuming you don't have grapple lines) is to disable the drives on the ship to be boarded, match speed and trajectory, and THEN your boarding party can drift/fly across the distance between the ships and board. Otherwise the only way to get onboard is to force a docking, which with the general maneuverability of Traveller ships within a combat round, should essentially be nigh-impossible.

Unless you just want to chalk this up to hand-wavium and have privateers in spaaaaacccceeeeee! Peg-legs, cutlasses and grapple lines extra!

 

[Condottiere]

There'd also be the tractor beam option, except, there isn't.

 

[phavoc]

There'd also be the tractor beam option, except, there isn't.

Not since CT (or maybe MT too).

 

[Anonymous]

I always assumed they launched the marines from a cannon of some type. Is that not the case in Mongoose edition?

edit: I suppose you could have single person 'boarding torpedos' too.

 

[AndrewW]

I always assumed they launched the marines from a cannon of some type. Is that not the case in Mongoose edition?

There is Re-entry Capsules in Supplement 2: Traders and Gunboats.

 

[phavoc]

I always assumed they launched the marines from a cannon of some type. Is that not the case in Mongoose edition?

edit: I suppose you could have single person 'boarding torpedos' too.

Jarheads... seems so appropriate here!

 

[AndrewW]

edit: I suppose you could have single person 'boarding torpedos' too.

Jarheads... seems so appropriate here! [/quote]

The Japanese did use manned torpedoes during WWII...

 

[phavoc]

edit: I suppose you could have single person 'boarding torpedos' too.

Jarheads... seems so appropriate here!

The Japanese did use manned torpedoes during WWII...[/quote]

So did the Brits. The point was a Marine is hard-headed enough to not need any additional device to be shot out of a cannon and penetrate an enemy starship's hull.

 

[snrdg121408]

I seem to be doing something wrong since I made post, hit submit, and waited until it showed up. My next check of the topic and my post is missing.

Here is my second shot and a shorter version.

1st ed. CRB p. 137 the safest way to handle a boarding action is when the enemy ship is crippled. Page 149 if the two ships are adjacent then the boarders must use thruster packs to cross over.

2nd ed. CRB as far as I can tell does not include the bit about crippling the ship to be boarded or that the boarders must use thruster packs.

If by chance the web gremlins allow my original post to show up you will notice this one is very concise.

Oops, I overlooked a couple of comments.

In addition to the thruster packs boarders can also use small craft. To assist in boarding HG 1st edition introduced the breaching tube.

I believe that the 2nd ed. does allow boarding actions on a ship underway, unfortunately the text does not include how to accomplish the task like the 1st ed..

 

[Condottiere]

Knocking on the airlock is likely to get you a shotgun blast into your faceplate; blasting your way in there traps the boarders into a prepared fire zone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHfLyMAHrQE

 

[wbnc]

edit: I suppose you could have single person 'boarding torpedos' too.

Jarheads... seems so appropriate here!

The Japanese did use manned torpedoes during WWII...

So did the Brits. The point was a Marine is hard-headed enough to not need any additional device to be shot out of a cannon and penetrate an enemy starship's hull.[/quote]

Both British, Italian, and Germans made use of swimmer delivery vehicles, and two man torpedo type submersibles.

way back in the late sixties my father was airborne, one of the Special training things he signed up for was some training to be deployed by subs...out through the torpedo tubes....ummm not fired exactly, just opened the hatches and swam out LOL.

 

[AndrewW]

Both British, Italian, and Germans made use of swimmer delivery vehicles, and two man torpedo type submersibles.

Didn't mean to say it was limited to the Japanese, just meant that it wouldn't be anything new. Though the Japanese where the ones that where suicidal about it.

 

[Condottiere]

Our torpedo tubes are bigger.

 

[wbnc]

Both British, Italian, and Germans made use of swimmer delivery vehicles, and two man torpedo type submersibles.

Didn't mean to say it was limited to the Japanese, just meant that it wouldn't be anything new. Though the Japanese where the ones that where suicidal about it.

Oh I got that

Just always thought the idea of those little Chariot type subs were neat. they'd be fun to lay around wiht in a game at some point i think...of course you get spotted a shipboard laser is a quick ticket to a medal..posthumous citation of course.

 

[snrdg121408]

There'd also be the tractor beam option, except, there isn't.

Not since CT (or maybe MT too).

MT does have tractor beams. I am relatively sure that CT does not have tractor beams, however there is a possibility that my manual scan of my CT material in my FFE products missed the entry.

 

[snrdg121408]

Our torpedo tubes are bigger.

As a retired bubblehead, aka submarine sailor, the image shows the inside of a large gray target's twin mount gun turret, not a torpedo tube. Being able to see daylight through the open breach is a dead give away. Not to mention having the breach and the outer torpedo tube door open would have allowed water to pour in. Water in the people tank is bad.

Actually not a bad analogy, thanks for the chuckle.