Building a Special Arm spaceship

[Solomani666]

The Special Arm wont be trading in this ship, the backstory is its a pre-Maghiz Free Trader vessel used by the present Special Arm on missions and the cargo hold houses Star Triggers.

Why would the Special Arm take their most secretive and valuable weapon, the threat of which prevents their utter annihilation, and stick it in some puny rust bucket, so that it can be captured by any pirate or freetrader that wander into it!?

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[zero]

Well, the Special Arm's TL 16 cargo ships are supposed to go on routes round the Confederation and also act as transport for their black ops, as the Special Arm acts as a group that is allowed to do things that the Navy and the Guard cannot.

I think its directly piloting a deterrant. The ship does a guard route round the Confederation, bearing in mind these plain (for TL 16) cargo ships are supposed to be carrying Star Triggers, also having those things on a ship for a group doing wetwork and being nearby to them (its their transport after all) is a strong enough point to just let them do what they please.

Out in the styx is a different issue, somewhere sparse enough that a power can afford a star trigger to detonate travel the J-6 distance around. Not many places like that I can think of on the Traveller Map, but the galaxy is a big place.

Its a scary thing, the Special Arm travel with a Star Trigger to strongarm their way into doing a mission, when not straight driving round with them letting everyone know they have them. Plus they need to be careful when doing black ops so the Darrians can say they take no responsibility for a when a power calls their bluff and the Special Arm decide to denote a Star Trigger in retaliation, thus making the opposing power the baddies for causing a Maghiz in their own space "due to the powers unjust and undiplomatic treatment of the Darrians and backing them into a corner" (as the public would see it!).

Of course the Darrians have never had their bluff called, even by the Zhodani; so it must be in the Special Arm's training to explain the above to the powers, due to lack of concrete proof they'll have that the SA are doing work ordered by the Confederation (it is a black op after all) if the SA are backed into using it to make that power back down - which the powers must always do based on the canon information of the history of the 3I setting! :lol:

Gotta love those smart-mouthed lying cheating Darrians! :wink:

EDIT - Solomani, check the TL 13 I'll be using at the bottom of page 1 again, I wouldnt say its a rust bucket. Its not a TL 16 Capital Ship Death Star, but I'd call a merchant vessel a non-Capital ship anyway.

 

[AndrewW]

Of course the Darrians have never had their bluff called, even by the Zhodani; so it must be in the Special Arm's training to explain the above to the powers, due to lack of concrete proof they'll have that the SA are doing work ordered by the Confederation (it is a black op after all) if the SA are backed into using it to make that power back down - which the powers must always do based on the canon information of the history of the 3I setting! :lol:

Well, the Zhodani did but backed down when they saw the resolve of the Darrians to deploy the Star Trigger.

 

[77thPatron]

Truth be told, I think any strategic weapon system like the Star Trigger would have a very specialized deployment platform.

Think Ohio class SSBN or B2 Bomber.... long endurance, long range, deep penetration, and maximum stealth. And if true non-detection (aka stealth) in space isn't feasible, it will be whatever gives a similar characteristics (specialized cover, specialized routes, etc.).

TL-16 deception (stealth, etc.) tech vs. TL-15 sensor detection equipment. Would you bet your empire that you knew where all their ships were at any given time?

"Sir, the astro computer says we have arrived in the Mora system, but... but... it's just gone!"

 

[zero]

@ AndrewW, exactly, the Zhodani backed down, also I noticed the Special Arm has "Deception" as a skill in basic training, which is hilarious as they believe that the Star Trigger works too! :lol:

@ 77thPatron, it does make me think it would be cool to fly around in a TL ship with M-Drive 6, something that wasnt a Capital Ship but be able to get past one or equal it due to tech.

Again though, its the whole thing of the TL 16 ship being a valuable target, and it'll surely outgunned and captured at some point.

I can see the Confederation giving permission for the Star Trigger deployment being made based on solar flare predictions on the current system, the Special Arm needing a "green light" from their little red phone on the TL 16 ship.
Then even when the ship is captured and the power thats taken the Star Trigger are trying to retrotech it, they'll not succeed due to the point of the Star Trigger not working anyway! :lol:

So my TL 13 ship, the "Ra'ar", is just a regular black-op ship for more freedom. There could still be a Star Trigger or two onboard based on all the info here, as it doesnt look like a big ol' target, it can defend itself (moderately - I may reduce the cargo again for more armour), and as a black op ship disguised as a trader it can pull the diplomatic deterrant thing in my above post, to an extent.

May perhaps have the Special Arm "Ra'ar" ship have the cover of trading under some Darrian VIP that would cause an incident if stopped.

Any thoughts? I wont be starting the game for a while, possibly next weekend, but its good to get these little strings hanging from the plot tucked away before someone pulls one :lol: