Drinax Highguard.

[Sigtrygg]

Nice designs.
The Fiery is mentioned in a couple of CT places so there is no danger adapting it for MgT.

"Variants: The only major variant of the close escort is the gunned escort, a streamlined version with no other noticeable changes. This ship looks similar to the scout/courier, with only portions of the basic hull outline bulging above the plane surfaces. The gig nestles neatly beneath the ship. Finally, the L-Hyd tanks are not droppable, and the ship is restricted to ordinary performance.
Ships of the major variant type, the gunned escort, are of the Fiery class, named for energetic adjectives. Names include Fiery, Explosive, Active, and Bright." S:7

"Variant: The Fiery class gunned escort is a variant based on the Gazelle class, the major difference being a streamlined hull." S:9

 

[agentwigggles]

Thanks! I figured 'Commerce Raider' meant essentially 'pirate'. It is built for combat vs civilian & commercial ships (the adjustable & holographic hull help); if anything more formidable it slips away -- early / stealth jump & Advanced stealth. But the primary function is to live off the land / loot needed materials -- that means a decent cargo bay & boarders (marines), plus a med bay to fix them up.

I had a 'Virtual Gunner' program; but realized that it was easier on the bandwidth to just use 'Virtual Crew'. Limitation of the Google-sheets imported version -- I cannot remove the 'Virtual Gunner' software. Honestly, I would like a little more armor, a Workshop, and / or Training Facilities... but this is already paring stuff down to the essentials. I could still cut a little more; the Captain/Astrogator is really one person, the Officer/Engineer is another, and the Medic makes 3. Virtual Crew/2 covers 1x Pilots, 2x Sensor Operators, and 2x Gunners; Aurorepair/2 & drones cover Maintenance & Damage Control.

Why does it need to do boarding?
The only reason to ever board is to extract a VIP or get an item that is to valuable to dump into space.
The harrier has cargo scopes. The victim ships can just shove the cargo out into space.

 

[Terry Mixon]

Why does it need to do boarding?
The only reason to ever board is to extract a VIP or get an item that is to valuable to dump into space.
The harrier has cargo scopes. The victim ships can just shove the cargo out into space.

To be sure they actually do dump all the cargo and no really valuable stuff is being held back? To look for high value people to kidnap for ransom?

 

[agentwigggles]

To be sure they actually do dump all the cargo and no really valuable stuff is being held back? To look for high value people to kidnap for ransom?

The Harrier has a desometer(sp). So not sure how they can hide cargo.
If the very shitty lotto of a super special vip is aboard is that important. Then buy like a dozen pressure suits and make the passengers put them and shove them out too.
Harrier has a the scanner that can detect brain waves. So they cant hide passengers. The crew compliments, is public knowledge in real life.

 

[Terry Mixon]

The Harrier has a desometer(sp). So not sure how they can hide cargo.
If the very shitty lotto of a super special vip is aboard is that important. Then buy like a dozen pressure suits and make the passengers put them and shove them out too.
Harrier has a the scanner that can detect brain waves. So they cant hide passengers. The crew compliments, is public knowledge in real life.

Smaller, high value cargoes. Not sure how detailed densometers get. Could one really say how many cargo containers there were?

 

[tytalan]

Harrier has a the scanner that can detect brain waves. So they cant hide passengers. The crew compliments, is public knowledge in real life.

Not actually true assumed names and fake identities are common with the crews of some countries. No one bothers to check ID if they don’t try to come ashore.

Why does it need to do boarding?

Jewelry, Data are often more valuable than the cargo.

Why does it need to do boarding?

Sometimes that’s the only way short of blowing the trader up to get them to surrender. Also there are cargos that could be damaged with exposure to vacuum. You can’t capture ships without boarding them and getting more ships is one of the goals

 

[Arkathan]

Boarding: Plus, PoD has the rules on wiping transponders, so larger pirate fleet or scrap salvage.

 

[J. L. Brown]

Boarding: Plus, PoD has the rules on wiping transponders, so larger pirate fleet or scrap salvage.

I was thinking:
Loot the ship safe;
scavenge food, ammunition, medicine;
replenish life-support supplies & spare parts;
copy the latest news (including reports about piracy & policing in the surrounding areas; any known shipping information, etc) from the ship's computer;
steal any small craft or vehicles;
dump worthless captives onto a ship that will carry them back to civilization;
examine the cargo manifest & rifle through a few select crates to check for anything special we might be interested in;
carry & scan all the passengers & crew with a TL 13 Psi-detector (CSC p79) & get genetic samples (for cloning) from all who register as gifted;
and so on.

 

[tytalan]

Smaller, high value cargoes. Not sure how detailed densometers get. Could one really say how many cargo containers there were?

Probably tell you how many cargo containers there are but it probably wouldn’t tell if a container had lead, gold or uranium in it.

 

[Arkathan]

Probably tell you how many cargo containers there are but it probably wouldn’t tell if a container had lead, gold or uranium in it.

TL13 Deep Penetrating Scanners are what you want there.
Really slow though (unless they are really big). They find people, hidden compartments and can tell you the make up of everything onboard, including the cargo, according to the write-up.
HG'22 - pg55

 

[tytalan]

TL13 Deep Penetrating Scanners are what you want there.
Really slow though (unless they are really big). They find people, hidden compartments and can tell you the make up of everything onboard, including the cargo, according to the write-up.
HG'22 - pg55

Yea but not practical for pirates “Each ton of deep penetration scanner allows for 20tons of a target vessel to be scanned every hour (so,
for example, a 25-ton suite can scan a 500-ton ship in an hour).”

 

[Arkathan]

Depends on how far away the system patrol is and how fast you can get a jump net over the target once you've decided to take it .
That's the scanner that identifies everything.
But, to me, it's mostly for customs ships.

 

[J. L. Brown]

Yea but not practical for pirates “Each ton of deep penetration scanner allows for 20tons of a target vessel to be scanned every hour (so,
for example, a 25-ton suite can scan a 500-ton ship in an hour).”

Or take a penalty for 'Working Quickly' and reduce the time to 10 minutes per 20 dTons.

 

[Arkathan]

Or take a penalty for 'Working Quickly' and reduce the time to 10 minutes per 20 dTons.

Or go after smaller prey and that 25ton scanner finishes a 200 tonner in 24 minutes.

 

[J. L. Brown]

Or go after smaller prey and that 25ton scanner finishes a 200 tonner in 24 minutes.

Yes, both work. The players have a choice -- a 10 dTon scanner & 15 more dTons of loot; or better information from the scan.

 

[tytalan]

Yes, both work. The players have a choice -- a 10 dTon scanner & 15 more dTons of loot; or better information from the scan.

The Harrier really doesn’t have the space for that. Also since you have to literally be adjacent to use the scanner “ Using neural activity sensors (NAS) and densitometers configured to check every centimetre of a ship’s internal and external hull, deep penetration scanners require a target to be within Adjacent range. “ you could board and search faster. Even at 10 min per 20dt unless you waste almost half your cargo tonnage you’re still taking a long time just to scan a ship that’s floating right next to you. Just not sure how you can justify either the time or the wasted cargo space.

 

[Arkathan]

By extorting traders posing as customs agents. Or rather, expanding your fleet, with one being a customs picket so THEY can extort traders "legally."

 

[MasterGwydion]

In the original 2008 first edition version of PoD, the harrier's second weapon is left a little more ambiguous , it is listed as "Disabled" on the ship sheet, with a line mentioning "A direct hit from a fusion bay destroyed the hardpoint and the ammo feed mechanism. Reactivating the hardpoint costs 3 Ship Shares. Once the hardpoint is reactivated, weapons can be purchased for it." The fact that it's a missile turret at all is only mentioned on the ship map where the area in question is labeled as "Missile Turret (Disabled)". The intention seems to be that the particle barbette is the Harrier's main weapon and that the secondary weapon is one that the Travellers decide for themselves as they earn money and upgrade their ship.

I think that translated a little weirdly when they moved to second edition. The turret is a poor weapon and will likely be the first thing the Travellers replace, but the way things are presented, it implies that a single missile turret is the standard design for all Harriers, which doesn't make a ton of sense given it is a military ship. I like to think that the Harriers were kitted with triple missile turrets and that the one we have in PoD is just so badly damaged it only functions as a single turret by this point.

Remember though, the Harrier was not designed as a military ship anymore than a police car is a military vehicle. It is paramilitary at best. Harriers were designed to implement the taxes on trade that the Kingdom of Drinax levied against both the 3I and the Aslan. It was never designed to fight military vessels. It is meant strictly for use against cargo ships. In that role it is incredibly scary and effective. They call it a "Commerce Raider" but the backstory on their construction and how they were meant to be used is as tax enforcement boats. So, perhaps Gareth should have classified it as something else. I chalk that up to writer error, possibly due to rewrites over time as the concept for PoD evolved and was never changed later.

The Particle Barbette is a pretty scary main weapon, but it's not subtle. Missiles allow the harrier to scale up their attack based on the threat in question, or switch to secondary munitions, such as Ion missiles to capture enemy vessels.

I am guessing that the Drinaxi have never been subtle. Everything that I have read about them suggests that they are very showy. Also, enemy vessels implies military vessels and Harriers are not designed to fight military vessels.

 

[RYXlord]

Remember though, the Harrier was not designed as a military ship anymore than a police car is a military vehicle. It is paramilitary at best. Harriers were designed to implement the taxes on trade that the Kingdom of Drinax levied against both the 3I and the Aslan. It was never designed to fight military vessels. It is meant strictly for use against cargo ships. In that role it is incredibly scary and effective. They call it a "Commerce Raider" but the backstory on their construction and how they were meant to be used is as tax enforcement boats. So, perhaps Gareth should have classified it as something else. I chalk that up to writer error, possibly due to rewrites over time as the concept for PoD evolved and was never changed later.

Harriers being mostly trade police is how it plays out in my head as well, which means it is probably written in there somewhere, but digging around for a primary source I'm not finding it. I don't suppose you can recall the relevant book or passage?

While I feel like while Harriers were used most often against civilian traffic, they were certainly a part of the empire's military strategy. We know from PoD 2 that Sindal arose after "The threat of raiders caused a few worlds to band together and fight the fall of night." and that as the empire rose they conquered planets and drove back raiders, "its focus was always on defence and expansion, instead of consolidation." This says to me that Sindal wasn't just protecting its own assets, they were harassing enemies as well, in the form of worlds they were conquering or raiders they were pushing back.

Harriers certainly saw naval combat. During the civil war yes -- we know, for example, from PoD1 that "Admiral Gani Peras avoided direct engagements where possible, preferring to use her light Harrier and Wyvern class ships to attack enemy supply lines and fuel dumps." -- but in the description of the Rorix Command Vessel as well, where we hear "Naval operations were carried out by squadrons of small ships, often led by a larger vessel. One standard formation comprised three Harrier commerce raiders and a Rorix command vessel, which provided support and carried boarding parties to deal with vessels crippled by or held under the guns of the Harriers." which suggests that the use of Harriers was a common Sindal naval practice.

I am guessing that the Drinaxi have never been subtle. Everything that I have read about them suggests that they are very showy. Also, enemy vessels implies military vessels and Harriers are not designed to fight military vessels.

Ah, I mean 'Enemy Vessel' in this context to include civilian-level craft that the harrier would have to deal with in its policing role. That Sindalan Far Trader who just hightailed it out Albe highport with their paperwork not filled out in triplicate doesn't warrant having half their hull slagged and their crew permanently irradiated by a particle barbette, for example. That's the sort of situation a missile turret is good for, though it still doesn't make sense to me they'd only have a /single/ missile turret instead of a double or triple. As you said, they were not a subtle people.

 

[Condottiere]

Torpedo armament indicates either ground or orbital facilities bombard, if they aren't facing cruiser sized targets.