Drinax Highguard.

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.
Yeah, it gets a bit convoluted. I cannot find the source currently either. PoD Book2 page 16 says this in the Timeline...

"884: King Oleb XIV establishes the Drinax tax. Harrier ships are built to enforce payment of this tax." but this isn't exactly definitive.
 
Yeah, it gets a bit convoluted. I cannot find the source currently either. PoD Book2 page 16 says this in the Timeline...

"884: King Oleb XIV establishes the Drinax tax. Harrier ships are built to enforce payment of this tax." but this isn't exactly definitive.
True and part of the problem is how do you define a Commerce Raider? It’s a fancy name for a pirate but how a ship should be armed for piracy is very much based on the area and targets
 
If the captain is issued a letter of marque, then officially it's against a specific nation that Oleb happens to be at war with.

If it's taxation (and tariffs, custom duties, and so on), then it's going to be a region that Oleb claims sovereignty over.
 
If the captain is issued a letter of marque, then officially it's against a specific nation that Oleb happens to be at war with.

If it's taxation (and tariffs, custom duties, and so on), then it's going to be a region that Oleb claims sovereignty over.
The PCs are the pilot program for Drinax and Letters of Marque. Therefore, it was taxation, and it was 200+ years ago, in the 1105 timeline.
 
If you dial it up to nine, you pick a place that has heavy traffic, and build a base.

Then, charge anyone within reach.
 
Yeah, it gets a bit convoluted. I cannot find the source currently either. PoD Book2 page 16 says this in the Timeline...

"884: King Oleb XIV establishes the Drinax tax. Harrier ships are built to enforce payment of this tax." but this isn't exactly definitive.

Ah, that certainly contextualizes things a bit. Harriers are a design dating back to the Sindal period where they were used for legitimate commerce raiding, hence the classification, as well as naval actions and perhaps policing trade routes. Drinax comes along later and builds its own Harriers to serve as trade enforces to go after anyone who doesn't pay the punitive tax it has put on trade coming through the kingdom. The two would face very different enemies, I imagine.
 
I've built the two disabled Harriers docked at the space station at the finale of Vault of the Star Dragon with a different configuration: a torpedo barbette and a particle beam triple turret. In my mind, they were used to deliver the atomics and viral torpedos to the target worlds. Fast and stealthy vessels that jump in, fire their payload and jump out before system defense boats can react...
 
I don't see that two hard points is enough for commerce raiding.

And usually, there should be some range and endurance.
One turret is enough for commerce raiding if one of them can kill the whole crew with radiation in one shot. They are terror-based commerce raiders. They would be firing at ships with no real protection against radiation weapons. Most of the time they wouldn't even have to fire. The crew will surrender, especially if they have a reputation for not harming the crews as long as they comply. The threat would often be enough.
 
At that point, spacecraft start installing radiation counter measures.

Chances are, these acts would be seen as war crimes.
 
At that point, spacecraft start installing radiation counter measures.

Chances are, these acts would be seen as war crimes.
Sure, but keep in mind that the Sindalin Empire evidently didn't care about war crimes (one reason it's no longer around) and also didn't have any peer level opponents, so it's not like any external force could call them on said war crimes.
 
At that point, spacecraft start installing radiation counter measures.
I do not see barely scrapping by merchant ships adding 50% cost to their hull and through that, their mortgage and making their ships even less profitable or completely unprofitable.
Chances are, these acts would be seen as war crimes.
"War Crimes? Oh no! Not war crimes! "Go use nuclear and biological weapons on that civilian population" -Emperors of Sindal and Kings of Drinax

I am guessing that the Emperors of Sindal and the Kings of Drinax didn't really care about any of that. Plus. What war crimes? What treaty was signed by the Sindalians or the Drinaxi that agreed what a war crime is? The only reason "war crimes" exist on Earth is because of a Convention and a Treaty. Based on that, I see no reason why war crimes would even be a thing in the Trojan Reach outside of Aslan or Imperial Space.
 
One part of war crimes is unnecessary suffering, especially by non combatants.

Combatants might not be inclined to follow them, until the possibility of retribution or retaliation occurs.
 
One part of war crimes is unnecessary suffering, especially by non combatants.

Combatants might not be inclined to follow them, until the possibility of retribution or retaliation occurs.
The points I think he was raising were a) who decided to define and say they were war crimes and b) did that body have the power to enforce them. I agree retribution and retaliation make people care about the rule even if they did not agree to them. So, my thinking is, until you have the power, your rules are not really rules. :cautious:
 
I think the Harrier suffers from the same problem that 70% of the mongoose ship designs do, and that’s the fact the major aspects just doesn’t make sense. A good example is the of this are the ECTIS module’s. They only have a cockpit, use Reaction drive and generally waste space while sticking a pilot in a cockpit for days (A cockpit is not designed for long term use and only has life support for 24 hours.). By every measurement the design doesn’t make sense especially since the whole thing is designed to be remotely controlled. The cargo module wastes so much space it can only carry 73 tons. This unfortunately is way to common in mongoose ship designs, either errors in the design or stuff added or missing for no reason, often with little logical reasons.
 
At this point, a cockpit can control a two kilotonne hull, and that's not a mistake nor oversight, since it was republished.

To be fair, double cockpit, so two times twenty four hours.
 
At this point, a cockpit can control a two kilotonne hull, and that's not a mistake nor oversight, since it was republished.

To be fair, double cockpit, so two times twenty four hours.
Where because according to HighGuard 2022 that is not the case
“Instead of a bridge, ships of 50 tons or less may install
a cockpit. This is a self-contained, sealed area that
contains a single seat and all controls necessary for
the operation of the ship. Cockpits are typically entered
via an external hatch or canopy; therefore, ships using
them do not automatically include an airlock.”
50 tons or less is a far cry from 2 kilotons.
 
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