Merchants weapons

[tytalan]

There’s been talk now and then about if merchants would use missiles or other military ship weapons. My thoughts on this are fairly clear and I believe I have good logic behind them.
1). Merchants are not going to carry missile racks for these simple reasons that there’s no way for the starport or Highport to know if you have 13 regular warheads or 13 nuclear warheads and the response to a none military ship potentially having WMDs is going to be decisive rather it’s boarding the ship far from the port (with the possibility of the merchant being fined or its cargo confiscated for the cost of this) to just blowing them away on the safe side. Missiles are expensive and that’s just more overhead costs for little benefit.
2). Merchants are also unlikely to carry Fusion, plasma and particle weapons while not as destructive as missiles are potential these weapons do have a general impression of being more offensive and being militarily in nature. Additionally most merchants don’t have the energy budget for these weapons

So what does that leave? I would say the vast majority of armed merchant vessels use Beam Lasers (with long range and high yield if the TL supports), Pluse lasers (with accurate and High yield) and Sandcasters (with very high yield if possible). Why lasers you ask easy they have a low energy budget, are very accurate and can easily target incoming missiles. Sand casters are more defensive in nature but sandcasters are also very versatile with Anti-Personal, Chaff and Pebble canisters a Sandcasters has a range of options well designed for a merchants needs.

 

[J. L. Brown]

My opinion:

Missiles, railguns, mass-drivers, torpedoes, and sand all (per-shot) cut into the volume available to carry cargo, which is a big reason merchants would tend to shy away from them. Particle, Fusion, and Meson weapons all have the 'Radiation' trait, so would all be very likely to be restricted to government users; a few mega-corps might finagle approvals to deploy these via lobbying -- but the average tramp is probably not going to have easy, legal access, Governments will happily license merchants to carry Point Defence Batteries, but those are so bulky and power-hungry that a merchant is unlikely to want any.

Lasers turrets would be dominant -- they hit the sweet spot of low-energy use, no ammunition, decent range, and fulfilling a defensive role as well. Sandcasters will be present as the only viable defence against energy weapons. Plasma weapons are the 'serious crunch' choice for civilians, but tend to be power-hungry & shorter ranged.

Rail-guns, mass-drivers, and gauss PDBs are used only when low technology restrictions make them viable choices.

Governments are also likely to be deeply suspicious of anything built with a spinal mount, or bays, or barbettes. Military ships seem unlikely to mount turrets for anything other than defence (either lasers or sandcasters); and missile-defence is probably handled better with a PDB or two.

 

[mavikfelna]

Sandcasters are a given, but not many and extra tonnage devoted to ammunition is tonnage that costs money, not makes it. High yield or very high yield are about the only choices for upgrades.
I agree with J.L. about pretty much everything.
My preference for lasers is pulse with long range, high yield but you do need the sensors to take advantage of it. Otherwise, accurate and high yield. I don't use beam, unless there is a specific need for missile/torpedo defense without offensive use, because even will the loss of +2 DM to hit, the pulse laser will still hit about as often, and do more damage despite lower effect. More so if you have accurate.

 

[Takei]

I certainly agree with lasers being the most popular choice, but also sandcasters. Each hardpoint mounted sandcaster holds 20 cannisters which don't take up cargo space, so I can see them being popular. I can't think of any starship combat at adventure ship level over my years of playing Traveller that's lasted anywhere near 20 rounds.

 

[Condottiere]

There's always the Roadrunner option.

Invest in fast drives.

 

[Firedrake]

The merchant has to consider the economics of piracy. The pirate wants a surrender, not a fight. (Historically this is why pirate flags tended to favour hourglasses and skulls, i.e. you have to decide to surrender now because if you fight and we win we are going to kill you; or for the old people among us "you have no chance to survive make your time".) But if a merchant fights, the pirate may feel they have to engage and win, because otherwise the merchant can tell the world "we saw Gvourdzaekh's Raiders off with our twin laser turret, they aren't so tough".

So the merchant wants enough weaponry to win a fight, not just enough to cause minor damage; or they want no weaponry at all. (Which a corporate-owned ship might well go for: they don't want or pay their crews to be heroes, they'll take the loss and their insurers will pay, as long as piracy doesn't happen too often.)

That might well mean ambush tactics too. Fake a surrender, then blast 'em at close range; you'll die if you lose, but that was true the moment you chose to fight.

All of which says that while I agree the laser is the best bet, I suspect a smart merchant will go straight from no lasers to as many as the ship can carry without any steps in between.

 

[Condottiere]

You could drop a couple of mines, in your wake.

They have missiles, which don't count towards your allocated hardpointed weapon systems, so likely a surprise.

 

[Sigtrygg]

A merchant with no energy weapons can have a smaller power plant and thus carry more cargo and or passengers, and it is cheaper as well.

A missile turret requires no additional tonnage for reloads, you are hopefully never going to use the ones you have.

So missiles have the advantage of smaller power plant requirement.

 

[rinku]

I disagree regarding nuclear missiles, at least in the 3I. Nukes ARE illegal there, and the warheads should be fairly easy to detect with even average stellar tech. If you're CAUGHT with them, it's a big deal.

Nuclear dampers also take the edge off how dangerous they are.

As far as winning a fight goes, it's still more likely to finish by making the faster ship disengage than destroying it. Knowing the target has missiles may be enough to deter a casual pirate in a smaller ship from attacking.

(The best ship system for avoiding a fight remains more thrust. An M-3 trader would be my pick for one that expects to operate in dangerous space)

For my money, one or two turrets are there to keep the other small starships honest. Professional pirates in a warship... your best bet is probably to power the guns down and negotiate a cargo transfer. Some hijacked or skipping Far Trader? Or an unscupulous captain that finds themselves gas giant skimming at the same time as your unarmed trader? They don't outgun you and may not outrun you, so you being armed will often be enough to see them move on to unarmed prey. If you ARE the unarmed prey, they may well start shooting.