MgT Canon Vessels for Disaster relief: Sector Fleets

[Liam Devlin]

While reading through one of my newest purchases, MgT's Sector Fleets, I came across some vessels that the players might see in suhc a disaster relief situation, courtesy of the Imperial Navy/ Subsector Fleet where they are operating in.

Unknown of course were the many of the details (crunchy bits) etc many of us like to know (especally for those Doctor career characters who may have served aboard one).

There were several lsited by class name, and vessel-type within.

:arrow: (p.29) The Rapid Assistance Vessel: the 10kton Messiah-class RAV. a Lightly armed Jump-5 vessel intended to be a first responder to any Imperial world with a massive natural disaster situation (lists

"earthquakes, fire, flood, lifes support breakdown, plagues, and refugee crises in wartime"

as reasons to be sent forth). Used as a mobile HQ vessel as follow assets arrive...hmm. labs, medical treatement rooms, for the medical teams; carries small Marine complement for security. :idea: 8) Also packs 2 fast courier boats aboard;

"while generally intended for use in natural disasters, the vessel has accompanied task forces to war torn areas to alleviate civilian sufering & distress...."

Just the thing for a Subsector Duke/Duchess to recommend to the subsector Fleet Admiral be sent out for 'humanitarian aid' purposes! (Imperial Nobles again, involved in NGO's relief efforts here... 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) Generally deploys in such situations with two Escorts.

:arrow: Hospital Ships--the Imperial Navy fields two such vessels, despite that every IN vessel has at least a sickbay/ medical station aboard it or more. Casualties however are transferred onto the "space-going" Hospital ships.

The largest is usually the 10kton Girianis-class Fleet Hospital Ship and the smaller of this type, the 2kton Fleming-class Medical Auxilary. p.29

.
These tend to be armed with a few batteries of sandcasters and some small point defense weapons it says...

One can see with six Duchies in the Spinward Marches (Regina, Mora, Rhylanor, Glisten, Lunion, & Trin), the anticipated naming of the new Sector Duke there is viewed in a competitive light! Definitely some high-level manuevering for a Noble-campaign here!

Lots of good ideas cooking... :twisted:

 

[Liam Devlin]

So, if the IN has these emergency vessels for Imperial worlds (Im in allegiance) facing natural disasters, disease outbreaks, life support failures, and the odd planetary civil war/ 'internal conflict' with refugee problems (Can anyone say Garda-Vilis? :twisted: )

Which leaves it up to a GM I suppose on who sends what, and who calls for what aid, and then, who responds...
Now thats all well and good to know at least the Imperial Navy has vessels ready to react and act with for Imperial worlds, which leads me to wonder what about those over the border Client States (Cs allegiance code). Naturally Cs worlds can request for aid, but not being true-blue, full member worlds, such help and aid is often amatter of political and economic expediency.

But, in the face of a natural disaster, plague, or life support failure, or an internal conflict/ civil war there resulting in a refugee crises between the warring sides on a cs-world, does it again fall to the GM once more on how much give-a-damn the nearest Subsector Fleet Admiral and Subsector Duke have?

Your thoughts please....

 

[Jame Rowe]

But, in the face of a natural disaster, plague, or life support failure, or an internal conflict/ civil war there resulting in a refugee crises between the warring sides on a cs-world, does it again fall to the GM once more on how much give-a-damn the nearest Subsector Fleet Admiral and Subsector Duke have?

Your thoughts please....

Duchess: "Ahhh, those stupid barbarians are AT IT again. I'm tired of helping them."

Count: "But MA'AM, they're one of our Client States! If we don't help them we'll look bad, and our other Clients will hate us."

Duchess: "But they do already! Why should we..."

Count: "Never mind, I'll talk to the Admiral..."

[End Recording]

It strikes me to wonder why the Imperium wouldn't have a disaster relief corps, either under the Navy or under the Scouts.

 

[rust]

The Imperium's reaction to any crisis on a member world or a world of a
client state would depend a lot on how one sees the basic paradigma of
Imperial politics. I could well imagine an Imperium which sees only space
as its territory and responsibility, and would therefore only react to any
kind of planetary crisis if there would be serious consequences for inter-
stellar trade or for the Imperium's strategic assets. This would be the
way real world major powers act, which usually also only get involved if
their own interests are at stake and usually ignore crises and desasters
with few or no consequences for their own interests - everything else is
left to the various NGOs to deal with.

 

[Liam Devlin]

It is precisely this sort of attitude that cost the Imperium a lot of valuable Cs worlds in the 3rd frontier war... Any here know how to spell Arden? And look where that place is headed now! :twisted:

It is this "well, we-can-help-you-but only-so-much", attitude that has a reverse cutting edge to Imperial foreign policy, IMO, one I am exploiting in backfill-writing a subsector's history. And a hard learned lesson to the Imperium at the hands of the Zhodani, to the point it cost an Emperor his throne (abidication of Styryx/ ascension of Gavin).

Its a lesson the Imperial Foreign Ministry & the Ministry of Trade does not wish to repeat (losing Cs worlds to the Zho, or back to Non-ALigned status). Hence my wide angled approach to the responsiveness of the Imperium to certain things like disasters, and civil wars.

In my former B, S, & T campaign, the players operating in District 268 got to see how a natural disaster (I ran a Signs & Portents adventure on a mining world for them, placing it in D268 near Mertactor) led to the planet becoming a full member world.

The players were Johnny-on-the-spot, and effected the initial rescue of the collapsed tunnels around their landing berth, and helped get two shuttles clear of rubble to shuttle survivors to the corporate HQ on the planet's moon. Then they jumped out and alerted the authorities on Mertactor. By the time they came back with a cargo through there four weeks later, they discovered an IN Light cruiser, and a host of NGO relief ships in orbit, and Imperial Marines on the ground preventing looting.

Why? The Mining corporation couldn't sustain 250K miners on their moon-base (Built with life support ofr a tops 9.9K folks). The lost revenues from the mines while all was being rebuilt and repaired were staggering...the local corporation sold their control to the Imperial Megacorporation of LSP-Mining. LSP, LIC in turn smoothed the paperwork through for Cs to change to Im, and resumed mining two months later.

The players got to get a ringside seat to a bloodless Imperial annexation, based off the unfortunate circumstances of the planet's earthquake. Now, anyone who's read up on D-268 knows its eventual annexation is the goal for the Imperium. then the ugly rumor surfaced that the quake had been started by a man-made explosive device... :shock:

Who is to say if any of those Amber-zoned worlds with anti-Imperial membership insurgencies break out of hand and cause a massive refugee crises to suddenly emerge? You see where this leads to, right?

The Imperium shows up with its IN RAV and rescue ships, Navy escorts, Marines...and somehow, the troublemakers get the boot, the grateful Pro-Imps sign the papers, and voila' Imperial member world!

Just some food for thought to the mix :wink: :twisted:

 

[rust]

Using District 268 as an example, I have no doubt that the Imperium
would not hesitate to start a major relief effort in case of a crisis on
Collace, but I am not convinced that the Imperium would care to re-
act to a similar desaster on a planet like Flexos - there is nothing ob-
vious to gain by spending resources to help the people there.

 

[Liam Devlin]

Using District 268 as an example, I have no doubt that the Imperium
would not hesitate to start a major relief effort in case of a crisis on
Collace, but I am not convinced that the Imperium would care to re-
act to a similar desaster on a planet like Flexos - there is nothing ob-
vious to gain by spending resources to help the people there.

Flexos, ah yes. To quote the inestimable MJ Dougherty,

"Quite."

My above example was set on Talos, btw, 1 parsec from Mertactor...

 

[BFalcon]

Depends on whether anything else draws the ships away.. They might send a small fleet - if nothing to call it a "training exercise" to keep the crews sharp - after all, it's otherwise going to be sitting around not doing anything until the next crisis comes along... and even mothballed ships cost money - actively awaiting a crisis, the ship would need a crew, supplies and fuel all loaded, ready to go...

Why not spend a bit more fuel and some supplies and go help a client planet - it looks good to the other members and prospective members... and the crew will have lower-stress experience (as opposed to a major incident on an important world) without needing an exercise layed on.

Edit: Wow... sorry for lack of punctuation there - just about killed myself reading that. Broke it up a bit...

 

[RichardP]

Liam

The good old AHL also fits the bill, J5, spare bridge to coordinate response, Marines and fighters for security, other ships boats, cargo and passsenger space.

A troop transport would be good. Plenty of small craft and vehicles, lots of troops to help dig out towns etc, plus the army medics, and the transport should be equipped with hospitals.

I imagine the NGOs would charter standard bulk freighters for big disasters, supplemented by any useful small ships in the area. Type Rs etc, would be useful for shipping stuff down from orbit.

 

[Liam Devlin]

Liam

The good old AHL also fits the bill, J5, spare bridge to coordinate response, Marines and fighters for security, other ships boats, cargo and passsenger space.

A troop transport would be good. Plenty of small craft and vehicles, lots of troops to help dig out towns etc, plus the army medics, and the transport should be equipped with hospitals.

I imagine the NGOs would charter standard bulk freighters for big disasters, supplemented by any useful small ships in the area. Type Rs etc, would be useful for shipping stuff down from orbit.

Richard,

In Navy parlance, "walk softly and carry a big stick" 8) --an AHL though now considered 2nd-line TL-14 still sends a message 'the Imperium isn't fooling around'. 60ktn of lean and mean, long legged, and carries her own high guard of ftrs aboard & Marines. Definitely a pointed message if one of these is the "escort".

It does have two bridges, and in such a peacetime disaster/ postwar effort would serve admirably in such a diplomatic manner. Much like the ISS Pantheress, a Tigress-class Dreadnaught was sent solo to fetch back the body of the assassinated Imperial Ambassador to Zhodane!

I will have to go and look for my old deadtree copy of the CT era AHL book. I was trying to recall which of these vessels (besides the ISS Arrival Vengeance) were in the Marches still, as part of the mothball fleet. Reason being, I have to write about a small Imperial Cs over the border in Foreven, which has base code A (Navy & IISS base there). Due to the backfill-history of the region, its probably the oldest Cs in the subsector it resides in.

I looked and figured the squadron-minus posted here was attached out of Vilis 193rd Fleet.

But the region has seen major population shifts and planetary wars between 604-989. Things are a bit quieter now (sleepy backwater tends to be used here a lot), but one never knows when the Imperium and Zhodani decide to go at it again, planetary allegiances may change yet again, resulting in refugee troubles. Hence researching what to do/ who has what, and how the missions get co-ordinated.

 

[Jame Rowe]

Depends on whether anything else draws the ships away.. They might send a small fleet - if nothing to call it a "training exercise" to keep the crews sharp - after all, it's otherwise going to be sitting around not doing anything until the next crisis comes along... and even mothballed ships cost money - actively awaiting a crisis, the ship would need a crew, supplies and fuel all loaded, ready to go...

Why not spend a bit more fuel and some supplies and go help a client planet - it looks good to the other members and prospective members... and the crew will have lower-stress experience (as opposed to a major incident on an important world) without needing an exercise layed on.

Edit: Wow... sorry for lack of punctuation there - just about killed myself reading that. Broke it up a bit...

This is what I'd do if I ever either wrote fiction or official source material for Traveller, or if I ever ran a game that had a disaster (even in the news). It's a good idea, BFalcon.

 

[RichardP]

Sending a fleet out on disaster relief as part of "training" is a good way of improving public relations. The tax payers get to see their credits in action, and it shows member planets (and client states) the benefits of joining.

Speaking of ships, the J5 Gionetti light cruiser from supplement 9 would also make a reasable response vessel. I remeber it has some spare bridge capacity. Don't forget any orbiting imperial warship of any size has excellent sensors that can provide the relief teams with current maps (just like they do with statellite images now) but TL15 sensors must be able to spot stuff down to a cm level.

They will also act as a comunications relay, if the local planetary comms net is down.

I imagine that all those Type S scouts wanding around, especially detached duty ones would make an excellent tripwire to alert the 3I of a disaster on a backward world. The IISS has lots of vessels that could help from streamlined scouts to big scout cruisers like their versions of the AHL. I think I remember that supl 9 says some atlantic cruisers were given to the IISS.

Cheers
Richard

 

[Liam Devlin]

Sending a fleet out on disaster relief as part of "training" is a good way of improving public relations. The tax payers get to see their credits in action, and it shows member planets (and client states) the benefits of joining.

Speaking of ships, the J5 Gionetti light cruiser from supplement 9 would also make a reasable response vessel. I remeber it has some spare bridge capacity. Don't forget any orbiting imperial warship of any size has excellent sensors that can provide the relief teams with current maps (just like they do with statellite images now) but TL15 sensors must be able to spot stuff down to a cm level.

They will also act as a comunications relay, if the local planetary comms net is down.

I imagine that all those Type S scouts wanding around, especially detached duty ones would make an excellent tripwire to alert the 3I of a disaster on a backward world. The IISS has lots of vessels that could help from streamlined scouts to big scout cruisers like their versions of the AHL. I think I remember that supl 9 says some atlantic cruisers were given to the IISS.

Cheers
Richard

I settled for the "1193rd CruRon"
:arrow: 1x TL-E 2nd-line Frontier Cruiser (Yes, an AHL Flagship)
:arrow: 3x 2nd-line 30kton TL-D LT. Cruisers (IMTU, Valkyrie class)
:arrow: 1x TLD Fast Logistics ship
:arrow: 1x TLD Tanker
:arrow: 1x TL-E 10kton Messiah-class RAV
:arrow: 1x TL-D 2kton Fleming-class Medical Auxillary
:arrow: 1x Flotilla of Escorts ( 12x DE's, 6x PF's, 6x CE's)
to be based at this Cs with Base code A.

In accordance with MgT's Sector Fleets, these vessels came from the mothball ships of the subsector, and initially crewed by Reservists, now on permanent Active duty status (pay-wise).

 

[RichardP]

Don't forget some courier ships, and you will need some interface vessels to get the supplies down from your big ships (usually only semi-streamlined) and casualities back up.

Suggest an old pocket carrier TL12 ish, swap out the fighters with cutters or 20tn launches depending on the size of the fighters the carrier used to carry.

You might want to have a small IISS contingent as well, to set up the courier network back to the nearest major world / x-boat link to keep the fleet in touch with HQ (useful for ordering more bulk freighters full of rations / blankets / tents / earthmiving equipment etc).
Cheers
Richard

 

[Liam Devlin]

Don't forget some courier ships, and you will need some interface vessels to get the supplies down from your big ships (usually only semi-streamlined) and casualities back up.

Suggest an old pocket carrier TL12 ish, swap out the fighters with cutters or 20tn launches depending on the size of the fighters the carrier used to carry.

You might want to have a small IISS contingent as well, to set up the courier network back to the nearest major world / x-boat link to keep the fleet in touch with HQ (useful for ordering more bulk freighters full of rations / blankets / tents / earthmiving equipment etc).
Cheers
Richard

IISS? Who us? :lol: :twisted: :twisted:

IISS Assets at the Base code A Cs world:
10K personnel (max for Scout base--only IISS base in subsector). Note "Squadron designation is a "Navy" thing, but since 4 Frontier wars have occurred here, and the 1193rd is posted here permanently, the designation sticks.

:arrow: 1 XPS "Firebird" Sqdn each with:
4x 100dtn XPS-4 Firebird class J4 couriers
1x 200dton XPS-5 Stingray class J5 courier
1x 200dton XPS-6 Mustang class J6 Secure Courier

:arrow: 1 Pathfinder-Medical "Sqdn" each with:
1x 800dton Explorer-Survey Infirmary Ship (modified type C, FASA ACS Bk2)
3x 300dton Kurgulash-class Medical Scouts (FASA ACS Bk2)

:arrow: 2x Survey-Cartography "Sqdns" each with:
1x 800dton Explorer-Survey Cruiser (FASA ACS Bk2)
1x 400dton Donosev class Survey Scout
3x 150dton SX-Frontiersman class Modular Scouts

:arrow: 3 Sqdns Type SX each with:
4x 150dton SX-Frontiersman class Modular Scouts

:arrow: 2 Sqdns Type S- Scouts each with:
4x 100dton Type-S Scouts

:arrow: 6 RED (Rapid Emergency Deployment) Sqdns each with:
4x 50dton Rescue Cutters

There are five land-based Scout bases in the system, one orbital & mobile one (HQ) built out of a "retired" Planetoid vessel (used the High Guard one, stripped it out of B-14 mesongun, made a nice flight tunnel and 10kton hangar inside!)--movable C-class Scout Base, with teeth! :twisted: :twisted: