Military vs Civilian ship tech - in any traveller version??!

[Nerhesi]

A simple question:

Has any version of traveller, especially within the 3rd Imperium setting, ever differentiated what techs are allowed on non-Naval ships? Something along the lines of "You're not a naval ship, you can't have any barbettes or bays, and no armor greater than 8".

I mean, you can kind of see it in most designs in cannon books but I'm wondering if there is even fiction/flavour that supports this? Would also increase the flavour of pop-turrets

 

[Reynard]

As far as I know there's no canon concerning ship weapons and armor. Notice though that the majority of civilian ships are not armed and armored to military levels. In our real world, using naval vessels as comparable to spacecraft and starships, and considering the level of piracy around the world, you'll notice non-military ships have no arms or armor. Why not the same mentality in Traveller?

It seems a game needs combat so ships have guns and armor just in case a pirate shows up. To keep costs down the weapons and armor are mediocre normally except on adventurer vessels.

Nothing says you can't be armed like a tank but I'd say it's sensible to have limits and a LOT of suspicion as to why one would be build like a warship. First thing I'd say is Stupid Pirate. Unless registered by some official agency to be a legal mercenary outfit allowed to have a Broadsword don't have a ship looking for trouble. Don't make port authorities or local navies nervous.

A pop-up turret is a concealed weapon. When at port, someone is going to have a close look at a vessel, inside and out and will find it then ask embarrassing questions.

Might not be worth being a space gunbunny unless you can justify it and make it part of gameplay.

 

[phavoc]

GURPS had the heavier 500mm missiles as exclusively military. I don't recall if they also had some energy (like particle cannons or meson) weaponry also being restricted to military only.

All versions of Traveller have held nukes exclusively to the military. Don't recall about bio or chemical weapons (may be more part of the loose Imperial Laws of War stuff).

I think battledress, PGMP and FGMP weapons were also restricted to the military.

 

[Infojunky]

The answer is never explicitly, but there is an implied limitation. In that Navel weapons basically start with the 50 dTon bays, anything smaller than that is pretty much available. It also could be said that Armored Hulls are navel options.

Couple that with the Imperial Rules of War and the Prohibition on WMDs and other environmentally damaging in weapons.

Reasoning the Imperium allows for small scale local combat operations, confined to small ships and conventional arms. Thus a implied limitation.

 

[Condottiere]

1. WMDs are not kosher; probably nothing that causes radiation damage to the crew, either.

2. Torpedoes are a purely military weapon. And so are bays in general.

3. Barbettes are probably questionable, but railguns might be possible; imagine the look of surprise of the corsair captain when that popped up as he closes to boarding range.

4. Nuclear dampers might be allowed in the Marches.

 

[Golan2072]

A simple question:

Has any version of traveller, especially within the 3rd Imperium setting, ever differentiated what techs are allowed on non-Naval ships? Something along the lines of "You're not a naval ship, you can't have any barbettes or bays, and no armor greater than 8".

I mean, you can kind of see it in most designs in cannon books but I'm wondering if there is even fiction/flavour that supports this? Would also increase the flavour of pop-turrets

Can't answer for the OTU, but in my (strictly non-OTU) Outer Veil setting, particle beams (meson weapons haven't been invented yet) and nukes are military hardware, and only the Navy has them, especially when bays are concerned. Corporate "security" departments can sometimes get a license to use ships with particle turrets, but not bays, and neither nukes...

 

[Sigtrygg]

In original CT all ships constructed with LBB2 rules are unarmoured and limited to turret weapons with lasers, missiles or sand casters.

HG introduced rules for military vessels which brought:
armoured hulls
spinal mounts
bay weapons
barbettes
meson guns, particle accelerators, plasma and fusion guns
nuclear damper screens, meson screens, black globe screens

so military ships have access to way more stuff than civilians do.