The Pirate in the Traveller Universe

[Reynard]

I recently perused Book 6: Scoundrel and found a section for pirates which definitely influenced the purchase. Pirates in a Traveller Universe fascinate me. Of any career, they best represent the age of sail in the far future. Playing a pirate can be the most difficult to play yet also be the most fun as a 'romantic' adventurer whether as the bad boy plunderer or the more noble privateer commerce raider the latter being no different than the popular mercenary company.

I made a sector for the purpose of seeing how a pirate campaign would work. So far I mapped out the important worlds ( A-B starports, Population 6+ and TL 10+) and major communication and trade lines - the Express boat routes. Next I find all worlds with pirate bases to see the distribution of 'friendly' ports and worlds with very low law levels 3- especially LL 0. The overall picture shows where the best 'fishing holes' will be with Jump 2 in mind. Privateers will have an easier time but may still need to establish safe planets inside enemy space though often they are hired by planetary governments to take on equally local worlds or clusters of worlds.

I'm looking forward to pirates. Anyone actually run or play in pirate based campaigns whether your group just decided it's a side business to regular adventuring or you serve Monarch and World in the depths of space?

 

[sideranautae]

I'm looking forward to Pirates. Anyone actually run or play in pirate based campaigns whether your group just decided it's a side business to regular adventuring or you serve Monarch and World in the depths of space?

A couple decades ago I had a group of player take up pirating. It is an extremely difficult "occupation" and can only be done without almost certain death in lower TL, backward systems. Or, if one gets REALLY lucky (for the pirate) otherwise.

 

[Reynard]

The corsair or any purpose built pirate vessel is a pickle unless they are built at worlds with very low law level and an A class shipyard. The other explanation is they are built by governments for their use in privateering and commerce raiding then at some point get sold off with weapons removed. Less scrupulous government probably don't actually concern themselves with who buys them as long as the money is good.

Anyone have examples of pirate bases? Sounds like more successful and industrious pirates discover a place to set up a safe house for their operations as their business grows. It could be on a world that tolerates and probably benefits from the trade. It could also be hidden in a belt or a normally useless or inhospitable world. I can see some run by retired pirates and handing over the keys to the ship(s) to the next generation whether they be actual family or recruits that must earn the knowledge of such a base.

On my map, I put a 2 parsec boundary around each system with a pirate base since most ships are only 1 or 2 PCs. This give me an idea what is most available to the pirates then see what exists farther out to extend the pickings and throw off authorities. One area on my map has two bases overlap and that can mean a rivalry. Another two bases were separated from the first two by a parsec so now there are several rivals within the area of a subsector. Plenty of activity for a pirate campaign!

 

[alex_greene]

This is going to sound like the utmost heresy, but in MTU piracy is on the outs. Cybercrime is the most popular form of thievery going: hack into the cargo manifests, redirect the destinations of the choice cargoes, let them be dropped off at Warehouse 17 rather than Warehouse 4, and the job's done with a minimum of fuss and no Naval ships bearing down upon you.

 

[FreeTrav]

This is going to sound like the utmost heresy, but in MTU piracy is on the outs. Cybercrime is the most popular form of thievery going: hack into the cargo manifests, redirect the destinations of the choice cargoes, let them be dropped off at Warehouse 17 rather than Warehouse 4, and the job's done with a minimum of fuss and no Naval ships bearing down upon you.

Perhaps no gunboats, but I'd think that the local/Imperial equivalents of the FBI, IRS, Secret Service, RCMP, KGB, or et cetera might well be more scary...

 

[Matt Wilson]

The corsair or any purpose built pirate vessel is a pickle unless they are built at worlds with very low law level and an A class shipyard.

Yeah, dedicated "pirate" designs like the corsair are a little weird. I think for piracy, you'd be more likely to face repurposed merchant vessels, like a beowulf that's had a larger engine installed and the turrets might have illegal weaponry. Whatever you can do to make your ship look less conspicuous than rolling into port in a 400t corsair. "Oh, hi, we're... accountants. Yeah. This is our ship, the Friendly Puppy."

 

[alex_greene]

The Stainless Steel Rat fan in me kind of looks upon piracy like this as being self-defeating. It's more likely that, rather than raid cargoes, pirates are going to be more into smuggling - sneaking contraband into the system with outsystem Jumps, arranging rendezvous with smugglers in the craters of airless moons to transfer the cargoes from one modular cutter to the other in a game of "swap the modules" and looking as legitimate as possible by travelling around in Free Traders rather than big, obvious "shoot me please, Mister Big Naval Dreadnought" corsairs.

 

[alex_greene]

The corsair or any purpose built pirate vessel is a pickle unless they are built at worlds with very low law level and an A class shipyard.

Yeah, dedicated "pirate" designs like the corsair are a little weird. I think for piracy, you'd be more likely to face repurposed merchant vessels, like a beowulf that's had a larger engine installed and the turrets might have illegal weaponry. Whatever you can do to make your ship look less conspicuous than rolling into port in a 400t corsair. "Oh, hi, we're... accountants. Yeah. This is our ship, the Friendly Puppy."

Surely you mean the Crimson Permanent Assurance?

 

[Reynard]

I think the corsair is a bit of a cheat saying it can reconfigure itself and change transponder signals without having a component displacement and cost but hey. For all these decades and editions we accept that the corsair can disguise itself well enough to get close to prey and passed the authorities so it is a good ship for its purpose.

I think what everyone forgets pirates who scream and leap into a system attacking anything that moves are dead poor or dead.. or both. The successful one, like maybe player characters, plan their raids as well as any mercenary group. This is especially true for privateers. Scope out one or more base of operations and friendly ports while learning about the region's trade, ship traffic and possible opposition. Create strategy for hunting targets and dealing with anything that can fight back plus contingencies when it gets too tough.

Pirates and privateers are the challenge.

 

[sideranautae]

The Stainless Steel Rat fan in me kind of looks upon piracy like this as being self-defeating. It's more likely that, rather than raid cargoes, pirates are going to be more into smuggling - sneaking contraband into the system with outsystem Jumps, arranging rendezvous with smugglers in the craters of airless moons to transfer the cargoes from one modular cutter to the other in a game of "swap the modules" and looking as legitimate as possible by travelling around in Free Traders rather than big, obvious "shoot me please, Mister Big Naval Dreadnought" corsairs.

This makes more sense in the average TU.

 

[GypsyComet]

I think the corsair is a bit of a cheat saying it can reconfigure itself and change transponder signals without having a component displacement and cost but hey. For all these decades and editions we accept that the corsair can disguise itself well enough to get close to prey and passed the authorities so it is a good ship for its purpose.

My explanation is that the most common Corsair designs are locally common Type R variant hulls. The reconfiguration is a matter of fins and discrete bits of chameleon-skin hull, and looking a lot like dozens of other local ships. You still get to answer the "Who builds these?" question, but the answer is easier since you are looking for chop shops instead of certified shipyards.

"Who maintains these?" is still a ticklish question, but in some parts of the Imperium that becomes "the Vargr", "Sydites", "Arden", or even "the Solomani".

Use the Type R stats to fill the Corsair hull you prefer (MGT has several semi-legal 400 ton hulls) and voila, most of your camouflage is taken care of.

As for what Pirates do, my preferred definition is "Use of a starship in the commission of a felony". Yes, that covers a lot...

 

[Reynard]

That could make sense considering the ability to carry any space craft inside with low berths integral for medical emergency rather than trying to outfit for medical facilities. I wonder how many Jump carriers were absconded over the centuries?

 

[Bardicheart]

I've not actually used the "corsair" design in a very long time. Pirates in MTU use other more common ship hulls that have been converted, often with pop up turrets and improved maneuver drives, to practice their skull duggery. That gives them the ability to "blend" in when necessary and surprise a target.

But one of the biggest problems to piracy was simply ship speed. By the time ships get far away from a planet to where interceptors from the planet would need an hour or two to arrive, the target craft is moving so fast actually intercepting it would be nearly impossible. Two of the most common solutions used in the past by either myself or other players were a) a fake distress call (which gets the target to come to you, but its easily over used), or b) the inside job. Get someone hired on the target as part of the crew, they sabotage the ship near the 100D limit before it can jump and the waiting pirate craft (which until it pops its turrets looked like an ordinary subsidized freighter or some such) swoops in for the "kill". That's actually been one of the more plausible scenarios I've come across.

More recently I've experimented with a house rule regarding making jumps such that it normally requires several minutes to actually make the jump and prior to that the ship needs to slow down (preferably come to a complete stop). This means those fast moving ships are slowing down to speeds where its possible to intercept them out near the 100D limit, you just need to track them and plot an intercept course. It also means a would be pirate has a "window" of a few minutes to attack and disable the ship before it can jump away. If they can disrupt the jump bubble by dispersing some of the hydrogen they can force the ship to abort its jump completely. Time it right and they will have expended enough of their hydrogen fuel they can't jump away and can only make a run for the planet. Its not explicitly in the rules, but neither does it strictly violate them either. It also makes piracy (and intercepting pirates or smugglers or blockade runners) more plausible and creates some interesting limits and conditions on interstellar warfare as well.

In general, piracy in high pop, well patrolled systems just isn't viable. That pushes piracy out to the backwaters and secondary routes. Piracy also probably gets mixed with planetary raiding, if the system is poorly defended in some cases it may be easier just to land and steal directly from a warehouse or what have you. Same for slaving. Those stolen cargoes probably at some point end up on a smuggler's ship being smuggled into those high pop, well patrolled systems. At least that's how it tended to work in campaigns I ran.

Just food for thought.

 

[sideranautae]

More recently I've experimented with a house rule regarding making jumps such that it normally requires several minutes to actually make the jump and prior to that the ship needs to slow down (preferably come to a complete stop). This means those fast moving ships are slowing down to speeds where its possible to intercept them out near the 100D limit, you just need to track them and plot an intercept course. It also means a would be pirate has a "window" of a few minutes to attack and disable the ship before it can jump away.

I have ships jump at a slow speed. BUT, space is too big. ANYONE on an intercept course is going to be considered a pirate. Thus, the ship will evade at speed while calling for help. Would only work in a system that was low TL and lacked near main planet defenses.

 

[alex_greene]

Have you considered that sometimes, the characters can be approached by a Patron with the mission of going out and stopping a pirate - or even an entire pirate fleet? It's possible to run an entire campaign with nothing but terrifying stories of pirates and raiders, encounters with wrecked hulks surrounded by frozen, distended corpses exposed to the vacuum, and never encounter a single pirate vessel - until this mission.

 

[alex_greene]

I kind of like the idea of exploring where Traveller's pirates come from. The one thing that fuels piracy more than any other, IMO, has to be The Draft.

Piracy was rife during the Golden Age of wet piracy because a lot of the pirate crews were innocent citizens who got pressganged into service. The equivalent of pressganging in Traveller is The Draft. A lot of Naval crews could have been pressed into service to fight a war, then laid off on some strange world at the end of the war with no money, no chance of going home and even fewer prospects.

Given the prospect of rotting away in a fleapit motel in Startown or actually having a job to do, even if it is on a pirate vessel, a lot of the conscripts would choose piracy as a career if there was a chance of getting paid. The prospects would be risky, but then again piracy is a career with a high turnover and plenty of opportunities for promotion to command.

 

[Reynard]

Unless you munchkin your players with a 6g ship to start, you're not going to often run down a target. Obvious intercept tactics is the realm of the novice pirate who either evolves or goes on to sling burgers somewhere. Successful pirates 'hide their colors'. This is why the Corsair is configurable and many other pirate favored vessels are common hulls that get pimped for piracy. A good predator sneaks up on prey before pouncing. There is no reason a ship would be automatically identified as a pirate vessel just because they are near another vessel unless they're all too obvious bearing down. As vast as local space is, ships often follow paths to and from intra-system travel or jump points. Sure people will always be nervous when another ship is nearby maybe a bit paranoid but, unless pirates are striking the same system time and time again, they watch and hope and breath a sigh as the other ship moves on. And that's what the pirate relies on as they close as best as possible then turn and strike. Like any predator, they aren't always successful but it's the best tactic.

Of all the pirate vessels, the Corsair should be in the business of shipjacking, grabbing spacecraft. They can't jump, they may contain cargo and they are themselves sellable. That's why there's a hold built to contain those vessels. Nice pirates will put the crew in lifepods and a beacon, not so nice may try ransom and bad pirates...

 

[sideranautae]

As vast as local space is, ships often follow paths to and from intra-system travel or jump points.

No. There are no "paths" for the 100D limit. There would be a general direction if the local star was masking but, that is about all. Not only that. If pirates are at all a possible concern there will be customs of courtesy amongst Masters to not "crowd" a ship they don't know at 100D limits. Those that do will end up being ostracized...

An illustration: Even IF the star port required ships to follow the same course (relative to the planet) out to the 100D you'd STILL not be near another ship at the far end if you launched 10 minutes apart. The planet is probably moving ~15 km/sec in a curved path. Spaced at 10 minute intervals, you are heading to the different point at a distance of 100D. You are NOT on converging nor, parallel courses.

 

[Reynard]

Okay, exactly how far apart must ships be to not crowd? You yourself stated ships will be coming from all directions so it would not be unusual for many ships once at or within the 100D to bear either towards the focus of a port or away as they leave. Since the jump vector to the next world is not dependent on the ship's real space vector, they don't angle out towards their destination and will normally follow an efficient course to and from the port and jump point which will often become 'paths' of regular traffic. All of these are known and a smart pirate can find ways to take advantage.

In-system traffic, no matter where the two points are, will follow time efficient routes that regular traffic will follow and will be easily calculated from data often easily obtained at the local ports as part of business and safety. And yes, safety will be a reason for paths or we should say flight plans involving corridors for many reasons such as search and rescue in emergencies. It's the ship not following flight plans in more civil systems that would attract attention.

Otherwise, why have pirates and privateers been part of Traveller for four decades if they have absolutely no chance to ply their trade? Because the system says the right ships are in the right place at the right time.

 

[sideranautae]

As vast as local space is, ships often follow paths to and from intra-system travel or jump points.

No. There are no "paths" for the 100D limit. There would be a general direction if the local star was masking but, that is about all.

Depends on the TU in use by any given group/GM. If the consens is "ships going for planet a typically do so on this vector" than they do. Same with "coming to full stop vs. jumping at speed" and all

See above. There would be no fixed "vectors". Unless for some magical reason the planet is motionless. :lol:


To illustrate: Draw a line from the center of the star through the center of the world and continue out to 100D point. Call that course as 0 degrees. If that were the mandated course, the actual end point changes every second. Thus: With the planet orbiting the star, you won't have converging courses over time. Only diverging ones.