karmarainbow said:
I also thought it was interesting to say that heavily armed player ships would have trouble landing at starports and would face ‘imperial entanglements’ if they did. I suppose my worry there is that if starship weapons are tightly controlled, then other traders won’t have them either - potentially making piracy by players even easier (I’m assuming the players could get themselves badged as genuine traders, so would either have weapons to, or their targets won’t).
Perhaps an example from one of my settings could be interesting.
The planet in question is an independent colony on a hostile desert world
which is undergoing a long term biological terraforming. Until the atmo-
sphere of the planet becomes breathable, the protection of the habitats
is essential for the survival of the colony, and an armed starship could
easily wipe out the entire colony by damaging the hulls of the habitats.
The planet's system has a number of sensor satellites which cover the
most likely "entry points" for starships, the gas giant and the most likely
"approach routes" to the planet. When a starship enters the system, the
satellites send a warning to the planet's starport.
If it is one of the ships the colonists usually have business with, it has a
transponder provided by the colony. Ships with such a transponder, for
example the regular supply ship and some well known and trusted free
traders, may approach the planet and land there, whether armed or not.
Ships without such a transponder receive orders to stay in a far orbit and
await inspection by a small craft. If they refuse to follow these orders, or
if the inspection team comes to the conclusion that the ship's crew has
no legitimate business in this system, the ship is ordered to leave the sy-
stem or be treated as hostile and attacked.
If the ship has legitimate business and is armed in any way that could en-
danger the colony, the closest it can get to the planet is a low orbit, any
attempt to enter the atmosphere will be treated as a hostile act and lead
to an immediate attack.
So, merchant ships can be armed, but planets can take care to protect
themselves against potentially hostile armed merchant ships.