ramblings

Steve Higginbotham writes:

>Also true...  (though I think the "scout ship" is the most ridiculous
>waste of a design ever conceived by th emind of man)

     I disagree. *I* think they are great little runabouts; they make
better
yachts than Yachts do.  (more jump, cheaper, less crew required).  And the
scout service hands them out FREE to its ex-employees...
     Speaking of which, I would like to propose some clarification of the
use
of "issue" ships that some career tracks get.  My personal opinion is that
government-issue couriers (Zhodani, Solomani, others), some yachts, and lab
ships (scientist) should be treated just like detached duty scouts: they
are
provided by and PAID FOR by the issuing organization, which in turn (a)
expects you to use it on their behalf now and then, and (b) owns title to
it,
so you can't sell it or make major refits to it without their permission.
I
never liked the picture of scientists and nobles grubbing for spec trade
cash
like merchants to pay for their ships...
     For scientists, the issuing organization is their university,
professional organization, corporate R&D division, government lab, or what
have you; the "strings" ((a) above) can be slightly different for each
issuer.  Have fun.
     Some yachts should be "family heirlooms"; that is, property belonging
to
the noble house in question, given to your particular young scion of the
line
for his private use.  Selling such a ship is unthinkable, and getting it
wrecked will make the PC very unpopular with the rest of the family.  And
sometimes Dear Old Dad the subsector Duke will want it back so he can loan
it
to some bigwigs in from the Sector capital...
     Of course, other yachts were bought by the noble himself, and paying
for
it is his problem.  (Although I wonder where they come up for the money for
a
down payment before play -- noble stipends still aren't anywhere near that
high!)
     Corsairs steal their ships, they don't buy them.  Hey, we're talking
heavily armed criminals here, or government-sponsored terrorists!  Either
way,
they're not the kind of guys who are going to walk down to Regni Yards on
Regina and put in an order for a "corsair"!  Criminals steal their ships,
or
con somebody into thinking they are a legit customer, and then skip out on
the
payments (steal the ship).  Terrorists either (a) are issued their arms &
ships by the sponsoring government, or (b) steal the wherewithal to buy one
from their sponsor, or (c) steal a ship like the criminals.
     Speaking of "corsairs", the vessel commonly called the "corsair" is
actually a high-performance merchant design, used both as a free trader and
as
a subsidized merchant in various places.   The class had certain design
flaws
that made it easy to hijack, so it became the ship of choice for would-be
pirates to steal, mount weapons on, install more bunking for prize crews,
and
go on a piracy spree.  The name of the game is to capture and sell enough
ships and cargoes to be able to pay off your initial investment and retire
comfortably before your luck runs out and the Navy/local System Defense
catches up with you.   Thus the nickname "corsair" for this particular
class
of ships...

Pauli Dale writes:

>You can also add lots of guns (you know the section in the ref's guide
that
>follows spinals, bays and turrents :-)  They are cheap and can pack a
decent
>punch.  Not as good as a real starship weapon, but still pretty good.
This
>would also be slightly more realistic.  I feel it is pretty absurd that
most
>small starships only carry the big weapons and forget about the little
>things.
>How many ships today only carry large guns?  From what I've seen they
usually
>carry a decent mixture of weaponary.

     We do. They're great for discouraging boarders and other people who
get
in visual range of your starship... like pirates who want to get close
enough
to cleanly shoot out your fuel tanks without blowing up your expensive-to-
replace drives & powerplant...
     Good for point defense against incoming missiles, too.  Keeps you from
tying up your big anti-shipping guns with PD duty...


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