>>(2) Merchant ships must use weapons of a lower technology than what
>>is available for the military. It should be at least 2 TLs lower,
>>perhaps as much as 4. Pirates will fall in-between the merchant and
>>military ships, since they will loot weapons off of whatever they
>>can. This should also apply to armor, and other offensive/defensive
>>items.
>Reasonable for merchants, tough on pirates. Who are the pirates going
>to steal the good stuff from? And if they can't get the good stuff,
>the Navy will walk all over them. And if they can, then how much
>trouble can it be for a merchant to come by it?
>(yes, yes, I know: we've had this argument before...)
Well, the pirates could get weapons from independant planets or
small empires, in return for not hitting their merchants. The pirates
could get them through the black market. Pirates could also get them from
attacking and capturing warships.
Could merchants do the same? Yes. Would they want to? Probably not.
Having military weapons on a civilain ship should be a severe offense. The
lightest punishment would be at least a Cr100,000 fine and confiscation of the
weapons (and the ship would have to stay put until the weapons were stripped,
losing the merchant money). A moderate punishment would be confiscation of the
*ship*. Jail terms are seperate, and could range to the time it takes the
government to strip the weapons to life in prison (possibly at a work camp).
I don't think that a pirate ship should be that much of a match for an
equal tonnage warship. Not that they should be pushovers either, but a 400 ton
patrol crusier should be able to defeat a 400 ton corsair, and so on.
A pirate ship should be a threat to a merchant, but not to a warship.