Joachim wrote,
> I am curious to find out whether anyone on the list has seen any
Almost all the boarding actions I've seen have been against crippled
ships --
take out the target's engines with needle beams and then come alongside.
Against a ship with working engines I agree that it's pretty hard to get that
close, unless you're both going pretty slow.
One other option you could try is using some form of tractor beams. There were
several good ideas suggested on this list awhile back; you can either check
Jerry Han's archives, or (last I checked) Mark Siefert had them posted on the
Unofficial FT Page.
Scott
"I don't understand what she's looking for!"
"How about a little sincerity"
"Sincerity? I can fake that...."
> At 08:41 PM 12/3/96 +0000, you wrote:
There
> were several good ideas suggested on this list awhile back; you can
Here's something we were considering--
Pursuit plotting
If at the beginning of the movement plot you have an enemy ship in your
forward arc and that ship has you in its rear arc, first plot movement for
your other vessels and then the ship you are pursuing gives you its movement
plot and finally, you plot movement for the pursuing vessel.
The idea is that you are following the enemy through whatever maneuvers he's
making while he's making them so that you can't even give his movement plot to
your allies or other vessels under your control. Sulu's just doing his best to
stay behind this guy, you know.
James
> Pursuit plotting
Sulu's
> just doing his best to stay behind this guy, you know.
Pursuit Plotting (first swipe at rules): 1) This is only allowed if you are in
the target's rear arc and the target is in your forward arc. 2) You must
commit ALL your movement points to this maneuver. 3) You must write that you
are using pursuit plotting in the movement orders 4) You must have a thrust of
6 to use Pursuit Plotting. 5) Any points not used by your target are
considered to have been spent in "dodging" 6) Subtract the "dodging" points
from your thrust rating to get the target number. 6a) Roll 1 d6 6b) If the
result is greater than or equal to the target number, you
may move after the target moves. 6c) If the result is less than the target
number, you make a 2 point
turn at your current velocity +2 (target chooses port or starboard).
Some extra comments:
How to take a civilian ship:
Figure that a cruise ship will have little external
ordinance, maybe a PDS or class-1. OTOH,
figure that it _will_ have a state of the art
antipiracy system. It will have some security people (armed, but maybe not
heavily armoured) and it will have the gizmos like grav field control,
internal weaponry to protect key areas, etc. These are the kind of ships
people insure for lots of money and some level of appropriate internal defence
is a good idea.
Explorers on the rim might have a high percentage of their crew armed (the
ones who go on away missions may be very used to firearms use).
Now, bulk tankers and bulk freighters may be a little easier, but even they
would have some weapons aboard.
If you want to avoid damaging the ship you are capturing, you take:
1) shotguns or conventional weapons firing Glaser ammo (Beth: Glaser is
conventional
round containing shot suspended in Teflon -
very short range, very high Kinetic Energy to
target, not much overshoot - developed for use
by Counter-Terrorist forces taking hostage
loaded planes)
2) Tasers, laser-based strobing Tasers, 9V stun
guns
3) grenades... but not conventional ones. Sleep Gas grenades (skin absorbtive
so a mask is no defence), fragmentation grenades using plastic fragments
(deadly to anyone unarmoured, but safe for armoured people and equipment), or
stun grenades, also if you think you have better vision kit, obscurant
grenades (blind the
enemy). From the non-lethal in-development
arsenal: Sticky Web grenades (spider gunk), expanding hardening foam grenades,
Slippery Gunk grenades (can't stand up... keystone cops).
4) take non lethal weapons like dart guns with tranq rounds, blinding lasers
(ouch), conventional weapons with rubber or wax bullets, shotguns with beanbag
rounds, GL's loaded with rubber battons (a 40mm baton can really ruin your
day....), and of course a good supply of 1" thick oak sticks about 2.5' long.
(Nothing beats a good stick).
Your attack (assuming internal assistance)
would focus on disabling the anti-piracy system
to let your external guys aboard. Without that,
you have to come in facing the anti-piracy
system and crew. You'd make a lot of use of
your superior armour and heavy firepower -
use LOTS of stun grenades. They won't bother your armoured guys, but they'll
beat up unarmoured people and guys in civilian vacc suits.
PS - Derek, John A. had one thing right.... the
infantry do become real respectful of engineers when there is a minefield in
the way. I mean, at a press, we (R031 Infanteer) could just herd the engineers
in one at a time to clear a path....
"Boom" Infantry: "Next Engineer!"
... and then get on with the _real_ work! ;)
(But this delves into yet another religious war
which is the military MOS war - the equivalent of
the computer OS wars, or the gaming system arguments..... and equally unlikely
to go
anywhere.....)
Tomb.