From: Barclay, Tom <tomb@b...>
Date: Sat, 23 Sep 2000 00:22:36 -0400
Subject: Mil vs. Civ shipping
To comment on Brian's thoughts: It seems to me that a reasonable stance to consider what is or is not appropriate shipborne armament might be galactography. By that, I mean where the ship operates and is licensed. For example, I have little doubt that if my free trader was operating in the AE, being the politically colourful place that it is, that I could well see slapping on some B-2s for defence. Maybe some military sensor systems too. Human space can loosely be broken down into a few geographic zones. Core Worlds Inner Colonies Outer Colonies Outposts, Small Colonies, Research Stations Core Worlds and Inner Colonies: Home of a powerful UN presence and powerful block naval presences. Probably not home to any pirates or privateers. This environment is just too well policed (as it must be since it is the cradle of human population and civilization) by too many people. UN Policy beyond these precincts may well be more honoured in the breech than in the observance, but in these areas you can certainly assume the UN has some high standards and that most of the major power blocks also have little interest in armed ships operating privately. Probably a ferryboat or liner from Earth to Alpha Centauri probably doesn't mount any weapons, or at most a PDS. Outer Colonies: Out here we have varying levels of UN and National bloc presence. In the older more inward Outer Colonies, with higher populations, many of them house military bases of their particular national block and will get semi-frequent UN patrol visits. In these systems, armed ships would be uncommon, moreso for those not operating with letters of marque (privateers). Most ships in this area would not likely carry more than a B-1. And even then mostly if they are neutral or allied with their local bloc government. Now, the further out you go, the less true this becomes. In the outer Outer Colonies, you may well find ships with multiple B-1s for defence against privateers or pirates. Or even other corporations! Outposts, Far Colonies: Out here, its a free for all. Everyone operating in these areas understands the risks out here. Fewer large lines will operate out here due to 1) the economics of traffic and freight and 2) the risks (pirates, privateers, renegade governments, other corporations) and the costs (insurance premiums, security costs). So more small merchant groups and individual "free traders" operate in these territories in smaller ships. Of course, as the risks are high, so are the armaments. Even small merchants may pack a B-1 and as good of a sensor suite as they can afford and some mid sized merchant ships may mount B-2s and perhaps even a level-1 screen. It just plain isn't safe for unarmed ships out here for long. Sometimes, if the piracy is bad enough in this region or the Outer Colonies outer segments to annoy a corporation or power bloc, a Q ship may be deployed for a time. Q ships can often be nasty surprises with upfitted drive segments, submunitions packs, hidden SMRs, and even beams as large as B-3, though a Q ship packing such a cannon would undoubtedly have it installed single arc down the spine or broadside in a huge mount. Pirates and Privateers in these regions will have ships that basically run the gamut from armed merchantmen right up to ships that rival frigates, destroyers, or even at the far extremum maybe a light cruiser in size and armament, though often times their logistics aren't as good (sometimes they are if they are operating with a letter of marque) and so their systems performance or availability may be sub standard. This perspective perhaps reflects the nature of man's deployment in the GZGverse - dense towards the centre of the human empire, with more focus in military and legal power, with that focus dropping off the further towards the remote fringes one heads. Just another 0.02 on the shape of the world, Justifier style. Thomas.