All Things Vargr

[Condottiere]

Vargr: Military Organization

L. Next up would be exactly the capacity of the industrial base, and the size of spacecraft, that Vargr polities can actually build.

M. That really can't be answered, but I suspect that the bottleneck would actually be certain ship components, such as weapon systems and engineering.

N. In space, with enough time, you can keep adding on modules.

O. Capacity for maintenance and repairs, at the other end, would be a bottleneck.

P. Commonalty is not a given in Vargrspace

 

[Condottiere]

Vargr: Military Organization

Q. What has that got to do with with any semblance of a Vargr planetary navy?

R. Do they buy off the shelf, assuming suitable components are available, or order customized parts?

S. Then, parts availability for maintenance and repair.

T. If it's customized, at best you'll get a limited production run, and then the production line either is scrapped, or broken up and stored away.

U. Which is why the preference would be, as far as possible, off the shelf, dual use, commercial components.

 

[Condottiere]

Vargr: Military Organization

V. Vargr industrial base probably predominates around light industries.

W. Stuff that's fairly easy to manufacture, and doesn't require intensive investment.

X. Electronics falls within that, and possibly high end chip manufacturing.

Y. Or, maybe not.

Z. I don't see Vargr walking around in bunny suits.

 

[Condottiere]

Vargr: Military Organization

1. I think we are need to appreciate the industrial aspect in their military complex.

2. You can't really build or maintain a navy without it.

3. A thirty five hundred tonne spinal mount is way larger than eight default corsairs.

4. To make large spacecraft components, you need to build massive factories.

5. You can bypass this with engineering.

6. You can build any number of any sized power plants, distribute them throughout the hull, and connect them in a power grid.

7. On a lesser scale, manoeuvre drives.

8. Jump drives, as long as each separate module allocates five tonnes to the overhead.

9. I think that Tee/Five caps this at nine times nine.

 

[Condottiere]

Vargr: Military Organization

A. Launch tubes are very probably well within the capability of Vargr to build them.

B. The problem would be, that a spacecraft has to be built from the keel up to accommodate them.

C. Carriers seem to be too capacious for ye default corsair captain.

D. So I'd say that spacecraft carriers are the capital starwarships of a Vargr polity navy, if such would exist.

E. After all, the owner can sit tight in the carrier, which non jump capable smallcraft are launched.

F. And if they want to hijack their assigned smallcraft, they can't just disappear into the ether.

 

[Condottiere]

Vargr: Military Organization

G. And if they can build five hundred tonne launch tubes, they can build five hundred tonne large bays.

H. However, this assumes not an inconsiderable investment, and access to, the required technological level.

I. If it's private enterprise, a guarantee of government contracts to justify it.

J. But I rather suspect it has to be funded in it's entirety by a Vargr polity.

K. And even if it was permitted for private individuals, or corporations, very few could afford to pay for a bay sized weapon system.

 

[Condottiere]

Vargr: Military Organization

L. We need a canonical Vargr fleet order of battle, to have an inkling about tonnages and distribution of starships, paramilitary or otherwise.

M. Is there one for any of the Frontier Wars, or even overrunning Corridor?

N. Anyway, that leaves a lot of speculation.

O. In terms of the size of a starship, spaceyards will optimize for the common sizes in their order books.

P. That could literally limit variety to only adventure class starships.

 

[Condottiere]

Vargr: Military Organization

Q. Legacy has the tonnage of a corsair starship at four hundred tonnes.

R. Design rules might optimize that to one kilotonne for the richer corsair packs.

S. There might also be a sociological reason for it.

T. Two packs can't co exist, long term, on one ship.

U. Marked as territory.

 

[coliver988]

Vargr: Military Organization

Q. Legacy has the tonnage of a corsair starship at four hundred tonnes.

R. Design rules might optimize that to one kilotonne for the richer corsair packs.

S. There might also be a sociological reason for it.

T. Two packs can't co exist, long term, on one ship.

U. Marked as territory.

hmm, marked as territory. Knowing how my dog marks things as territory you do need to wonder about instinctual behaviors

 

[Condottiere]

Vargr: Military Organization

V. Vargr corsair packs can temporarily hitch a ride as passengers, on a corsair starship.

W. Likely confined to a specific section of the starship.

X. One possible reason could be that they are part of the same band, and the war chief had assigned them there.

Y. Or, the spacecraft is too large for a single pack to efficiently run it.

Z. And that, could be one of the reasons that Vargr spacecraft tend to have an organic size cap.

 

[Condottiere]

Vargr: Military Organization

1. We can divide corsairs into a number of categories.

2. The three most classic ones are blue, green, and brown.

3. Blue corsairs are considered the stars of their profession.

4. Blue corsairs have their own starship.

5. Green corsairs have their own spacecraft, that is non jump capable, but allows them to move around insystem.

6. Brown corsairs have atmospheric transport(s).

7. Possibly, even reach orbit.

8. You can have other corsair packs that have other specialized transports, such as maritime or subsurface.

9. They could be quite proficient at these, but aren't appreciated as much.

 

[FreeTrav]

While I do understand the usage (and likely the original derivation) of 'blue', 'green', and 'brown', I think that 'starlight', 'sunlight', and 'blue-sky' might be both more accurate and more idiosyncratic for this usage...

 

[Condottiere]

It's more for my reference, since this little project is turning out to be rather larger than I anticipated.

I'm getting the feel that corsair packs prefer to have their own transportation, and be well rounded, thus self sufficient.

It's free, if they can carjack it.

 

[Condottiere]

Vargr: Military Organization

G. Having established that corsair packs, like having their own organic transports, however they obtained them.

H. If organized into a band, not all corsair packs might have a corsair starship.

I. They could be more specialized, like ground assault.

J. The war chief would have to provide transportation, assuming their target is in another system.

K. Which at this point, he likely has available a larger starship, if he can't persuade another pack to take on passengers.

 

[Condottiere]

Vargr: Military Organization

L. It's quite possible that the Vargr are caught in arrested development.

M. I remember, many moons ago, reading a comparison between Great War Italian special forces, farmers and nomadic raiders.

N. That it requires a distinct psychological profile to be a good special forces soldier.

O. And it was similar to the mentality of nomadic raiders, who once, every couple of years, turned up to raid settlements.

P. Neolithic, considering that Vargr, in general, are quite prepared up sticks, and to set up shop somewhere else?

 

[kilemall]

I would assume Vargr can reorganize quickly, if only due to practice.

They have to have technical services starports and industry, so those go to megapack leaders that can stay on top for decades for the required stability, and have subordinates groomed, even if it’s by Sith rules.

All this also makes me think there can be a nervousness/bias about taking on Vargr passengers as they may be more prone to hijack attempts.

 

[Condottiere]

In terms of politics, the Vargr will try everything, at least once.

As passengers, especially for entire packs, I think segregation into secured compartments.

I think that Vargr polities secure stability, to allow commerce to thrive in a predictable environment, rule by committee.

 

[Condottiere]

Vargr: Military Organization

Q. Commercially, in an unstable environment, Vargr would want minimum investment, and early, probably high, return on that.

R. Slash and burn, or it's modern equivalent, would be a quite attractive mode of operation.

S. Especially, since they don't expect to be around for long, there.

T. If you could pack a factory into a mobile base, might be the ultimate expression of that.

U. You might be thinking the motherships from Independence Day and V.

 

[Condottiere]

Vargr: Military Organization

V. I'm inclined to think that the Vargr aren't that keen on hundred tonne starships.

W. The argument for them being minimum size, and single crewmember.

X. Which is not really something the vast majority of Vargr feel comfortable with.

Y. Highly probable, the smallest starship they'll willingly crew is a two hundred tonner.

Z. Optimally sized for trading and raiding.

 

[Condottiere]

Vargr: Military Organization

1. (Old Norse: knarr; Old English: cnearr, cnear; Old High German: gnarren) were the Norse merchant and cargo ships of the Viking Age, used by Vikings for long sea voyages and during the Viking expansion.

2. While the name etymologically suggests that it was used as a warship at times, the types from the latter half of the Viking Age were built as work boats for handling cargo; the hull of a common knarr was wider, deeper and shorter than a longship, and could take more cargo and be operated by smaller crews.

3. So, I'd say that the knarr is the most common type of Vargr starship.

4. Comparatively, since ye Free Trader is the human's iconic starship, likely fairly similar in performance and size.

5. But with Vargr characteristics.

6. Maybe G'narr.

7. Smallest jump drive at ten tonnes.

8. Manoeuvre drive probably varies, depending how important acceleration becomes.

9. Considering possible local spacecraft facilities, likely streamlined.