CT Only: Nuclear vs HE Missiles

[atpollard]

So I was reading through High Guard (LBB5) carefully to seek some guidelines on Nuclear vs Non-Nuclear missiles in turrets (and Bays) and only found a brief comment that they needed to be designated. So that’s it. I just take my Free Trader into the Starport and say “Load ‘er up with Nukes” and I am a nuclear armed merchant? I could not even find any indication on a difference in price.

Was this covered somewhere else in Classic Traveller? (I know how they love to hide rules in other books).

 

[yannir]

Special Supplement 3 has the prices and a note that some warheads may not be available because of local law levels. Book 3 states law level 1 restricts explosives not mentioning nukes specifically. So your best bet for arming up with a nuclear warhead is a LL 0 world.

 

[whulorigan]

So I was reading through High Guard (LBB5) carefully to seek some guidelines on Nuclear vs Non-Nuclear missiles in turrets (and Bays) and only found a brief comment that they needed to be designated. So that’s it. I just take my Free Trader into the Starport and say “Load ‘er up with Nukes” and I am a nuclear armed merchant? I could not even find any indication on a difference in price.

Was this covered somewhere else in Classic Traveller? (I know how they love to hide rules in other books).

High Guard was intended for Naval vessels and squadron and fleet operations primarily, though it can detail ACS range vessels as well. So reloads were presumed to be part of Navy logistics in the background. They get an extra roll on the radiation table for damage in High Guard, which is the reason for the need to designate.

As noted above, Special Supplement 3 gives Book 2 rules for various custom-build missile types, including several types of conventional and nuclear warheads, different guidance and tracking mechanisms, and various propulsion and fuel systems, with associated costs.

Nuclear weapons are not available for civilian acquisition (except by highly illegal channels in violation of Imperial High Law).

Since

 

[yannir]

Nuclear weapons are not available for civilian acquisition (except by highly illegal channels in violation of Imperial High Law).

A reasonable position but where in the books does it say that?

 

[whartung]

A reasonable position but where in the books does it say that?

Why does anything have to say that? What's wrong with a "reasonable position"?

 

[yannir]

Why does anything have to say that? What's wrong with a "reasonable position"?

Nothing at all but not everything about the game is reasonable and book citations were requested.

 

[yannir]

Found it in the Rules of War section of Supplement 11. "

The Imperium alone retains the rights to such weapons....

 

[Rupert]

High Guard was intended for Naval vessels and squadron and fleet operations primarily, though it can detail ACS range vessels as well. So reloads were presumed to be part of Navy logistics in the background. They get an extra roll on the radiation table for damage in High Guard, which is the reason for the need to designate.

Also they can be defended against with nuclear dampers, and they get that juicy -6 on the surface explosion damage table.

 

[McPerth]

found it in the Rules of War section of Supplement 11

About Imperial Rules of War (suplement 11, page 31):

One prohibition is clear and firm: use or possession of nuclear weapons, if discovered, and regardless of size or type, will almost certainly trigger Imperial intervention.

So, yes, you may arm your launchers with Nukes and become a nuclear armed merchent, but you'd better make sure Imperial authorites do not to find it out...

 

[Condottiere]

If you use them, don't leave witnesses, or breadcrumbs that lead back to you.

Or, disgruntled employees.

 

[whartung]

Nothing at all but not everything about the game is reasonable and book citations were requested.

Are you suggesting that restricting civilian access to nuclear weapons is not reasonable?

What if folks were unable to find citations? The citation given so far is post Book 5. Does that suggest that nuclear weapons were a common commodity item in civilian craft? Or even piracy? Pre Supplement 11?

 

[Badenov]

So, fwiw, Mongoose 1 Core rulebook states 'Using nuclear weapons near an inhabited planet or orbital is forbidden by Imperial law.' But the phraseology in MgT1 implies that civilian use of nukes on uninhabited planets is OK (perhaps in conjunction with mining?), which means they would be available. Perhaps even being in CT Book 5 and not Book 2 was assumed by the writers to mean it was for military only, and when people didn't read it that way, the Supp 11 rule was posted? So, this sounds like a your campaign rules thing.

 

[yannir]

Are you suggesting that restricting civilian access to nuclear weapons is not reasonable?

Eminently reasonable.

 

[Condottiere]

One assumes that the Third Imperium's usurpation of the space between gravity wells extends to policing of nuclear warheads.

 

[kilemall]

The nuke pricing is a bit whack in SS3 and doesn’t cover bay missiles.

I prefer the nuke warheads in Striker, the rules say 15cm for turret missiles and 25cm for bay missiles. There are corresponding warhead sizes for those diameters and pricing plus effects when used on ground targets, so done and done for me.

Bay missile prices for SS3, multiply by 7.5 assuming that a 50 ton HG attack is 2 missiles and a 100 ton attack is 4.