Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
Trust, but verify.
You want to be sure that you have the borrower's testicles in your grip, if only by proxy.
Shuttle or other for 400 ton Corsair?
- Thread starter SJE
- Start date
Trust, but verify.
You want to be sure that you have the borrower's testicles in your grip, if only by proxy.
Enoki
SOC-14 1K
"Privateering" is simply a variant of being given a letter of marque. A privateer in 20th century terms is a merchant raider. That is, a government sponsored vessel operating in a grey zone where it uses subterfuge and guile to take prizes.
In Traveller I could see a ship like this being either a merchant hull or warship that "flies" false colors to lure in prizes. You could have, say an enemy of the Imperium who has either a copy of or captured Imperial warship that acts like a customs or other official government vessel. They demand the target ship heave to and allow a boarding for "inspection." The boarding party then takes the ship.
I vaguely recall a movie from the late '60's where some pirates use a submarine they refurbished to do something like this to an ocean liner. Found it!
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
Privateering is pretty specific permission against the national enemy.
Pirates are actual outlaws, that aren't automatically granted due process.
Pirates are actual outlaws, that aren't automatically granted due process.
Enoki
SOC-14 1K
State sanctioned "piracy" does not have to be economically practical.
Criminal piracy does.
The fundamental issue with Traveller piracy is the economics of it.
Not that a State wants to waste money, but they have larger political goals. Conflict as such is never profitable in the short term.
But criminal pirates, they don't and can't look at it that way. They need profits, profits worth the risk, and they need them directly.
Criminal piracy does.
The fundamental issue with Traveller piracy is the economics of it.
Not that a State wants to waste money, but they have larger political goals. Conflict as such is never profitable in the short term.
But criminal pirates, they don't and can't look at it that way. They need profits, profits worth the risk, and they need them directly.
Spinward Flow
SOC-14 5K
Although Mouretsu Pirates was (mostly) a lighthearted anime series that romanticized pirates and piracy into more of a stylized cosplay for entertainment (rather than a "serious business" of cutthroat life/death and loss of liberty) ... it still managed to pull off some pretty incredible things that were totally unexpected.
Things like having a 200 year old solar sailing "yacht" that has been donated to a girl's high school which has A HISTORY (no spoilers) that none of the students on board at the time really knew about.
Cat & Mouse battles involving EW capabilities ... with an unexpected outcome (see episodes 2.75, 3, 4 & 5, english dubbed: LINK).
HIGHLY 
recommended as an inspiration for how to handle organized unwanted/pirate encounters in a Traveller campaign, starting from while docked at the highport (the opening narration of Episodes 3, 4 & 5, pre-titles are especially useful to ALL spacer crews!) 
The curious parallels between nautical sailing (wind and waves) and orbital navigation into aerobraking descents to a world surface ... and how that kind of skill has multiple applications in different contexts is a recurring theme throughout the series.
Even more surprising, the series has plenty of schoolgirls wearing skirts in zero-G ... and not a single (gratuitous) upskirt view at ANY time throughout the entire run ... which, considering the "demand" for Fan Service™ in the anime market is honestly quite remarkable.
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
After I watched it, I had a go at trying to replicate the sailing aspect with solar panels.
Summarized: possible under the last edition, not practical under the current one.
Sabotaging an enemy's trade routes, to raise insurance rates - who pays insurance in Traveller?
Summarized: possible under the last edition, not practical under the current one.
Sabotaging an enemy's trade routes, to raise insurance rates - who pays insurance in Traveller?
Badenov
SOC-12
Who sells insurance in Traveller? Given the prevalence of piracy and the difficulty of making money with trade, ditching a ship for insurance seems like it ought to be pretty common. Can't make a payment? Get hit by pirates, cash out your policy, start fresh.
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
The Greeks invented shipping insurance, and they were surrounded by pirates.
Though, you have to wonder what the caveats were in the policy.
Castration for insurance fraud?
Though, you have to wonder what the caveats were in the policy.
Castration for insurance fraud?
Hortalez et Cie., apparently. Also other megacorps. But I suspect they're mainly insuring major corporations, and those corps probably mostly self-insure, buying insurance against major unexpected losses only, not against 'normal' loss.
However, I bet freight is insured, either by the shipper as part of their contract, or by the owner.
Thus the need for insurance. Shipping is risky, businesses aren't big fans of risky. Insurance helps mitigate some of that.
Enoki
SOC-14 1K
On insurance...
I could see companies being around that sell it. I could see the seller of your freshly bought far trader on a loan demanding you have it and keep it up to date.
Big and mega corporations might not insure with another company but rather simply self-insure and write off any loss. I could also see these companies definitely having a "security" division within the company of thugs and mercenaries that get paid to hunt down pirates that take one of their ships and make them hurt really, really bad.
I could see companies being around that sell it. I could see the seller of your freshly bought far trader on a loan demanding you have it and keep it up to date.
Big and mega corporations might not insure with another company but rather simply self-insure and write off any loss. I could also see these companies definitely having a "security" division within the company of thugs and mercenaries that get paid to hunt down pirates that take one of their ships and make them hurt really, really bad.
