What Do X-boat Pilots Do?

[rancke]

It's not just *a* ship, it's an Imperium-spanning network of 1000s, and everything that goes with it.

But if we're talking about news from Capital, one ship is all it takes to make nonsense of the "Norris got a head start" story. And a dozen couriers jumping back and forth from Capital is precisely the most likely use of jump-6 couriers a subsector duke or a high-population world would have, for getting news from Capital and sending instructions to representatives.

As for Imperium-spanning networks, the reason for keeping the flow of information down to jump-4 is supposedly that having advanced notice of events gives TPTB and advantage, right? And presumably not just in those rare cases when emperors get assassinated, but also in more mundane situations, right? Leaving aside the fact that the dukes ARE The Powers That Be, it follows that if TPTB has an advantage, those just below them on the ladder are at a disadvantage, right? So what could be more likely than that they'd want to nullify that advantage? Which means that clubbing together to pay for a Not-Quite-The-Top-League news network that, say, connected just the 28 sector capitals, would be worth considering, right? It doesn't have to be nearly as elaborate as the X-boat network in order to beat it hollow over any distance greater than 12 parsecs or so.

Then there are the news-hungry people on the high-population worlds. If only one in a thousand cares a fig for off-planet news, that's still a clientelle of many millions, and getting the news first means money to the news organization that manages that. If the TAS gets its news by jump-6 somehow, every TAS member gets it that fast and any news organization with the wit to pay a TAS member to feed it news does too. If the TAS doesn't get it by jump-6, there's going to be room for a Pan-Imperial News Service to do it.

And finally the people I've mentioned before, those not rich enough to have a private yacht but plenty rich enough to pay five times the jump-3 rate to get from one world to another in half the time. Those people will be the basis for a small jump-6 passenger traffic, and every one of those ships will be carrying the latest news in its data banks.


Hans

 

[kafka47]

He is there as Security as well. For many ethically challenged merchants would not hesitate to steal from an automatic mail packet but they may have some doubts about killing an Imperial Official...especially if there was a high enough sanction against doing so.

 

[Andrew Boulton]

But if we're talking about news from Capital, one ship is all it takes to make nonsense of the "Norris got a head start" story.

One ship couldn't do 6pc/week for more than a couple of jumps. You need a proper network of several dozen, just for Capital-Regina. Even a megacorp would struggle.

 

[rancke]

One ship couldn't do 6pc/week for more than a couple of jumps. You need a proper network of several dozen, just for Capital-Regina. Even a megacorp would struggle.

No, a single ship wouldn't be able to do 6 parsecs per week, but it should have no problem averaging 5.5. So the navy couriers would beat a single ship by a number of days, maybe a couple of weeks even, no question about that. But the "Imperiallines" courier would be under exactly the same constraints as our hypothetical private courier. Since there is only one courier per office, they don't enjoy the advantage that the Navy has of being able to send off a new courier as soon as the information has been transferred. So refuelling will take just as much time for the Imperiallines courier. And since the route is limited to Class C starports, it's almost inevitable that it won't be able to do jump-6 jumps every time, and that some of the jumps will be less than optimal. Whereas the private courier, which can use Class A and B starports all the way, will be able to do jump-5 and jump-6 all the way (I know because I worked out the route once). Oh, and the Capital to Mora route is several jumps shorter than the Capital to Regina route even without doglegs.

Why in the universe would you need more than one courier for one trip? You can USE more than one, sure, which is what would give the Navy an advantage (it's even possible to achieve a tiny bit MORE than 6 parsecs per week if you're willing to spend money like water). And if our hypothetical ruler wants regular monthly updates, he'd need more than a dozen couriers, but that's well within the means of a high-population world.


Hans

 

[boomslang]

The entire existence of the Imperiallines TJs is a little odd, given that the IN has publically-acknowledged FF J-6 couriers zipping around between major worlds at all times anyway carrying fleet deployment orders and logistics reports and other non-trivial commo -- and given the intermingling of much of IN high command and 3I nobility, private, coded messages carried on IN dispatch vessels are to be expected as a matter of routine.

I'm sure the VIP accommodations are nicer onboard the TJs, but they seem better-suited to be exceptions rather than the rule.

 

[rancke]

The entire existence of the Imperiallines TJs is a little odd, given that the IN has publically-acknowledged FF J-6 couriers zipping around between major worlds at all times anyway carrying fleet deployment orders and logistics reports and other non-trivial commo -- and given the intermingling of much of IN high command and 3I nobility, private, coded messages carried on IN dispatch vessels are to be expected as a matter of routine.

I'm sure the VIP accommodations are nicer onboard the TJs, but they seem better-suited to be exceptions rather than the rule.

My take is that the Emperor likes to have a means of communication not controlled by the IN. Being run by a department of the Palace and being a much smaller organization, the Emperor would be able to keep a much tighter rein over it than over the navy. Also, its primary purpose is probably to move his covert agents while keeping them under the radar.


Hans

 

[boomslang]

Also, its primary purpose is probably to move his covert agents while keeping them under the radar.

OK, I'll buy that; presumably, however, it is not necessary for covert agents to traverse half the length of the 3I on a regular basis -- so Imperiallines would act as a feeder and distribution system, moving the Agents of the Iridium Throne around off of the main trade/Xboat lanes, no more than perhaps a sector's worth of distance for any particular mission.

On other occasions, the covert agents could simply travel by public transport (such as Tukera's Xboat-route-following liner-freighters), and simply arrange for Imperiallines to deliver them to their ultimate, lower-rated-starport destinations under the cover of tramp-freighter-takes-on-walk-up-passenger-moments-after-filing-new-flightplan (or something similar).

I think we can draw a distinction between privileged time-sensitive political intel which might need to reach the Emperor's ears outside of IN channels, and threats to Imperial military and/or economic security which he should be able to trust the IN to route promptly and efficiently.

 

[Carny]

I don't think Norris elevating himself to Archduke is really a valid point to use to make or break the case for a J-6 'private' network of couriers. We're talking about a very unique circumstance, ie, the assassination of the Emperor, and the fact that no matter what other information came down the pipe afterward, when the 'wavefront' of publically available data got to the Marches, and more importantly beyond, it was very likely that the Domain of Deneb would need all hands on deck, and most assuredly would need to NOT have the same divided counsel that marred the conduct of the 5FW.

That said, it does seem likely even with both the Navy and at least some of the Megacorps having networks of J-6 couriers, there wouldn't be much lead time between news happening, and it being reported, though that lead time would expand the further one got from Capital. (Or, of course, other source of important news.)

I do have doubts about the commercial viability of J-6 liners and freighters. Most OTU trade ships dink around with Jump 1 and 2, simply because its less costly to build and maintain, and the levels of profit really don't rise much whether you jump 1 parsec or 6. Most business people won't need to travel routinely more then a jump 1 or 2 from home, and of those who do need to go father, most will be amply served by larger jump 4 commercial craft, moving from A class port to A class port.

Getting back to the original question, I find it interesting that Mongoose Traveller's version of the X boat, so far as I know the most recent iteration, goes to almost ridiculous lengths to avoid giving the Xboat a manuever drive, instead giving it six weeks of power plant operating fuel, and 5.25 dtons of cargo space.

 

[rancke]

I don't think Norris elevating himself to Archduke is really a valid point to use to make or break the case for a J-6 'private' network of couriers. We're talking about a very unique circumstance, ie, the assassination of the Emperor, and the fact that no matter what other information came down the pipe afterward, when the 'wavefront' of publically available data got to the Marches, and more importantly beyond, it was very likely that the Domain of Deneb would need all hands on deck, and most assuredly would need to NOT have the same divided counsel that marred the conduct of the 5FW.

I'm not using the story to prove that a sizable number of people have access to J6 communication. I'm trying to refute it to prevent it from proving that such a group of people does not exist.

I do have doubts about the commercial viability of J-6 liners and freighters. Most OTU trade ships dink around with Jump 1 and 2, simply because its less costly to build and maintain, and the levels of profit really don't rise much whether you jump 1 parsec or 6.

You'd think so, wouldn't you? No doubt that why the original writers made such a to-do about jump-1 merchants and jump-1 mains. But if you analyze the cost of transporting goods across long distances, this turns out not to be the case.

If you need to move something one parsec, jump-1 shipping is cheapest. But for a two parsec distance, jump-2 is cheaper than jump-1. The reason for this is that although a jump-1 ship is cheaper than a jump-2 ship and has a larger cargo hold, the jump-2 ship delivers two loads every time the jump-1 ship delivers one. So in the time it takes the jump-1 ship to deliver, say, 60 dT, the jump-2 ship has delivered 2*50 dT. This makes the per dT cost of jump-2 shipping cheaper than jump-1.

For three parsecs, jump-3 is also cheaper than jump-1, and it's much cheaper than jump-2. The reason for the last is that a jump-2 ship has to make one jump-2 and one jump-1 in order to go three parsecs, and that makes it very inefficient (It may even be worse than using jump-1, but I haven't done the calculations for that one).

For six parsecs, jump-2 and jump-3 costs roughly the same, everything else being equal (i.e. provided there are the requisite intermediate systems for both ships to refuel). But the jump-3 ship gets there faster, of course.

Jump-4 costs roughly the same as jump-1, but it's four times faster. It's about 25% more expensive than jump-2, but twice as fast. I submit that there would be passengers who would be willing to pay the extra cost.

Jump-6 is about twice as expensive as jump-3; again, I think there will be people who will be willing to pay that in order to cut down on transit time.

Most business people won't need to travel routinely more then a jump 1 or 2 from home, and of those who do need to go father, most will be amply served by larger jump 4 commercial craft, moving from A class port to A class port.

How can you be so sure of that?

Getting back to the original question, I find it interesting that Mongoose Traveller's version of the X boat, so far as I know the most recent iteration, goes to almost ridiculous lengths to avoid giving the Xboat a manuever drive, instead giving it six weeks of power plant operating fuel, and 5.25 dtons of cargo space.

<Snigger>!


Hans

 

[Whipsnade]

OK, I'll buy that; presumably, however, it is not necessary for covert agents to traverse half the length of the 3I on a regular basis -- so Imperiallines would act as a feeder and distribution system, moving the Agents of the Iridium Throne around off of the main trade/Xboat lanes, no more than perhaps a sector's worth of distance for any particular mission.

Boomslang,

I think that's something we all agree on. I don't think anyone envisions Strephon dispatching an actual agent from Sylea/Core to Vanejan/Spinward Marches and said agent then hopping aboard a TJ for the entire trip.

What would happen instead is Strephon would dispatch order to his spy chief in the Marches or Deneb that would travel along a chain of TJs. The agent would then travel aboard J6 and J2 TJs as necessary to his assignment.


Regards,
Bill

 

[boomslang]

What would happen instead is Strephon would dispatch order to his spy chief in the Marches or Deneb that would travel along a chain of TJs. The agent would then travel aboard J6 and J2 TJs as necessary to his assignment.

I'm not entirely convinced; the whole apparatus of Imperiallines seems like a great deal of infrastructure and overhead simply to get a coded message from Capital to some field agent.

It would be simpler to send an encrypted communique along the regular IN commo channels from some fourth- or fifth-tier trusted lieutenant staffer in Admiralty HQ out to some deep-cover clerical staff officer -- under the guise of still more trivial, bureaucratic busywork -- who would then decode it and pass it on to the operative(s).

This would require only two trusted secret agents in the courier task, one at each end of the chain, rather than an entire mercantile fleet of them at every step along the way (ground personnel, in particular). Also, how plausible is the idea that an entire class of high-performance couriers are hidden from the IN in plain sight under the livery of a line of tramp freighters? The fueling and maintenance requirements will not be easy to conceal from nosy "starship-spotters", and the mass and heat signatures from those huge (in comparison to the modest TI) drives will be a giveaway to any competent SPA inspector.

I am thinking Imperiallines is a disinformation campaign. The ships surely do exist -- with the full knowledge of NI -- for those rare occasions (such as the Empress Wave observations) when key personnel need to leave Capital (or other politically-important worlds) to travel and return clandestinely, but in general I suspect Imperiallines is operated as a ruse designed to keep NI from seeing the real lines of communication the Iridium Throne uses in private.

 

[Whipsnade]

I'm not entirely convinced; the whole apparatus of Imperiallines seems like a great deal of infrastructure and overhead simply to get a coded message from Capital to some field agent.

Boomslang,

You're right up to a point. The Imperiallines organization would be too much infrastructure and overhead just for Strephon to ask questions that will require years to answer. However, we need to remember that acting as Strephon's personal intelligence network isn't Imperiallines only job. Imperiallines isn't a one trick pony. (I'll get more into this below.)

It would be simpler to send an encrypted communique along the regular IN commo channels from some fourth- or fifth-tier trusted lieutenant staffer in Admiralty HQ out to some deep-cover clerical staff officer -- under the guise of still more trivial, bureaucratic busywork -- who would then decode it and pass it on to the operative(s).

That is the most likely delivery mechanism for most of Strephon's orders to his various spooks. The trouble begins when everyone else knows thats how the orders are transmitted. Rarely, most likely very rarely, Strephon will want an order and response passed along a chain which is more secure. Enter Imperiallines.

The Purloined Letter Gambit you lay out above works nicely, but it's always good to have multiple methods of communication.

I am thinking Imperiallines is a disinformation campaign.

Definitely. That's one of it's many, many jobs. Remember the Purloined Letter Gambit I mentioned above? Well, among many other things, Imperiallines is a variation on the purloined letter gambit too.

IMHO, one very important job Imperiallines performs is that of "soft" intelligence. There's a quote in canon from Norris, in T4 IIRC, commenting on Cleon's decision to have an imperially operated starport in every imperial system. The gist of what he says is that, while Cleon was smart enough to give member worlds geat latitudes under the new Imperium, he was also smart enough to place an imperial "window" on every world too.

Well, Imperiallines is just another "imperial" window. As with starports, Imperiallines is one way that the Imperium can keep a finger on its member worlds' pulses.

It's J2 trade vessels routinely visit worlds with Class-C or lower starports. In other words, all those backwater worlds that tend to get forgotten among the hi-tech, hi-pop powerhouses are routinely visited but what is esentially a subsidized merchant owned by the Emperor which is part of an Imperium-wide operation.

Think of it this way: Each time an Imperiallines J2 transport visits a port, an organization completely owned by and only responsible to the Imperial Household is visiting that port. Who knows who or what is aboard? Who know who or what they are there for? Are they agents? Are they traders? It could simply be a the scheduled voyage, it could be an intel mission, it could be a fact finding mission, it could be all three, or it could none of the three. How can anyone tell the difference anyway? Imperiallines is everywhere, you can't easily separate the wheat from the chaff(1), and the purloined letter goes unnoticed.

Pretty sneaky huh?

The ships surely do exist -- with the full knowledge of NI -- for those rare occasions (such as the Empress Wave observations) when key personnel need to leave Capital (or other politically-important worlds) to travel and return clandestinely, but in general I suspect Imperiallines is operated as a ruse designed to keep NI from seeing the real lines of communication the Iridium Throne uses in private.

Just as I don't think Imperiallindes routinely passes messages between Sylea and otehr worlds, I don't think Imperiallines is routinely used to move people between Sylea and other major worlds. There are too many other choices for travel betwen major worlds, too many other ways for a person to travel (somewhat) unnoticed. What it can do is move important figures around in the boonies where it is often the only scheduled choice for the trip and the only secure choice at that.

INI - and all the other Imperial intel agencies - most certainly knows all about Imperiallines. They all often works together and they all sometimes opposes each other by accident or not. Still, Imperiallines is so large, so widespread, so nebulous that it would be very hard to keep track of.

So Imperiallines is a just simple trading organization...

... and a Imperium-wide subsidized merchant fleet that services underserved worlds...

... and a soft intelligence outfit...

... and an active intelligence outfit...

... and a secure J6 communications system...

... and a safe courier/passenger service...

... and wholly owned by the Imperial Household...

... and dozens of other things too!

It's the ultimate expression of the Purloined Letter Gambit. It does so much, both innocuous and secret, that it's hard to separate the "signal" from the "noise".


Regards,
Bill

1 - The J6 vessels aren't the only ones that do the sneaky bits, so you can't just finger the J6 ships and ignore the J2s. Which of the three shells is the pea under?

 

[boomslang]

Pretty sneaky huh?

I am sure that there is an elaborate cat-and-mouse that goes on every time an Imperiallines transport makes planetfall, you betcha.

... and dozens of other things too!

And don't forget spying on Tukera at every opportunity....

 

[Redcap]

And janitors are now "Sanitation engineers".

And yet a bus driver is, and always has been, a bus driver (and yeah, I'm a bus driver IRL!). Go figure!

Anyhow...

Here's my take on the routine of an X-Boat Pilot's rota; gives some idea of their routine, what they do, and so on.

For each three week period, one week is spent on a base tender. This is the main tender that a pilot will be based from. Most of his personal gear that he doesn't need or want on voayage will be stored here. Let's call it post 1. The routine here will be the same for the other three tenders he'll regularly see, but this is where his physical mail, as opposed to electronic mail, will catch up with him. As a result, it's where he'll probably form his 'emotional' or 'comfort' ties.

After a week on his base tender, he'll board and man an x-boat for a fortnight. This includes time for prepping pre- and post- jump, towing to/from jump point, and the time spent in jump space as well.

He'll then arrive at his next week of 'down time', where he'll undergo a set of standard psych and physical medicals (gotta know ehen something might kick off upstairs and down!), catch up with routine admin, and so on, while he awaits his next x-boat. This routine will carry on like clockwork for the full twelve weeks, until he arrives back at his base tender, having visited a total of four star systems, and not even had a chance to go to a single fleshpot or startown dive (Scout Brew not being permitted on board x-Boat tenders!).

WEEK.......ROUTINE.......POST
1.............Tender.........1
2.............Boat.............X
3.............Boat.............X
4.............Tender.........2
5.............Boat.............X
6.............Boat.............X
7.............Tender.........3
8.............Boat.............X
9.............Boat.............X
10...........Tender.........4
11...........Boat.............X
12...........Boat.............X
1.............Tender.........1

Allowing for four weeks of annual leave, this provides the Comunications Branch to rota the poor sap for four full shift rotations of duty per ISA (Imperial Standard Annum), thus getting their monies' worth from them.

During jump, aside from their regular internal maintenance duties, Pilots would be expected to keep up with their academic promotion evaluation reviews (ACPERS), and thus be able to submit regular exam entries to the local promotion boards every few months.

This is probably one of the reasons X-Boat pilots are so well qualified for their very boring and repetitive jobs, and why they're so very glad to be shot of the monotony once their posts move onto Exploration Branch!

 

[Gvadakoung]

I like that a lot, Roger, and am swiping it for "how it is" IMTU. Thanks!

 

[saundby]

The business process engineer in me says that the X-Boat pilot is there to sign transmittal slips and sit on the mail bags during transport. M-drives are left off as part of verifying no other travel or contacts have been made during transport without enough extra steps necessary that it becomes an acceptable level of risk.

The X-Boat pilot serves a legal/liability function, not a technical one. The omission of an M-Drive is a minor technical control made for information security purposes.

Yes, the same ends can be achieved in other ways, but that's the case for any specific set of business controls you care to name. Each will have advantages and disadvantages, what it often comes down to is what process managers are comfortable with, how liability gets assigned, and so on.

X-Boat "pilots" may get the title and pay since it's the easiest way of providing some type of compensation for the liability they take on. Being in the service, and that any issues found could be classified as fraud, they'd be on the hook for life for anything they handle during their terms.

*shrug* That's one explanation that came to mind for me, anyway.

 

[christopher.boote]

The real cynic in me says that there are no M-drives to stop a hijacked ship (by a 'gone-postal' scout or other external agency) being pointed at a planet and accelerated at 1G until it's a massive C-bomb

 

[bromdenlong]

Short answer: they navigate

IMTU, Pilot skill involves 3-dimensional space, and Navigation skill equals JUMP SKILL- both calculating the jump beforehand and monitoring/tweaking during the jump. I'm picturing the math as being very different from,and more complex than, Newtonian/Einsteinian ballistics.

IMTU, Pilot-7 doesn't let you plot or monitor a jump at all. Otherwise, Nav just seems to be a supplemental, unnecessary skill. Why would anyone hire a navigator when a pilot can do the same thing AND fly the boat? To save Cr1000 a month? Bah. The cost of having a backup pilot is cheap insurance for a multimillion Cr ship.

IMTU, they aren't Xboat pilots, they're Xboat navvies.

I suspect that the whole notion of Pilot skill including all of Nav skill is because skills are so hard to come by in the original CT LBBs, and no one wanted to be told that their shiny new scout character with his own ship still needed a navvie to really get anywhere...

Yes, navigation is a necessary part of sailing a ship or flying a plane. It just seems that the one technology the whole game is really built around - FTL JUMP - deserves its own separate skill.

So, IMTU xboat navvies are navigators, engineers, comm specialists, and gunners. I think having the xboats unarmed is weirder/dumber than not giving them maneuver drive.

I say all xboat navvies in their first term are trained to Nav 1, Eng 1, Comm 1, and Gunnery 1. Or Comm 1 could be Comp 1 - say the xboats only download over physical lines rather than broadcasting in tight beams.

They are not trained as pilots. That would be a waste of the Scout Service's money.

Nav is a very prestigious skill. Pilots average more pay than navvies only because the scouts crank out so many xboat navvies because of the high turnover.

If the training is on xboats, it could explain the extra berth. Maybe the claustrophobia-loneliness breakdown rate is so high that training them aboard xboats is cheaper than putting them all the way through classes and having half of them collapse before first term is over.

 

[Jame]

You all forgot the most important part of what Xboat pilots actually do:

they go INSANE! :devil:

 

[Sanjuro]

And if our hypothetical ruler wants regular monthly updates, he'd need more than a dozen couriers,

doesn't quite make a network.
The theoretical noble, or group, willing to pay for his own source of information is in for an even bigger bill than he is expecting. To say a small group of ships can average J5.5 over a long distance is probably true- this does not allow for regular news.
To ensure a private network can spread news of the Emperor's assassination as fast as possible, it has to have been waiting for the event. Otherwise, there is no way of guaranteeing that the monthly courier didn't leave an hour ago- making it a month before the private couriers can even send the information.
Even leaving ships in reserve for urgent information cannot reliably beat the xboats- either the definition of urgent is so strict the ships never actually leave, or loose enough that there is likely to be at least a day or two of delay waiting for the next ship in.
None of this prevents private J6 ships- but they will tend to lose on turnaround time.