Author Topic: Question regarding jumpships and crews  (Read 1766 times)

Lone-Wolf

  • Master Sergeant
  • *
  • Posts: 339
Question regarding jumpships and crews
« on: 08 September 2017, 08:10:00 »
In the rules it is said that a jumpship should not be attacked but can be boarded.
In the Kell Hounds supplement it is described that how the Kell Hounds acquired their jumpship.
But what about the Combine crew?
I cannot imagine that the Kells would space the crew. And keeping them as crew would also not happen, as they would set course for the Combine at the earliest possible moment.
So, where they turned over to Comstar for repatriation or what?
And what stops the Combine from a tit-for-tat?
You know, the Kell Hounds take a Combine jumpship and the next Steiner merchant who shows up at a Combine planet (regardless of credentials etc) looses his jumpship.
Are crews repatriated or distributed among the new owners fleet or do they have to serve a fixed time in the new owners navy before being repatriated (minus jumpship).
Or is there a rule that the crew plus jumpship will be repatriated after a certain amount of time or if money is paid.

Thanks

cray

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 6266
  • How's it sit? Pretty cunning, don't you think?
Re: Question regarding jumpships and crews
« Reply #1 on: 08 September 2017, 20:16:59 »
Quote
In the rules it is said that a jumpship should not be attacked but can be boarded.

Well, capturing a JumpShip was a violation of the unwritten rules of 3rd Succession War-era conflicts, or at least really stressed the spirit of them.

Quote
I cannot imagine that the Kells would space the crew. And keeping them as crew would also not happen, as they would set course for the Combine at the earliest possible moment.

Drop them on a Steiner planet as POWs? Or any inhabited planet? It'd take them months to get home. Heck, the Lyran government would probably pay their passage to set a good example of how captured JumpShip crews should be treated.

Quote
And what stops the Combine from a tit-for-tat?

Since this was hardly the only time that a JumpShip was captured, the situation was probably de-escalated with the methods used throughout the Third Succession War and into the mid-31st Century for addressing attacks on JumpShips. In this case, someone probably paid reparations, apologized, released some Combine POWs, or did something else to mollify the Combine. Or the Combine launched a raid to balance the scales that way. The response needn't be seizing another JumpShip.

I mean, really, a JumpShip theft is a great way for the Combine to really milk the Commonwealth for an apology, compensation, propaganda value, etc.

"We'll drop our claim and stop raiding you over this JumpShip theft if you give us a battalion of newly-built 'Mechs," or something like that.

Quote
You know, the Kell Hounds take a Combine jumpship and the next Steiner merchant who shows up at a Combine planet (regardless of credentials etc) looses his jumpship.

International trade usually continued during the Third Succession War and up to c3050 regardless of the conflict - I mean, entire planets would switch hands and goods were still traded, never mind JumpShips. If something was important enough to ship across borders in the middle of war then it was usually left out of the usual games, or the Houses tried to settle matters by other means.
Mike Miller, Materials Engineer

**"A man walks down the street in that hat, people know he's not afraid of anything." --Wash, Firefly.
**"Well, the first class name [for pocket WarShips]: 'Ship with delusions of grandeur that is going to evaporate 3.1 seconds after coming into NPPC range' tended to cause morale problems...." --Korzon77
**"Describe the Clans." "Imagine an entire civilization built out of 80’s Ric Flairs, Hulk Hogans, & Macho Man Randy Savages ruling over an entire labor force with Einstein Level Intelligence." --Jake Mikolaitis


Disclaimer: Anything stated in this post is unofficial and non-canon unless directly quoted from a published book. Random internet musings of a BattleTech writer are not canon.

Lone-Wolf

  • Master Sergeant
  • *
  • Posts: 339
Re: Question regarding jumpships and crews
« Reply #2 on: 11 September 2017, 13:37:00 »
Thank you.

But what about pirate hunting?
If the Kell Hounds / 12th Lyran Regulars (or any other House or mercenary command on pirate hunting duties) jumps into the system where the jumpship of the Skullreapers pirate group is at the nadir point, then this jumpship is not taken?

Or what if the former colony of Star Haven (which dropped of the map in one of the Succession Wars and nobody except the jumpship crew knows where to find them) sends a jumpship to Solaris VII and a Marik raiding force takes this jumpship?
Yes, sending them down to the planet, OK, but how long will House Marik pay their bills?
Yes, I know that one of the Houses is willing to send a jumpship for collecting taxes, but only if it is worth something, like a Mech-factory or something. If it is a very poor planet I think no-one will care.

cray

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 6266
  • How's it sit? Pretty cunning, don't you think?
Re: Question regarding jumpships and crews
« Reply #3 on: 12 September 2017, 17:34:16 »
Thank you.

But what about pirate hunting?
If the Kell Hounds / 12th Lyran Regulars (or any other House or mercenary command on pirate hunting duties) jumps into the system where the jumpship of the Skullreapers pirate group is at the nadir point, then this jumpship is not taken?

I'd assume a pirate JumpShip, seeing the arriving signature of another, unplanned JumpShip, would probably kill its station keeping drive, turn off its radios, and thus effectively turn invisible. Per the sensor rules of Strategic Operations p. 117-119, and per the jump point descriptions (p. 134-135), BT's aerospace sensors have much shorter ranges than the size of standard jump points.

The only sensors with useful interplanetary-scale search ranges are:
1) jump signal detectors, which can spot a jump at distance of a billion kilometers or more
2) drive plume detectors, which can spot targets at tens of millions of kilometers on a good roll

Standard jump "points" are just places where the poles of the star intersect the "proximity limit" of the star system, which is the closest point to the star that JumpShips could normally arrive (ignoring pirate points). The entirety of space beyond star systems' proximity limits is open to JumpShips, so zenith/nadir points sort of blur off into an endless volume of valid jump arrival points. The stand out feature of zenith/nadir points is that targeting them is easier than most jump points (see hyperspace travel, Strategic Operations, p. 88).

What I'm getting at: it's unlikely that a half-intelligent pirate ship will be close to detection range at standard jump points.

But for those others who are spotted, yes, it seems likely that Houses and ComStar wouldn't yell too loudly if pirate JumpShips were captured. Just note that boarding actions are challenging without specialized troops and ships. Even a lumbering JumpShip is hard to dock with if it starts rolling and burning.

Quote
Or what if the former colony of Star Haven (which dropped of the map in one of the Succession Wars and nobody except the jumpship crew knows where to find them) sends a jumpship to Solaris VII and a Marik raiding force takes this jumpship?
Yes, sending them down to the planet, OK, but how long will House Marik pay their bills?

Probably not long at all. "Deep Periphery scum? Be glad you're on a planet with atmosphere and fast food."
Mike Miller, Materials Engineer

**"A man walks down the street in that hat, people know he's not afraid of anything." --Wash, Firefly.
**"Well, the first class name [for pocket WarShips]: 'Ship with delusions of grandeur that is going to evaporate 3.1 seconds after coming into NPPC range' tended to cause morale problems...." --Korzon77
**"Describe the Clans." "Imagine an entire civilization built out of 80’s Ric Flairs, Hulk Hogans, & Macho Man Randy Savages ruling over an entire labor force with Einstein Level Intelligence." --Jake Mikolaitis


Disclaimer: Anything stated in this post is unofficial and non-canon unless directly quoted from a published book. Random internet musings of a BattleTech writer are not canon.