HI.


I got my shiny new copy of SFB Module Y2 today - and it's great! - though I couldn't help but notice the details in (YR13.N1) Pirates of ISC Space.

In particular, there is a part which states how "They did operate purpose-built warships (to be seen in a future product)" - which, along with the poring over Iron Crown miniatures lately, set a few wheels spinning...


What if one or more of the designs available from IC could be used to rep different types of these pirate ships?


For example, there are a few ships from the "Renegades" "Q'rai Void Protectorate" and "More than Valor" sub-lines which might work as pirate craft - such as the Samurai, Blood Hawk, Eagle and Djinn.


Also, in the same vein that Orions were known to turn Free Traders into Free Traitors, what if one or more of the smaller ships are actually the pre-Y160 equivalents of Free Traders, Prime Traders and Armed Priority Transports in the Trusteeship Territory?

(Since the ISC had no way of knowing what other Alpha FTs looked like, there's no reason to assume they looked the same.)

Indeed, another line which says "ships that can be approximated by Armed Priority Transports and Free Traders" while referring to more common pirate craft.

Maybe the smaller of the Djinn, Blood Hawk and Eagle could be the APT-alike, the middle-sized one the FT-alike, the larger of the three the PT-alike, and the Samurai a more purpose-built pirate warship?


Also, perhaps the Pirates could have relied on a mobile base of operations, converted out of a large cargo ship, rather than have the kind of bases that Orion pirates use.

So, maybe the Q'rai Lillith and/or Shedu could serve as just such converted cargo ships?

Again, the text says "similar to Q-ships or the armed auxiliaries from Module R8" - but not necessarily identical (again, due to lack of contact with the rest of the Octant).


The SSDs for most of these ships need not look too different to the Alpha norm, but would be just different enough to give what is essentially its own setting (almost like the Cloud, in a sense, at least prior to Y160) more flavour - and the Samurai could make for an interesting pirate ship, at least.


How do these ideas sound?

By Mike West (Mjwest) on Friday, November 07, 2008 - 11:26 pm: Edit

I want something that uses the Night Brood miniatures ...

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Saturday, November 08, 2008 - 04:48 am: Edit

Those ships have a much more organic feel...

...maybe they could be the ships of the Yrol Septs, out in the Lesser Magellanic Cloud?


The Yrol are described in Module C5 as somehow merging 'semi-mobile' (which might mean impulse-powered, but that's just a guess) hulls to 'semi-sentient' creatures that are, apparently, indigenous to their home nebula (which lies just 'westwards' of the Uthiki Harmony, and bordered by the Baduvai Imperium) - but can exist out of it for a few weeks at a stretch (essentially, long enough to raid Uthiki or Baduvai space and get back again).


Perhaps the smaller Night Brood minis could be the 'semi-mobile ships', while the larger minis the 'semi-sentient creatures' in question - which may, perhaps, be assumed to already have the ships somehow embedded within them?

(That way, one could use the same mini to represent both a 'wild' creature and a 'merged/domesticated' type - and not have to somehow modify the figure to weld one of the smaller figure onto, or into, the larger one.)


That idea might need to be posted in a new topic over in the Omega and Magellanic Proposals sub-forum, if anyone thought it to be a good idea that is... and in their absence, I went and started one anyway.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Saturday, November 08, 2008 - 04:05 pm: Edit

A few ideas concerning how the Pirates might work:


*While the unified fleet moved on to Plasma-F and Plasma-G launchers, perhaps the Pirates decided (or were forced) to stick with the range of racial weapons used by the racial ships.

While Plasma Blasters, Plasma-Vortex Launchers and Plasma Cannon mightn't be too much trouble to get/produce/maintain, and Pl-V Torpedoes could be an option (though perhaps a rarer one?) I guess supplies of Plasma Drones would be pretty rare indeed.

So, not only could they try to fit these weapons onto converted ships, one could imagine the purpose-built pirate ships to be designed from the keep up to have option mounts.


*In tandem with the range of heavy weapons, one could break the Pirates into various 'Associations', or bands - each tending to operate either on one of the 'pie slices' settled by each race in the first decades of expansion (or perhaps on the frontier dividing one government's zone from another) or perhaps out in the more distant provinces, which (I'm guessing here) might be treated as a shared 'Trusteeship Territory' by the ISC, as opposed to being assigned to just one or other member government.

So, in keeping with this kind of range, one could decide which weapon systems are more likely to be fielded by this or that band.


*Perhaps in reaction to the emergence of the united fleet, the pirates might, ironically, start to use a common set of purpose-built hull designs, whereas before this they might have relied solely on the converted civilian craft. Yet, due to economic and logistical restraints, each band might operate only a very few 'real' pirate ships at a go - continuing to rely on conversions of civilian ships for the bulk of their fleets.


*Instead of trying to stop and build base stations (or infiltrate civilian ones) - perhaps due to lack of resources, or a preference to use the large swathes of Trusteeship Territory space to their advantage - each band might base themselves around one or more small and/or large converted cargo ships as their logistical nodes.


*IC mini-wise, I was thinking of the following (all of which are linked to in the opening post):

Lillith - medium cargo ship/Q-ship/mobile logistics node

Shedu - large/heavy cargo ship/Q-ship/mobile logistics node

Djinn - civilian APT-alike/Pirate smuggler

Blood Hawk/Eagle (smaller of the two) - civilian Free Trader-alike/Free Traitor-alike

Blood Hawk/Eagle (larger of the two) - civilian Prime Trader-alike/Prime Traitor-alike

Samurai - purpose-built CL-sized pirate raider


Just a few ideas to start off with - but I've already thought of one story idea that might be interesting...

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Monday, November 17, 2008 - 01:55 am: Edit

After looking over the list on the IC site, I'm wondering if the Jambiya might not be a better option for the APT-alike, leaving the Djinn to be a frigate- or destroyer-sized pirate warship...


...and/or whether or not the Battle Satellite might not make for a small (and rare) stationary base for the pirate bands.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Monday, November 17, 2008 - 08:36 pm: Edit

While looking at the ICE site for something else (ie which ship is the 'real' Pteradon, and which is the Spider instead...) I noted a couple more ships that might make for interesting options - the 0685 Bat and 0686 Shark.

Though, of the two, the Shark seems a little better - and has something of a fast-transport-ey look to it.


I guess if it could be the APT-alike, the Jambiya could be made a frigate-sized raider, with the Djinn a destroyer and the Samurai a CL?


Or, instead, maybe the Shark could be a Slaver-alike, leaving the Jambiya as an APT-alike and the Djinn the main YLR-alike...


The Bat, in contrast, I don't like too much, but perhaps it could be a (conjectural?) equivalent of a YCA or something.

By John Trauger (Vorlonagent) on Tuesday, November 18, 2008 - 12:45 pm: Edit

I thought the ISC didn't have pirates until the orions moved in.

Them being this highly socialized "one big happy family" utopia prior to being exposed to the genocidal insanity gripping the rest of the galaxy.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Tuesday, November 18, 2008 - 02:24 pm: Edit

According to Module Y2's (YR13.N1):

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Quote:

Pirates in ISC space prior to Y160 were entirely domestic, composed of criminals and renegades from the five ISC planets. They did operate some purpose-built warships (to be seen in a future product) but mostly operated armed freighters (similar to Q-ships or the armed auxiliaries from Module R8) or ships that can be approximated by Armed Priority Transports and Free Traders.

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By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Wednesday, November 19, 2008 - 12:52 am: Edit

My bad - the above quote should refer to Y150 instead.