Gary?

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Saturday, March 27, 2021 - 03:10 pm: Edit

Thank you to SVC for opening this thread.

The current crop of data on the M81 Pirates stems from the OGR and OGD SSD and Ship Cards in Captain's Log #40, plus the Pirates of M81 Galaxy article in Captain's Log #41. Info on the fction emblems used by the various High Pirate Bands are in this PDF, while the M8 Pirate Raider is currently available on Shapeways in both 3788 and 3125 scales. (The 3125 scale OGR looks like this in Smooth fine Detail Plastic, unpainted.) In addition, the home galaxy portion of the Tholian Master Starship Book goes into significant detail as to what kind of freighters, auxiliaries, and fixed defences the pirates would expect to face when raiding one of the Tholians' subjugated species... or, perhaps, when collaborating with any would-be rebels to be found amongst said species.

As noted over in the Nebuline thread, the OGR and OGD are export models of "winged" raiders used by the Nebuline themselves, which in turn are derived from "wingless" Nebuline naval units that fought in the Great Martial War. These export models are "stripped of key Nebuline technology" that somehow grants the Nebuline fleet "a serious advantage in combat" when fighting in a nebula; the OGR and OGD are no better (or worse) inside nebular terrain than any other non-Nebuline faction.

So far, the option mounts on M81 Pirate raiders are permitted access to phaser-1/-2/-3s, particle cannons, and shield crackers. It is as yet unknown if the pirates gained access to web beaker technology at some point during or after the Revolt. Presumably any other direct-fire heavy weapons which might one day be added to the M81 setting would include notes on whether or not the pirates have access to them, and if so in what quantities.

It remains to be seen what other raider variants exist, as well as what kind of bases the pirates use to maintain their operations. (Outside of whatever direct support they might receive from a given Nebuline colony, that is.) Personally, I think a frigate-sized "OGF" and a heavy cruiser-sized "OGC" would be of interest.

So, while much of this discussion would of necessity run in parallel to that of their Nebuline patrons, there should still be plenty to consider for the High Pirate Bands in their own right.