STGOD 4 - Armed Merchant Cruiser

[Stormbringer]

The issue of Armed Merchant Cruisers and armed freighters has come up. Rather than just decidings I figured I would put up a poll and see what people think.

[Alyrium Denryle]

It depends on how much the government interferes with commerce. A merchant cruiser in my nation is not under my governments control, and will not see military service. However, when one is used for a mass order(like shipping of hundreds of defense emplacements) they should be declared, and their statistics typed out.

[Captain tycho]

All foreign trade is monitored by the Royal Manticoran Merchant Service, which is a branch of the military. All RMMS ships are armed with counter-missiles and point-defense, but no offensive systems. However, they are almost always escorted by either LACs or several destroyers, depending on the size of the convoy.

[Thirdfain]

That's silly.

I don't technically "control" the individual Clusters, or the Floaters, but I post their actions. Does this mean that in addition to the Hajr, I can field Cluster militias with cruiser vessels and larger?

BTW, I intend on writing up an OOB for the Floater vessels uinder my command, which will prolly come out to between 10-15 cruisers, 100 or so escorts, and 1 ageing capital. None will be quite up to modern military grade, with the exception of some Inishan vessels I've outfitted with modern weapons and shields (and some of the others will improve themselves with equipment purchased at the trade fair.)

Most of my merchantmen are armed, certainly, but only enough to run off a few fighters or a lone pirate frigate/corvette at most.

[Rogue 9]

Depends entirely on the armament grade we're talking about. If we're talking something capable of standing up to a destroyer or frigate and winning (rather than holding them off long enough to escape, which is another matter entirely), then yes, declare and possibly list.

[Straha]

Depends really, if these ships are armed/designed for military service OR are capable of withstanding major armed attack, yes (if they can be forces to work for the nation's navy/bought to work for the nations navy.) If not I see no reason to even list them, much less have them taken from your ship total.

[Alyrium Denryle]

I figure an armed merchant cruiser would be armed well enough to defend itself competantly from around several escorts or 1 standad warship.

Not defeat it necessarily but enough to say "Look, I am a spiny porcupine, you had best focus your attention elsewhere."

Then fight off pirates long enough to escape, or have a small fleet jump in.

[Stormbringer]

I figure an armed merchant cruiser would be armed well enough to defend itself competantly from around several escorts or 1 standad warship.

Not defeat it necessarily but enough to say "Look, I am a spiny porcupine, you had best focus your attention elsewhere."

Then fight off pirates long enough to escape, or have a small fleet jump in.

Which would still make it a pretty effective combatant all things considered. Standing off a couple escorts requires a fair amount of fire power.

[Stormbringer]

Perhaps add a seperate listing for any auxilliaries of that sort and put a cap on the number of them starting out?

[Alyrium Denryle]

Perhaps add a seperate listing for any auxilliaries of that sort and put a cap on the number of them starting out?

That would make sense, afterall, we are dealing with coroporate budgets rather than military.

[Stormbringer]

Perhaps add a seperate listing for any auxilliaries of that sort and put a cap on the number of them starting out?

That would make sense, afterall, we are dealing with coroporate budgets rather than military.

Except, as I said, not all of these ships would necessarily be corporate controlled as yours our. And nor do I really believe that such ships wouldn't wind up in the fray some how.

[Alyrium Denryle]

Perhaps add a seperate listing for any auxilliaries of that sort and put a cap on the number of them starting out?

That would make sense, afterall, we are dealing with coroporate budgets rather than military.

Except, as I said, not all of these ships would necessarily be corporate controlled as yours our. And nor do I really believe that such ships wouldn't wind up in the fray some how.

They may get involved if the homeworld is attacked, but they should not be used offensivly. WHich is why they should be in a seperate listing.

[Bugsby]

You shouldn't have to declare all armed mercahnt vessels, cuz thats just silly. It should be assumed that everyone has mercahnt vessels and all of them have at least a limited armament. However, what SHOULD be illegal is to run suicide mssions like Beowulfs and not lose any of your ships, because they are "armored merchants" and thus do not count.

If arms on a merchant weapon are used defensively, then that is ok. If someone ATTACKS with an "armed merchant vessel," that is now a combat ship and must be subtracted from ship totals.

[InnocentBystander]

The issue of Armed Merchant Cruisers and armed freighters has come up. Rather than just decidings I figured I would put up a poll and see what people think.

If you want your merchants to be able to hold off pirates on their own, you have to sacrifice your escorts, say, 30% or so?

[Beowulf]

You shouldn't have to declare all armed mercahnt vessels, cuz thats just silly. It should be assumed that everyone has mercahnt vessels and all of them have at least a limited armament. However, what SHOULD be illegal is to run suicide mssions like Beowulfs and not lose any of your ships, because they are "armored merchants" and thus do not count.

If arms on a merchant weapon are used defensively, then that is ok. If someone ATTACKS with an "armed merchant vessel," that is now a combat ship and must be subtracted from ship totals.

Whatta Whatta? Suicide mission? I haven't done any of those since the end of the last STGOD, where I lost all my ships used (all my ships).

[InnocentBystander]

This is how I see it. Most merchants are not going to spend money on arming their ships, it cuts down the on profit. You don't just buy a gun, it needs to be maintained, it adds an extra drain of fuel, needs ammo, etc. Merchants, especially stuff own/run by corporations (which would include most nation's merchant fleet). The two best soltions are to either keep the shipping lanes safe for traffic, or for the government to pay for the arming of the merchant ships. Either way you have to devote ships from your fleet to defend trade routes. There is no perfect solution to this. Even if you keep shipping lanes safe, your still going to get occasional losses, and if your merchant ships are armed you'll loose about the same, some pirates will have either the hardware, or just get lucky. I can't see the big deal, either you devote military ships, or you simply don't have them. One way or another you are need to sacrifice in order to protect your valuable traders!

[Thirdfain]

Whatta Whatta? Suicide mission? I haven't done any of those since the end of the last STGOD, where I lost all my ships used (all my ships).

Yeah, right. Suicide mission? You outnumbered me 3-2, and you had a superlaser. You jusst fell into a trap, s'all.

[Stormbringer]

Okay, I think I have a reasonable method for dealing with Armed Merchants and Fleet Auxiliares.


Nothing with offensive firepower greater than a destroyer (meaning a midsized escort) and nothing with greater defensive fire power than a cruiser (meaning large escort). Quite frankly, because they're not combat vessels they're not going to have much in the way of survivability once they start taking hits. In that regard they won't be considered much better than standard merchies.

You are limited to strictly 150 vessels*, whether they be armed frieghters, fleet support ships (worth having I might add) and auxiliaries, troopships, or whatever.

If they're used offensively, they're just plain going to get assraped.

No Q-ships among them, period. Those are plain old warships and will count towards fleet counts and must be declared or at least declared privately.







*Adjusted appropriately