RE: Mil vs. Civ

I would imagine that ships with more than Class-1 Beams, PDS, and
(maybe)
Submunitions Packs (which can be justified for protection from Pirates
and
stray asteroids, space junk, etc.) would need special
permission/licence/etc. to operate within a stellar system. Such
permission/licence/etc. would be EXPENSIVE, so most nonmilitary do not
mount
them or mount them. I would also imagine that in most systems operating
a
ship with such equipment without a licence/permission would be grounds
for
confiscation of the ship (at least until it has been disarmed). And
(finally) such ships would be subject to being "acquired" by the
military
during times of war or emergency.

In addition, goverments, most likely, would limit the numbers and
displacement (mass) of ships carring Class-2 beam weapons (such as
convoy
escorts) when in system. Many systems will limit the size of such to
smaller-than-cruiser and other to frigates-and-smaller. 

With this in mind, ITTT
(http://members.nbci.com/rlyehable/gzg/ittt.html)
usually either contracts for favorable terms or its escorts and Q-Ships
or
passes the responsibility for the ship to the client once inside the
protected zone of a system.
The ITTT systems (Front Office and Van Rijin) limit both number and mass
to
unlicenced intrests and limits licenced parties through the licence
contract. ITTT does not allow ANY non-ITTT ships into its Back Office
system
(incursions by non-ITTT ships is considered an invasion, and dealt with
accordingly).

As to military vs civilian jump engines, I took it for granted that this
was
largely a matter of cost/effeciency. Just as today, most super-sonic
planes
are in the military. It is just not cost effective to operate supersonic
planes for passenger or commercial travel (in most instances). The
military
may have an edge in jump engine design and performance, but pay for it
in
efficiency and maintenance as it surpasses the comercial designs.

How to model this? I usually tie the Jump engines to the MD of a ship
for
jump range (power from the MD is channeled through the jump engine to
perform the jump). Most civilian ships of the same mass have lower rated
MD
than military ships, so the model is built in. I also apply a limit to
how
long a ship has to wait to jump again. This "cooldown", for lack of a
better
term, of the jump engine could be weighted to allow military ships to
jump
sooner. I usually apply a minimum of 24 turns before a ship can jump a
second time (using 15 minute turns, this coorisponds with the commentary
on
FB1 p. 44 of a minimum of 6 hours between jumps for military ships). For
commercial ships, I would probably double this wait time. So military
ships
can jump 4 times per day, and civilian 2 times per day if they push both
equipment and crew to the breaking point. However, at this rate, I would
also make a threshold check vs FTL for each jump past the first within a
given 48 hour period and/or give a chance for a misjump.

Hmmm... I like this concept for scenarios. Ships arrive on table by FTL
and
are ambushed but cannot jump out for 24 turns (or 24-x turns). Makes
boarding actions more likely.

-----
Brian Bell
bkb@beol.net	 
-----

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Brian Burger [SMTP:yh728@victoria.tc.ca]
> Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2000 10:19 PM
> To:	gzg-l@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU
> Subject:	Re: Mil vs. Civ
> 
> On Wed, 20 Sep 2000, Laserlight wrote:
>  
> > > Weapons and/or defenses shouldn't necessarily be different,
> > save that only
> > > the military gets to play with the BIG stuff. ;->=
> > 
> > In Alarishi space, the Imperial Fleet requests that people
> > refrain from using Beam-3's or higher, or salvo missiles.  Some
> > people install them anyway.  Jack Old Ron is an example, but he's
> > noted as being a little, um, emphatic about his privacy.  Anyway,
> > if you install them, you're listed as a navigational hazard.
> 
> No Beam-3 or *higher*? The Alarishi government clearly doesn't follow
> 'monopoly on force' the way most governments do - must be interesting
> sometimes.
> 
> I'd imagine that most governments would list you as more than a
> navigational hazard if you installed shipkiller weaponry on your
vessel or
> installation...
> 
> Just an observation,
> 
> Brian - yh728@victoria.tc.ca -
> - http://warbard.iwarp.com/games.html -
>