After Lacoon 2 what happens to Solarian merchant vessels

Jonathan_S wrote:

Brigade XO wrote:If the GA (and RMN in particular since they are the ones who were taking those wormholes in Lacoon II) start siezing SL flagged ships as prizes, I doubt their 1st choice is going to be destroying those ships. Intern the crews, sell the cargo and ships though prize courts would be the optimal choice as it 1) removes capasity from the SL to move anything including military supplies 2) trained spacers from becomming part of the SLN 3) addes capasity to the GA transport capasity (even with all that now idle SEM merchant shipping being brought in to military and other cargo service) and 4) probably will contribute goods/materials to the war effort beyond the money raised by selling off the cargos.

The smaller crews of more modern RMN designs works against taking significant numbers of prizes - its a much bigger hit on your manpower to detach enough people to sail the ship back to Manticore, and then get your people home again.

Sure if a SL freighter shows up at Basilisk, Lynx, or Trever's star it'd only take an hour or so to move it to the Manticore side of the junction and only a day or so if you had to sail all the way to Manticore orbit and back. But some of the further wormholes they captures, are still a week+ each way.

Though that's only a problem if they have to man prizes ad hoc from the covering forces own crews. If Manticore wanted and expected significant numbers or prizes from those wormholes it seems they'd have enough idled merchant marine crews and transport to send along a personnel transport with crews, some marines to provide boarding and security, and maybe a few naval officers to command each prize. Then you're not depleting the already small ships' crews to move a prize.

Just simpler to take the crew, blow the ship and cargo and haul the crew to the closest planet. RMMM don't need more hulls. Or just take crew and ship to nearest planet. Be a bit of a shame to deny prize money to RMN ship crews.

If freighters blunder into the captured wormholes the GA can simply seize them, put a prize crew on them just long enough to move them to a parking orbit and leave them. A proper prize crew can then be sent out for them. It's not like a ship at sea, once you've put it in a safe orbit it will sit there waiting for you until you get back to it.

Loren Pechtel wrote:If freighters blunder into the captured wormholes the GA can simply seize them, put a prize crew on them just long enough to move them to a parking orbit and leave them. A proper prize crew can then be sent out for them. It's not like a ship at sea, once you've put it in a safe orbit it will sit there waiting for you until you get back to it.

If the RMN went into active commerce raiding, I doubt it would be confined to hoping some SLMM captain missed the memo or was arrogant enough to believe the rules of some pissant backwater star system way past the back of beyond actually applied to him. They probably went to the Oumamoumou System in search of the BF task force based there and managed to catch some supply ship bumbling all fat and happy into the system.

Surely they're not going to just park it in orbit and remove the crew. I doubt they're going to poke around in the holds looking for something useful. Yes they may raid the fridge so to speak, but pretty much just evac the crew and nuke the puppy.

pappilon wrote:

Loren Pechtel wrote:If freighters blunder into the captured wormholes the GA can simply seize them, put a prize crew on them just long enough to move them to a parking orbit and leave them. A proper prize crew can then be sent out for them. It's not like a ship at sea, once you've put it in a safe orbit it will sit there waiting for you until you get back to it.

If the RMN went into active commerce raiding, I doubt it would be confined to hoping some SLMM captain missed the memo or was arrogant enough to believe the rules of some pissant backwater star system way past the back of beyond actually applied to him. They probably went to the Oumamoumou System in search of the BF task force based there and managed to catch some supply ship bumbling all fat and happy into the system.

Surely they're not going to just park it in orbit and remove the crew. I doubt they're going to poke around in the holds looking for something useful. Yes they may raid the fridge so to speak, but pretty much just evac the crew and nuke the puppy.

Storing them would be better than blowing them up and probably better than letting them go.

I wonder if the solarian league get a pirate problem!

They have a lack of cargo ships and maybe some companies don´t ask for the last owner of a ship if they can get a ship.

The league sent ships for trade war to manticore. That leaves their former patrol routes unprotected.

So, it could be that the manties are not the biggest problem for solarian ships.

Maldorian wrote:I wonder if the solarian league get a pirate problem!

They have a lack of cargo ships and maybe some companies don´t ask for the last owner of a ship if they can get a ship.

The league sent ships for trade war to manticore. That leaves their former patrol routes unprotected.

So, it could be that the manties are not the biggest problem for solarian ships.

The former League space will get an upsurge in Piracy in the future, but I seriously doubt that it will happen quickly. Word has to spread and pirates have to find fences and "safe harbors" inside the Former League.

Weird Harold wrote:The former League space will get an upsurge in Piracy in the future, but I seriously doubt that it will happen quickly. Word has to spread and pirates have to find fences and "safe harbors" inside the Former League.

Eh; it doesn't take very much to defend against low-grade pirates, and any League member has sufficient resources to do so. Alignment-backed groups with real warships (or renegade SLN elements) are another matter, of course.

Weird Harold wrote:

Maldorian wrote:I wonder if the solarian league get a pirate problem!

They have a lack of cargo ships and maybe some companies don´t ask for the last owner of a ship if they can get a ship.

The league sent ships for trade war to manticore. That leaves their former patrol routes unprotected.

So, it could be that the manties are not the biggest problem for solarian ships.

The former League space will get an upsurge in Piracy in the future, but I seriously doubt that it will happen quickly. Word has to spread and pirates have to find fences and "safe harbors" inside the Former League.

I suspect word will spread quickly. Word of mouth by word of pirate by word of freighter by word of pirate by word of mouth.

"Sorry we're late. At least we arrived. Unlike Convoy B due here in 3 days. It won't be."

The incipient pirate problem in the former League and out in the Verge will be a function of the League failure and one of the reasons that the RF is planed as the focal point of rebuilding at least a portion of the League in that new image. Lots of ships up through BC size would be a major asset in commerce protection and patrolling.
The problem is what is left of SLN and what are those ships that survive going to be doing. If ships end up attached to some rump formation of the League then they probably are also going to be doing commerce protection vs being raiders themselves to support their reduced League. Those ships that attache themselves to aggressive fragmetns are probably going to often function like pirates in raiding/attacking for the new partnership. Those that just go "independent" will either have to become mercenaries or pirate. Anyway you look at it, the SLN ships are going to need some form of basing and logistics to continue to operate. Food and air and reaction mass to start. Source of munitions. Parts....lots and lots of spare parts just for routine maintenance and they are going to have to end up paying for this stuff somehow if only as part of a service contract with some system or systems in return for being the local SDF.

SDs are probably not your first choice for anti-piracy work, or for pirates. A squadron of BCs or of CAs would be great.

Brigade XO wrote:The incipient pirate problem in the former League and out in the Verge will be a function of the League failure and one of the reasons that the RF is planed as the focal point of rebuilding at least a portion of the League in that new image. Lots of ships up through BC size would be a major asset in commerce protection and patrolling.
The problem is what is left of SLN and what are those ships that survive going to be doing. If ships end up attached to some rump formation of the League then they probably are also going to be doing commerce protection vs being raiders themselves to support their reduced League. Those ships that attache themselves to aggressive fragmetns are probably going to often function like pirates in raiding/attacking for the new partnership. Those that just go "independent" will either have to become mercenaries or pirate. Anyway you look at it, the SLN ships are going to need some form of basing and logistics to continue to operate. Food and air and reaction mass to start. Source of munitions. Parts....lots and lots of spare parts just for routine maintenance and they are going to have to end up paying for this stuff somehow if only as part of a service contract with some system or systems in return for being the local SDF.

SDs are probably not your first choice for anti-piracy work, or for pirates. A squadron of BCs or of CAs would be great.

And there is the possibility of Marsh/Warnecke being replicated through the shell and the verge. Which is Barrgos' biggest fear some of his sector governor colleagues will do with their FF detachments. Send your destroyers out in penny packets picking off shipping in other sectors and turning their sector into a haven for their Ships operating under "Letters of Marque" (legitimized piracy) or mere small versions of Silesia, looking the other way while providing a market for stolen cargoes and reregistering ships of dubious ownership. With the break down of central authority, every person able to control a warship or w detachment can move into any system, demand the surrender of the legal government and set up as the next Gustav Anderman.