Starport Bar (OOC Chat Area)

[Thumper]

What kind of vibes are we picking up from Fendon? Anything change in what we’re picking up from him?

[Hvalreki]

He seems concerned about his uncertain situation but seems to be forthright in his response.

[dongriffiths]

I will be travelling for work for the next couple of days, be back Thursday evening

[Hvalreki]

All good, safe Travels!

[Thumper]

With Dmitri and Terry’s backgrounds, is it reasonable to think we could refurbish them transponder?

Would it require acquiring hardware or software with us before leaving this planetary Hell Hole?

Dmitri specifically is wanting more info on the hideout and the facilities and syndicate presence there.

[BackworldTraveller]

The biggest issue isn't the transponder itself, but those who know what the transponder associated with that ship should be.

We're going to need to alter the ships hull so it looks different from outside
We're going to need to redecorate so it doesn't look the same inside
And the transponder is fine. We just need to register the ship elsewhere - many small governments will do that for a fee - and if you can pose as a small government you can even get the hardware shipped to await you at a starport.

Or we get the ship scrapped so no part is identifiable.

[Thumper]

Aha. We’re talking a real plastic surgery job!

[Thumper]

We just need to register the ship elsewhere - many small governments will do that for a fee - and if you can pose as a small government you can even get the hardware shipped to await you at a starport.

Talk to me more about that option.

[BackworldTraveller]

We just need to register the ship elsewhere - many small governments will do that for a fee - and if you can pose as a small government you can even get the hardware shipped to await you at a starport.

Talk to me more about that option.

Big governments manufacture their own transponders. Small ones don't have the technology or equipment to do so...so must get them from elsewhere. And they must get them in a state that can be programmed.

[Thumper]

How do we pose as a small government? Forged requests or port repair facilities ordering in a foreign governments name?

[BackworldTraveller]

How do we pose as a small government? Forged requests or port repair facilities ordering in a foreign governments name?

Sounds plausible

[Thumper]

I’m kinda thinking we don’t need to dress the ship up too much. A little cosmetic stuff and a makeover of the transponder. If it’s a common hull and we stay away from the syndicate operating area, shouldn’t be much of a problem.

[BackworldTraveller]

I really can't see much upside to this plan. If it fails we are dead and if it works we are marked.

[Thumper]

Dmitri is visibly distressed by the realization that Terry took the tablet from Mielo’s hotel room instead of a residence. He is waiting VERY anxiously for Terry’s response…just knowing he’s going to hear back something that has a cascade of consequences, and that puts great fear into him.

[Hvalreki]

B.T.'s posts got me thinking about the ships of 1977. Remember, no third imperium exists in the original rules. We have a "remote central government" which the players are very far from.

We'll how many ships are there? I stumbled across https://hws3.wordpress.com/2019/06/11/t ... any-ships/ from Andy Slack who thankfully crunched a bunch of numbers I hadn't really thought about before.

Total shipping by type in an average subsector, then:

180 Type A Free Traders. You can find these anywhere except class X starports
50 Pirate ships, of which 21 are Type S Scout/Couriers. 21 are Type C Cruisers, and 8 are armed Type Y Yachts.
60 Subsidized Merchants, which are a mixture of Type R and Type M
17 Type Y Yachts which are not pirates or patrols.
32 patrol vessels, of which 5 are armed Yachts, 13 each Scout/Couriers and Cruisers, and the remaining one could be any of them.
Total, 340 vessels; 53% are Type A, 18% mixed Type R and Type M, and there are roughly 10% each of the other types.

This is enough to make it credible you have never heard of a specific ship before, but not so many that it’s unlikely.

What really got me going are the implications he drew from this -

There’s a good reason the Type A is the iconic Traveller starship; there are more of them than all the other types put together.

On an average day, there are 7 starships grounded at a class A starport, 6 at a class B, 4 at a class C, 3 at a class D, maybe one at a class E if you’re lucky, and none at a class X. So starports are probably smaller than you thought.

Class D starports are probably pirate havens, because pirates go there but patrols don’t. They are also the most likely to have a scout base, but any Type S you meet there is a pirate. This is the point where you start to wonder if the scout service and the pirates are connected somehow.

You are roughly twice as likely to meet a pirate as a patrol, except at class A starports where there are roughly even numbers of both. This is no doubt why most starships are armed.

60% of scout/couriers are acting as pirates at any given time, and the rest are on patrol.

Yachts act as pirates or patrols when they are not in systems with class A or B starports.

The 1977 edition of the rules paints me a picture of a subsector where ships turn pirate at the drop of a hat if they think they can get away with it, which means other crews are a lot like the PCs. Anybody in a Type C, S or Y is not to be trusted; even if they’re not pirates (and are you sure you can tell?) the rules explicitly say that patrols may be legalised pirates demanding tolls from incoming traffic. Also, starships are rare items; there are only a handful at the starport, and only a few hundred in the subsector as a whole.

[Thumper]

Consider that ships are likely the most expensive manufacturing product (other than infrastructure) and most are purchased on debt and then insured. Seems reasonable that ship manufacturers, financiers and insurers would put enormous political pressure for system governments to create, participate in and enforce cooperative identification and operatorship enforcement. Systems that don’t produce, finance or insure them may not be interested, unless they differ from piracy.

I guess the game’s “Transponder” system is just filling this role.

As for today’s uses of current transponder systems are very multifaceted. NATO has Modes 1,2 and 4 (some are selectable and adjustable while others are not), while other major combat aircraft countries have different systems. One selectable mode (3 in military parlance or Air Traffic Control transponder (with or without altitude transmission), is universal. TCAS (can be inhibited), ADS-B and ADS-C datalinks (non-controllable), CPDLC- selectable on or off, and ACARS datalinks (possible not inhibit) are required to operate in certain types of airspace or certain types of uses of aircraft.

So, todays “transponders” are indeed still just a radio attached to a computer. But the additional broadcast datalinks required for entry into or certain uses of airspace are very complex. Without operable and broadcasting transponder, TCAS, ADS-B/C, CPDLC and ACARS; I don’t do my job (former tactical military and now a major airline pilot).

Without operating appropriate military modes, military jets don’t fight.

[Hvalreki]

I totally forgot we had an actual Pilot in the game. You seem to have way to much off the shelf knowledge of actual Transpoders I'm just winging it.

[BackworldTraveller]

I did my rant earlier!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch....

[Thumper]

By my reckoning, time elapsed from capturing Fendon at the club to going to the hotel, to buying weapons, to this hotel discussion is maybe 3-4 hours? If Mielo (or whomever this victim has actually is) returned already to find his room robbed, they likely have Terry’s face on camera. They likely haven’t connected the dots to the rest of us from the club cameras…but they will eventually. In fact, Terry’s mug showing entering Mielo’s room would likely confuse them as they’d be expecting Fendon’s. It may be possible the room tenant has not yet gotten back from the club.

Since Fendon claims Syndicate members came in on the ship we crewed and played games Fendon organized, can we or, specifically, Rando validate Mielo’s identity?

[BackworldTraveller]

By my reckoning, time elapsed from capturing Fendon at the club to going to the hotel, to buying weapons, to this hotel discussion is maybe 3-4 hours? If Mielo (or whomever this victim has actually is) returned already to find his room robbed, they likely have Terry’s face on camera. They likely haven’t connected the dots to the rest of us from the club cameras…but they will eventually. In fact, Terry’s mug showing entering Mielo’s room would likely confuse them as they’d be expecting Fendon’s. It may be possible the room tenant has not yet gotten back from the club.

Since Fendon claims Syndicate members came in on the ship we crewed and played games Fendon organized, can we or, specifically, Rando validate Mielo’s identity?

Ah - Good spot!