OOC

[The Bindoner]

Waiting to give hardrocks/Kar a chance to post, then I'll post a tie-up on Fezlae. Next, O-Group on the Bridge, then the cats?

[Thumper]

That what I was imagining.

[The Bindoner]

Arnwulf Goren Lugersen

Follows along with the inspection of the slave cargo. He resists the temptation to add various comments regarding 'salting and peppering the slaves to taste' or stepping upon a draping Vargr tail 'inadvertantly' as he walks behind.

He wonders if the Vargr have any Aslan slaves and vice versa. Would one go to war to free a kinsman or not? Do they enslave their own? What is worse, buying slaves or selling them. Supply and demand. What if the boat builder. Sold for ¢1.5kcr. Could he not be employed to work indentured and build boats and buy his freedom?


He wonders whether any slave rebellion ever occurred and what Oghma might do for those who escape.

Unusually he stays silent.

Some notes on the subject:

Oghma is a hostile planet, there is little chance of survival for an escaped slave. If the environment doesn’t kill them they will be hunted down, captured and returned to be publicly executed.

There are rebellions, but they are desperate acts that usually end in failure. Those that “succeed” either result in a grim sojourn in the icy wastes, or brief freedom in a seized farm or factory, before a war-band arrives to overcome them. Still, some prefer to die fighting.

The only true escape is to seize a ship. This is the dread of every Corsair – that the slaves will revolt. There are plenty of security systems, but fear is the best.


Oghma does not allow a slave to earn their freedom by work, however a slave may be freed by their owner. It is rare, and not simple. The Jarl must agree, and the Priesthood must bless the decision. Most often, freedom is granted to concubines and their children.

What other slave-buyers do is not so clear.

Fezlae and Udzkae are taking a scientific approach to assessing the prisoners, but their criteria are opaque. They not appear to be buying livestock (for food), because she has not prioritised fit specimens, and in fact has offered a good price for some sickly individuals.

Slave dealers buy from Oghma ships for many reasons. Some want workers for illegal enterprises (farms, factories, drug labs), some want fresh staff for brothels, some buy "contestants" for blood-sports. There are dealers who regularly buy slave-soldiers on behalf of the Glorious Empire.

edit

Of course, most Oghma ships take the skilled/otherwise attractive slaves back to Oghma. They only sell at Blackrock prisoners not worth taking home.

[Tiglath]

Waiting to give hardrocks/Kar a chance to post, then I'll post a tie-up on Fezlae. Next, O-Group on the Bridge, then the cats?

Sounds like a plan!

Of course, most Oghma ships take the skilled/otherwise attractive slaves back to Oghma. They only sell at Blackrock prisoners not worth taking home.

If we simply want to clear the decks/avoid selling at a loss we could transfer the slaves to other ships in the fleet for forwarding to Oghma.

These other crews might claim the "visual credit/kudos" and be grateful for something to show for the trip but the Jarl's accountants would know they were ours.

[The Bindoner]

I did leave it outside of spoken dialogue at this point as I thought to leave room for Bindoner to add any thoughts on it.

It's your information to share as you see fit.

I'm allowing the planning to roll ahead while waiting to see if our quieter players have anything to contribute.

If you want comments on your assumptions and options, I'll answer them here.

If you come up with a catastrophically doomed plan (which currently seems unlikely) an NPC will pass on the appropriate opinion

[The Bindoner]

What equipment do we have that would help us breach the ship if they lock it down from inside? Do we have those new light sabre tools I have seen Hallstein acquired recently? And I presume you have a radio jammer on the Serpent?
***If we only had a wheelbarrow, that would be something.***

The Ship's Locker(s):

viewtopic.php?f=978&t=10329

[Tiglath]

Despite her resistance to micro managaement it is fair to say Raven and the warband can kill nearly most things - including high tech armoured targets that they can melee with / disable at range (see armoury).

This would include stratagems to deal with guards/warbots in (up to and including) combat armour.

It is public domain knowledge (it hangs on the wall of the Mead Hall) that Raven owns and operates an Imperial PGMP 12 trophy weapon.

This would likely be her solution to highly armoured targets at range and also locked hatches.

Other more immediate boarding solutions may also present themselves / be to hand.

[Thumper]

Figured as much. I didn't intend Tiv to micromanage, just identifying the challenges and discuss plans to overcome them in character.

Yes, I remember the big gun...and the discussion we had about size matters.

I think you'll find Tiv no slouch in a fight. He did survive 24 years in the fleet including special projects (Ops). He actually itches for the fight.

[Tiglath]

No worries at all!

IC "friction" is great for me as it adds to and enhances RP between PCs (while obviously PvP is the anathema to that).

As per the lore Oghman Raiders are hugely "alpha" creatures and I feel I wouldn't be doing Raven justice if I didn't play her as somewhere between Ragnar Lothbrok and the Dread Pirate Roberts.

Raven is by appearance entirely "old skool" but maybe...

FWIW I'm already on record as stating that the PCs should have "front row seats" in the coming "cutting out" party. My intent is that whilst the warband will be there the action must focus on the PCs. Even Remington (ever the superb foil for Raven) because every good player needs a good caddy...

In fact "Watch our really dangerous warriors" might well be a fantastic lure...

[Thumper]

I have tried to play up the natural tension that would exist Raven and Tiv. I also ruined a couple decent opportunities when I was playing solo on Blackrock trying to play a tech savvy but back world Oghman. I think I took Bindoner by surprise a couple time that I didn’t hit a few softballs he threw at me. (Baseball referrence for you Old Worlders).

[The Bindoner]

Arnwulf Goren Lugersen

Listens to the plans. He can't really think to add anything.

In the quarters he was given, there are certain weapons and bombs and stuff that the previous pilot had. Not sure if they were stored as personal objects (it includes a briefcase bomb).

I am fine with them there but will give an inventory to Kar so he is aware of extra arms should they be needed.

Ridley's leftovers:

Suitcase Nuke (Missile warhead in a large case, comm-based timer) and “remote” comm with contact details for “The Crater Maker”.

Wasp Missile-Launcher +12 missiles (Thermobaric missiles w. lightweight mount)

2x Thermobaric smart bombs (laser designation guidable glide munitions, 200kg)

Thermobaric Dumb bomb (500kg deadfall)

4x Complex Chemical Explosive blocks. (and a pack of 6 detonators)



Details here: viewtopic.php?f=978&t=10208&start=80

[The Bindoner]

Pausing to allow hardrocks/Kar a chance to comment.

Then I'll use Áshildr to summarise my understanding of your plan, and, if agreed, we'll bring on the Aslan.

[Thumper]

Sounds great to me.

[Thumper]

Do we know how good the Serpent’s stealth capabilities are? Can we quantify how close the Serpent can be detected? Especially compared to missile range?

[The Bindoner]

The Serpent has an Emissions Absorption Grid (as do all Oars).

Emissions Absorption Grid (TL8): This comprises wires
placed in a pattern throughout the hull that capture
electronic emissions and store them in capacitors. This
grants DM-2 on any Electronics (sensors) checks to
detect or lock onto the ship, and will stack with Stealth.
Adding an Emissions Absorption Grid costs Cr40000 per
ton of hull and consumes 2% of the total hull tonnage
for the capacitors.

It doesn't prevent radar detection, but it can largely eliminate those things (like drive signature) that distinguish a ship from an asteroid. With luck and a good crew, an Oar can remain nothing more than a drifting rock, until it accelerates/manoeuvres/opens fire.

[The Bindoner]

While not all the quirks of the Serpent have been discovered yet, you do know it has a Reflec coat, and so cannot have a Stealth one too.

[Bluetongue]

The scaffolding can indeed be arranged, for a fee. Droids to do the work are likely cheaper and quicker, Blackrock being what it is.

The Threshing Oar class has an Emissions Grid, which is quite good stealth tech, but a stealth coating would improve things. Blackrock is not really a shipyard, more a place for repair and replenishment, but it is worth asking. If Blackrock can't provide, there's bound to be someone here who knows where to get the work done.

If Arnwulf wants to get on with that while the bridge crew do their thing, go ahead. We can run a new thread here, or you can go ahead on the main thread.


If you want to arrange droids and/or scaffolding use the robot Izanami, “she” is the station’s contact.

Inquiries about Blackrock services (I.e. Stealth coating) go through her too.

Asking around the station, as and when you like.

You’re right, a job like adding a Stealth coat is Captain- level. Expensive too.

One of the reasons I put up the scaffold up was to do more than address the routine maintenance, as expressed with the idea to locate and price-up a stealth coat that could be applied while at BlackRock.

Sorry, I am not familiar in game with Reflec coat compared to Stealth coat on a spacecraft. Can one not replace the other, work together?

[The Bindoner]

Book price on Stealth is 0.1MCr per ton, so to coat the Serpent would cost 30MCr.

Deals can be done, of course, but at present it appears beyond the ship's budget.

Since I'm using MgT1 you can apply both Reflec and Stealth to the same hull - it's MgT2 that decided they were incompatible.

Reflec (TL 10): Reflec coating on the hull increases the ship’s armour
against lasers by 3. Adding Reflec costs 0.1 Megacredits per ton of
hull and can only be added once.


Stealth (TL 11): A stealth coating absorbs radar and lidar beams,
and also disguises heat emissions. This gives a –4 DM on any
Sensors rolls to detect or lock onto the ship. Adding Stealth costs
0.1 Megacredits per ton of hull, and can only be added once.

[Thumper]

Disc-shaped security robot. Good condition sealed hull. Eshargamelat estimates 5k

This could probably be restored to functionality, and is certainly worth investigating.

These last two items, the repair bot and the security droid could probably be rebuilt to a functioning state...given time. They would certainly be worth much more in an operable state. Might want to hang onto those and let me, Remington and Remington's engineering crew give it a crack.

I had completely forgotten about these. Is the disc-shaped security robot a grav disc?

[The Bindoner]

Yes, but you'll need a new lift module.

I believe there was already an intention to restore the work robot.