Onno Meyer wrote:
What about this one?
* FTL is by hyperdrive. Hyperdrive works only far away from planets
and suns (to the order of 10 million miles / 0.1 AU). Hyperdrives
are fairly precise, very hard to detect, but come with an
inconvenient calculation/preparation time.
* STL uses a range of reaction engines (plus lightsails for exotic
jobs). Usually fusion rockets or optimized fusion rockets, since
water reaction mass is almost free. Fusion rockets are relatively
easy to detect.
* A typical commercial craft is 33% unloaded ship, 33% reaction mass
and 33% cargo. If it goes from low orbit of one world to low orbit
of another, travel speed is a quarter of total delta-V, about 16
km/s. That means each STL trip means a week or so of coasting.
* Pirates are up to 60% reaction mass, three times the delta-V, and
they go to the trouble to refuel in the outer system before a
hunt.
The pirates lurk just outside the FTL exclusion bubble, with a
constantly updated 'hyperdrive solution' to jump out. They wait
until an inbound freighter has burned the third quarter of its
delta-V reserve before they try an intercept.
The freighter might detect the pirate and call for help, or there
are patrols out there, but the numbers game makes it likely that
the pirate can intercept the freighter before a warship can get
the pirate. Dumping cargo is an option, but then the pirate can
try to salvage the abandoned stuff (possibly even legally, since
it did nothing more illegal than speeding).
If all works out well, the pirate will intercept the freighter
perhaps a day into the FTL bubble. If demands to surrender are
accepted, the pirates board and either steal the most valuable
cargo, or take hostages, or dump most/all cargo, transfer fuel
and steal the ship. If the pirate is forced to shoot, it might
be able to salvage some cargo afterwards.
Every now and then, a pirate hunter is in position to do to the
pirate what the pirate did to the freighter. The pirate is a
harder target than a freighter, with more delta-V to spend, but
the warship is a better hunter, too, possibly with AM drives or
the like, and real military sensors and weapons. So a warship in
position to do something will definitely spoil the attack, and
it might get the pirate.
It's not really all too friendly for pirates, since they would
absolutely need a sizable fuel (water reaction mass) infrastructure of
their own in the outsystem. Although water can be relatively
cheap, comets/oort cloud objects do require some processing before
they can be easily used as water reaction mass (water too dirty
will simply clog the pumps or cause other problems, depending on
the exact nature of the comet dirt in question).
If a 1000-ton pirate ship carries 600 tons of water, this might end
up effectively costing something like 12000$ per refill (20$ per ton
is a fairly reasonable estimate for water cost per ton). While
the cost is propably not all that much compared to the price of
the vessel, it is still a non-trivial cost per fairly short operation
- If a pirate ship burns this mass something like 120 times per year,
annual water cost would be almost one and a half million $. Mostly
this means that since it is more expensive to fly, there will be
less commercial targets and therefore less pirate raids, not more.
Pirates would also need a larger 'startup package' to get into
the business, because they need the water infrastructure.
Also worth considering is this anti-piracy tactic by defenders;
Once a pirate ship has 'committed' by going 1 day or fraction
thereof inside the No-FTL Bubble and attacks a freighter, defense
forces could coordinate a response by contacting ships outside
the no-ftl bubble, jumping them in to block the pirate exit vectors
from the bubble. Pirates would then be forced to either surrender
or fight their way out, since after committing, their ability to
change their STL vector (with the reaction engines) is very
limited. Defender blockade ships do not need to match velocities,
they only need to get into beam weapons range momentarily to attack
the pirates on a vector already coming roughly towards them (this takes
significantly less delta-V). It might even be possible to place
weapons platforms near propable pirate exit vectors near the edge
of the bubble, since entry vectors of most freighters would be known
to the defenders.. With these considerations in mind, this starts to
sound like a less friendly situation for the pirates.
IME, limiting the mobility of ships severely (STL or FTL) will not
necessarily result in a more pirate friendly universe.. If you are
simply looking for a way the pirates can catch up with targets in
STL only areas, simply not carrying cargo while engaged in pursuit
and perhaps boosting the engines a little could make up
the necessary difference in delta-V per unit of time, even if
the setting is using reactionless or conversion thrusters.
In general, pirates tend to benefit from freedom of mobility and
greater ship operational range, which result in larger volume of
operational space.
Warships will typically be slowed down by the added mass of heavy
armor and multiply reinforced hulls, so they might well be unable
to catch up with lighter pirate ships in time in
a reactionless/conversion thrusters setting. With less limited
ability to change their STL vector after committing, pirates would
be less predictable and thus might never see a warship at combat
ranges unless they do something stupid.
-Pauli
--
"Our ship is made out of darkness, she mocks the laws of nature.
With cables, ropes, tackle and sails, she moves on the waves
of the void. On her decks a red crew, dark as if painted with
blood. From among the hooded cloaks of crimson, eyes of
silver gleam darkly.. Oldest of all is Hiram of Malta, the Red
Commander. He knows the secrets of Schwarzchild Radii, of Neutron
Stars and Cepheids. His hidden paths we follow, like ghosts from
space we strike deep, only to disappear again soon, sometimes even
the fear itself is afraid of us.."
-CMX, Punainen Komentaja
(Translated from the Finnish song 'Red Commander' by CMX)
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