OBT Forum

This thread is for the Aerospace portion of the book, and a fairly large amount of effort and research went into it.  However, it was shortened considerably with the loss of two units, one an ASF and another a Bastion-style space station for the capital of the FedSuns Periphery March.

The remainder took a fair bit of time to explain, since like the Brigand, the Privateer is one of the designs I created to prompt the Periphery Alliance idea.  With none of the post-Jihad manufacturers working on ASF, I needed a reason to prompt them to do so.  The Primitive design was supposed to be another tie-in to the New Clans of my AU, the design being manufactured under a different name during their expansion and build-up before being mothballed and eventually traded to pirate bands.

Like most of them, the Privateer was designed by hand, so be wary.

PV-1 Privateer

Produced By: Unknown
Introduced: 3125
Mass: 35 Tons
Tech Base: Inner Sphere (Primitive)

Safe Thrust: 9 (4.5 G)
Maximum Thrust: 14 (7.0 G)

Weapons and Equipment:
  2 Medium Pulse Lasers

Origin
     First identified by AeroSpace fighters of the Magistracy Navy, the unknown AeroSpace fighter code-named “Priva-teer” seems to be an effort by an unknown group or manu-facturer to create a small, fast, and reliable fighter to chase down civilian targets.

Capabilities
     With an emphasis on speed, the Privateer sacrifices armor and weapons to move as quickly as possible, a trait it shares with the Brigand.  Paper-thin armor hides a large, five-ton fuel tank to chase down unfortunate Merchant Jump- and DropShips, and a pair of Medium Pulse lasers to force them to surrender.
     Within a planet’s atmosphere, the Privateer makes an acceptable bomb truck, but there have been no recorded instances of successful strafing attacks on anything other than civilian buildings and vehicles.
     While the fighter seems to be in mass-production, the supply of trained pilots seems to have become the primary stumbling block, with the number of sightings dropping quickly as the green pilots quickly die off, either in action or simple accident.

Battle History
     The Privateer has been noted to have one kind of luck – bad.  Although dozens of poorly-trained pilots have been shoved behind its controls and been lost in normal opera-tions, the highest number of survivors have come from en-gagements with defending AeroSpace forces.
     The Magistracy Navy’s first experience with the Privateer was in rescue operations as pilots of an entire squadron sur-rendered rather than try dogfighting with the Navy’s heavier Lightning and Thunderbird AeroSpace Fighters over Early Dawn.  Left to cover the retreat of the pirate DropShips, the Privateers surrendered within minutes of making contact with the defenders.  Leaving a pair of fighters to guard their captives, the remainder of the Navy fighters continued on a heading to intercept their carriers.
     At close range, the Privateers turned to engage and crip-ple the single Air Lance before boosting in pursuit of the rest of their force, only to surrender to the pursuing DropShips as the green pilots began to run low on fuel.
     The Privateer has greatly expanded on the dangers of piracy in the Periphery, as popular trade routes are picketed by small groups of Privateers in jury-rigged stations or carri-ers.  A high-value target due to its L-F battery, smugglers aboard the Mercury Vapor found themselves attacked by Privateers when a deal to transport a raiding party into the Marion Hegemony went sour in 3128.  Jumping to an adja-cent system, the Vapor found itself the target of a squadron of Privateers within days of their arrival.  Jumping again, the Vapor encountered another squadron, actively searching for new arrivals, but too far away to establish radar contact.
     Fast charging the K-F drive, Captain Krespin followed a circuitous course emerging at random distances from the standard zenith or nadir Jump Points.  The crew of the Vapor managed to continue their mercenary careers for nearly a year, but burned out the rare L-F battery that allowed them to demand high rates for rapid transit.  Captured by the Mag-istracy Navy in 3139, the records of the incident proved an organized attempt to capture JumpShips had been in opera-tion for over a decades, with captured vessels disappearing without a trace.

Variants
     No variants of the Privateer have been identified.

Notable Pilots and Fighters
Lt. John Smith and Firefly
     Planner behind the Privateer attack over Early Dawn, “Lt. Smith” was later identified as Piotr Anasanko, formerly a student of the Tikonov Martial Academy.

Type: Privateer
Tech Base: Inner Sphere (Primitive)
Tonnage: 35

Equipment            Mass
Engine:           295       18.0
     Safe Thrust:          9
     Maximum Thrust:         14
Structural Integrity:         9
Heat Sinks:        10
Fuel:          400         5.0
Cockpit: Primitive               5.0
Armor Factor:    32 AP            2.0
                             Armor Value
  Nose          8
  Wings                      6/6
  Aft          2

Weapons & Ammo     Location  Mass  Heat  SRV  MRV  LRV  ERV
Medium Pulse Laser       Nose        2         4        6
Medium Pulse Laser         Nose       2         4        6