Hailing frequencies open (Intro & OOC chat)

Sometimes, a picture is worth a thousand words. Here is a draft for a map of Section 3.C, for example, to let you know what you can expect to play with if you're boarded:



This is just a draft. Things can change and other sections have other maps. I didn't make all maps, as I am not yet sure if we're really gonna use them. You can escape, surrender, etc. so I will postpone creating them until they're needed.

Edit: The starboard side is the right side of the map above. =D

As an aside, if anyone has an idea for "a question Hank should ask", I am open to suggestions ...

As for the non-combatants, yes, I meant Maya and the Professor. They aren't going to be shooting much and I figure they should be as far away from the firefight as possible. I am assuming the Captain can hold her own in a fight. Hank will make sure she is suited and armed. (Not sure if she can use the combat armor or not.) The other three (Mariella, Maya, and Stone) should all be suited. They will be armed if it makes sense and they want.

As for vacuum, please realize that we are in a fight against a ship that can make large holes anywhere in our ship at will. There is a high chance we will be facing vacuum at some point. This isn't a fight on a planet. We are in deep space. Our air is contained by a thin metal skin we no longer have control over. I think being prepared is our best bet. And, yes, if the pirate are morons and not wearing suits, Hank will evacuate the air without question. But I can't imagine they would be that stupid.

But everyone gets to make the choice of suit to use for themselves.

Is there way to get something like a Portabox that can be activated/deactivated remotely?

And, in case of breach, magboots?

Also, is that top part of the map the actual airlock connection?

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Daryen, Yes I agree that the vacuum is a threat but I want to give you this piece of info, just so you can make a decision based off it.
This is why I'm more worried about dying than the void, it would take 10 minutes of constant fire to do anything.
Not that something else is impossible, but if I haven't solved it in the 30 min of air the Icarus Harness has internal, then I probably wont.
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I'm not sure what question you mean to ask, but if we're talking anything, the pirate's weakness would be great. (But TBH I'm missing the context of what question ?)

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PS I have my Loadout ready.(Yes I know I'm over encumbered I plan on unloading some things before I have to deal with the movement penalty. )

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Also I see this fight as the make or break of the campaign so far.
If we lose our stuff, I don't see a way forward, it feels like the end of the campaign to me. If we survive we may have an avenue of trading in the future. But giving up our cargo just is giving up the campaign. Which is why I don't see Mercer surviving this if we lose, I'm going to fight for the campaign to continue.

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So this is my thoughts.
We set up the second barricade and two traps wherever we thing the attacking ship will dock.
Then I made a general plan of traps and barricade for where the FreeMerchant will dock.
°Trap
—Barricade
-Collapsable or false Box Cover
Assuming highlighted is airlock. We can shift if it's elsewhere

Ah, I see our disconnect. I have no worries about the pirates personal weapons. None at all. At least as far as they relate to the ship's integrity. My worry is about those two plasma beams on the pirate's patrol ship. Plus, we don't know what the Free Merchant is carrying.

Also, you are wrong on the cargo. Let's assume we lose everything we have in the cargo hold. They won't take all of it because they don't want all of it. But, for the sake of argument, let's think about the results of them taking all of the cargo. If that happens, we lose all of the speculative cargo (old and new), the freight, and the speeders. What is the effect of that? Well, we are out a ton of money. That's for sure. However, that's it. We're not down to our last credit (like last time). We can recover from this because, if for no other reason, the government needs this ship. The campaign isn't over, we're just heavily set back in our attempt to earn Cr1M. The operation of the Voyager isn't eliminated; it's hurt. The Captain is going to have to wheel and deal to get the engines repaired, but I am pretty sure she'll be able to foist that on the government.

But the point is that if we lose the entire contents of the hold (which we probably won't), then we are certainly monetarily set back. A lot. But the campaign is still on track and none of that is affected in any way. Also, when they leave, we'll be rescued before the air supply of our vacc suits are up. Losing the cargo is a set back, but it doesn't end anything. On the other hand, getting killed will put a severe crimp in the campaign.

And, I've been vague about our threat by the pirates. htech says he already has his plan mapped out, so let me lay my cards on the table.

I am the pirate captain. I have just set the terms of the surrender. I have told the ship that their crew needs to be present in the cargo bay unarmed and unarmored. I get to the cargo bay and see no one anywhere. That means they have not accepted my terms. Therefore, I immediately withdraw the boarding party and pull the free merchant back. I then take my two plasma beams and start melting the ship. Fundamentally, I will melt the entire ship that isn't the cargo bay. This will take a couple hours, but I know it will take seven hours from any help to arrive. (I know where the help has to come from, so I know my time limit.)

Basically, if I am the pirates, I will NOT engage with relevant hand-to-hand combat. Because I don't need to. Instead, I simply destroy the ship until everyone in it is dead. Then I loot the wreckage and leave. Going into hand-to-hand combat is an unnecessary risk.

If I am nice, then I even give them a second chance. But, there is no guarantee of that.

Now, back to hand-to-hand combat. They have a potential 20 boarders. (I assume they need one to fly the free merchant and five to fly the patrol boat.) Let's assume they come in and just assume that the five from the free merchant will be enough to secure the prisoners and take the cargo. They immediately see that we aren't there. They then attach wherever they want and immediately send in fifteen marines in full combat armor and plasma rifles. (The stunners are just for the five on the free merchant. If we are not cooperating, there is no reason to be nice anymore.) Remember, armories are easy to get. These are professional pirates. They have an armory. They are just as well equipped as we are and just as skilled (we're still too low-level to do any many-on-one heroics at the moment).

I don't know the combat system well enough yet to know what the odds are for us against fifteen marines of a standard distribution. Sure, most of them will just be 1HD grunts. But those grunts still have plasma rifles and combat armor. And there should be some serious leaders that are likely more combat capable than any of us.

Finally, if the pirates were more careful, before they board us, they would require us all to get into vacc suits and exit the ship. They will simply keep shooting until we agree and then take it from there. There is absolutely no reason for them to have hand-to-hand combat. It does nothing to help them and is totally unnecessary.

Sorry for the flurry of posts, but I wanted to better explain what I am seeing and I thought separate posts with specific ideas would be better than shoving everything into a single post.

I only see two avenues for our actions. Both have heavy risks:

1) We fight and try to take the Free Merchant. The Free Merchant is the only way they have to take the cargo. If we take the Free Merchant, they lose the battle. The Patrol Boat and defending the CV are distractions. Taking the Free Merchant is the only option in this approach. Note that failing means we're likely all dead and even taking the Free Merchant doesn't mean we are guaranteed to succeed.

2) We surrender. Our terms are that we will all enter the shuttle and detach. If we can bargain for enough time we might be able to save a couple things in the shuttles cargo bay. We then either run away or wait for them to leave and get back on board.

I am open to more ideas, but those are the only two things I see that give us an option forward. I know surrendering is anti-climatic and depressing and all, but, hey, it's only money and we can recover from that.

It makes sense (as I said, my plans for the pirates are already written, I won't change them based on your OOC explanation, just IC actions). And yes, losing the cargo is a set back and it doesn't end anything. But...
Consequences for ruthless pirates that melts entire crewed ships are fundamentally diferent from the consequences of a boarding action that ends with those pirates "reclaiming" uninsured speculative cargo without any casualties and leaving before the Navy arrives. There is a logical choice / trade-off for how "outlaw" they wanna go here. It's not black and white. It will also depend on your actions, of course, but melting down the CV is not a reasonable outcome for them. That's a lose-lose.

I don't know if the consequences were the same when you played as pirate, so ruthless was always the way to go. =D

PS: If they melt Mercer and the entire ship, PhoenixScientist can certainly bring Slaine back. :)

I am actually still waiting for Engineering in this round, so there is a third one for your poll: try to repair the engines and flee.

Well, for my pirate experience, it was more "pirate vs pirate", so ruthlessness was both expected and required. (Witnesses are bad. The opposition is going to try to kill you regardless. Ergo restraint is not rewarded.) Glad to know that these pirates have limiters on their behavior. Good to know.

QQ: If we successfully repair the engines and try to flee, do we still have our two "escape points" or are we starting over from zero? (I assume we are restarting from zero, but want to make sure.)

But, getting back to the main discussion, if we assume:
1) They are crew limited by the hull restrictions.
2) We are able to successfully kill them.
3) They are still not going to melt us.
Then just defending and killing off their twenty marines suddenly becomes a very valid option, depending on what you think our chances of success on assumption #2 is.

Also, remember that if we start shooting them, they have no particular incentive to accept any subsequent surrender, even if these are "kinder, gentler" pirates.

EDIT: If we are gonna fight, then it might work better if we just all get together in the cargo hold and fight off all comers. If we divide ourselves up, then we are allowing them to defeat us piecemeal. It will be much better for us if we can combine forces and try to have a unified defense against the twenty marines. Plus it allows us to more efficiently place any explosives where we know they will have to be.

I will note, a Space Combat action is 15 min and in-person is 6 seconds.
Not saying we have 15 minutes of in-person combat, but there is some buffer.

You do have. The Pirates have to pursue you (it takes CP and a bridge action from them) to remove those points. Of course, if they destroy or otherwise keep you from repairing your engines, those 2 are all the points you ever gonna get, so they are worthless. Moreover, they don't need to roll the dice (just spend the action) to pursue you now, as you don't have engines.

Yes, but ...

If Corbin can repair the engines and we make a break for it again, that would mean we could try to run away again the following turn and try to get that last escape point. Of course, if they shoot out the engines again, then we're screwed again. But, if Corbin can make the repairs and we can succeed with the third escape, then, in theory, we should be able to get away. Have I got that correct?

(Obviously, if Corbin's repair roll fails, then it's all moot. We can't make the attempt until next turn and that means they get another opportunity to fire on us. But, anything that lets us try another escape roll would seem worth it to me.)

EDIT: One more question: What does the Captain think? She initially was very against surrender. What is her opinion now? I understand that the players are to drive the action, but I am curious as to what the Captain is thinking.

Ok well I want to hear everyone's opinion on what direction to go. Select all that apply)

Yes.
That's something to handle in character. It will depend on your next actions, players preferences and, indirectly, the dice results.

All right. It looks like we're attempting to repair engines and preparing for combat if that doesn't work. Yes?

That's how I'm seeing things too.

I will be traveling, with limited access to internet until Friday (September 6th).

Have a good trip!

Enjoy!

Have a great time!