Do Confed transports carry commercial cargo?

Does Confed ship commercial cargo with its transports?

  • Yes

    Votes: 19 63.3%

  • No

    Votes: 11 36.7%
  • Total voters
    30
You forget that this is peacetime, on Earth. Space is a dangerous place, rife with pirates and Kilrathi. Unprotected civvy transports aren't safe. :D
 
Also, I would have to question the assumption that Confed is still such a dangerous place. I think it's safe to assume that by now, at least the central sectors are pirate-free. And on the edges, if the transports' own turrets aren't enough, one can always get a military escort.
 
Yeah, and important places like Sol sector are also heavily patrolled probably. Places like outskirts between the unknown or other empires (like the kats, pre wc-3) probably had quite many Pirates and or raiders of some kind. Think how many pirates were in every quadrant of Gemini sector except Potter...
 
Originally posted by Quarto

And as for your question, the Confedmilitary would almost certainly not carry commercial cargo. Such misuse of its precious transports goes against the idea of military preparedness - these ships need to be ready at all times, not fluttering about with commercial cargo.
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Hmmm. In 1999 New Zealand contributed peacekeepers to the UN peacekeeping mission in East Timor. In order to get the personnel and their gear to East Timor the government contracted a private company to ship the troops. The reason why the navy transport couldn't be used was because it was already occupied shipping citrus fruit around the Mediterranean. Thus we have a recent example of civilians shipping the military around and the military hauling civilian cargo. Enjoy :)
 
Originally posted by Penguin
Hmmm. In 1999 New Zealand contributed peacekeepers to the UN peacekeeping mission in East Timor. In order to get the personnel and their gear to East Timor the government contracted a private company to ship the troops. The reason why the navy transport couldn't be used was because it was already occupied shipping citrus fruit around the Mediterranean. Thus we have a recent example of civilians shipping the military around and the military hauling civilian cargo. Enjoy :)
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Very interesting. And, while we're at it, it is also the perfect example why the military shouldn't haul cargo :).
 
That is a good example, but I'm still going to have to be one who would see Mercs as being a better option than Confed fighters in this case. (Assuming this is on the boarder of Confed territory.)

However, if there has been a large deal of pirate activity (or something of the sort) in the area, it would certainly be possible for a Confed patrol (or even a minor task force to route the problem, assuming the militia's can't) to meet up with your transports and escort them.

But that's assuming it's well known that these areas are a hot spot, and Confed is trying to resolve the problem.
 
Originally posted by Quarto

Very interesting. And, while we're at it, it is also the perfect example why the military shouldn't haul cargo :).
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True. Let's face it, even us Kiwis would be the first to admit that New Zealand is hardly a fearsome military power. :D

Best, Raptor
 
Originally posted by Skyfire
That is a good example, but I'm still going to have to be one who would see Mercs as being a better option than Confed fighters in this case. (Assuming this is on the boarder of Confed territory.)
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I don't know.... even in wartime, in Gemini, Confed didn't seem too happy about all those mercs. Now, when the war has been over for years, you're probably as likely to see a merc fighter in Confed as you are over New York or Ohio.
 
I've never played Privateer but its most likely Confed would be suspicious of the mercs since they represent a potential rival military force, not necessarily pro-Confed. Also in post war years, those mercs, who are used to the military life, will probably still be around.
 
I'd actually think the mercs would multiply. After all, it said in WC4 that all former vets were struggling to get merc jobs now. Makes sense too. You've an extreme number of advanced fighters thrown from the Confederation, I'm sure if they got ships, they'd do what they're good at. Besides, the Mercenary's Guild would attempt to snare as many as they can. (Since they offer more contracts, I'm sure the old vets would be willing to shell out the 5 cred.)
 
You are forgetting that even though there may be lots of people who could make good mercs, the demand for mercs isn't going anywhere but down, both because of the reduction in pirates and new legislation aimed to get rid of the mercs.
You can't tolerate other, even small, armed forces in your country, and Confed will do everything they can to reduce their numbers or eliminate them altogether. At the end of the day, the mercs are hardly anything more than pirates.
 
That just gives another avenue for former vets too. Some would probably become pirates, sadly enough. And while Confed may be trying to stamp out Mercs in general, once the Black Lance made their little show, and Confed called for a complete revamp of their military/side projects, that would keep them busy enough to not put forth their greatest efforts to stamp out any mercenary force. (That's not to say the military just stopped all their actions, but even if a Senate committee was formed, to let the Senate get on with their business, once word of this got to the generally public, stopping mercenaries would be a lower priority to getting this cleared so that each person can convince his constituents to vote them back in.)

While it is almost assured that after they're done cleaning house, they would probably start back up, during the time period between the beginning and end of the investigations, Merchants/Merc guilds would have the opportunity to both A) Make a fair amount of money, and B) possibly come up with some heavier political pressure. (After all, more money means more leverage.)
 
The only mercs that may exist, legaly, after the war would be bounty hunters, but that's something entirely different from what we are talking about here.
 
Ehh... I've got to support the idea that Mercs exist in large numbers post-war: it was, afterall, the basis of sadly missed Privateer Online <G>
 
I actually see the increase in possible pirates/mercs (because of old vets) making each other their own war. As more pirates come up, as it is more lucrative, more mercs would be hired by private companies. Or so it would assume if Confed isn't doing the job as thouroughly as the companies would like.
 
If there were enough pirates and mercs that a whole new shooting war started up right after the destruction of Kilrah, why would Confed discharge so many pilots as the WC4 novel extract indicates?
 
Originally posted by Penguin
If there were enough pirates and mercs that a whole new shooting war started up right after the destruction of Kilrah, why would Confed discharge so many pilots as the WC4 novel extract indicates?
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Because the people fighting this war *are* the pilots who are discharged. You have thousands and thousands of ex-military pilots who never learned to do anything better -- people who've spent their entire lives flying. And they're not necessarily *good* -- they just hated the Kilrathi. Without the cats around, they turn to privateering, merc-ing and pirating...
 
I think that some (not a lot by any means, but a good few) would also be snapped up by smaller nations like the Landreich and Border Worlds. For the Border Worlds, combat vets would be a better bet for replacing their losses from the Black Lance conflict than more of the half trained cadets they were using. For the Landreich, having more combat pilots would be attarctive if they had to fend for themselves withouth Confed help.

As for the mercs, if they were operating in Confed space, I imagine that they would either have to work under a set charter from Confed, or operate outside or on the edges of the law. In that case, you could expect quite a lot friction between the mercs and Confed's military/law enforcement outfits.

Best, Raptor
 
I’ve gotten the distinct impression that in the WC universe the raw economic force of supply/demand much more than the existence or nature of various laws dictates the number of mercs, pirates, and the like at any given time. As a few of the games and novels generally attest, law enforcement and political order have a limited or diminishing range especially in space. I still wonder, for example, at the slave trade in Gemini Sector. The political ambiguities of the Border Worlds that largely underlie the plot of WC4 are also intriguing . And the Tri-System possibly represents how law or the quality of lawfulness in a space-faring culture is ultimately doomed to become just another commodity.
 
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