Nuke-Ems

N

NapoleanAce

Spaceman
Is it me or were P2's Nuke-Ems a completely unrealistic piece of hardware to be available on the public market? And at only $4,000 a pop? Come on, now. This seems to be something added simply out of pity for poor privateers struggling at a navpoint where they've been fighting bogeys for two hours straight. No other ships ever had Nuke-Ems, not even pirates...and we can't argue that they didn't have access to them, because they had other accessories and weapons available to everyone else.

Having them on the market would've created a nuclear holocaust. Once the pirate clans began terrorizing CIS and civillian ships, everyone would have to up the ante. Why waste money buying Mass Ion cannons, Python missiles, and shield boosters when anyone can go to their local base and pick up a device that'll kill you before you ever dreamt of getting in range to do any damage? It just doesnt seem realistic to me.
 
Credits != dollars... just look at how cheap the missiles are in Privateer (15c and such).

Edited to add: furthermore, such weapons *should* be available cheaply to Privateers... as a Privateer is by definition an indepedent ship captain who lends his help to the government for pay during a war. Confed's government (or the Tri-System) probably makes cheap surplus weapons available to Privateers in the hopes that they'll keep the Kilrathi busy...
 
For all practical purposes, the Kilrathi do not exist in the world of Privateer 2, so this would not be a case of a Confed (who also don't exist FAPP) diversionary situation. The CIS could be loosely argued as the "governing authority," but in no way comparable to the military schema of the Confed.

In Gemini sector (P1), the Confed might indirectly influence the private sector in hopes of distracting the Kilrathi. But it would be low on the priority list, since the Kilrathi along the border are mostly lowly and insignificant privateers themselves--even likely considered Kilra'hra scum by their Imperial counterparts, who are fighting the *real* war far away from Gemini. The sector was virtually abandoned by both sides' high commands; there hadn't been a full scale battle for over a decade. So the Confed wouldn't risk allowing the sale of WMD and the possibility of a disastrous nuclear outbreak.
 
The Kilrathi certainly do exist in the same universe as the Tri-System -- though they certainly aren't much of a worry to the CIS... the Kindred and various pirate clans *are* a serious threat, though.

However, here's the definition for Privateer from dictionary.com...

A ship privately owned and crewed but authorized by a government during wartime to attack and capture enemy vessels.
 
Makes sense.

Yet if the CIS is truly concerned about the pirate clans, they *certainly* wouldn't allow Nuke-Em's to be publicly available.

I'd think the definition of "privateer" changed drastically after 700 years. In P1 (and P2, to an extent), privateers had the freedom of infinite space to escape authority; thus they hated the Confed. No working relationship there.
 
Yet if the CIS is truly concerned about the pirate clans, they *certainly* wouldn't allow Nuke-Em's to be publicly available.

See, I never understood arguments like this... because the only possible response is to point out that they obviously do allow the sale of Nuke-Ems.

I'd think the definition of "privateer" changed drastically after 700 years. In P1 (and P2, to an extent), privateers had the freedom of infinite space to escape authority; thus they hated the Confed. No working relationship there.
Click to expand...

The historical basis seems pretty accurate to me -- in the 1700s-1800s, people issued Privateer writs were often pirates looking to pick up an additional source of income.
 
If I remember correctly, they usually ended up at the bottom of the sea . . . or worse. . . . (that is, captured and tortured or some such horrible thing)
 
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