Bob Schroeck Wrote:As for HRogge's other points, well, I'm inclined to agree with him and Rob on the nukes.

Bob Schroeck Wrote:And as for the others, well, the MDs are setting themselves up as outlaws -- and not noble, fun Robin Hood outlaws but dangerous, shoot-on-sight outlaws.

Gideon020 Wrote:As for MD's being triggerhappy, that varies from pilot to pilot but is massively dictated by the circumstances of a contract. If a client wants a facility guarded against any non-MD or non-client vessels until a client vessel arrives or they have contacted the client beforehand, then they will certainly go as far as to fire warning shots at Star Patrol or GJ who don't agree to contact the client on Clearinghouse

HRogge Wrote:

Gideon020 Wrote:As for MD's being triggerhappy, that varies from pilot to pilot but is massively dictated by the circumstances of a contract. If a client wants a facility guarded against any non-MD or non-client vessels until a client vessel arrives or they have contacted the client beforehand, then they will certainly go as far as to fire warning shots at Star Patrol or GJ who don't agree to contact the client on Clearinghouse

That is what (in my opinion) pushes them from a "respected but hard" group of mercs to a group of outlaws/rogues. Space Patrol and GJ are the cops/military of the Fenspace Convention.

Starting a fight with the police is considered "bad"... starting a fight with the military is considered stupid at best (and Darwin Award worthy at worst ^^).

Gideon020 Wrote:They don't start fights with the military or police forces. Certainly they'll fire warning shots but that's just it, warning shots. The Material Defenders know they can't fight GJ or Star Patrol and if the ship presses regardless of the warning shots, they have to back off. I'll edit that bit to be clearer.

HRogge Wrote:

Gideon020 Wrote:They don't start fights with the military or police forces. Certainly they'll fire warning shots but that's just it, warning shots. The Material Defenders know they can't fight GJ or Star Patrol and if the ship presses regardless of the warning shots, they have to back off. I'll edit that bit to be clearer.

Whats the point of firing the warning shot? Its just getting them into trouble for nearly no gain.

(edit)
just to explain this a little bit further... the MD is presenting the "tough guy" picture.

Making their standard mode giving a warning at Police/Military and then always back down ruins this a little bit. ^^

Quote:They won't have the chance to back down.

Consider what would happen if you stood outside your front door and fired a "warning shot" at a police car that was driving up your laneway.

Quote:Now consider what would happen if you stood outside your front door and fired a "warning shot" at a LAAV that was driving up your laneway.

Dartz Wrote:On the other hand, there're bound to be those with the idea that sticking a beacon on an asteroid and calling it 'yours' while doing nothing at all with it is terribly imperialistic. Or something.

It's not hard to send an automatic probe out to drop beacons... regardless as to the content of the asteroid. Claim them quick before anyone else can get up off their arse and actually survey them, in that way denying them to the competition. In general, the concept of possesion of asteroids should be limited to those who're actually using them.

As opposed to those who just don't want their competitors to use them first, and will survey them later. Just look at how modern patent law is evolving if you don't think that's going to happen.

There is a far larger potential for conflict than just conflicting claims. In Fenspace, such beacons would only really be honoured as far as the person placing them would be respected by Space at large. Start putting too many down without doing anything with them, and people start ignoring them.

Quote:Dartz wrote:

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My point was, so far all that's needed to claim an asteroid as your own is sticking down a beacon. While Yayoi's is respected because she is, and because it's only the one.... in theory there's nothing stopping any commercial entity from going out there and spamming marker beacons with the sole aim of claiming ownership of the common resource before their competitors manage to do it. It takes weeks to days to survey a rock and determine if it's actually commercially viable, but only minutes to flyby one with a remote drone and drop a marker on it.

The natural business strategy therefore is to claim as much as possible, - especially if claiming is cheap - and survey at your leisure rather than rushing to survey and then claim the rocks you know are good. There's no real cost to claiming, or sitting on a claim. There may however, be a catastrophic cost if you don't claim fast enough.

Actually useful asteroids are not that inexhaustible a resource.

I'm sure the convention registry has dispute resolution mechanisms, or such things as adverse possession or squatters rights. (Hey, it's your own fault for not policing your claim or doing anything with it).

JFerio Wrote:I would also add onto the pile indicating that "fire a warning shot" is a bad idea... we're still not that far out of the Boskonian War, by all rights, and there are still isolated pockets of boskonians that will turn to violence when the Patrol gets too close with their sticks... anyone who fires a warning shot, even if a warning message is broadcast with sufficient time to allow turning back, would be treated as a Boskonian threat and eliminated. And any Danelaw company hiring a group for security that would do such actions would find itself rapidly unwelcome in Fenspace.