Security 'necessities' for Spaceships

[lwcamp]

I will note that a bullet hole in a spacecraft pressure hull is not all that big of a deal. In a compartment about the size of a typical bedroom (3 m wide x 4 m long x 2.5 m high), a 1 square centimeter hole will cause the pressure to fall by half in about 5 minutes. That is plenty of time to finish the firefight and slap an emergency patch over the hole. The air pressure will push the patch tighter against the hole, so even stray bits of debris larger than the bullet hole will tend to significantly slow the loss of air, actual engineered emergency patches with rubber seals behind a rigid plate should essentially stop the air leak until the spacecraft's engineer can apply a permanent fix.

This is certainly a better option than being at the mercy of thugs with body armor.

Now you just need to convince your GM of this. It is one of those "facts" about space that does continue to annoy me, though.

The sidearms section on the Atomic Rocket web page http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/ is gives lots of useful thoughts on weapons carried aboard spacecraft.

The Math: Air moving from a pressure reservoir into vacuum will be ejected at approximately the speed of sound, or C_s = 330 m/s. With a hole of area A and in a time T, a volume V_a of air V_a=A*C_s*T will escape. The room has a volume of V_r. Thus, at a time T=V_r/(A*C_s), the amount of air that escapes through the hole is equal to the amount of air in the room. Plugging in the numbers, V_r = 3 m x 4 m x 2.5 m = 15 m^3, A=0.0001 m^2, and we find T=454 seconds=7.6 minutes.

This ignores that as the air escapes, the pressure drops and the speed of escape decreases, which extends the available time. A more detailed analysis gives a pressure P=1 atm * exp(-T/454 s). Set P=0.5 atm for a loss of half the air, and you find T=315 seconds=5.25 minutes.

Luke

[Anthony]

A lot of this depends on how cinematic the security requirements on your spaceship are, and on how fragile the internals of the spaceship are. I would say your highest priority as security is a good system for weapon scans, plus biometric locks on all weapons that are used by authorized people, plus a checkpoint system that's hard to bypass or overwhelm. Security is a lot easier if the bad guys don't have weapons. Other than that, I don't recommend electrolasers, there's plenty of electronics which won't appreciate high voltage currents, but a melee range stun gun or stun baton is a reasonable choice.

[Ubiquitous]

Originally Posted by AmesJainchill

Then don't take it out of the safe unless you're going off the ship, then.

But I'd carry the pistol with me, not in a safe. What good'd it do me there?

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

Thermobaric seems close to the worst possible idea to use aboard a ship. Yes, it has the punch to kill well-protected enemies if they're close enough to it. It also has the punch to smash non-trivial chunks of your ship, and setting it off in cramped rooms makes for a really ugly mess.

I'd suggest shaped-charge limpet mines (not HEMP, you don't need fragmentation!) for your 'stopping a rogue elephant in power armor' needs. Maybe with a command detonation setup so that you can be extra sure of only setting them off when you're ready to put a hole in someone.

Are you suggesting a dispenser worn or just hucking them?

[AmesJainchill]

[QUOTE=Ubiquitous;891835]

Originally Posted by Ubiquitous

But I'd carry the pistol with me, not in a safe. What good'd it do me there?

This is not complicated?

When you leave the ship for an away mission, get the AP-loaded magazine out of the safe you keep your not-currently-in-use weapons in.

Carry two pistol magazines of frangible ammo with you at all times.

Simple?

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Ubiquitous

Why do you want me using a gun with an inherent (3) armor-divisor on a pressurized ship, and, if I remember correctly, the main reason (and the only one you should need) for a Gyroc long-arm is, unlike the pistol, it uses a clip and doesn't take 6-10 seconds (I forget specifically) to reload one shot, if I remember the book correctly. If I misquoted that info I'll correct this.

Is there anything that I can apply to stack more damage, though if someone were to go berserk with an industrial tool? Say another 6 DR?

The Gauss Shotgun Pistol (and the Gauss CAW too) do not have an inherent (3). They just do 8D unless you load them with APEP. You can load them with sleep gas rounds instead. Or HP or HEC (no frag, no overpenetration and killer internal explosions). It's also usable with baton rounds and a dozen other things.

The Gyroc Launch Pistol takes a clip and 3 seconds to reload just like anything else with a clip. It does only hold 6 rounds but for an in-ship weapon you want one-shot stops and not to have to rely on spraying and praying.

For goodness sake's carry at least one Gyroc guided minimissile (the Holdout launcher will do)when you leave the ship. That will let you attack someone (like a sniper) 1900 yard away without range penalties. If he has the stealth gear to fox the minimissile's guidance you're screwed anyway.

If you want more concealable armor you're going to have to go into the Bionics section. There may be as many 3 different things available at your TL.

[Ubiquitous]

Originally Posted by AmesJainchill

This is not complicated?

When you leave the ship for an away mission, get the AP-loaded magazine out of the safe you keep your not-currently-in-use weapons in.

Carry two pistol magazines of frangible ammo with you at all times.

Simple?

What you don't seem to get is that, if I don't have it with me, I might not have it at all. I have to base most of the equipment I have on me as BEING on me, because I know my GM and he'll probably give me Absent Mindedness to keep me from taking advantage of all the equipment I'd have.

If the AP magazine isn't on me, and I don't make the 'remembrance' roll, than I leave without the magazine. Or leave it in the safe. Or whatever.

Because you seem to not understand; I need a weapon that I can use for straight-up combat; AP bullets, a grenade launcher, whatever.

But I cannot, CANNOT, logically be able to mistake it as a weapon I can use on a spaceship, and it has to be significant enough to remember. The pistol and it's ammo are neither of these things. I take this seriously because my GM has no problem killing me if I do something stupid, even if I'm doing something because of Role-Playing.

Speaking of which, equipment I can wear at all times; are their rules for jamming electronics and if so, at TL...10, say, is there some kind of wrist-puter or whatever that can fix this? I'm picturing more subtle combat scenarios now, like Space Pirates that jam sensors and radios, which would make the doors on the ship hard to get around without it.

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

The Gauss Shotgun Pistol (and the Gauss CAW too) do not have an inherent (3). They just do 8D unless you load them with APEP. You can load them with sleep gas rounds instead. Or HP or HEC (no frag, no overpenetration and killer internal explosions). It's also usable with baton rounds and a dozen other things.

The Gyroc Launch Pistol takes a clip and 3 seconds to reload just like anything else with a clip. It does only hold 6 rounds but for an in-ship weapon you want one-shot stops and not to have to rely on spraying and praying.

For goodness sake's carry at least one Gyroc guided minimissile (the Holdout launcher will do)when you leave the ship. That will let you attack someone (like a sniper) 1900 yard away without range penalties. If he has the stealth gear to fox the minimissile's guidance you're screwed anyway.

If you want more concealable armor you're going to have to go into the Bionics section. There may be as many 3 different things available at your TL.

The Guass weapon you suggested had the (3) armor divisor. Anyway, are you sure the Gyroc doesn't reload individually? It has the little '6(i)' underneath shots, and I can't get over that when I consider 'one-shot stops'. I can't guarantee my GM'll give me enough skill to use the gun without an aim maneuver, and sometimes you can't spare the maneuver.

Although, this mini-missile idea...I do like that.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by Ubiquitous

Are you suggesting a dispenser worn or just hucking them?

Can you throw limpet mines? I figure you could have a dispenser stored away, and maybe carry one to apply manually in sudden emergencies. It's a bit dangerous...you can probably kill the ship if you set it off in the wrong place...but it'll stop practically anything.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

Can you throw limpet mines?

Try a Tangler grenade instead. It's nonlethal but the 64mm one is strong enough to hold a battlesuit. Once you get it down you can send for the plasma drill.

[Ubiquitous]

Originally Posted by fred brackin

try a tangler grenade instead. It's nonlethal but the 64mm one is strong enough to hold a battlesuit. Once you get it down you can send for the plasma drill.

this is an idea.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Ubiquitous

this is an idea.

An old one. It's in Space 1st ed. :)