I was trying to think through what a patrol might look like for the <i>Osprey</i>. We know they go out for 4 days, then 2 days back at the station. How many customs inspections might they be doing in that time? How long might that take? Why am I sweating such minor details?<br /><br />Some givens:<br />- There are (at the start of WoWL) 3 active ships in the militia, soon to grow to 5. - There are 4 common FTL routes to other systems, so 3 ships seem a bit outnumbered. I don't think that all ships get inspected away from the station, some are checked there.<br />- a freighter with 1 ADF will need (if my numbers are right) 2 million km to slow down from .01c to dock with the station. One with 2 ADF will need half as much, ADF 3 1/3 as much, and on down the line. So we could have ships popping out anywhere between 2mkm and 400kkm from the planet and station. Ships with higher ADF are possibly high-speed couriers.<br />- Sensors on the base or patrolling ships can see 30kkm-50kkm.<br />- Somewhere I picked up the number that a ship would be coming into the system every 100-200 minutes. If there are 2 duty ships, then each should expect to be carrying out inspections every 3-6 hours.<br /><br />Here's what I think happens.<br />- There is a shell of unmanned sensor remotes, about 600kkm from the planet's orbit. These are monitored by Clarion Station (and Fortress Redoubt). Clarion Station may use these to vector patrolling ships towards incoming vessels. The CSM probably also has an unarmed system ship to service these remotes, which might also serve as radio relays for communications to ships and stations.<br />- The Marines maintain 2 ships on duty, the 3rd is at the station for crew rest and maintenance. The 2 duty ships station themselves near the expected arrival paths of incoming ships, near the 1mkm line from the planet. That should give them plenty of time to intercept ADF 1 or 2 ships as they arrive.<br />- Faster ships might or might not be intercepted by the assault scouts/frigate farther out. Their customs inspections happen at the Station.<br />- I expect there are separate wings/arms/rings of the Station for ships that have already been inspected, and those that have not. Those in the first category, having already cleared customs while still decelerating from the Void, can make more money for their owners. The others will be quarantined until they have been checked out.<br />- Which begs the question: what about passenger liners? Those would take a LOT longer to check out than a freighter. IMO, those can only be checked out by the frigate's larger boarding party, or by a large number of inspectors at the station. If done at docking, then only the passengers that are disembarking need be checked out?<br />- If it takes an hour or less to check out an incoming freighter, and less than an hour to intercept and dock to it, then our boarding parties are going to be looking at 4-6 inspections a day over their 4-day patrol, napping between inspections. As a GM, I feel like occasionally emphasizing crew fatigue, especially during the latter parts of their patrol.<br /><br />Opinions? Questions?
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