There doesn't seem to be a real reason for it, since it's supposed to be a mining ship. However, in some of the shots of the ship, I think I spot what looks like gunnery. Any comments?

They may be a mining ship, but they are also a long way from help. I would have to assume they are armed for their own protection. I know Starbug is, especially after "Gunmen of the Apocalypse."

If Starbug has weaponry, it's safe to say that Red Dwarf does as well. However, the bundle of guns on the top looks like it includes aerials, probably to send and receive messages

Starting in "Polymorphs", the bazookoids have pretty much been standard issue weapons on Red Dwarf. Presumably the Mining Corps put them there in case the wee red puck ran into any melee problems.

Oops. That should be "Polymorph". Sorry.

Red Dwarf may be lightly armed against pirating I would imagine. a mining ship would probably be a good target. Starbug wasn't armed until "gunmen of the apocalypse"

Then again no-one probably expected RD to get
stuck 3 million years out from Earth when it
was commissioned.

True, but that doesn't mean by any stretch that it isn't vunerable to attack from pirates or any potentially hostile aliens that Red Dwarf's designers thought she may come across.

Mike, not entirely. If I recall correctly, White Hole indicates that Starbug has a missile launcher.

Bazookoids are used for mining. Their use as a weapon is something Lister et all improvised. Starbug was given wepondry in one of season six's episodes, I think it was Rimmer world. Thier ship was upgraded by some simulants who wanted to give them a fighting chance so they would be more fun as sport. I don't think RD is armed, tho it might be, now that the nanobots have upgraded it to it's original design specs.

Bazookoids are used for mining. Their use as a weapon is something Lister et all improvised. Starbug was given wepondry in one of season six's episodes, I think it was Rimmerworld. Thier ship was upgraded by some simulants who wanted to give them a fighting chance so they would be more fun as sport. I don't think RD is armed, tho it might be, now that the nanobots have upgraded it to it's original design specs.

Wildstar, it was in Gunmen of the Apocalypse that Starbug was armed with laser cannons. When was it mentioned that bazookiods are mining tools?

I don't think they were in the show, but the novel Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers does, so technically, he's right.

I was guessing about the Ep starbug is given weapons. I knew it was one of the simulant eps, so I guessed Rimmerworld.

Wasn't the ship restricted to travel within the solar system, and thus easily protected?

Why would RD be armed. No alien nasty's like Romulans or Cardassians in this reality.

So? Humans have been know to attack each other. Today on Earth, commercial ships are being hijacked by pirates or attacked by terrorists. Some armament on the Red Dwarf would not be out of place.

I suppose a case could be made for that.

plus you have simulants etc. By the way, why does Kryten feel the need to differentiate between simulants and "rogue droids"?

Aren't simulants living beings, while droids are machines?

Remember, the idea that Red Dwarf would end up in Deep Space no doubt never crossed anyone's mind.

The most they probably thought they'd have to worry about is human criminals.

Kryten's home era is about 200 years after RD was forced to flee the Solar System. He has to tell the others what simulants are, so the first simulants must have been created after Lister and Rimmer's time period.

Yeah, Simulants didn't exist when the Dwarf left our Solar System.

They couldn't have weapons for a threat that didn't yet exist.

The Bazokoid may be intended to be a mining tool but it does have a heat seeker setting so it’s clearly multi purpose. And Red Dwarf was designed to travel interstellar when they believed their was a chance of meeting alien life.

Anyway even if it doesn’t have dedicated weaponry We saw in The Prmised Land that the ship itself had nuclear mining torpedos that presumably could be used in self defence as well.

Guess the Dwarfers would need to have weapons.

I mean it's not like they can get on subspace radio and call for help. There is no one to call.

Who ya gonna call?

Dwarfbusters! *cue theme music*

Sorry, couldn't help myself.

Funny.

Guess it's times like this when the Dwarfers realize just how alone they really are.

There is only the assumption that humanity is extinct. Also humans will have undergone further evolution in the future. After all, in the real world we still have an appendix even though we no longer need to digest tree bark.

If the human race still exists, the Dwarfers have yet to run into them.