' Wrote:Big decision here. I hope they change the zoner ID then.

' Wrote:So, the only reasonable option for a trader when facing a cruiser is pay or die?

' Wrote:[3:12:44 PM] Twisp River: "In the event that a transport or freighter falls under attack by another transport or freighter, they may request the help of ANY AND ALL affiliated or allied ships, including destroyers, carriers, battleships, etc."
[3:14:15 PM] Twisp River: Also, the whole business with transport exemption from 4 hour rule enforcement needs to be attuned so that they are only forced to remain out of the system for four hours if they are destroyed by a vessel which is either actively warring or hostile to their faction, or if the vessel is undertaking activities deemed illegal by the affiliated body of the ship which destroys the transport

' Wrote:or hire a scout, merc or freelancer. Oh, and run. Plenty of options.

' Wrote:Picture this scenario.

Player Ore-Laden.Stork cruises up to the Mojave/NY lane. He goes three rings down, and cuts out because he sees a hostile target. Upon further examination, he sees he was about to be ambushed by a Rogue Barghest! How clever he was for avoiding it.
Suddenly, Player Ellenness-Not.A.Scylla uncloaks his Scylla and demands F[color=#BECF5B]IVE MILLION CREDITS!!1!ONEELEVENTY!!X

Should player Ore-Laden.Stork

1. Pay the pirate and be on his merry way, and still receive a total profit of approximately 35 million credits?
   
2. Be destroyed and have the past half hour wasted, and ruin the fun of the other player, who gains nothing from his death?
   
3. F1 out like a moron?
   
4. /l1 and engage, leading to his instant death?
   

CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE!!

' Wrote:Pirate make a demand, trader docks and it is dead for 4 hours- this need change.

' Wrote:I applaud this bold move from the admin team, because having a rule with a list of so many exceptions was ridiculous in itself, and because it added a lot of OORPned to the game.

There are how ever legitimate conecerns, in my opinion, that this will lead to more "cap spam", and a very hard time for lawfuls while they try to remove pirates.

Should it turn out that there will be too much abuse, which is in my opinion 60% likely, I would like to suggest that other options than jsut putting it back in place with all those exceptions be considered.

Here my thoughts about possible countermeasures against "cap spam" and abuse:

The situation where a cap ship fleet of pirates defeats a cap ship fleet of navy inside house space should not occur, and if it does only rarely. It would mean that the house has lost sovereignty of that space, and it would basically mean civil war. Since that is not suposed to happen according to the storyline, pirate cap ships should try to avoid open confrontations with the navy. The best way to achieve that is to make those pirate cruisers too weak to fight the navy on eye to eye level. This is also the most realistic thing for the RP environement. It will also make them less capable of instakilling transports, which is a concern for many people. The reballancing of pirate cap ships should look like this:

-The changes below should affect unlawful crusiers that are forced to operate in house space, and who have to get their gear without the economy of a planet to back them up. These are factions like Rogues, Molies, Hessians, LWB, Blood Dragons. Outcasts and Corsairs have planet economies and are fighting open wars, so they both have the means and the motivation ti build strong cap ships. In order to stop them from abusing their ships for piracy where they shouldnt, their IDs will not allow their cap ships from entering house space. Its the most logical thing RP-wise as well as balance-wise.

-Do not make pirate cap ships slower than navy cruises, or they will be unable to retreat from the navy. Pirates should have more priority on speed than on ship strength, so that they can avoid the navy and run. Don't make them faster, but dont make them slower either.

-Make their guns slightly slower, slighlty weaker, and slighlty less energy efficient than house navy cap ship guns. Make their hulls and powercores slighly weaker and price slightly higher. Rag-tag pirate cruisers arent able to get top notch technology, and have a harder time getting the materials they need for what they can build throught unlawful chanels, and that should be reflected in the game. Again it would mean harmonizing ballance as well as RP environment.

Some people will shout hot unfair this is. Well, life ain't fair, especially when lawlesness is involved. Your most important tool as a pirate should be your brain and your skill, not your ship power. As a pirate, you are not fair to traders, by definitation. Pirate vs trader isnt fair, so why should navy vs pirate be? And no, I'm not a purely lawful player. I pirate a lot, alone, in a VHF. This is also the motivation for the next point:

-Don't make transport speed higher. Because that will eliminate the VHF's ability to defeat a trader alone. Thh trader will be able to get to safety faster, and when you pirate in a VHF, you need time to do your damage. Making transports faster will hurt fighters more than it will hurt cap ships, and I believe that is not the intent.

-You may also want to give transports better shields against cap ship weapons. But I wonder if its possible to do that without also giving them more imunity to snubraft weapons. If its possible and you do that, don't overdo it with immunities like 90%. Because if you do that, then why wouldn't cap ship use the same kind of shields? And if they are effectively again unable to kill a transport... you will have transports buzing around cap ships, only instead of saying "haha rules say you cant shoot me" they will say "haha game mechanics gave me a totally unrealisticly high resistance to your guns and you cant do squat against me". One isnt much better than the other.

EDIT:
About people pirating in transports: You have the ability to make high demands and still get all the cargo when the guy refuses. There should be a price for that, not a reward like a rule that keeps certain types of ships from shooting you.

' Wrote:or hire a scout, merc or freelancer. Oh, and run. Plenty of options.

' Wrote:I don't get it, you are affirming what I said, the trader options are pay or die.

But,
Imagine a P.Trans instead of the Scylla, the transport can run away.
Imagine a bomber instead of the Scylla, the transport can run away.
Imagine a Gunboat instead of the Scylla, the transport can run away.