Piracy

[Bass_masta992]

I've been thinking about this for a little while now. Piracy is, quite easily, the most popular thing in the game. Majority of the players in this server are, or have unlawfuls, of multiple kinds. Obviously, there are metagamers out the arse recently, pirating for 'profit.' There are some fair players who do it too, but who's gunna pass up 500k for not dieing? you also get a nice conversation about it.

My main issue with this is that there are WAY too many pirates at times, to the point that trading can become far less profitable, and even unprofitable to attempt.

There's been some very heavy talk about 'fairness' in the game, much of which is by Jihad Joe. I completely agree, that the game should be able to be made fun for others, both through combat and means of RP.

My issue is with fairness dealing with Piracy/Policing. Piracy is getting used to make money, and is sapping it from other people unfairly to do so. People are even going OORP to get a few bucks. This pisses me off, badly. I don't want to lose half the money I make in a run just because -you- want a new armor upgrade, or a new gun, I really don't care. The aspect of the game is leeching away from other's work to fulfill themselves.

Many of the trade runs that are actually decent at making money are hoarded by pirates now. The server is an RP server. The fact that you ask for 500k, or 2 million, isn't going to make you more or less of a pirate, and then letting them go for a bit, isn't going to effect much either. In fact, you will probably make more by taking a little from everyone, instead of a lot from a few, since most people just run away from anything more than a million.

Policing, though, is sort of an iffy subject to me. Police intercept a drug smuggler, and, obviously it would be RP to force the drop of cargo and fine them. What if you just made them drop half the cargo and 'Rped' that all of the detected drugs were dropped? Or if a Xeno catches an importer, they -have- to make them drop it all?

The point I'm trying to get across is that you don't need to fully screw someone out of what they are doing, even for RP. Majority of the trader's you'll talk to are only doing what they're doing to supply their other characters, because all of their missiles they just bought got no-engagement-noticed by the Outcast with Gaian guns and a BHG IFF.

We can't get this way by telling people to 'play nice.' The only thing that gets listened to nowadays is force. I'd like to purpose a form of mitigation regarding piracy and policing to make it fair for everyone. Back when the server was smaller, this wasn't so much of a problem, but now there's so many more people, and so many of those aren't willing to play for RP.

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[Athenian]

You raise some good points. I was thinking about this yesterday, when I saw a low level player getting taxed by three well-armoured pirate gunboats for three million credits. I actually thought, well that's piracy, but it was just so dull and boring I don't know why they even bothered. There was no challenge. No interaction worth remembering. Just "pay or die."

Lawful trading is now significantly more difficult and less profitable than being an unlawful - whether pirate or smuggler. And whatever its roleplay value, piracy is frequently used as a more effective means of gaining credits, not that there is a problem with that, but it's to the point that it is almost ridiculous. There is little imagination among pirates - short of sitting on the Westpoint (NY) to Mojave (Cali) lanes and demanding credits.

I have yet to be pirated, ever on this server, for cargo. Never ever. In fact I was wondering if the value of all cargo was boosted significantly would we see anything different.

It raises more points about the bump in stats given in the low end freighters in this version. They're great ships, and they need more love. But what's the point? The pirate ship of choice is the GB, now rarely seen operating alone. Throw a bomber or two on that, and even a lone escort to assist you is a waste of money.

No wonder people become Zoner traders. But even then you will find pirates resort to ooc stuff to have their pound of flesh. It's enough to make one consider buying a BHG battlecruiser and flying back to NY....oh wait.....

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Former member of "the most paranoid group of people in the community"
Discovery Community Forum Rules

[Rudo]

I have yet to be pirated, ever on this server, for cargo. Never ever. In fact I was wondering if the value of all cargo was boosted significantly would we see anything different.

That just makes the pirate care less if you make it through alive.

Pirate: Pay 10 mil and type the lyrics to "I Am a Modern Major-General" in the next ten seconds!
Trader: What? But I-
bang!
Pirate: yar, all dis high-profit cargo for me

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[Athenian]

That just makes the pirate care less if you make it through alive.

Pirate: Pay 10 mil and type the lyrics to "I Am a Modern Major-General" in the next ten seconds!
Trader: What? But I-
bang!
Pirate: yar, all dis high-profit cargo for me

Fair point. Nice example.

You can't teach people to have an imagination. I will always remember the Junker who pirated a guy in Cambridge for his shoes. Classic and truly memorable.

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Former member of "the most paranoid group of people in the community"
Discovery Community Forum Rules

[LivingOtta]

Well i propose we limit the amount being pirated with have for ever 1000 Cargo its 250k credits or possibly a limit of 1 Million credits if they are over lvl60 and put it on every Pirate able ID.

[Rudo]

Fair point. Nice example.

You can't teach people to have an imagination. I will always remember the Junker who pirated a guy in Cambridge for his shoes. Classic and truly memorable.

I admit to stealing that idea upon hearing of it. Hey, when you can't come up with good ideas, act on someone else's.

And no, we don't need more rules to force people to play nice. They either will or they won't.


Going from my own experience, being the well-known faction leader of the one highly visible Junker faction does not make me immune to piracy. But being in a Salvage Frigate with a Cap 7 armor and three battle razors very often does make lone gunboats and bombers cruise up, only to turn tail and leave without a word said. With those that don't RP unless it involves a prelude to a blue message, often times the simple threat of a harder fight and denial of access to their favorite system for four hours is enough to make them think twice.

The only solution I'd honestly propose regarding all the pirate gunboats would be to bring gunboat and transport defenses closer in line with one another. The disparity is just too big right now. Give the "harder" transports a fighting chance against gunboats.

Keeps rules out and makes life a bit more dangerous for the enterprising gunship captain.



EDIT: As an added bonus, you might even see transports become a choice vessel for piracy -- not just with the RP diehards but with the 10PM PST Liberty unlawful crowds.

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[Bass_masta992]

You made my day, the first comment was positive.

Anyway, that thing about lawfuls being more difficult, is not always true. Cardi smuggling has IND pirates all the time, the XA, BHG on slaves, IMG and CR, Hogosha, And any other OORP wanting a buck, with the exception of Mercs and Freelancers being hired to do the jobs. It's just not safe anymore. By taking the other route, that's Rhineland space, with some Corsair influence... Bad...

Athenian raises a lot of good points also, about the statistics of the freighters themselves. Also, you will hardly ever see an escort, because most anyone would rather grab a 5k transport and go with you for money.

I'd like to see bombers become the dominate pirating ship again, really. One or two bombers now is more than enough to handle even a well equipped transport. A gunboat is just plain suicide to go against.

I don't quite know anymore, would you like to see pirating become fair, or would you like to have a chance flying your super transports?

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[worldstrider]

Two sides to a coin.

You resent pirates trying to rake in because its about the RP not the cash yet a big part your reason is that it costs you so much cash.

How about reduce trading where you can't make more than 250k on a run? Sounds a lot less acceptable when you put it like that--yet thats what you're asking pirates to accept.

I don't play a pirate but I can see how this is an extremely one-sided and mostly self-serving (for traders) presentation. It also subtly implies that pirates are lesser RPers and not as important as traders.

I don't think yet another rule--directed to restrict ONE side's play--is the solution to a perceived problem.

I can name three prominent faction members I've seen in the past few weeks using their 5k faction ships and ID to carry totally oorp cargo from their faction. Two I asked why they were doing it and the answer was, "I need the cash."

It's a two way street--and I don't play a pirate.

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[Rudo]

Two sides to a coin.

You resent pirates trying to rake in because its about the RP not the cash yet a big part your reason is that it costs you so much cash.

How about reduce trading where you can't make more than 250k on a run? Sounds a lot less acceptable when you put it like that--yet thats what you're asking pirates to accept.

I don't play a pirate but I can see how this is an extremely one-sided and mostly self-serving (for traders) presentation. It also subtly implies that pirates are lesser RPers and not as important as traders.

I don't think yet another rule--directed to restrict ONE side's play--is the solution to a perceived problem.

I can name three prominent faction members I've seen in the past few weeks using their 5k faction ships and ID to carry totally oorp cargo from their faction. Two I asked why they were doing it and the answer was, "I need the cash."

It's a two way street--and I don't play a pirate.

This is true, but the debate here is how to lessen the impact of piracy without impacting the RP on either side. Trust me, the summer months make discovery chock-full of unlawful liberty types who fly in numbers to win at any cost.

Yes, traders offend through poor/nonexistent RP and abuses as well. But their impact is passive; they can be ignored. Not so with the pirate.

(Experiment for you: Make a lawful trader, put a corporation tag in the shipname and fly a popular route such as through Liberty or Omega-3. Record the results.)

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[Belco]

i've always though the most profitable way to gain credits is to trade, pirating really doesnt seem that profitable. So i figure for every pirate gunboat flying around, they probably have a trader account that gets pirated just as much as everyone else.

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Ingame: Luxury Liner PGL-Winfield | Sal_Paradise | Victor.Fane

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