Vagrant Raiders (VR-)

[Anaximander]

I'm not sure where you're getting that from. We only pirate certain groups -- namely Rheinland and Gallic corps -- who are unappreciated by our neutrals and friendlies. We're limiting our piracy ZoI significantly from what we had as a simple pirate ID group. We're certainly not just plain pirates. That's not what we want to be either.

In general, civilizations (and Houses by that accord) share the same view on the rule of law, e.g. (real world example, watch out!) a band of thieves (you are more than that, yes, but point still stands) pillaging Taliban controlled territory in Afghanistan exclusively would hardly be welcome guests within the US. Maybe they would be a tolerated presence in Afghanistan if the US were on their heels and didn't have a choice. Maybe.

It works for Privateers and GJ because they are the extended arm of those Houses within which they can pass freely. It IS a very powerful position to have that freedom without those ties, if you ask me.

We don't intend to wave the caps around, or use them for piracy and such activities. Just like the BHG|Core doesn't use their caps for hunting bounties.

That does sound good, maybe I'm just too old school but I'd rather see you go for a more humble no-cap plain Pirate ID approach and put heavy emphasis on roleplay achievements, rather than achieving ID, tech, "elevated lore" and powerful diplomacy (i.e. de facto gameplay related stuff). I'd rather see roleplay be a means AND an end, so to speak.

Also why would any unlawful faction in their right mind grant you caps and hand over their own power they've bled for just like that? Maybe it's just me getting the level of detail wrong in how light/heavy RP is supposed to be on Disco, but sharing "gamechanging" tech is just ludicrous in general (I mean it's not a VR thing, it's just a general Disco thing - [HF] with Ranseurs and Stortas suddenly changing their mind on diplomacy a few years down the road and using those ships to fight Outcasts comes to mind), no government or military leadership would ever do that, no populace could sit that idle by, it's hugely irresponsible. It's like playing poker and handing over all your aces to another dude at a table, however friendly he might seem at the moment. Why would you, when your responsibility towards your House and your citizens is that big? Why gamble when the stakes are that incredibly high?

What's stopping the LN is the fact that both sides enjoy roleplaying and the fun little treaties and stuff that result from it. We're not a threat to them. They accept that. It's a whole barrel of fun for the whole family!

That's fair as an oorp PoV, but strictly speaking any cap-wielding non-Liberty Navy group is a potential threat, treaties and honeyed words aside. Distribution of military power is a zero-sum game, the military and strategic value of each Liberty Navy cap diminishes with each non-Liberty cap in existence, that's common sense. That's why we in real life limit distribution of arms to keep "inflation" at a minimum, limiting government spending by not having to participate in an arms race to maintain the same level of dominance/power.

It's fine though if out of roleplay you've agreed that you won't be a danger to them in any way and you've agreed on the broader strokes of that deal but looking at it from an outside roleplay perspective it seems a bit sketchy.

We haven't requested a powerful ID. We've requested one that's less powerful than our current one. And I don't see what you mean by powerful diplomacy. We've made amends with two houses -- three others (plus the Corsairs and their allies) still don't like us being alive.

Well what other factions have those choices? Let's be real there can hardly be any doubt that an ID that allows piracy, caps AND neutral relations to lawfuls is a major upgrade from regular civ snub/gb scum-of-the-universe Pirate ID. Even the cargo capacity allowance was upgraded in your ID draft. I don't mind some ID's being better that others, but hey let's call a spade a spade.

If you got shot by every LN and BAF indie in sight because "pirate id you die now engaging", you'd want to rectify that situation too.

Maybe I'm a hopeless romantic but I do believe that through your roleplay presence people will come to know you and how to act around you given time. If you asked the Official faction LN or BAF to spread the word among their indies, I'm sure that really wouldn't be so much of a problem, not one that would warrant an entirely new ID.

This is maybe a bit cynical, but look at the track record, you get your ID and all your stuff and the game becomes boring to you, and your faction dies out after a while; that's how it goes when you get too much too fast. Look around you, it's happened to several others factions that went through the same process and reached the end goal. It's not my place to say, really, but I think you could benefit from moving ahead slower, and maybe even defeating the need for a unique ID through roleplay presence. I mean I know who VR are, but it's been very sporadic over the years - why not establish a firm presence and then move ahead slowly?