Questions to ADMIN

[cgaWolf]

What is unrealistic is that these ships CAN"T engage traders. Why can't they? I know the rules say they can't, but in terms of RP? there is just no way to explain it - especially when lawful ships CAN.

As far as i see it, it's a "single event" vs. "larger view" issue again. Sure a Pirate destroyer could engage a trader, it could happen and there wouldn't be a reason not to as long as we're just looking at that single event. But in the larger scheme of things, there isn't much sense in pirates flying something that big, just to get a million out of a passing trader in first place. In points of mechanics, it's possible; in points of RP, it's not worth the fuel, maintenance, repair cost, manhours, etc.
It also would be way too big a blimp on the radars of the houses... if it became known that (random example) the LR had several cruisers and BS, Liberty forces would have to deal with that threat - and the "escape pod & getting away" is much less applicable to a destroyed capship than it is to a fighter.

A police/navy capship camping manhattan or new berlin is a different thing, and makes sense. Control of territory, deterrence/interdiction to pirating, all payed by the taxes of the good citizens of Manhattan (or wherever you might be). Projection of the same force to somewhere else than your home system is a borderline war declaration, and just because one entity is a large military power, and the other 'just' a corporation doesn't mean the risk is worth taking (re: 80 years war).

Blockading a system can make sense, for example a Bretonian Privateer blockade of the S13/Honshu JG. Say, a Cruiser with fighter support, not letting anyone pass (and i mean blockade, not taxing passerbys 1 mill)? Nice RP as far as i'm concerned, and only concerning lazy NB/Kyushu powertraders anyway (although it would open up blockade running as RP opportunity too).

I'm probably thinking too much in historic pirate terms, and then frozen at a very specific time (given how short the actual period of piracy in the carribean & atlantic was, and how quickly and harshly it was dealt with). The unlawfuls here aren't small individual ships, which rely on speed and overpowering traders, but representatives of larger organisations. Problem is i have very little clue in what sort of money there is going around, and what sort of funds go into the daily business of those organisations, other than pirating in space.
As such it would probably make sense for them if they produced capships as fast as they could with the money they made, just to be able to seriously threaten the space of the houses. That's just a very different matter than picking on small traders passing S-13.

It just doesn't feel right to have BS pirates, no matter how possible it is from a game mechanics PoV.