Blasting trade ships

[Jinx]

back then, i had hoped that zoners would not be considered traders. - but ... well, zoners. - and i thought it would be a good RP element, if zoners were NOT protected by the balancing rules - but was down to being allowed to be pirated in everything - or even destroyed without piracy, if roleplay demanded.

however, it was said that zoners are indeed traders ( a bit of a disappointment there, cause it simplifies factions - and puts zoners down to "they are traders" ) - being zoner myself, i would like to see them being more vulnerable - so they had to actually work to be neutral to everyone.

the trader protection rule is a balancing rule that can - while its important for the most part - be a bit detrimental to RP. i don t think it must be chanced for traders - but i would like to see freelancers and zoners to be excluded from it.

i wouldn t mind being threatened by a cruiser or a battleship ( mind you, its easier for me to get away from such a big ship cause it cannot thrust after me ) - but with the current rules ... zoners = generic trader = protected by the piracy balancing ruled.

so, no, you must not blow anyone up, no matter what your RP asks you for. - you MUST ask for a tax, and that tax MUST meet reasonable standards ( there have been sanctions for demanding outragous amounts of money just to fulfil that rule ).
most of the times - this protection helps the server enviroment greatly - but in specific cases it works against RP. i guess we have to live with it.

edit: catdog -> well, except for a balancing issue, the RP element of not allowing cruisers / battleships in piracy actions is that the virtual costs to operate such a ship exceeds any benefit from simple piracy. operating a battleship should cost millions / day. pirating in such a ship would be utterly inefficient with that in mind.

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Shipdesigns made for DiscoveryGC