Wow. I finally got through this whole thread, and ... wow.
Xoria: Nice try, but I think the point was missed a bit. It happens.
Baltar: I've never encountered the Black.Pearl, but I look forward to it.
Both: Misunderstandings from what I read. pitfalls of this medium, inflection isn't well-given.
Now, I've never pirated, but I've been pirated...and attempted to...a lot. So I have a few observations that I'd like to share.
-Saying "Halt" when you're over 5k away, or not even on radar, makes me laugh at you. Please. If you can't pull me out of cruise, I'm not going to do your job for you. And Captain Berger will tell you that in RP.
-Somewhere in here was something to the effect of "If I say 'halt' and you don't stop, I'm going to kill you." Really? Extrapolated, this pretty much means I can cruise into any system with my Gunboat (as it's the biggest thing you can "pirate" in), say "Halt!" in system chat, and blow up everyone that moves, whether they're on radar at the time or not. ?
-You bet your sweet @$$ that I'm going to try and get away from you. Cruise engines trying to spool up, Turrets blazing, full steam ahead to the next trade-lane/dock. I prefer a pirate who asks 1st, CD's and then asks, Starts shooting and asks a final time. I figure after three strikes, you're out, and I accept that as a trader. If I know i'm not going anywhere, I'll acknowledge it. At that time, if the pirate wishes to take my money, cha-ching for him/her. If, however, the pirate wishes to blow me up...he's going to get a few mouthfuls of turretfire for his trouble, whether I go down or he does. A running fire-fight is one of the more exciting things I've been involved in.
What I am saying is that these encounters are two-way streets, and if they're going to happen, let them happen correctly. A Pirate should make an effort, but a trader should as well. "Fine, just kill me" is NOT a proper response to "2mil or die". Use your big-boy words and RP, traders, and this sort of thread could be a thing of the past.
On the matter of blowing up a trader and having them say "you can't kill me for 4 hours when they come back through", that's wrong. Isn't it thta the TRADER cannot come back in-system they were killed in unless the player leaves. Also, if the trader is dumb enough to come back into the same system...tax that SOB again, and again, and again. And if they don't pay, blow them up again, and again, and again.
