Pirating with cruisers nearby

[Jinx]

its a bit like pirating in a combat group - but not in the same places. we had a topic asking if it was allowed to pirate in a team with one person making a demand but not pursuing the trader, and the team-mate would ambush the trader, if he had not payed up ... at the end of the lane, without the need to ask/demand again.

the result was that it was accepted as long as both pirates were to be considered to be one group. - that means in one system and clearly recognizable as a team.

but how does it look when a warship is present at the time a trader is pirated? - i would argue that a warship is for show only, cause it cannot interfere at all. - cause what is pirating and what can the warship not interfere?

- pirating is interrupting the lane / stopping the trader ( so, the warship must not even assist in keeping the lane disrupted )
- the warship must not make a tax demand for the fighter while the fighter might dodge the traders fire; - cause the warship must not participate nor assist in pirating. - so the fighter must still do it himself in order to be within the rules.
- the warship must NOT defend the pirate when police / military heads towards the trader to assist him! - police/military assisting the trader become part of the piracy event. so even if there are 10 battleships approaching to assist the trader, the warship must not shoot at them, cause that would be - correct: taking part in the piracy event.
- furthermore, the warship must not be grouped with a pirate that is pirating. ( see the teamed example at the start ) - both ships must not be associated with each other or they become part of one and the same pirating event.

but what can a warship do then?
- a warship can, as long as its not grouped nor associated with the active pirating event, defend a position. ( maybe as a secure point to retreat to - once the pirating event is finished, but never before )
- a warship can fight lawfuls that were not assisting the trader that was pirated, but straight attacked the warship - and this is up to interpretation very much. - but when in doubt, the pirate warship must not fight back, cause the rules back up the trader and not the pirates.

so, since a warship must not participate in any pirating event from its very start to its end, anything of destroyer size or bigger is rather useless and can cause a violation to the rules when in doubt. - so i d better not have them around. - even if the pirate started all alone, and some "helpful" pirate-warship comes to aid against police that overwhelm the pirate... the warship would violate the rules if it engaged, cause the pirating event was still going on.

or in short, don t let any destroyer or bigger close to any pirating.... . - better be sure than sorry.

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