the RP reason not to pirate in bigger ships than gunboats is - surprisingly the same reason why it is considered "bad manners" to hunt for a bounty in anything bigger than a gunboat. - that is... if you pirate a trader for 500.000 $ ... that hardly makes up for the running costs of such a ship ( fuel/mox, crew, food, water, oxigen, etc. ) - so what would a cruiser do.... pirate for 5 million with the reason that he has to make a living?
piracy is not warfar, its an act that is best done in the shades - away from the watchful eyes of the lawfuls. so a bomber or a fighter is much easier to hide with, to ambush others etc. ( a gunboat is actually a compromise made in favour of the pirates ) - it is assumed that a gunboats crew is small enough to justify piracy ... still.
unfair you say?....
lets look at the roles and what roles the participating parties take up.
no matter how you look at it... the attacking player is allways the pirate. so once a pirate is pirating within a given house realm, he is not only attacking the trader as an individual, but he is also attacking the laws of the house. - so the lawfuls are defending their space against a pirate. - that puts them into the defenders role. ( in roleplay of course ) - the pirate chooses to attack the law and the trader, so the lawfuls must react. - and they will do it with whatever is needed to take you down.
that is why lawfuls are allowed battleships and pirates are not allowed - in roleplay.
think of the roles - what happened if pirates strutted into a system in maybe ... a battleship and a few bombers....... to pirate traders. the sheer appearence of such a raid group would call for the military.
you are - in a way correct to say that the house space is too well defended. that is due to the fact that units that are not really participating ( in RP ) in something like hunting pirates still take part in it. ( like the LSF or the Navy ) - if they happend to come across a pirate, they might attack, but they would most likely not activly head to a traders help - thats the LPIs job. ( or apply it to any other house )
about BHGs heading to the help of traders.... if the trader offers them a reward, there is absolutely no problem with that. - if they do it for themselves, there is a problem, but its not a problem of assisting the trader - but its a problem of being ooRP.
[ on the other side of the coin.... if lawfuls were pirating pirates, too - i am sure pirates were allowed to use battleships to defend their space, too. - but lawfuls do not pirate - so that point is void. when lawfuls attack pirates, its an act of warfare - and pirate can answer to that with any force appropriate anyway ]
edit: i m really at a loss why you complain about the piracy rule. - even if you consider it unfair and not inRP - it proved to be reasonable. the pirate is like a fox. he can try to pirate a helpless vessel, but he won t be able to defend himself against a pack of wolves. - or do you think it d have a good impact on the game if pirates were allowed to pirate in battleships. - or do you think it would be beneficial if pirates were not allowed to be attacked in anything bigger than gunboats? - i mean - whats the alternative there.... .
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