' Wrote: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? <-- So explain to me the cost effective role play reason for a bounty hunter in a battle cruiser defending a single trade ship? And explain the role play justification for 10 mil bounties placed on a pirate that only asks for 500k? For me to make 10 mil off of a single trader, I'd have to pirate him 20+ times at 500k a pop.
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. <-- Not disagreeing with you on this. And since I maintain a low profile ... its more reasonable for multiple bounty hunters in smaller ships seeking me out. Showing up in a battle cruiser just makes us pirates find a place to hide and wait till he leaves. You wanna catch a pirate ... you gotta "hunt" him down. Ever gone hunting for a dear in a tank? Bounty hunters should be "sneaking" up on the pirate and catching him off guard. This is the role play I'm looking for in bounty hunters ... but that's not what we're getting.
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. <-- Sigma 13 is not part of any house (no matter how hard Kusari and Rheinland think its theirs) ... its an independent system and there are no house laws to violate. Any house military or police entering Sigma 13 are leaving the jurisdiction of their house (role play in mind here). Which is why houses should rely on bounty hunters to bring the pirates in. I don't spend much time in house systems ... I've learned that when I spent time in Liberty ... way too much military might. So ... as YOU have mentioned ... pirates do so in secret ... and away from the houses. Its much "safer" for the pirate and much more "dangerous" for the trader (again ... role play in mind here). If we were pirating in the house systems, your argument would be valid. But outside the houses ... you're in the wild west ... a bit more chaotic and outlaws have the "upper hand" over lawfuls ... not the other way around.
that is why lawfuls are allowed battleships and pirates are not allowed - in roleplay. <-- but outside house systems ... beyond the reach of the house military might (lest they leave their borders defenseless and open to attack) ... you will not see the same level of military might. Outside the houses a trader is at the mercy of the outlaws and pirates. If he leaves the protection of the house ... he's pretty much on his own unless he hires an escort (in role play;)).
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. <-- I'm not disagreeing with you ... IF the pirate is in a house system. But MOST pirates are not residing nor pirating in house systems. And a pirate would likely need a larger ship outside a house system because he has less opposition from the house militaries and has more freedom. Take a look at the Outcast and the Corsairs. They're well outside house influence and are a military might in their own rights. They aren't quite recognized as houses by the official 4 ... but ... they are comparable to Rheinland, Liberty, Kusari and Bretonia when it comes to military capabilities.
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. <-- That's because Liberty is a police state. The name is misleading. It should actually be called something else ... don't know what ... but "Liberty" is hardly descriptive of what it really is.
[ 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 ] <-- Point of order here ... I've encountered lawfuls trying to pirate me before. Happened when I successfully pirated 2 mil from a trader and he swapped to his battleship ... flew from Tau 31 to Sigma 13 just to try to force me to return the 2 mil I pirated from him. Yeah ... gotta love that role play.
Jinx ... I think we're arguing pretty much the same thing but for two separate and distinct situations. You are looking at it from a pirate trying to "pirate" within house systems (specifically in Liberty). I'm talking about a pirate trying to "pirate" outside house systems (like the Sigmas, Taus, Omegas, Omicrons and the buffer systems between Liberty and the other houses).
