A Rule Ammendment - a poll with a point :)

[Laowai]

There was a recent sanction report where a Corsair player in a capital ship was sanctioned for pirating in a Cruiser. Of course, we all know that pirating someone in a Capital class ship other than a gunboat is completely against the rules, and if you do it, expect to get sanctioned.

But this particular sanction caught my eye for a few reasons. The sanction, by strict interpretation of the rules - and don't get me wrong, im not challenging the sanction here, Xoria was perfectly within his rights to do it - is warranted. However i believe the motivation for the deed needs to be examined further, and the rule behind this sanction similarly examined and i believe, amended to allow greater flexibility.

The player in question destroyed a vessel carrying passengers to planet Crete. Now, this is a Role play rule that was enacted by TBH ages ago and supported by all the Corsair houses and indies (the ones who know about it). The sanctioned player destroyed the ship - which by current rules is sanctionable - but did so in order to uphold a role play law in force in that sector - and not by strict definition, to pirate i.e to make financial gain.

Now, the issue here is not whether an unlawful can pirate in a capship - while i personally believe they should be able to (the issue of sportsmanship and fairness to traders in my opinion is moot, Bombers and gunships can drop a freighter with similar ease, with only marginally more chance in the fight than if it were a cruiser. While i appreciate the sentiment behind the "caps cant pirate" rule i believe in practicality it is irrelevant) but thats a side issue.

The issue here is allowing capital class - unlawful vessels to fire on traders that are in breach of their house factions cargo laws - traders carrying what unlawfuls, be they who they may - consider "contraband". Lawful capships are allowed to do this - unlawfuls are not - the argument that in one case the trader is seen as an aggressor if he is carrying contraband in a lawful house, whereas in an unlawful house he is not, thus justifying this obvious double standard is completely subjective and really unarguable. From a Corsair point of view for example, that trader carrying passengers in Crete is every bit as hostile to him as a smuggler full of Cardamine is in New York to lawfuls.

I believe that this law should be amended to allow for this scenario. It is no more difficult to police than any other Role play rule on the server. And in its current state, unlawful capships are essentially impotent against traders carrying RP declared contraband in their houses - in Role play situations, in unlawful home systems, unlawful capships should be free to fire upon traders in enforcement of recognized faction rules.

I would be interested in hearing arguments for and against this:

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