'Taxing-Agreement'?

[Xydonus]

For true roleplayers, there should be a limit (probably at about 25 to 50M) where their life becomes worth risking, and even then, only if the pirate was in a gunboat, not a bomber, so they could have a resonable chance,... otherwise paying up, everything they have might be open...

Saying that, would you pay up 25 to 50 million for the sake of role-play? An honest answer from me would be, no. How many runs would I have to do again to regain that loss. Infact, in all reality, lets face it, any pirate in a police system who is camping a trade-lane/JH and asks for 25 to 50 mill is going to be considered OORP... Handing over 25 to 50 million should be considered a retirement package for any would be trade lane camping pirate in any system, especially the police systems. Even 10 million is fairly high, and does that include passage for 2 or more hours?

In my opinion, and general role-play correctness, any pirate character should only tax to what they feel their character is entitled to tax, to how much he needs the money and whether or not he is going to get 9/10 traders paying up. If you have all the pirates in sirius, demanding 2+ million credits, then you have alot of rich pirates if you take in account of how much trading goes on.

Too many pirate characters who are doing the same thing with capital ships. Soon as they get that ID, they might aswell go for the big one's... In this case, soon as they get that Pirate ID, camp a lane, they feel they need to tax a high amount to make it worthwhile for not trading or they do it RP-Wise, and not understanding exactly where their character comes from and thier ship.

There's also a quote here from the above post stating "Ultimate goal should be taxing so much that it becomes viable for traders to hire escorts, which i'd very like to see..." Now, theres a problem with that, because I feel its the other way around. Out of 10, how many do you think are going to pay up with demands to hand over 3 mill+?

Lets consider this, your taking a trader's hard earned money, 3 mill might not seem alot compared to what he may profit, at least to you, but to the trader, a 3 mill loss on a 4 jump system journey is going to hurt. Out of 10, how many will pay up? Because from what I've seen, some won't even pay 2 mill, even 500k... Although I consider it ooc if a trader can't get away and refuse's to pay for something as low as 500k... And again, there's quite a few out there who would rather take a loss on their RP rep than to pay up 3 mill, even if they can't escape and lose the whole lot.

I certainly do wish though that traders make more use of escorts, as it seems to be a dying business at times. And only way to do that is for active piracy and decent piracy to come through. Low-fee and low-risk demands in my opinion would make more money for the pirate considering he has better odd's that the trader will pay up, but most likely they will high a merc. Doubt someone is going to hire a merc after paying 3+ mill, and I seriously doubt someone is going to use that route again if not only your taxing high amounts, but not offering right of passage. And if someone is offering right of passage, why bother hire a merc?

So more escorts I reckon will happen if no right of passage is given and low-risk demands are directed at the traders, otherwise, I'd choose another route or hire a merc if I didn't take a huge loss.

In anycase, end of the day, everyone is entitled to tax whatever they want as long as its not a mad stupid amount.

Also, anyone who doesn't tax an empty trader is wrong to start stating that its ooc. For heavensake, your a PIRATE! If I walk down a street, guy comes up with a knife, tells me to hand over my wallet and I tell him, wha? Don't have it with me... Chance's are he will ask for my lovely watch that is currently wrapped around my hand, and my mobile too! It's an RP Server, your playing a pirate, you thirsty for money, and unless your incredibly nice for a pirate, why in gods name are you going to let an empty trader pass through who may indeed be on his way to make a profit elsewhere, and not only that but is sure to have a nice fat juicy wallet with him!...

So this "I ain't taxing an empty pirate because its not nice, I get ranted at and its not good role-play" lark is nonsence. Pirates are prepared and should be to take personal items and financial assets regardless of cargo. Hostile NPC's show no mercy, so why should you? But do keep the amounts reasonable and not outlandish...

In true RP piracy, a pirate would most likely strip the trader bare off all his profits. You don't get nice pirates in the likes of EVE-Online, but here, you do, and because of that "Nice" piracy which is a current trend, you'l never get full RP piracy, which is fine by me in anycase, and thus, you'l never get true Trader RP, but you should always try and walk that line that allows you to at least pirate in comfortable role-playing fashion.

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Barrick Mane {Merc}- History of the Manes
Xydonus.Xavier
John.Savage {Smuggler} Bio/Logs of JS