Zoner/Zoner Guard IDs

[ugliestmoose]

I've been thinking about this one for a little bit and though I still support it, I'm not so enthusiastic about it as I was at first. Reason being that the Zoner ID is bloated already as it is, and any more wording just adds to the ever expanding rules as jinx pointed out. However, until we can think of a better solution I'd say this one's worth a shot; if it improves Zoner roleplay at the cost of thirty extra seconds of reading the ID, I don't have a problem with that.

On a more general note, I don't think that this, or any, rule change will convince people to switch over to corporate trading. The reason being, corporations are restrictive by nature - they have established routes and commodities to deal with, and typically don't stray far from those - and so they require a certain amount of dedication from players who choose to be a 'company man.' On the flip side, the game is called Freelancer and promotes the freedom to go out and make a name for yourself however you choose. What's the sexier option - roleplaying a space cowboy or some ordinary schmoe?

People choose to be Zoners because they want to be freelancers and the Zoner ID grants them the best transports, I don't think it takes a lot of brainpower to figure that one out. But with this proposal, you're basically asking them, would they rather give up the ability to freelance in exchange for keeping their big fancy Whales, or would they just say 'screw it,' trade in their Guard ID for the regular one, hop in their Firefly and keep doing what they were doing? I think most would choose the latter option, personally. Either way, very few will be convinced by this rule to go join corporations (either joining a faction or just getting a corp ID) by this rule, IMHO. Corps are an acquired taste and I personally feel that their player base will always be smaller.