Trading - Brainstorming Changes

[Unseelie]

Ok, aside adding RP (which I believe is what makes everything in this game more fun, so it doesn't really count, as its an even application anywhere) Or building a dynamic economy (just not likely..) We could 1: make more and varied trade routes, which would again, help up the RP of trading. lots of work, there.

So, Piracy is apparently -fun-. It involves sitting around, waiting for a transport to come, trapping it, then some RP, then forcing it to lose, either by paying or dieing.
Trading is -not- fun. It involves flying a ship, trying to avoid pirates(Lawfuls count in this case) if caught, RPing, then trying not to die.
Trading and Piracy should be equally fun, as, so far as I understand it, they have much the same ammount of downtime. The only difference I can see is that Pirates end up holding most of the cards, and win nearly every time there's a real encounter. If the fights were even, I daresay transporting would be just as fun. Get in a ship. Fly around, run into pirates, have a fight. Actually, that sounds like the lure of being a police character...

My suggestion for a while has been to not expect transports to lose.
Yes, Transports haul cargo. Either Legal or Illegal cargo, to be pirated or policed, etc. This sets up feedback for the police and the pirates, gives them something to do, namely, pwning the transports. Anyone notice the problem, there?
The people who the entire system depends on are expected to lose the encounter. They're balanced based on how far they can run from the fight, and then safely dock.

So more than a Grind, its a boring, dull grind where if you encounter a fight, you're expected to lose. Not because the enemy is better, or brought friends, but because you can earn money.
We can make trading fun by giving transports and frieghters a bit of combat love. Give them the option to stand and fight, drop some interesting weapons on them (Codes, guns, torpedos, pulse cannons, cerbs, flak, missiles, the list goes on and on and on, and still, transports have...turrets.)

Winning's fun. Challenges are, on occasion, fun. Fighting a bomber in a transport? A GB...not so fun. There's a sinking feeling, a losing tide rising against you.

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