In regards to piracy

[mith]

Considering the pirate has no clue how much you've paid for the cargo ... and knowing that the cargo is worth far more when you sell it ... I'd have to disagree with you on the demand limit idea. And it is not OORP to leave a trader with zero profit. The pirate is not out to help you get rich ... a pirate's role play is to himself rich. But ... I will say this. The more money you make, the more money you can afford to pay the pirate. So ... if you make 10 mil in a single trip, you can surely afford to pay 10% to the pirate (a simple 1 mil). But by my experience I see way too many not even willing to give up 500k. This is what really offends me. Traders travel back and forth (endlessly) across pirate infested space (knowingly and willingly) and expect NOT to get pirated ... and then push for rules limiting what a pirate can demand. Its absurd. If anything is OORP its the trader that thinks a pirate is there to help him get rich ... and the trader that plows through hostile space expecting a free pass.

Firstly, I do not support hard limiting pirate demands. I think it would be a mistake to have a hard limit in the server rules and that sort of thing should entirely be up to the pirate to determine. However, consider this:

Your character - be it pirate or trader - tends to always frequent the same region as determined by his tag. It follows then that after some time, both the pirate and the trader would become familiar with the intricacies of the space in which they live: Local trade routes and their values; dangerous systems and lanes; local crime syndicates and individuals; local laws and such. For this reason I do believe it would be OORP for the pirate to be unaware of the value of a given cargo (and the cargo carried in any region is usually the same thing on any given trade route). Couple that with the fact that the pirate is trying to make a living from piracy (even if the player behind the keyboard isn't, you would still be roleplaying a character who makes his livelihood in this manner) and the pirate should be well aware that trying to charge too much to pass would be bad for business.

On the other side of that, the trader of course would - both in and out of roleplay - wish to avoid paying the pirate's tolls no matter the situation, as regardless of how much asked it eats into his livelihood. If a trader's route is constantly disrupted by pirates demanding he hands over all his cargo or pay tolls that mean he loses money or makes no money at all, then that trader wouldn't continue running the route and would seek his fortunes elsewhere. To my knowledge there's not a single corporate or faction ID that is restricted to running one single trade route, and so the trader would simpy leave and the pirate would gain nothing.

It's a symbiotic relationship, and one that most pirates do understand well as is testament to the fact that most pirates don't charge more than 500k to 2 mil for a transport to pass. At that level the trader takes it on the chin and the pirate can catch and charge them again on the return route and over time the trader comes to expect that paying this "protection money" is part of their routine.

Stepping OORP for a moment, by trying to charge significantly more than the cost of the cargo or equal/more than the profit the run will make for passage the trader will almost certainly decide that the pirate isn't really interested in roleplaying and simply wants to blow up a trader, and that trying to run is the best solution as they will either escape or return to the station to buy their goods again and can plot a different route to their destination. This is the reason why I chose the figure of 6 mil: Anything below that and the trader will genuinely consider doing a deal as although their profit is severely diminished, they will at least still make a profit. Remember that once a pirate has made a credit demand of the trader, the trader has accepted that this money is now lost and will weigh up whether paying or running is the best solution - a sensible pirate's demand will always ensure that the trader pays, as they wouldn't be able to carry the transports cargo themselves and would lose out massively if the trader decides to run instead of pay.

This is however a topic for another day; this is turning into more a debate about the difference between tolls/protection payments and actual piracy - the hijacking of cargo. There are very few real pirates out there and rather a lot of mafioso gangs demanding protection money/tolls - I'd like to see more pirates in all honesty, as I suspect a pair of transport ships having a fight would be rather a lot of fun and would leave a lot of time for excellent roleplaying whilst combat ensues.