.86 mineral rush?

[Corsair]

This was going to be a reply to "Are pirates getting dumber?" but it became too long and thread-worthy.

Pirates, like traders, maintain a constant shift of equilibrium. We hear a lot about the really bad parts of each side- unrealistic pirates, silent / 'kill me just a game' traders, and every variation in between. But you don't hear about the good pirates and cooperative traders nearly as much. It creates an image that the game is worse than it really is.

I can record times that both pirates and traders exploded in both activity and intelligence AND prime stupidity. I outright abused the system during the Pennsylvania Silver Rush. I had a Hogosha ganksquad full of Rabas just waiting for those silver ore transports. We demanded that each Raba (usually 2 or three at a time) were paid two million. Of course, we had those that could count, "Durr, fifty million minus six million leaves fourty-four million for me, hurr durr." and those that ended up filling our holds and giving the leftovers to local farmers for whatever they use silver for in the future.

And then you had the traders who came in freakin' fearsome convoys. Three or four Hegemons flanked by transports accompanied by fighters and bombers. Our Raba squad hit what we could and bugged out. Often times those convoys filled our holds, but we usually lost a member due to the sheer amount of gank they put on us. Outgank the gankers.

The point is, you need Stimuli to encourage development. This stimulus often also brings about a degeneration, bringing out the best and worst in people. My suggestion to the devs is that in the beginning of .86, make another massive mineral rush. Make it so insanely lucrative that we get the Pennsylvania experience again. But put a time limit on it this time. Less experimentation, more actual freeform style. But it needs to be in a place where you can't abuse the system like the Hogosha could. I'd say somewhere in the Taus/Omegas, where you have to dodge not only rival criminals, but now the Gallic forces and possibly military patrols.

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