Agreed on Marauder captains not making diatribes. Just need to be sure that other players understand what is going on is all. If someone wanted a really insane captain by Marauder standards, they could always RP a stolen robot translating or something like that.
The video of Reavers not attacking: I forgot about that one. Leaves room for silent flyovers (or not so silent) just to freak people out.
I'll give some thought to Bloodlust. My thoughts for now are leaning towards it being a roll as to whether the Marauders can attack or not. However, that might be extremely frustrating when the server isn't very full.
Boarding: Definitely not looking to make things hugely complex either. If you really want the modifiers it could go something like: (Small Transports and Trains, Large Transports, Liners, Gunboats and Caps)
As for what I was thinking if you find a trader willing to RP would be something along the lines of:
Sordid: Raaaagh! We're boarding to consume, consume, consuuuume!
*Roll off, Sordid beats trader*
Sordid: *Grappling devices hit the ship, the doors are ripped opens and Marauders swarm the entry*
Trader: *Defence forces open fire, but are overwhelmed and take heavy losse*
Trader: Captain: Fall back to defense point bravo!
Sordid: *The marauders push forward close behind the defenders*
Sordid: Fleeesh! FLeesh! Aaaaargh!
*Roll off, Trader beats Sordid*
Trader: *Defence forces group behind a pre-made position, opening up with vicious fire on the Marauders*
Sordid: *A few of the most insane make it to the defenders, inflicting some damage before being killed*
Sordid: *The rest wither at the onslaught of fire, skulking back to pick from the bodies of the already dead*
Now, a few things here to be resolved. a) The trader will need to be aware of and agree to how that works. And the time required might be problematic in areas where BHG, Navy, Police might show
b) In the scenario above, the trader has RPed but not accepted demands (he resisted the boarding), so shooting him as he runs away is still possible. Though at this point that might not be in the best interest of RP.
c) Really, unless the trader agrees, the Marauders will always "lose" the boarding scenarios. That is, we can't go off wiping out people's entire crews and in-RP killing off their ship (powergaming/very few will agree to it), even if they don't have defenses.