Is Sirius too big?

[Lucky Luke]

WOW! I had no idea that there would be so many opinions on this! Please... Keep it coming! I see so many interesting things here.

By what you just said, you don't want any challenge while you trade. You don't want any fun for those who play characters who pirate. You just want to accumulate credits to finance other characters. I bet you gotta several capital ships, if not more. You'd prefer houses with 15 systems so no one could ever run into you to pirate you. So what will you with your Dreadnaught or whatever later, a ship which you bought with that boring trading routine, if there are no pirates around? Since clearly, in your scenario, they'd stop to exists since no one is insane enough to fly 1 hour in order to catch 1 trading vessel. Every couple of hours.

Back when I use to trade in 4.84, I'd mount CAU 8 on my liner called Ship-of-Fools (in early 4.85 aka Out-of-Business.Co.,), and I'd trade the most dangerous routes and I'd beg for pirates to RP with me, to chase me and even to take me down after a long, well deserved victory. Captain of that vessel, Dwight McCluskey, a former prison warden, was a hard-headed man, who use to curse and taunt and challenge pirates who'd try to rob him. He'd even try to defend other traders sometimes when odds were good. That use to make trading so much fun. Very, very fun. I'd like to think that the opposite side had some fun as well. As a matter of fact, I'm sure that majority did.

You missed the whole point of this game, at least when the concept of trading/pirating is concerned. That's like... 50% of the game.
Cut down the number of systems in half. That would solve everyone's problem. Well, almost everyone's. Activity would sky-rocket because people would have more fun. People would have more fun because they would run into each other more frequently.

This one just hits the bullseye! I've done my fair share of powertrading/mining in my day, and you're totally right. It's sooo mind-nummingly boring. Sitting by the lanes and pirate passing traders is also relly boring in the long run. Raiding... Yeah, same thing there. It get's old after a while. So what is fun? I picked up somthing from Espi of the Black Sails once, as he robbed me. He offered me to just pay up and leave, but he also offered me to throw a dice for it. If I won, I'd get out for free, if I lost, I'd have to pay a higher tax. If the dice would show a 6, he would shoot me no matter what! I thought this was a brilliant idea, and very good RP, so I've tried it. It's fun! The traders are sooo surprised when they realize they can just leave for free, if they win. So far... NO ONE has turned down the offer to gamble for it!

I've used my Rogue-char to halt a trader just to have someone to talk to, coz his family won't talk to him. Not robbing the trader, just talking. I took a trader hostage, and demanded my Rogue brothers released from prison. It was so much fun! I totally accept being blown up now and then, as long as I get to have some fun. I saw one guy coming to Gamma as Constable Regan. He was there to collect fines from a couple of Benitez for speeding in Bretonia. It was totally hilarious! He nailed the strict, bretonian cop perfectly, and Benitez played along.

Things like this activate people, and bring fresh ideas to a static environment. Be creative!

The devs/admins made a huge mistake bringing in Freelancer/Pirate IDs. Everyone go's to them now so they can use any ship/any weapon follow no RP at all except PvP/Pirate anything they want. There is no RP behind these IDs so players have no RP to follow.

I'd just like to point out the name of this game... Freelancer! There are lawful ones, and there are unlawful ones. These have the opportunity to create their own RP and lore. I'm not saying that this is what we see, but they fill their purpose.

On the box of the original Freelancer, (Yes, I bought it when it was new :D) the title of the game is: Freelancer - The universe of possibility. And it sure is! I think we've only scraped the surface to what can be done InRP. We just need to figure out how to move it along. And from what I can see in the posts here, there's no lack of enthusiasm and ideas. Keep it coming!