The BHG Core is allowed destroyers to battleships, and their purpose is to fight the order. The normal BHG ID is only allowed up to gunboats, same as any pirate faction, and should not require a forum posted bounty to engage unlawfuls.
The Bounty Hunter ID represents a Hunter in the Bounty Hunters Guild. They collect on contracts. If there's no contract, there's not much incentive to blast that pirate.
' Wrote:Athenian, I didnt suggest it for the Core ID.
The BHG Core is allowed destroyers to battleships, and their purpose is to fight the order. The normal BHG ID is only allowed up to gunboats, same as any pirate faction, and should not require a forum posted bounty to engage unlawfuls.
Well, if you want to argue with the admins about it, you're free to do so.
However, that announcement came down ex cathedra, and we have to live with it. Until the Admins say otherwise, bounty hunters MUST have a bounty of some kind on an unlawful to begin the engagement. You can blather and holler at Athenian all you want - he's NOT the one that made that rule.
Of course, role playing as a bounty hunter - if I'm NOT getting paid to take someone on, why would I want to do so? There's no reward in it for me. The police - they get paid their salary for doing taking down unlawfuls. That's WHY the 'generic' house bounties are so important for our operations.
Quote:Mercenary ID can hunt lawfuls and unlawfuls alike.
Mercs can hunt targets with a contract / bounty on their head, just like bounty hunters.
It doesn't matter if it's "unfair" that Bounty Hunters can't engage pirates at will, it's not in-roleplay for them to do so. As you said, most pirates would simply attack you allowing you to defend yourself. There, no need for a forum posted contract in that case.
the only part that clashes with RP is the "self defense" rule.
a BHG violates the rule and can be reported ... if he started firing back before his shields are 50% drained. - so... a hammerhead would start an engagement at a severe disadvantage. - when it would have been clear after the first ( maybe missed but aimed nonetheless ) shots.
so when i m in a hammerhead and i dodge the pirates weaponfire i still must not fire back - unless i LET them hit me.
it would be fairer, - if the "intention to kill" was enough to defend oneself. - of course that is prone to be interpreted falsly - so the self defense rule fails again and might result in any interpretation of "he really looked like he wanted to fire at me...so i started a preemptive strike"
imo - pirates should need a very good ( forum based ) reason to fire pointlessly on BHG as well... in the end, what do they gain? - satisfaction from putting themselves at grave danger by engaging into a fight without getting anything but a damaged ship? overwhelming hatred doesn t mean i rush into every fight ... or it does mean it, but when i do it, i even rush into fights that a sane mind considers suicide.
so - when we argue that its in RP for a hunter not to attack pirates on sight ( which i agree with ) - then i think its also in RP that he fires back the very second he sees a pirate firing at him, wether his shields are hit or not. - its not hard to spot weaponfire in general - and weaponfire aimed at a ship.
I'm still against the Core collecting bounties. Currently, the omegas are quite busy with traders and we've got Bounty Hunter Capital Ships "defending traders", due to pirates having bounties on their heads. The abilitiy to collect bounties is a bit pointless for Core players - we do not need a bounty to attack Nomads or the Order, and pirates in systems with our bases (with this proposal). Allowing bounties to be collected dilutes the overall impression of Core players - as some bad eggs will play a different and incorrect role.