Some Questions and Suggestion on Piracy

[Exsiled_one]

Two pirate transports do the trick as well. Bomber is just someone who can blow up things but not pick up cargo =)

Two pirate transports usually take out a gunboat as well. But if that pirate frigate flies trough, I doubt I'll have a problem in a world.

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<span style="color:#33CC00">I AM GIVING AWAY MONEY TO CREATIVE MINDS*</span>

[Geodin]

I've considered this very issue before and I'm gonna weigh in with my opinion.

I do think there should be a higher-grade turret available for Pirate Transports/Trains. I think they should obviously be class-restricted (not available to the general public) somehow. This would prevent Trader IDs from using them on their own Transport vessels, I think.

I'd really like to see more groups of pirates with a Pirate Transport/Train in their midst for cargo pick ups. Maybe even RPing a focus on legitimate/valuable cargo for Pirates, depending on particular affiliation, that makes sense. Pirates get hungry, so raid some food rations cargo. Or whatever. Just a thought.

I imagine this isn't really the focus for some, especially newer, players. It's all about the credits bay-bee! Which is both understandable and sad at the same time.

I think the upgraded turrets taking up cargo space is an interesting idea. But I don't think it should be -extreme- in any way. Just increase the price dramatically and restrict (via IDs) usage.

My two cents.

[Elsdragon]

weee, another make traders Easier target<strike> threads</strike>Posts!


There is no reason to just make us COWS you know, Unless you just want no one to trade

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No longer a slave to the man!

[rendar1970]

weee, another make traders Easier target<strike> threads</strike>Posts!
There is no reason to just make us COWS you know, Unless you just want no one to trade

All of this only makes you an easier target if you try to run or simply fail at RP'ing your way out. Nice try with the e-tears though.

[Elsdragon]

All of this only makes you an easier target if you try to run or simply fail at RP'ing your way out. Nice try with the e-tears though.

We are a target. We dont run, YOu succed, we do run, you succed,RP is met with" Stop stalling gimme muny"

Every tried it? Trading? Not fun. At all.

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No longer a slave to the man!

[Unseelie]

As for the Question: Bowex} likes to pirate with a Percheron(CD) and a Shire. This gives us 18 guns, which rather overpowers any transport that might get tossed at us. In my oppinion, the overpowering of pirates should be done in numbers of player characters, as this is something that traders can counter, rather than simply having stronger gear.

In response to the Question:

Why not just make all Transports stronger? Why only the Pirating Transports?

We are a target. We dont run, YOu succed, we do run, you succed,RP is met with" Stop stalling gimme muny"

Every tried it? Trading? Not fun. At all.

Ayup. Trading, less fun than piracy. Piracy is sitting still, waiting for traders to come by. Trading is moving toward Pirates, and avoiding them, or losing to them.

Piracy is fun, though it involves just as much downtime as trading does.
Trading is not fun, because it actually focuses on trying to -stay- in the downtime. Yes, you're earning money. Big whoop, that is not, for the most part, actively fun. Its fun because of the rp, or the people its done with. The action of trading itself is not, sadly, actually fun.

Its incredibly frustrating. This is, inherently, a space shoot em up game. Transports in general, and tradeships in specific, have been turned into the cows of disco. No -wonder- people enjoy piracy more than trading.



Have you examined traders? Generally, the suggested trader 'wins' involve: avoiding the enemy(admitting you don't stand a chance and running away), or RPing your way out (being charming enough that the person you're at the mercy of chooses to let you go)

I'm all for stronger guns on traders. I'm all for making the 3k house transports comparable in combat to gunboats, and the 100-230 million credit larger ships? actually stronger. But the suggestion that pirates should win, because traders are inherently the bottom of the food chain...Thats incredibly unfair, and does not, in any way, help make the game better. Making transports stronger is the right way to make them the pirate's primary vessel, as making the class stronger than gunboats, or stronger in relation to gunboats will automatically make them better choices, but one pirate has no right, zero right, to outship one trader. Pirates should win, as traders should also win, through overwhelming numbers, or by outskilling the opponent, not because the game is balanced to making pirates stronger than Traders.

Honestly, balancing in such a way,has many flaws:
1: it makes the game less fun for traders(supposedly the most important player group), who are placed in a loosing scenario.
2: it likely makes the game less fun for pirates, by removing some of the challenge.
3: it makes no RP sense that the Corporations are so weak in comparison to the upstart pirate factions. Corporations are huge, they spend up to 230 million credits on ships which have every right to be monsters which scare away the little pirate brigands in their gunboats...and yet, pirates win.

Making traders weaker than pirates is pirate bias in play, is unfair to an entire bracket of players, foils the gameplay and rp of the server as a whole, and otherwise makes very little actual RP sense.

Arguments that traders should be weaker are laughable displays of pirate bias, by people who're apparently not particularly good pirates, and who've not properly examined exactly how the server works.

Traders are important...make trading fun. The simplest way to make trading fun? involve traders in the pew-pew of a space shoot em up game, on a fair one on one basis wiht the pirates, or you'll be stuck with that minority which gets its jollies by foiling bullies in the tradeships.

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[Elsdragon]

/Signed, Utterly, and truley, with every fiber of my being

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No longer a slave to the man!

[Canadianguy]

Unselie, you are right. If traders are given a chance to succeed in battle against pirates, it will be much more fun for both sides. Well, it will be more fun for every single trader and those nice RPing pirates. Other will just whine that they cant pirate anymore and will just return to trading on their whales welling: I r zonerz, u cant pirate meh. They will discover that they are just cannonfodder in their weapon less ships and will switch to corporates trader since they have guns. Or maybe keeping the zoner guard ID and switching to Adv. Train. But make all 5K ships other than the whale off limit to zoners and we are in a total win situation.

Powertraders now at least use corporate traders.

Get rid of lolpirates who dont know how to pilot and just say: I got big gunz, gimme 2 mil or dai.

Give traders a chance to succeed in battle agaist lone pirates.

Give a challenge to those good pirates.

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[silverleaf]

I feel that for fairness reasons pirates should only be allowed to demand up to 20% of the trade profit. But requesting cargo will be a good start. Basically the whole server is too pirate biased as it is now. I know, cos I've played both sides of the fense.

But my concience was too great to bear so I stopped pirating. Don't like one sided pleasure, if I have fun the other party should too. It is after all a game...

But yes, traders need to be given at least a fighting chance... better weapons and armor maybe... make them forfeit a little cargo for more armor. Maybe give all under 5000 transports a cruise disrupter, a little more agile, more thruster speed and immune to all but train cruise disrupter. And a 4500 one thats well defended for the price of a 5000, but if yo uwant tthe 5000, you have to take the risk.

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Scavengers of the Abyss - A Freelancer Short Story

[Mickk]

I totally agree with Unselie.

When I finally had the $$ to go and buy my 'final' trading ship, I looked for something that could;

Fly thru asteroid fields relativly easily
Had good fields of fire for all turrets
Had a fairly solid hull
Was reasonably maneuverable (for a transport)

and came up with the Firefly.

I then went and bought the best turrets I could find, an armor upgrade and eventually (when I realised they were available) the toughest Transport sheild I could get my hands on.

The pity of it is, despite all of the goodies I went out of my way to get, I am hard pressed to fight off even ONE pirate in a Fighter and just forget about anything more powerful, I just stop, hand over the readies and hope they don't kill me after.

I'm pretty sure every trader out has a similar story to tell.

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Mickk: One orginal, 4 clones. Telp..teleh....mind comu...comi..come...talking ability.
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