Pirates

[cynik]

Today i encountered pirates near Carad Synd. planet, they were flagged as Cadar too. After I took them down, I lost 1 military rank with Cadar (my starting faction) and probably (I'm not sure) with House Thulun because of the Alliance between them. Is this how it should work? I think I should gain reputation after killing pirates, not lose it

[Cory Trese]

I am all for making Pirates fair in regards to reputation but if you do "Destroy" on a ship flying a flag and you are a high Ranking officer in that military rank will be lost.

I expect some to disagree -- "I should destroy all without consequence" but that is for me, not fun game design.

Cadar's prince is paying those pirates and blowing up Cadar ships never looks good to the Cadar. The Thulun Alliance doesn't care if you are blowing up Pirates or Merchants -- they don't take kindly to blowing up Cadar during the period that they're not blowing up Cadar =)

[cynik]

That's kind of good explanation . But the thing is that I did not attack them, they attacked me, so I destroyed them in self defence.
What a pirate captain expects when attacking a military officer from his own faction?
What sholud do a military ranked officer when he's attacked by pirates?

:>

[Cory Trese]

ah see OK that is the problem. he shouldn't be attacking a ranked military officer that's a pirate gone rogue (or rouge or whatever)

[cynik]

Feb 17, 2011 14:57:19 GMT -5 Cory Trese said:

I expect some to disagree -- "I should destroy all without consequence" but that is for me, not fun game design.

Cadar's prince is paying those pirates and blowing up Cadar ships never looks good to the Cadar. The Thulun Alliance doesn't care if you are blowing up Pirates or Merchants -- they don't take kindly to blowing up Cadar during the period that they're not blowing up Cadar =)

But why Cadar prince would pay Pirates for attacking a high level Cadar officer? Doesn't make any sense.

[oldalchemist]

Gone rouge? You mean he's flying the red flag of "no quarter?"

I think the role of pirates is a little unclear in this game. If you have rank and permits with a faction, that faction's pirates ought to give you the option to acknowledge like military vessels, merchants, and bounty hunters do. As it is, you've got to enter combat and retreat.

I really like the idea of a scanner/hailing screen before the combat screen shows up. If the Pirate Battleship wants me to surrender, they'd better be ready for a fight and for the consequences when I report them to my Cadar Prince as a rouged-up rogue.

[Cory Trese]

Pirates seem to give major importance to Rank 6.

Once you are Rank 7 they want no part of your business. I'm hard at work on a way to make Pirates more fun =)

[slayernz]

Pirates are a lot of fun in tiny little pieces. They definitely go rouge then. Just for clarity though, the bug with pirate encounters has been fixed so that so long as you don't actually blow them up, you don't lose reputation? Or is it - don't blow them up, don't loot them, and don't enslave their crew?

Some pirates just seem hell-bent on taking you on, even if you have got a carrier and they have a little pirate skiff. If I were the prince, I would encourage captains to blow these pirates away to help reduce the embarrassment factor these pirates have on the factions reputation.

[cynik]

Feb 21, 2011 0:37:21 GMT -5 slayernz said:

If I were the prince, I would encourage captains to blow these pirates away to help reduce the embarrassment factor these pirates have on the factions reputation.

haha xD

I think that maybe gaining reputation after killing pirates wolud be too much (after all it makes a bit of sense) but definitely we shouldn't lose reputation/rank after blowing their pirate asses.

[koles]

from what i see pirates are also some kind of quadrant militia when you do blocades or surveillance on sector.

when you do - millitary ships, all bounty hunter and all pirates (no matter what faction) try to attack you - but when you escape from pirates - you will lose your death warrant - even if, for example i was Cadar, trying to block Javat, and pirates was from Rychard... - so i lose death warrant in Rychard - thats really strange, and i cannot logicaly explain it...

[oldalchemist]

I don't think you should get faction rep for killing pirates, but maybe some sort of 'badass' rep for total ship kills. If I've got a hundred ship kills under my belt, it ought to modify my Intimidation skill just a tad.

100 ship kills with Intimidation Skill under 6: Teddy Roosevelt Award!

[cynik]

As I said, gaining rep would be too much. But 5 minutes ago I lost 2 ranks with Steel Song Clan, because I shoot down 2 Rychart pirate ships (they have alliance). They attack me, I can't run away, I win the fight... BANG! Rank lost... That's just silly.

[Cory Trese]

cynik when you say you "win" the fight that didn't include venting the hull, killing all the crew or destroying the ship, right?

[cynik]

I usually win because of boarding, so sometimes just the enemy captain is the only one defeated. I lose the rank no matter how I win, I can wipe the crew out, blow them into scraps with 8 torpedos, effect is the same. And as I say, I tried to avoid them because I knew they have alliance with my faction and this is impossible. I really can't understand this. 'Pirate' is someone that doesn't really care about the law, a century ago you could hang a pirate on a tree and everybody was happy (a bit scarry example, but true ). Pirate is an outlaw and is not protected by any law. After I defeat a pirate what can my Prince say? "Dear cpt. Cynik, 15th level military officer, you killed a nasty guy who blows every space ship he meets into pieces, steals cargo from our merchants, traders and kills our officers. Unfortunately because of that I have to degrade You to rank 14."

o.O

-.-

[slayernz]

Yeah - I get that experience too - in fact, I just tested a pirate encounter now on 3.4.7. All I did was ADVANCE once towards a pirate THAT ATTACKED ME. Then I retreated. No shots fired by me at all. Result. I lost a trade permit for "attacking licensed vessels in violation of Shalun Law".

Ergo, the ONLY feasible solution when encountering pirates is to run away with your tail between your legs, or you get pinged for your insolence.