Captain Jack wrote:Regarding timing, it definitely has to come after Escort&Guard feature:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=91
I'd like to explore this a moment - without an escort function, I believe this will still be viable.
Right now, trading is simple - build a trade fleet, find a great trade route, hire just enough crew to keep travel time just above an hour and repeat. With voodoo attacks as the only means to expose the fleets, one simply sits back and watches your trading empire grow.
If Captain Jack's version is put into play prior to the Escort and Guard feature, the shift
in the playing field is shifted, making pirating a viable means to pursue play. Traders will now need to reconfigure fleets, perhaps cheaper ships, longer routes, battle vessels
in place, etc., i.e., there will be a change. I am not saying the escort and guard feature should not be added - I am simply stating that the
PvP Patrol feature could be put into play before.
There are already limitations on what the Pirate can do. First of all, there is a limit on how many attacks a day a pirate can make, and only a pirate can make. They also gather DR points as the ply their trade, thus they will be exposed for attack themselves, even if there is no name, simply a flag and fleet number. Traders will re-configure their trading strategies to reduce losses, as now pirate attacks will need to be figured into the profit and loss of trading.
Pirating may be the means of which a new player can more quickly build a trading fleet, instead of the current very slow, tedious path that currently exists.
Balance can be adjusted
in several ways - adjusting the number of attacks per 24 hour period; adjusting the number of times a trade fleet can be hit, reducing/raising the maximum bounty won by a pirate, or any of the other pirate class limitations mentioned. There will be those who become pirate hunters, and it will make make pirates have to create a plan to prevent losing their gains for the day.
The bottom line is this feature will aid
in creating balance by putting the pirate back into Pirate's Glory, even before the nations feature will do so, with the escort and guard feature an add-on for a later time.