Discovery Gaming Community

A rule clarification for something which I am not certain of. Capital ships (destroyer-battleship class) should not engage transport ships, under the following rule:

Quote:6.20 Attacking traders or demanding cargo is not allowed for cruisers and battleships, unless cruisers and battleship belong to Terrorist ID or Phantom ID owner.

However, this rule refers specifically to "traders or demanding cargo" - what I am interested in is the case of pirate transports, being used to commit piracy. If a pirate transport is pirating other trade ships, can a destroyer-class vessel in the area attempt to stop the piracy? Personally I would not consider the pirate transport to be acting as a "trader" in this case, but as a "pirate" and so would have thought it acceptable (if a little harsh, but sometimes a destroyer is all that you have) to intervene.

After all, I thought this rule was designed to draw capital ships away from smuggler interdiction onto things like piracy or war fighting, which they should be more concerned about. And to sit by and let other traders be killed by pirates seems to be streching good RP somewhat. However, I am interested to hear opinions on this.

NB: Please note that I am still in favour of the general rule as it stands relating to not letting capital ships blast traders or smugglers.

I've often considered this myself, an admin answer would be nice.

For the moment the word remains no. If someone is pirating in a transport or freighter you may not engage them in a capital class vessel of cruiser size or larger.

However, it is an interesting grey area and I'll bring it up for discussion.

a pirate in a pirate transport / train is a pirate and not a trader and may be engaged as such.

just like a trader in a fighter - a trader in a fighter is not a trader and so ( upon death ) must not return to the system for up to 4 hours.

a pirate in a pirate train that is TRADING is a trader / smuggler though. - when a pirate transport is caught right in the act of piracy though ( or was seen and reacted to ) - he is a pirate. - so a warship can engage him, cause he is not a trader in that situation but a pirate.

edit: that is a bit strange DL...

the problem with the rule is that is refers to a ship - and not an ID ( whyever that was made so by the one who wrote this rule )

it "should" refer to the ID. - so a that a pirate in a train remains a pirate - while a smuggler in a train is a smuggler. - a smuggler must not be engaged, a pirate may.

Meh. P-transports getting blasted away by Battleships doesn't sit well with me, no matter the situation.

How are you going to prove that he was in the act of piracy?

What if he had pirated before, but was then trading? Is it still okay to battleshipzors lolpwnz him then?

Making exceptions will make headaches. Keep the rule as is.

Quote:6.20 Attacking traders or demanding cargo

I believe that's the important part. I'd agree with Jinx, its not a trader.

I'm not saying it is something that should be encouraged, but I would have thought that the pirate transport should at least have some incentive to flee the scene if a House warship appears.

Having pirates openly sitting in a trade lane pirating and killing traders and taunting / lolling at the destroyer patrolling next to them doesn't sit too well with me.

I don't want to see Ptrans getting blasted by battleships. I DO want to see them at least making the good RP effort of running away from battleships / destroyers when they show up.

I get attacked quite frequently by Cruisers on my Raba for some reason... I dont really trade in it, so I guess it's meh.

' Wrote::

if a valuable transport was escorted by a destroyer ( REALLY not carried away in terms of RP ) - and the trader ( a helpless transport ) was engaged by a pirate transport.

you d say that the destroyer should not be allowed to defend the transport?

That is a different scenario. As the ship's escort, shooting the transport should in that case be considered a defensive measure.

Certainly not the same as whipping out your Battleship and hunting down the Raba sitting on the lane in the next system.