The last few weeks have really sucked for factions like Bristol.
Once the bans for the Bulwark started rolling in, we immediately jumped on it to get the licenses sorted out as soon as possible, so it has the least amount of impact on Bristol players. We even started advising new buyers of this as they will need to do the same, depending on the area they play in. But then hours turned into days, and days turned into weeks and we heard nothing back. We made no progress. Slowly, one house after another would ban the Bulwark, and before we knew it, we were stranded. Risk being outlawed or assaulted while supplying a POB, or don't play a ship you paid 13 million credits for.
We were giving it time, while arguing internally on what to do with the lack of responses from every house. It reached a boiling point 3 separate times, and each time less people were happy to even own a Bulwark. Sure, some of us risked it and violated the bans just to supply the bases with the necessities they need to continue functioning, but that's not sustainable, and in the long run way too risky. We were running out of options and we had nowhere to turn for help. So the only thing left to do was to simply discontinue building and selling bulwarks as are we were unable to reliably supply its construction (also because we as the manufacturers were not allowed to fly it). We would definitely not be selling any to the Houses just like that. At best we'd sell it on the condition of removing the ban or granting a blanket license. But even then, who's going to sit on such an expensive ship and wait for, god knows who, to log on the forums and grant us a ship license? What's even a reasonable time to do this? A week? A month? More? Would anyone buy a 13-15 million credit ship and not play it for a month?
As for the piracy concerns on the Bulwark, it has a major weakness, one that was installed to help balance the ship's hull and armaments. The cargo hold is compartmentalised and can have sections destroyed. If you destroy the cargo section, the ship will lose 1,250 of its max cargo. You may not destroy it, but you would definitely cripple its profit capabilities. Since it's a BC, you can also just go for its engines and just blow it to kingdom come. Personally, if you threaten me to destroy my cargo or I give you your credit demand, well, you're definitely getting richer.
The only short-term solution we could come up for this situation is:
1) Remove the House Gov's ability to ban non-military ships, with the exclusion of the Bustard.
OR
2) Keep the House Gov's ability to ban any kind of ship they deem a risk, but require a proper inRP explanation, not just a blanket ban. Additionally, submit House Gov's to an SLA in which they are required to respond and RP with players requesting licenses. Blanket licenses to whole factions should be pretty straight forward, and personal licenses would also encourage players to build some more background RP for their character to use in favour of getting a license.
We all just want to play the game.
While it's regrettable that it came to this and a better, faster in-RP solution could not have been found instead, we're still happy that it got the attention it needed, as there's clearly a lot more work left to be done before the transport rework comes into play.
