Discovery Economy Reformation

[Garrett Jax]

I think almost everyone agrees that it is much harder to make money in this current economy. My trader runs a route making about 17 mil an hour with 3800 cargo capacity. I get pirated on average, twice, for every circuit I complete. Average pirate costs amounts to about 5 mil. Total profit per hour is 12 mil. I also work full time, care for my wife and kids, which leaves me about an hour a night to play.

I don't mind trading so much. I don't really care about the down economy in this version. What I would like to see happen, is for trading ships to be able to protect themselves better against pirates. I know you can hire escorts, but with the amount you have to pay, you might as well leave yourself to getting pirated. Would it be unreasonable to develop a trading ship that could be more of a challenge for a pirate to take down?

I'm not sure if this would work or not. Basically, you either increase the economy, and both traders and pirates get richer, or you keep it the same and give traders half a chance to save some of their hard earned credits. If traders were harder to kill, pirates may be willing to lower their 'taxes' for passage. It makes sense to me that if traders are getting their goods or credits consistantly stolen, then either the prices of the goods goes up, or the protection of the trading ships goes up.

This would also solve the problem that Magnorot has of boring trading routes. If you have half a chance to protect yourself against pirates, and or lawfuls in the case of smuggling, maybe trading wouldn't be as boring. Plus, with the added protection, the chances at rp would increase.

Just a suggestion. Although I must admit, I'm not smart enough to foresee all the ramifications that this would have on the game as a whole. I'll leave that to you smart people.:)

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