Pirating in a Freighter

[GlyphStorm]

Well, if you ask all the cargo, instead of cash, the next things happen: Trader will have a loss of the paid value for it's cargo, and the pirate will have a way to sell the captured stuff and get money for himself. So, for me asking cargo is logical:)

Glyph

[Unseelie]

my apologies to all involved....I went overboard there....was uncalled-for.

Are you crazy? its hard enough catching one trader out of how many runs, do you really think i or any pirate could just sit there and take 1.5 out of every traders cargo on every run, thats just funny.

a good pirate, can demand anything, once he/she has caught the trader.

generally...unless the trader has completely broken rp (which, it shames me to say, i have done:() once you cd them, and get them within a bar of death, you can take pretty much anything within reason from them.
so, asking for 1000 units of whatever their LTrain is carrying, isn't that unreasonable....the trader is still making a profit there.

and....no. I don't think you, or any other pirate could do it, but, I think a team of say,3 could.

Just imagine a real world pirate of the past. The main target was not the cargo, but gold and silver (=money) from other ships. Cargo has a value too, of couse, but what can be better than actual money or something that can be easily converted into money? I see nothing illogical that pirates demand money, not the cargo.

this is actually something that goes both ways....a lot of the time...the cargo was the money.....also, it strikes me as kind of odd that a trader wouldn't just cancel a wire transfer as soon as he/she got away from the pirate...
we aren't carrying money, we have digital bank accounts....so, things are a bit different...

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[alance]

Just imagine a real world pirate of the past. The main target was not the cargo, but gold and silver (=money) from other ships. Cargo has a value too, of couse, but what can be better than actual money or something that can be easily converted into money? I see nothing illogical that pirates demand money, not the cargo.

They took what they could haul away. Of course they wanted money first, easiest to carry, they'd also ransom wealthy people that they'd captured, but they would also take the goods. I did a quick search and got the follow themes in a couple of the early hits:

Code:

Although pirates would search the ship's cabins for gold and silver, the main loot consisted of cargo such as grain, molasses, and kegs of rum. Sometimes pirates stole the ships as well as the cargo.
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Still, the local townspeople tolerated Blackbeard because they liked to buy the goods he stole, which were cheaper than imported English goods. The colony's ruling officials turned a blind eye to Blackbeard's violent business.

Using "that's not realistic" arguments can work for either side.

I've not asked that money demands be outlawed, i'm asking for additional profitable piracy options. I've asked for freighter improvements to make them an option as pirate vessels. I've asked that pirates be allowed to fly transports so they can team with a bomber and steal cargo. I'm not looking to hinder those making a quick buck with "2mil pleez" piracy. In fact, you'll note that I've suggested transports be made easier for pirates to tackle so they don't need to bring a gunboat to every party.

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"To gain a hundred victories in a hundred battles is not the highest excellence;
to subjugate the enemy's army without doing battle is the highest of excellence."

[Quigs]

Just imagine a real world pirate of the past. The main target was not the cargo, but gold and silver (=money) from other ships. Cargo has a value too, of couse, but what can be better than actual money or something that can be easily converted into money? I see nothing illogical that pirates demand money, not the cargo.

Depends on what they were lucky enough to catch. Catch a boat with immigrants, you probaby get some pocket money and a few basic supplies. Catch a boat carrying valuable cargo (gold, silver, textiles, spices, coffee, etc.) you take the cargo and quite likely the ship itself. Even now the UN is grumbling about piracy epidemics off the coasts of Indonesia and the Horn of Africa; whole freighters being taken, their crews set adrift in life rafts or killed, the ship's names being changed on the fly and sailed to alternate destinations. They don't stop a ship and say "call your head office and have them wire ten million euros to our Swiss account". And a pirate who caught a ship with $2,000,000,000.00 in currency certainly wouldn't set a "fair price" and let you on your way... they'd take ALL your money or as much as they could carry.

Unseelie is totally calling Freelancer piracy by it's proper name (extortion). If that's the only way in-game "piracy" can work then so be it, but it's not roleplaying a pirate. It's roleplaying Gino who shows up every Tuesday night to collect his tithe and prevent "accidents" from happening. Strangely, the wrong piracy _does_ make perfect sense at Planet Harris, but that's just cause that route is pretty rediculous to start with:)

Creampuff

[Archelon]

@ Morrigan: I love it when traders tell pirates how to role play. If I start asking only for cargo, I'll demand 100% of your cargo hold. I'll take what I can carry and destroy the remains. Since many routes pay 5+ mil in a single leg, I'm sure the trader would much rather pay me 2 mil. After all, pirates did more than just go for the loot. They also destroyed the ships and killed the crews of the ships they pirated. Pirates don't leave witnesses or evidence. Also, early privateers were doing more than just taking the loot, they were interdicting (preventing the opposing forces from making it to their ports). And you are correct when you noted that pirates tended to capture the ship when they pirated. But unfortunately in this "game" you cannot capture the ship. So the only alternative is to fill our holds to capacity and destroy whatever we cannot fit in our holds.

@ Unselie: Um - if a pirate just wanted the cargo, he would trade with you. I would make more moving 4500 units in a large train than 400 in my gunboat. So your argument doesn't make since. Let me add this little point - most places (those that pay the most) are hostile to pirates. So what's the point taking the cargo bound for Manhattan or New Tokyo or New Berlin or New London? We can't dock there to sell the stuff. And, oh yeah, Cambridge don't like us much either.

@ Igiss: Thank you for your comments, Igiss.

@ Creampuff: Call it whatever you want. There's not much role play with a trader when he's got military grade weapons mounted to his transport or freighter. So don't go lecturing us on realistic play. If you mount military grade weapons, armor and shields on a Container Transport, you're not really role playing a trader are you? You're military masquerading as a trader. Those traders that place military grade weapons, heavy shields and Armor Upgrade Mk VIII on their transports and freighters are the reason you see so many pirates in gunboats. A fighter cannot take on a heavily (military) equipped trader. You want reality, traders need to dump the military upgrades to their transports and freighters.

EDIT: Two more options to consider:
1) When a trader is pirated, he should cease trading the route he was trading on (real traders would not continue to trade on a heavily pirated trade route)
2) Allow a pirate to engage a trader multiple times (especially if he continues on the same trade route you just pirated him on)

[alance]

You see, Arch here just likes to yell. He ignores the parts where I say "notice I'm not taking away anything, just adding options" and turns that into me forcing him to play differently. Play your way, but why get in the way of others looking for more depth in the pirate/trader exchange? Why continually throw up the same smoke screen arguments even when the thread takes absolutely nothing from you? Sheesh.

On top of all that i'm advocating making the stopping/terrorizing/killing of transports EASIER, so how am I a bad guy to your Robin Hood?

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"To gain a hundred victories in a hundred battles is not the highest excellence;
to subjugate the enemy's army without doing battle is the highest of excellence."

[Gamazson]

I would just like to point out that I have pitched this idea 3 times in the past. No One, including admins are opposed to the idea. I must warn you that C-trans vs. C-trans fights will be the most frustrating battles of your life. The weapon diversity on transports is terrible. It takes a long time for you to damage each other. The transport with the strongest armour tends to win. Except if the trader has fighter turrets. A pirate with proper level 7 turrets will win because he can fire outside of the traders range.

In truth bring a friend in a fighter. What pirates need are large liner like cap ships. A small amount of gunboat weapons coupled with mostly transport guns. enough space for loot if you need it and enough guns that you can actualy hurt a trader but run in fear of lawfuls..........

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AKA Nexus

[Archelon]

@ Morrigan: First, I'm not yelling. Second, you're not being ignored.

*THUD* - The sound of my head hitting my desk once again.

I'm not saying you're trying to make a new rule. But before traders go criticizing the way pirates role play, you might wanna take a look at yourselves. Traders with military weapons and Armor Upgrade Mk VIII? And you wonder why I'm in a gunboat. I tried pirating in a VHF and got killed by a transport with a military setup. It doesn't work. And I have done what you suggest. I've actually asked for cargo before. But there's really no money in that. If there were no profit in trading, would you still work as hard as you do moving cargo around? If the max you could make moving cargo were 800,000 credits, would you continue that occupation? There's more to pirate RP than demanding cargo. If it were about the cargo, I'd just go take it from the NPCs. They're easier to kill and I could get em by the boat load (no pun intended).

We are both talking in circles. Your only point is to stop pirates demanding credits and start demanding cargo. That's not gonna happen unless there's a rule created for that. And I don't see that coming anytime soon.

I'd like to see other factions chase a pirate out of the system or demand they pay a fine for piracy than just KOS every time they see us. But I don't see that happening anytime soon either. There's only a couple factions that actually engage in RP chit chat with us. So long as we don't cause trouble, we go about our business.

[Drake]

Except pirates can't use transports, nor liners. And liners are losing their gunboat equipment pretty soon.

Try a Tauranic Raiders Freighter. Lots of firepower, the most cargo of any freighter, and better shields than any fighter. Not good in a dogfight, but a lot more maneuverable than a transport. A good pirate freighter.

[Snip3rNife]

MKII faction Freighters with Cargo and power similar to that of the Kushan and Turanic Raiders freighters?

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Known as on Discovery RP 24/7:
Thomas_Hill - Train
[KNF]TakajiKimura - Chimera
You may also know me elsewhere as I'll Begin or something including "Volbeat"