The introduction of more Battle transports and nerfed GBs (can they still carry those big CAUs now?) is a good first step to make transporting more enjoyable. Adding the "fight" alternative to traders will make that role more interesting.
Traders dont need more buff, their weakness encourage them to use escort service which mean more interaction between player, money good, but RP also important, so the ingredients for happy trader will be good routes, sufficient escort and perhaps some spicy pirates on the way.
Bon appetite
[left]
' Wrote:Bow before the prophet of the great god Lolwut. He sayeth unto you, "2millordai".
Now I handeth down the laws of Lolwut.
1) Shooteth he who rp, for he is the devil.
2) Demandeth credits from starfleas.
3) Sayeth Lol and typeth smileys to end sentence fragments.
4) Screameth, "Ennngggaagggeee" to appeaseth the evil god "Admin".
5) Attacketh only with capships, and only those who flyeth transports.
These are the laws of the great god Lolwut. Offendeth him at your own risk.
' Wrote:Well, I have a huge Bison with a huge armor and lot of guns on it. It's always fun when it's attacked. Can't wait to see it in a convoy. But I go out to pirate and what I see? Trains and Whales without armor. Being well defended just doesn't worth it - most of the time, noone will bother you, and you make more cash.
So. We pirates are too few. We should be more tough. So go out, not just in peak hours, get 'em! :$
Also quoting myself from skype:
[2012.01.09. 23:57:30] Evan_: I just love the 4.86 trade system. Wherever I try something, it works well. I got to the point pretty fast when I don't even calculate my profit, just take what I want to take where. I can't even estimate how cool it is. Thought you don't hear it enough.
solution to convoy: pirate bomber with screamers
Solution to pirate bomber: escorts with VERY heavy guns (gunship or similar)
Travel in groups (2 is a million times better than 1, though the same can be said for pirates), buy armour, if you don't intend to fight, equip full pulse guns on your transport and try to disable the pirate (specifically if it's a Ptrans), do not try to cruise when the pirate is in 2-3k range, thrust, ekill, strafe, if he spams you with CD's set a key to thrust continually by pressing said button (there is a key bind for it). Watch the lanes, if you see something red drop lane and try to cruise free. Be aware of your closest base, if it's close enough you can escape and dock to it.
When you're in a group, that does not always mean you should fight, rather you should try to flee together, trading b/b while trying to escape to a base.
In terms of armour, the 15m U8 should be standard, capital armour is also a good idea, but remember it's to help you escape most of the time, not to make you a killer.
' Wrote:Not really. Bombers already have a massive window of safety, from which they can lob projectiles without being in range of transport turrets. The SNAC's range nerf helped a lot though. Give (anti-snub) transport turrets the same range as the SNAC and the possibility to hit at that range, and we've got a working solution.
The pirate who decides to attack with Novas probably deserves his reward for being unconventional and awesome.
Following the spirit of rock-scissor-paper, I'd prefer the snubs to keep their edge over transports, but increase the transports strength against larger targets, especially gunboats, while those get to be snub-killers.
' Wrote:Go play the game, within the given limitations. That is how role play games are played. Not by trying to work around those limitations or whining about them.
I for sure wouldn't like to see transport shields or hull buffed,
at least not to the point it takes more then 2 pirates to take it down before it docks and f1's.
that's just bad for RP , for the pirates , and for the transporter...
would it be possible for trade ships to have a auto pilot btw ?
that would give trading more a feeling like your captain of a huge ship.
i mean .. its waaaaaaaaaaay in the future , inventing a autopilot system should be a piece of cake.. , that way traders can focus more on rping (less on clicking tradelane to tradelane).
For me this would greatly increase the quality of trading to be honest .
one could say this would increase the number of powertraders , but that would be countered with the increase of piracy of these less watchfull targets.
I've never liked trading. Though I will say this, bomber pvp vs any transport is way over powered. For buffs for transports I'd say give the weapons more variety and a slight buff in damage capability. And nerf Bomber tech in a way that it stays as it is against Gunboats and Capitols, but when fired on a Transport it doesn't do so much damage. Say 90% for normal bomber guns, and 50% for Bomber torps and SNAC's.
Improving Transport Hit points isn't a good idea.
My favourite pirating character use's a Light Fighter, and I always find it fun destorying a miner thats trying to run to Java, and they blow up a few kilometres away, adding insult to themselves just for trying to run away. (This is only by gun fire, not using a single Screamer that I always have equiped on that character)
So, nerf Bomber specialist equipment against transports only and give a slight buff to Transport weapons, thats all that is needed in my opinion, to even up the odds a bit. Pirating is suppost to be a risky business. Only way of doing a risky pirate roleplay is to use LF's, HF's or a Transport against Transports (might include VHF's). As soon as a bomber pirates it's so overpowered it is beyond comprehension.
Last note: Not been pirated by Gunboats much, so don't have much to say about how overpowered or not, they are in terms of piracy.
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