This is for all traders, when do you decide its better to pay off a pirate vs not paying what there asking? Or a better question is how much is too much for you? What do you calculate (from a traders point of view) whats worth paying and whats not?
Do you guys think this is a good calculation and good roll playing? If not what is your system that you use?
Here is what I try to consider when paying pirates...
1. If I refuse and he kills me, I'll end up back where I purchased the cargo, so I don't look at the profit of the run, I Iook at the cost to refill my hold with the commodity I was trying to sell. So lets say it takes me 1.5 mil to fill my hold... I'll willingly pay that plus say 25% not to have to start over, so in this case that adds 2 mil to what I'll pay.
2. I cannot go through the sector I will be killed in for two hours and I don't want to just take a two hour break so... how important is that sector to my route?
If its vital or just a pain in the butt to route around, that's worth 500,000 to me not to have to break for two hours. So now I'm up to 2.5 mil for that cargo that takes 1.5 to fill up with.
3. How close was I to selling? If I wasn't within two or three sectors of my selling point, I don't event consider this unless there were some real pain sectors to go through, but if I am or there was.. or I'm just too lazy, I'll pay 1 mil to avoid re-running the route.
So now now that's 3.5 mil I'll pay for the 1.5 mill cargo fill.
RP for pirates... Yes it sucks that I get pirated, but I do look at it as they (the pirates) are also there to have fun and play there part to have fun.. and to be completely honest... it took me awhile to go from "Damn that **** robed me of all my hard work" to stepping back and seeing it from there point of "this is a RP game where everyone wants to have fun in there rolls" So for this I add 2 mil flat out IF I'm hauling a good cargo (which I can't imagine why I wouldn't unless I'm contracted to bring supplies to a faction or something) If I'm hauling really really good cargo then I'll pay 5 mil for this.
So now I'll pay 5.5 mil for that 1,5 cargo fill... however.. I still have to make some kind of profit.. At least enough to cover my 1.5 mil that filled my cargo and the time it took me to get to where the confrontation is.
So basically, if a pirate, even if I think for some reason I can take him, demands 2-5 mil... depending on what I'm hauling.. I'll pretty much always pay it as that's part of the game, and if hes a new player pirating, I want him to enjoy his char and have fun, there was a thread here that spoke of new players as unlawful's and its discouragement to play and I don't want that.
So..
1.5 to fill cargo equals
25% added to cost to fill hold (so 2 mil in this case)
1 mil to avoid re-routing if I'm close
500,000 to not break for two hours getting killed in a vital sector.
And in all cases the area in green above.
Do you guys think this is a good calculation and good roll playing? If not what is your system that you use?
Yes, your calculation seems fair, but approximate values are good too, you won't make a calculation every time.
I say I'd pay (in case of an 5k ship) 0.5-2 mill for empty ship or low value cargo, like water or oxygen or base construction materials, 2-5 mill for moderate value cargo (diamonds, metals, etc) and 5-10 mill for high value cargo (ores, He3, raw hydrocarbon, the mineable and high sell value stuff). If the demand is above 10 mill... well, it depends on the situation.
And the 50-100 mill demands are just for your blue, and lolwuttery.
I always look at my chances of survival. I most cases I will run for the docking spot, if it is less than 25k. I would rather pay much more after I fail to escape, instead of giving up without a fight ( Stork packs a puch! ... ). Pirates should work for their money as well and I am willing to reward their effort if they succeed.
(11-25-2013, 08:42 PM)Snak3 Wrote: I always look at my chances of survival. I most cases I will run for the docking spot, if it is less than 25k. I would rather pay much more after I fail to escape, instead of giving up without a fight ( Stork packs a puch! ... ). Pirates should work for their money as well and I am willing to reward their effort if they succeed.
Yeah but wont most pirates just kill you if you try to run?
(11-25-2013, 08:42 PM)Snak3 Wrote: I always look at my chances of survival. I most cases I will run for the docking spot, if it is less than 25k. I would rather pay much more after I fail to escape, instead of giving up without a fight ( Stork packs a puch! ... ). Pirates should work for their money as well and I am willing to reward their effort if they succeed.
Yeah but wont most pirates just kill you if you try to run?
(11-25-2013, 09:01 PM)Zweibrucken Wrote: If a trader/miner pays me, next time I lower the amount....if he/she decides to run or wastes my time I demand more...
Fair enough, but Snak3's idea does just sound funner, seeing if you can get away, and if you can't or they stop you then you pay... It just sounds funner RP wise. As long as they don't just say "hes running.. blast him to Valhalla"
Lead me into some good RP and I'll play along. If the demand isn't too unreasonable, I may even pay it. I have a set max based on cargo value at point of sale. Settle for that and we're good.
OTOH, my trader character is ex-Navy and flying a Bison. The 2milordie crowd get to waste their ammo trying to blow me up. And, really, I enjoy a good running battle. If I lose, well, the money is rarely that important to me. And I can *easily* kill two hours in one of my other ships.