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Suggestions for a Unique Pirate Faction


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Hello everyone,

 

I wanted to pose a couple suggestions on ways to create a firm distinction between the Pirate "faction" and those of traditional nations. This is not meant as an exhaustive list, but should provide suitable fodder for discussion, and one that I hope the developers of Naval Action will consider if not in whole, then at least in part.

 

First off, I find it highly annoying when someone posits that the game, or some facet thereof, is "broken". However, I think many would agree that the implementation of piracy as nothing more than another national interest is ahistorical, to say the least (brief historical attempts at a pirate "free state" notwithstanding). So, in light of that, I have considered ways that would make for the pirate faction to be very different from the national factions, yet still rewarding and interesting for the players who fly the black flag.

 

I wish to offer as a disclaimer that I have not played as a pirate, but I have tried to be as objective as possible.

 

1) Pirates should not have ownership of ports, with the exception of a capital port, which, like any other cannot be captured. Instead, pirates should operate under a permanent "smuggler flag" and be able to enter any national port except a national capital. This means that pirates will not be able to capture ports, but a mechanism should be in place so that they could still "raid" a national port which would result in the same reward system as a current port battle, so as not to prevent pirate players from being able to receive port battle-type rewards. However, even in the event of a victory, they would not gain possession of the port - they would simply be doing it for the "loot", a much more traditional pirate motivation than control of territory. I would also suggest as an option that pirates be only able to set up an outpost in a free port - while they could enter national ports as smugglers, they could not have outposts there. This last is something I suggest as a consideration, as I am myself of two minds about the issue.

 

2) I have elsewhere suggested that in lieu of marine upgrades being the only way for a ship to have marines, that all national men of war should have a minimum number of marines as part of the normal complement. This number might be slightly increased by the marine upgrade, but the upgrade should affect RNG quality (perhaps in a constant percentage of close range ship to ship musket fire, or failing that, in a morale of other buff for boarding actions). However, as a pirate would generally not have access to national marines, pirate ships would not have this addition. Two factors would therefore change: first, that any ship to ship musket fire that might be introduced would have a much lower RNG for a pirate vessel firing on another - their sailors might be very good, but they would generally not be well trained (or well armed) for musket fire. Conversely, in actual boarding, particularly when attacking, a pirate crew would have a higher morale and RNG for damage given that boarding an enemy ship is exactly what a pirate crew would be trained to do.

 

Thank you, and I offer this to the community for feed back.

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If your stated goal with this topic is spurring discussion, then I'd advise posting this in one of the topics that already exists for discussing pirate mechanics. We've had hundreds.

http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/8329-pirate-mechanics-vote/page-1?hl=pirate

 

Regarding your suggestions, I've read them multiple times before. Limiting pirates from conquest doesn't seem to be what the devs want, and I see no reason to do it either. Pirates should be different, and devs have promised us an overhaul of pirate mechanics, but pirates should still be able to hold ports/regions.

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