B4NGSPL4T

Well, by the looks of it every Pirate and his parrot have rushed in here to try and sway the vote. I should have added a question that asks which nation they play as, not that any of the scoundrels would have been honest about it

The post I made was intentionally done in such a way that it did not include mechanics in the original post, as the mechanics are something that could be discussed until the cows come home. With that said, a reasonable "positive" to the so called "negative" would be that when a pirate captures a ship they can "overhaul" it using crafting to make a pirate like vessel (such as an increase in speed, crew, different cannons, perhaps even a boarding bonus). In addition, let's say a Pirate captures a 3rd rate. With the overhaul it would turn the 1 durability captured 3rd rate in to a 3 durability crafted pirate 3rd rate. Why this process? It adds a new element to the game. Pirates would have to capture the larger ships, while retaining the ability to craft say up to a Frigate. Yes, they may still be at a disadvantage, however combined with the inability to capture ports, only raid, it gives them a constant assurance that the ports they use can never be captured or overturned (being free towns). Pirates and Neutrals should be the unique classes of the game, more difficult to play than the others, as they are not part of a nation. I would say that "Pirate Rigged" ships would certainly close that gap while retaining a balance.

Thank you very much. The key here was to create a poll that very clearly showed the thoughts of the community. As you can see, it has done exactly that. Yes, I thought of that after I added it. No doubt there will be a few biased views but if another people vote it should even it out.

I would love to see something like this in game! Hopefully they will do something similar.

They would have access regardless if they can craft them or not. There are plenty of AI 3rd Rates that they can capture. In terms of re-building ships, what I think should happen is that when a Pirate captures a ship it is a 1 durability ship. What they can then do is take that 1 durability ship (for example, a 3rd Rate), and rebuilt it. The act of rebuilding changes the look of the ship (maybe just colour?), and gives it the durabilities that the ship would have if it was crafted. Other things can be added to this such as effecting the ships inbuilt characteristics, maybe even razeed?

This is a simple vote, asking two main questions. Pirate Port Capture/Raiding and Pirate Crafting. I have set out the questions so that it will be very easy to determine as a community, where to draw the theoretical line. Yes, Pirates would still be able to obtain SOL's (through capture and trading). Yes, a Pirate could make another account and use it as a crafter. However, it would make the appearance of SOL's for Pirates a much rarer thing, as well as increase the value of it to the faction.

Not too sure about the jail thing but all the other points are spot on. The Pirates are a unique faction and deserve to have the mechanics of one. From what the Admin has said it almost feels like they don't want to change it because there are so many pirates who would complain. This isn't about being historical, or accuracy... It is purely down to creating a balanced unique faction that acts as an alternative way to play compared to the others.

I think what this thread has clearly illustrated is that the current mechanics do not work. From the results the vast majority believe that crafting needs to be limited in some way, either the removal of it completely from the faction or a limitation on what can be crafted. In the long run this does not prevent the Pirates from getting in SOL's, however it does make it more difficult. Someone mentioned that Pirates would simply buy them from other nations, which is true, but my guess is that most nations will not do this due to the competitive nature of the game. Even so, this will make the Pirate faction a more unique faction to play as. In terms of capturing ports, as you can see currently just over half believe that they should be able to. My thoughts on this are that if a raid mechanic was clearly outlined, it may sway towards that than the latter. So Dev's, Admin... The people have spoken. What'cha gonna do?

The current states of ports means nothing at the moment. Due to the patch adding in port times, and existing ports not having times set on them, it is not a true reflection of what will happen after the re-set.

P.S I added another poll answer to the question of crafting "Yes, but limited to Frigates and below".

Well there we go. I didn't know any that they owned ports, I always thought they were just tolerated in some ports. I'm guessing that it was fairly limited though? It isn't an invisible zone, it already exists, it just isn't shown on the map. People wouldn't be able to farm them as you say, as they have the protection zone. Honestly I think that the pirate nation shouldn't be able to capture ports. Raiding, ransoming, blockading, yes.... Owning? No. Edit: Also remember, the pirates can work out of the Free Towns that are dotted all over the map. Crafting is a little bit more complicated. I think there certainly needs to be some sort of limitation for the pirates, perhaps crafting only up to Frigates would be the way to do so. Agreed, the pirates will be a huge nation due to the romance of being a pirate. The whole leveling up on each other is a major advantage for the nation, with no drawbacks. That's why I suggest this, as it limits the pirate nation to a more pirate like ability. They do, often. Also, agreed... It should not be a choice of faction but something you can become. Something like a Hero/Bandit system like in DayZ - Epoch. Easy to become a pirate, hard to turn back.

Greetings, I'm not going to spend the usual amount of time outlining my suggestion, as it feels every time I spend 1-2 hours thinking through and writing an informative and detailed post it gets spammed and pushed to the back. I am not one of those hugely vocal forum members, so cannot contend with it. Anyway, here we go. Pirates historically never owned ports, however they were tolerated in some by the governors. I understand of course there is a level of gamification required, which is why I suggest that the Pirates are given the hidden island to the North-East of The Bahamas. This island has 2-3 ports (can't remember how many exactly), which would be the ONLY place where the Pirates have their very own ports. They should act as a Capital, permanently in the pirate hands. This raises the point of port captures. I suggest removing this ability from the pirates and creating a new mechanic called "Raiding". Through raiding, pirates can assault a port but never capture it, rewarded with loot similar to Port Battles but with the addition of ships. Why ships you ask? Because I also suggest that pirates are not able to craft! Pirates very rarely crafted their own ships, even then for the most part they just took captured ships and heavily modified them. Realistically you didn't have Pirates sailing around in self built 1st rates, however they could potentially capture them if they worked together (this would be PVP). They would still be able to buy ships from their ports, so this would limit them to Pavel's and below. Well, that's it really. No crafting for pirates, and no capturing of ports. It further creates a unique faction to play as, which I believe is exactly what they should be.

Short answer. No. Long(er) answer. Only if the devs give the early testers another unique ship that cannot be obtained by the non early testers.

Splitting up a fleet to attack them independently is a great tactic. Starting a battle just to sit on the edge of range and keep someone in battle with no intention of fighting is not. You can put a pig in a dress and makeup but it is still a pig. This is an abomination of a valid tactic and is in as many words, griefing.

Splitting up a fleet to attack them independently is a great tactic. Starting a battle just to sit on the edge of range and keep someone in battle with no intention of fighting is not. You can put a pig in a dress and makeup but it is still a pig. This is an abomination of a valid tactic and is in as many words, griefing.