So how long until the pirates take over and what will happen to the game when they do?

[Justme]

So with more and more players and even entire clans turning to pirates, what will happen to the game when they reach numbers that the nationals can't stop them.

Will the game still be playable if 75% or more of the ports are controlled by pirate players?

Assuming the current perceived rate of player change to pirate keeps pace how long before the takeover?

What will the pirates do when they win the map and resistance is futile?

I know it will be hard guys, but I'm hoping this will remain a serious and CIVIL discussion.

[Cragger]

Honestly, don't worry about it. When it happens then it's up to the devs to clean up the mess.

[Dius]

Will the game still be playable if 75% or more of the ports are controlled by pirate players?

 

75% of ports... How long do you think it will take for this to happen exactly?

[Ronald Speirs]

A short drop and a sudden stop should sort them out, Pirates ya be warned! If this game wants to be somewhat historical then they will have to overhaul pirates to make them what they actually were.

[SirLeggit]

What will the pirates do when they win the map and resistance is futile?

.

they will be assimilated.

try not to take the game so seriously.

Edited March 29, 2016 by SirLeggit

[surfimp]

Will the game still be playable if 75% or more of the ports are controlled by pirate players?

 

Totally. You will have whatever your capitol port produces, plus whatever you can purchase from free ports (both NPC produced and player delivered), plus whatever you capture from NPC & player traders.

 

It's already happened to a number of factions on the various PVP servers and, after a short time, they are back and doing well enough.

 

The big upside to being a pirate under the current mechanics is that you can always get PVP, even with other pirates. The rest - i.e. controlling ports - is pretty much irrelevant.

[Mrdoomed]

What ??? This post again? Yawn.

[Tief N Tote]

arrr i'm just having sooo much fun drinking and pillagingi didn't even realize us pirates were winning

[_Masterviolin]

Eh, the pirates are simply a popular, well-populated nation. Every empire expands and contracts- and everyone who expands too quickly will face the problems with over-extension and have their own bad days. This applies to the pirates as well

 

It's also worth noting that the diplomacy patch will probably really hurt them. I'm fairly certain the Pirates would continue to be enemies to all nations, and that the diplomacy update will put them at a severe disadvantage to other nations that can form their own alliances. It should be a good way to prevent a "pirate empire", and address its incredible expansion.

Edited March 30, 2016 by _Masterviolin

[Ned Loe]

They will get wiped soon. 

[William the Drake]

They will get wiped soon. 

 

Uhm uhm uhm uhm, can we get a little more detail on this? Just pirates? Everyone? Ports? And will it just be a simple wipe or will they be changing any of their mechanics?

[Ned Loe]

Uhm uhm uhm uhm, can we get a little more detail on this? Just pirates? Everyone? Ports? And will it just be a simple wipe or will they be changing any of their mechanics?

Wipe, Nerf, Penalties... These words make a lot of sense now. 

[Quineloe]

Totally. You will have whatever your capitol port produces, plus whatever you can purchase from free ports (both NPC produced and player delivered), plus whatever you capture from NPC & player traders.

 

It's already happened to a number of factions on the various PVP servers and, after a short time, they are back and doing well enough.

 

The big upside to being a pirate under the current mechanics is that you can always get PVP, even with other pirates. The rest - i.e. controlling ports - is pretty much irrelevant.

 

So you have to rely on players delivering goods to free towns and sell them at astronomical prices to you (because I sure as hell wouldn't do that for pocket change), especially since port production is supposed to go to zero. And if no one is selling oak logs at all, aw man, can't build ships.

 

No sorry, that does not sound playable anymore.

 

And not a single faction has been reduced to a single port for more than two days so far. IIRC, Sweden signed their Three hour war treaty with the Danish on the next day already and France had a few ports left. 

[mouse of war]

If made a suggestion to the devs as to how the issues could be solved

 

http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/12649-real-pirates/

 

Basically the current pirates to continue as a pirate nation

 

And a new faction 'buccaneers' to be created with different rules set so that their gameplay is more like that of real pirates

 

I think it'd give pirate players a choice and please everybody

 

what do we think about it?

Edited March 30, 2016 by mouse of war

[surfimp]

 

So you have to rely on players delivering goods to free towns and sell them at astronomical prices to you (because I sure as hell wouldn't do that for pocket change), especially since port production is supposed to go to zero. And if no one is selling oak logs at all, aw man, can't build ships.

 

No sorry, that does not sound playable anymore.

 

Some enterprising individual would look at that situation and definitely take the opportunity to serve the need while turning a tidy profit. Or some sympathetic nation might see fit to do so, especially as part of an alliance versus a common foe. Or maybe you all jump in Basic Cutters for a few days and go on a massive zerg raid of some rich faction's trade routes.

 

Who knows? it's a sandbox game with an increasingly player-driven economy. Almost anything could happen! That scenario sounds very far from from "unplayable" to me. It sounds... interesting.

Edited March 30, 2016 by surfimp

[Porpoise]

If made a suggestion to the devs as to how the issues could be solved

 

http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/12649-real-pirates/

 

Basically the current pirates to continue as a pirate nation

 

And a new faction 'buccaneers' to be created with different rules set so that their gameplay is more like that of real pirates

 

I think it'd give pirate players a choice and please everybody

 

what do we think about it?

 

The population is scattered enough. Please do not suggest another nation. This game would profit from decreasing number of playable nations rather than increasing it. 

[mouse of war]

The population is scattered enough. Please do not suggest another nation. This game would profit from decreasing number of playable nations rather than increasing it. 

 

It would not be another nation - think of it as an experimental faction that operates under rules specifically designed to prevent it from becoming a nation.

And to allow those dissatisfied members of the current pirate nation to option to play as true pirates

[CptEdwardKenway]

Uhm uhm uhm uhm, can we get a little more detail on this? Just pirates? Everyone? Ports? And will it just be a simple wipe or will they be changing any of their mechanics?

Have a look around this forum. Many mechanics will be changed and diplomacy, war and pirates role are the next the devs will work.

Edited March 30, 2016 by CptEdwardKenway

[Porpoise]

Have a look around this forum. Many mechanics will be changed and diplomacy, war and pirates role are the next the devs will work.

 

I do not think the devs have a clear vision of how the pirates should look like in the future. I doubt there will be majora changes comming in the early future. 

[FiLooT]

As I pirate I do not know what would happen - my guess is we all just buy white cats and retire...

 

 

On the other hand the appearance of such whiny/ alarmist threads means soon there will be anti pirate coalition and a lot of large scale PvP so it is good...

[VonVolks]

If everyone is a pirate the pirates will all fight each other and clans will become the new nations...

 

Also Pirate people will turn back to nations through boredom as the capitals are all invincible.

 

Also this is an Alpha, so the devs want to see how things pan out anyway, so who cares... just play and see what develops!

[Porpoise]

Neither of these will happen. But I am affraid that pirates are now completely beyond the expectations the devs had in them. 

I think the Pirates were supposed to add some spice to multinational conficts, creating space for individuals and freelancers. I think they were not supposed to be dominant faction.

[Quineloe]

Some enterprising individual would look at that situation and definitely take the opportunity to serve the need while turning a tidy profit. Or some sympathetic nation might see fit to do so, especially as part of an alliance versus a common foe. Or maybe you all jump in Basic Cutters for a few days and go on a massive zerg raid of some rich faction's trade routes.

 

Who knows? it's a sandbox game with an increasingly player-driven economy. Almost anything could happen! That scenario sounds very far from from "unplayable" to me. It sounds... interesting.

Or maybe the players just give up and go pirate.

Which actually happened already.

Sure, we can ignore experience and just continue dreaming the perfect game, where everyone will take up the most herculean tasks to just stay in the game, but no. Not going to happen.

[admin]

It took Europeans 350 years to destroy Barbary Pirates.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbary_pirates

 

Corsairs captured thousands of ships and repeatedly raided coastal towns. As a result, residents abandoned their former villages of long stretches of coast in Spain and Italy. The raids were such a problem that coastal settlements were seldom undertaken until the 19th century. Barbary pirates raided towns across Europe up to Iceland and Ireland.

 

In 1662, England made the first treaty with a Barbary pirates ruler. This set the pattern for similar treaties by other European nations trading in the Mediterranean. Typically, a Barbary peace treaty required a nation to pay tribute to the pirate ruler, who would then call off attacks on the nation's ships. Tribute usually took the form of a large payment of money plus annual payments. The annual payments might be cash, military supplies, or expensive presents for the ruler. A particular treaty might also include ransom money for the release of a nation's citizens held captive by the Barbary country.

 

United States even paid tributes to pirates

 

The U.S. Pays Tribute

After finding American commerce in the Mediterranean had almost stopped due to the pirates, the Continental Congress agreed in 1784 to negotiate treaties with the four Barbary States. Congress appointed a special commission, consisting of John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin, to oversee the negotiations. The following year, Congress authorized a maximum of $80,000 to spend on tribute treaties with all the Barbary Pirate States.

In 1787, the United States signed a tribute treaty with Morocco. This proved to be a reasonable treaty, costing the United States a one-time only tribute of about $20,000. Except for a few brief disagreements, Morocco never again harassed American shipping.

 

Algiers, the most powerful of the Barbary Pirates States, was a different story. In the summer of 1785, pirates from Algiers captured two American merchant ships and held the 21 men aboard them for ransom. The United States offered $4,200 for the captives. The ruler of Algiers, called the dey, demanded nearly $60,000. The Americans refused, and negotiations dragged on for more than 10 years.

 

The two commissioners most involved in tribute treaty negotiations were John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Adams favored paying tribute as the cheapest way to get American commerce moving again in the Mediterranean. Jefferson disagreed. He saw no end to the demands for tribute. He wanted matters settled "through the medium of war" and proposed a league of trading nations to force the end of Barbary piracy.

 

In 1790, pirates from Algiers captured 11 American ships and more than 100 prisoners to add to those already held for ransom. This shocking news produced a serious debate in the newly formed U.S. Congress over the need to build a navy. But it took five years before Congress authorized the construction of six warships.

 

Finally, in 1796, the United States signed a peace treaty with Algiers. The United States agreed to pay $642,500 plus annual tribute of naval supplies and presents to the dey. In exchange, the dey promised to release of the American captives and protect American shipping. The United States had to borrow money to make the primary tribute payment.

 

After 1796 US paid another 160,000 us dollars in tributes and presents to pirates, and even had to borrow money to make the payments. In 1801 Pirate ruler canceled the agreements and requested more money. This time US refused and went to war with Barbary states.

 

Eventually....

 

The scope of corsair activity began to diminish as the more powerful European navies started to compel the Barbary States to make peace and cease attacking their shipping. However, the ships and coasts of Christian states without such effective protection continued to suffer until the early 19th century. Following the Napoleonic Wars and the Congress of Vienna in 1814–15, European powers agreed upon the need to suppress the Barbary corsairs entirely and the threat was largely subdued. Occasional incidents occurred, including two Barbary wars between the United States of America and the Barbary States, until finally terminated by the French conquest of Algiers in 1830.

 

TLDR... 

Barbary pirates were a dominant force in the Mediterranean for a very long time. Its not a-historical that Caribbean pirates could become such force given sandbox rules (where everything is in the hands of players).

 

I personally believe that European powers can agree upon the need to suppress the Pirates entirely and subdue the threat by means of force not by means of eloquent writing on forums. Alternatively nations can sign separate tribute agreements and pay pirates to leave them alone. I think this suppression is an interesting challenge for nations. Someone just have to take on this goal and get it done.

 

This surely can be done before the alliances/war and peace patch. In the future alliances/war and peace might change the landscape significantly. 

[HarryButpain]

yup, in that documentary on youtube they mention that they kidnapped brits which lived in fishing villages near the british coast to sell them into slavery..

 

https://youtu.be/j1-OxNSjmh0?t=22m50s

Edited March 30, 2016 by ValoWay