Pirate Mechanics suggestions collection thread

[Babble]

 

Babble

 

I think while the idea seems simple it would be quite a dramatic change to the game that would take quite a bit of work to implement. Overall though i do like the idea but i do see the devs thinking this may be to hard to implement into the game whereas changing the pirate faction a bit would take work but be easier and not affect the overall game as much.

 

Well they already implemented pirates half-assed and look how far it has gone.   If they are going to change the way they work they should do it right.   Doing it right requires a dramatic change.   If they are going to change them at all they should do it right.  No point in making minor changes that dont do anything to really flesh out pirates and letting people get used to those before changing it again.

 

Just my opinion.

[The Spud]

Your ideas about pirates ranking through gold are interesting - as long as it was balanced well.

Like your thoughts about pirates being ranked (maybe pirate clans too?) with gold (or similar?) to give that competitive edge.

 

Well since pirates and nations essentialy play towards a different goal, there is no real need to balance the two out against eachother. We must take in account that the pirate faction will be smaller then it is now, for obvious reasons, so they won't be met as common as they are now and as such be seen as a possible problem and not a certain problem whenever you sail out with your ship.

 

There will be no real reason for nations to go hunt the pirates down, as they will not be seen as a threat, they will be pesky camping out your trade routes looking for a good opportunity to make gold. They will be seen as something that has to be dealt with whenever they cross your path, there will be no holy crusade to destroy them.

 

I would still keep the ranking comparable to those of the nations, but with gold needed to rank up. Prestige could be a ranking system per player, and a ranking system per clan. It could be you can purchase expensive "Prestige" coins or medals. As pirate captains will have probably bragged with gold rings and chains, something you can easily display when clicking on their ship. Like a little icon saying how much gold medals this captain purchased, thus showing off his wealth. This could be implemented amongst clans too, so clans can show off their wealth. Possibly creating some pirate clan wars, or clans fighting over their "hunting grounds".

 

With the above we'll have to assume that the pirates will not contain the people who want to be involved in the whole nations war, as they will most likely choose a nation instead of the pirate faction. Accordingly we would have to assume that the whole pirate faction will not side with one nation against all the other nations, as their right hands. Unless that nation "hires" the pirates by giving them gold to camp out another nation, allot is possible in this system.

 

It would give the people who realy play as pirates, and who are probably frustrated by the fact the pirates get so much bad talk, a much more piraty game.

[Avid Indoorsman]

My overall vision for the Pirates is that they should provide a completely unique game experience within Naval Action. They should have a special and different attraction that caters to a different kind of player. As such they should have a unique set of both advantages and disadvantages.

 

Here goes!:

 

-Pirates should not be able to conquer other nations ports.

-Pirates should be able to raid other nations, gaining lots of goodies for themselves whilst causing material loss to those nations (enough that it would be a priority to defend a nation's ports).

-Pirates should have a small number of their own, unconquerable ports spread equally throughout the map (not concentrated in one place). These should be hidden from national players (not showing on maps or in-game).

-Pirates should not be able to build bigger ships than frigates.

-Pirates should have unique bonuses to boarding and even their own, dedicated boarding ships to make capturing ships easier for them.

-Pirates should be the only nation able to capture other player's SOLs (not sure about this idea myself) but not able to capture AI SOLs.

-Pirates should not be the only nation you can switch to in-game. It should be possible to switch national allegiances without creating a new character. This should come with heavier penalties in all cases so that all gold, resources and ships are automatically lost (except the ship being sailed on) with no workaround for this. The idea is that you are fleeing from one faction to another with 'only the shirt on your back.'

 

Amen! This is the sort of thing we need.

 

- Pirates should have access to special buildings in ports, or the open world. Like secret hideouts.

- Pirates should be rewarded handsomely for capturing trade vessels, and should be the terror of the seas for traders and crafters (like me).

- Privateering should be an option for pirates: essentially hiring on with a specific nation to harass shipping

- I am back and forth on whether Pirates should face permadeath as a possible consequence of being captured. I think no, but being captured by a nation should be a considerable buzzkill.

 

In short, Pirates should be FUN and completely unique! Not just another nation... 

[Captain Underpants]

Well since pirates and nations essentialy play towards a different goal, there is no real need to balance the two out against eachother. We must take in account that the pirate faction will be smaller then it is now, for obvious reasons, so they won't be met as common as they are now and as such be seen as a possible problem and not a certain problem whenever you sail out with your ship.

There will be no real reason for nations to go hunt the pirates down, as they will not be seen as a threat, they will be pesky camping out your trade routes looking for a good opportunity to make gold. They will be seen as something that has to be dealt with whenever they cross your path, there will be no holy crusade to destroy them.

I would still keep the ranking comparable to those of the nations, but with gold needed to rank up. Prestige could be a ranking system per player, and a ranking system per clan. It could be you can purchase expensive "Prestige" coins or medals. As pirate captains will have probably bragged with gold rings and chains, something you can easily display when clicking on their ship. Like a little icon saying how much gold medals this captain purchased, thus showing off his wealth. This could be implemented amongst clans too, so clans can show off their wealth. Possibly creating some pirate clan wars, or clans fighting over their "hunting grounds".

With the above we'll have to assume that the pirates will not contain the people who want to be involved in the whole nations war, as they will most likely choose a nation instead of the pirate faction. Accordingly we would have to assume that the whole pirate faction will not side with one nation against all the other nations, as their right hands. Unless that nation "hires" the pirates by giving them gold to camp out another nation, allot is possible in this system.

It would give the people who realy play as pirates, and who are probably frustrated by the fact the pirates get so much bad talk, a much more piraty game.

By balance, I simply mean that the speed of pirate progression, as well as how much gold they earn doing so compared to nations (vs how much they keep for building ships etc) would need to be carefully worked out.

We don't want to see pirates levelling much quicker/slower than the other factions. Nor do we want to see mega-rich pirates who can put-buy everyone else or mega-poor ones who can't keep up with ships etc.

Like I said; it's a fab idea but would need careful implementation to make sure pirates didn't become too easy or hard.

[GrapeShot]

My humble contribution ....

 

Add to that, instead of mines and lumber yards, cash generating pirate buildings should be bars, whore houses and gambling dens.

And instead of shipyards they should have ship refitting facilities where they can boost duras on capped ships, add guns and berths and so forth.

Piracy is an occupation, not a polity, and should be envisioned accordingly.

[Ronald Speirs]

My humble contribution ....

 

Add to that, instead of mines and lumber yards, cash generating pirate buildings should be bars, whore houses and gambling dens.

And instead of shipyards they should have ship refitting facilities where they can boost duras on capped ships, add guns and berths and so forth.

Piracy is an occupation, not a polity, and should be envisioned accordingly.

I like this, sounds like fun and those buildings resources can be sold in pirate havens to help their friends or other allied pirates so selling our whores to increase morale even add pirate mini games where you can gamble against other pirate players

[LTCjRet]

For the stated purpose of gathering all suggestions relative to piracy in one thread I'll include the following:

 

Regarding existing players retaining their pirate status when NA goes into full release, I humbly disagree.  Quite simply require that players select transfer to their choice of any legitimate nation (or even a new one), retaining all their assets.  After all, currently Pirates are nothing more that a fictional nation.

 

Then if they wish to go rogue they could do so albeit with all the consequences.  

 

I strongly support those suggesting that piracy become something like NA's "Hard/Expert" mode.  There should be more to becoming a pirate than slapping on heavy mascara, adopting an effeminate walk & hand gestures, and insisting others call you Jack Sparrow.  Going pirate - with the opportunity to operate by distinctly different pirate rules - ought to come at a price and a fairly substantial one at that; a buy-in if you will.  Players should have to ask themselves, "I'm I really willing to give up a normal, relatively wealthy lifestyle to become an expert/elite NA player?" with whatever personal satisfaction & elite status that might bring them.  It would certainly provide an additional opportunity for game play beyond the long grind to a stagnate admiral's rank. 

 

Then becoming a pirate would really be making a statement.

[Cmdr RideZ]

I like rather small changes, and then chaining and slowly getting "there".

 

So, the 1st baby step...

- No Port Battles for pirates.

- Everyone can have outposts in freetowns, but only Pirates can teleport to those.

- Remove teleports without cooldown, piratism is all about OW.  Teleports without cooldown are bad for the pirates.

- Max ~300 men, they just are not able to organize more under one and the same captain.

- Only pirates are able to teleport ships in Freetown outposts, from the battle results screen.

- Before attacking your countrymen, add "Are you sure you want to attack... Because....".

- Soft reset, all property in redeemables for everyone, you can choose your nation again.

 

2nd baby step...

- Pirates will get a bit different stats for the ships.  eg. a bit more men, 1-2 cannons, or bow chasers, etc.  Why not also some penalties, if fits in the picture.

- No Marines, but pirates are in general better boarders, just to balance it out.

 

3rd step

- Design raiding mechanism.  This may not be a baby step anymore.

 

 

 

....

 

Pirates are maybe the biggest nation.  Remove the port battles from pirates, and I am sure we can see decreasing numbers.

All those clans joining pirates, because they are getting their ass kicked, or issues in their coalition.  So no Port Battles for pirates, and all true pirates will stay, and the fake ones leave.

[Woody051]

http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/14245-pirate-mechanics-suggestions-collection-thread/?p=263374

 

 

Players of a minimum level of positive standings could be eligible to be "Privateers". Players wishing to play as a Privateer on behalf of another nation could buy a commission from a neutral port which enables them to fight and act on behalf of another nation. A Privateer commission will be a cool-down so that a player can't stay in that mode indefinitely. While commissioned as a privateer the player will be identified as "British Privateer" or "French Privateer" or whatever above their name in battle as well as when you click on them. Below that their original faction will be shown. While privateering that player cannot attack any ship of the nation he is working for. By privateer players will more quickly raise (or lower) their reputation with the different nations.

 

 

Elaborating off this Privateer idea

 

I was thinking this over and i thought of some additional things that would be fun or useful for a Privateer.

 

First and foremost the idea of being a Privateer is to work for, in good faith one nation whilst having freedom to attack or prey on others. Although similar to being a pirate i see this for argument purposes as a more positive and accepted role for the game.

 

Since the player privateer will be working for or as an extension of another nation i would say there should be certain perks for their allegiances. One possible idea i had was that a pre-determined number of port battle slots could be filled by privateers to help supplement numbers. The idea is that a privateer while sailing as a privateer (or in privateer mode) is flagged as representing or working for a nation. A game mechanic could set a limited number of allowable privateers to join a port battle to assist the attacking or defending nation. My opinion is that a solid "5" would be fair meaning that a maximum of up to 5 Privateers may join in a port battle if requested to assist. The maximum port battle size still remaining 25.

 

Another idea could take that Privateer port battle slot assistance and turn it into a purchasable port upgrade. We can invent a building like a Privateer's Den and with every level of an upgrade it could add slots. No building = 0 slots. Building level 1 1 slot, 2, 2 slots, 3, 3 slots, etc...

 

 

---------------------------------

 

 

Free towns... Perhaps maybe Free towns would contain unique items, trade goods, materials, ships, and modules however are only accessible by pirates, and privateers and denies access to the large nations. The only way for these items to reach the nations is for them to be smuggled out and traded elsewhere (or captured off a ship).

 

Trading Post - Small places of no national affiliation that you can dock at to buy/sell/trade. Since there is no harbor you cannot repair your ship there (Maybe buy repair kits?), can't build an outpost, and can't teleport. Trading posts could be hidden on the world map and up to the players to discover for themselves. 

 

If you wanted to take that Trading post idea a step further and make it more complex you can make the trading posts respawn and change location weekly such as like "every Monday maintenance" or something. This will get players out searching and exploring the map and the rewarding thrill of finding these hidden treasures.

[Captain Comery]

Well speaking from a historical view pirates were known for having unique methods for capturing and even re-fitting ships. Take for example Blackbeards ship the Queen Anne's Revenge which he fitted out with stronger armour and more guns. She was originally a merchant so why not give pirates the opertunity to capture and modify trade ships which would be available only to pirates.

This makes them one of a kind and also gives national players a reason to capture them. Maybe add a crew boost instead because I doubt pirates obeyed capacity rules.

[Mrdoomed]

This will fall on deaf ears but heres my two cents.

I cant speak for pvp1 but on pvp2 my clan of 4 are the only pirates who actively and only commit acts of piracy and smuggling ( long before there was a button ) on a daily basis. We almost never get involved in the politics of port battles or who owns what. We simply dont care for the war since we are pirates and only care about getting rich.

We could skipper sols or massive floating gunships but prefere sailing in a rag tag fleet of small privateers and the smallest of frigates. We build our ships accordingly to have extra crew and speed.

This used to be fun and a great way to play BUT with each new patch that shortens timers, makes pve missions closer and easier and better for grinding and event missions and fleet missions that basically keep 90% of players lost in pve grinding the easy xp to get big ships for port battles and keeps them out of my world, the open sea. Now that people can just teleport my world, the open world, is bare. If we are lucky enough to find a person they are almost always near a protective zone, a event or mission to jump into then run and hide in. Then every person on can and does teleport there for no cool down and swarm us and if we can run tbey just teleport ahead of us.

This has been the way the game is going and fine whatever BUT being true playing pirate you have left us not much to do so once you take away tbings like port battles ( PLEASE TSKE THEM AWAY I HATE PIRATES DOING THIS) or ship building away there is now a big empty sea for us to do nothing in.

As it stands now with free teleports and missions and fleet missions galore you might as well just remove REAL piracy from the game because its basically impossible now.

[Hethwill]

The changes to teleport mechanics actually improved the quality of the pirate/trader gaming duo.

 

For one the traders have to organized themselves. Was quite a sight to see four player LGV sailing together for safety and on another occasion the trader being escorted.

 

Now the pirate can go directly to their "havens" ( which had to be setup by sailing there ) upon logging in and do some trade raiding without a care in the world if the world is burning.

[Mrdoomed]

The changes to teleport mechanics actually improved the quality of the pirate/trader gaming duo.

For one the traders have to organized themselves. Was quite a sight to see four player LGV sailing together for safety and on another occasion the trader being escorted.

Now the pirate can go directly to their "havens" ( which had to be setup by sailing there ) upon logging in and do some trade raiding without a care in the world if the world is burning.

Im glad it works on your server but for me it does not. In fact i dont know how you are able to attack the large groups. On my server i sail the ships pirates should sail and soon will be forced to sail and i DO see these groups you speak of but when I attack it says BR to low attack fails and alot of the pve only guys on the pvp server sail grossly undercrewed sols with the fleet of lgv or indiaman to ensure i cant attack. Can you tell me how to bypass this ?

If more people actually played like the 4 of us did then they could understand how to fix it but the problem is most trying to fix the problems dont truley undertand what needs to be done. It would just be better to remove pirates.

[Hethwill]

I do sail the Lynx and the Privateer mostly. I also always keep a Surprise ( mainly for LGVs ) and now a Rattlesnake ( which is quite capable and versatile ).

 

I couldn't attack the LGV convoy out of reason for I would be completely shot to pieces.

 

There's no way around the BR rating too low. And for gameplay reasons or the incessant tag would be a pain.

 

Option... bring a bigger ship or simply ignore them, which is what I do. More trouble than reward.

[Mrdoomed]

I do sail the Lynx and the Privateer mostly. I also always keep a Surprise ( mainly for LGVs ) and now a Rattlesnake ( which is quite capable and versatile ).

I couldn't attack the LGV convoy out of reason for I would be completely shot to pieces.

There's no way around the BR rating too low. And for gameplay reasons or the incessant tag would be a pain.

Option... bring a bigger ship or simply ignore them, which is what I do. More trouble than reward.

Thats the point im trying to make sir. It becomes a arm races of ship size and once pirates are forced into only historical ships any grouo of noobs or alts can feel free to ship things without fear and in the meantime all their friends can freely teleport all around you and wait for you at your free port.

The ease of pve and instant teleports has done more to kill true piracy than any nerf or change that can be done to pirates. There isnt much left for most to do other than port battles ( lame) so they do more of those. The entire game seems to be now just focused on grinding to get your sol in pve then doing pbs.

Ok you guys can have the thread back i just wanted to voice the OP if 4 players who do and have allways only played like historical pirates and how we see the changes and how they really affect gameplay. #removepirates

Edited May 27, 2016 by Mrdoomed

[Hethwill]

I am sorry but I am having serious difficulties in understanding what you mean.

[Captain Underpants]

I like rather small changes, and then chaining and slowly getting "there".

 

So, the 1st baby step...

- No Port Battles for pirates.

- Everyone can have outposts in freetowns, but only Pirates can teleport to those.

- Remove teleports without cooldown, piratism is all about OW.  Teleports without cooldown are bad for the pirates.

- Max ~300 men, they just are not able to organize more under one and the same captain.

- Only pirates are able to teleport ships in Freetown outposts, from the battle results screen.

- Before attacking your countrymen, add "Are you sure you want to attack... Because....".

- Soft reset, all property in redeemables for everyone, you can choose your nation again.

 

2nd baby step...

- Pirates will get a bit different stats for the ships.  eg. a bit more men, 1-2 cannons, or bow chasers, etc.  Why not also some penalties, if fits in the picture.

- No Marines, but pirates are in general better boarders, just to balance it out.

 

3rd step

- Design raiding mechanism.  This may not be a baby step anymore.

 

 

 

....

 

Pirates are maybe the biggest nation.  Remove the port battles from pirates, and I am sure we can see decreasing numbers.

All those clans joining pirates, because they are getting their ass kicked, or issues in their coalition.  So no Port Battles for pirates, and all true pirates will stay, and the fake ones leave.

 

I think you are spot on that all these ideas, even if liked by the Devs, could not be introduced at one time and soon. I, like you think that things would need implementing on a step-by-step basis with the most important things first.

 

Top Priorities:

 

Making Pirates port raiders and not port capturers.

Making it harder and more costly to switch over to Pirates (loss of assets, long cooldowns on nation switching wtc).

Stopping Pirates building SOLs.

Giving Pirates innate bonuses to boarding etc.

 

The rest of the ideas we are coming up with here are brilliant but havens, privateering, letters of marque and so on would surely take the devs a fair while to implement/code and would be a long-term aim for us to look forward to.

 

As long as we deal with the top priorities first (and diplomacy mechanics), I think we can get the game on an even keel again and ensure it's long-term future which is the most important thing now.

[Cmdr RideZ]

I set the raiding to be 3rd, because it will take time to design, develop, implement.  So that Raiding is interesting for both parties, for pirates and for the defenders.  Some of the other features are probably faster to do, so we get something "now", and not after 6 months...

 

Many moved to play a pirate, and now PvP1 map is just sad to watch.  The clans that have moved to pirates, they have been capturing everything.  I have a feeling, that it would be rather fast to remove the port battles from pirates.  + Probably needs a soft reset, to be fair for everyone.

 

Teleportation cooldown has to be brought back, that is basically killing OW PvP.  When someone is attacked, people write to national chat, or to clan chat, about this.  Then other players just teleport there.  This is simply not cool.

 

Said in other thread, that teleport cooldown could be defined by multiple factors.  The nation size, active players on that nation, distance you teleport.  Pirates to be only ones that can teleport in Freetowns.  This way, big nations, they have to actually sail and they cannot be in every possible place at the same time.  Smaller nations are buffed, so that they have a better change to get back in business.

Depending from pirate population; if there are not many of them, they can have TP without CD.  If there are s loads of pirates, then a CD.  I suppose the map indicates, that there are lot of pirates who just capture ports.  The players who actually play like "real" pirates, I have understood that there are not too many of them.  If there are not many, they need an ability to be in many places at the same time.

 

 

So I think that absolute ~minimum would be...

1. No port battles for pirates

 

And to bring back the sailing

2. Teleport cooldown mechanism

 

Probably should be implemented at the same time

3. Soft reset

 

...

 

Time to implement VS improved gameplay -> I think the relations is very good in these.

[HeadTrauma]

Has anybody here played the old Sid Meier / Microprose Pirates!? There is a more up to date version called Pirates Gold on Steam currently.

I mention the above because there are a lot of mechanics in that game that I'd like to refer to. Mechanics such as port raiding, economics, Alignment etc. Mechanics that work and would resolve a lot of issues.

 

[Woody051]

IMO Pirates shouldn't have Marines but more unique modules of boarding parties. Perhaps another module like "improved swivel guns" will help increase their fire deck guns command so it changes their boarding playstyle from that of main the nations.

 

It was also common for pirates to paint their bodies, get piercings, change their hairstyles, and other superficial things in hopes of intimidating the enemy. So arguably other pirate-specific modules could offer either a morale bonus, or to the enemy a morale debuff from the intimidation inflicted.

[Aus Robert Maynard]

http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/14344-solution-for-pirate-mechanic/

- I put my 2 cents worth in & thread gets closed so no-one can see it - thanks very much.

You cpould have moved it here instead ..............................

[Bulwyf]

Some historical facts to put the present Pirate situation in perspective.

 

The biggest pirate ship was the Queen Anne's Revenge, a former slaver ship which originated with the English, then captured by the French and renamed to  La Concorde de Nantes. Sailing as a slave ship, she was captured by the pirate Captain Benjamin Hornigold on November 28, 1717, and given  to Edward Teach aka Blackbeard.  As captured she mounted 22 guns but was given more guns by Teach raising her gun count to 40. This was the ultimate in pirate ships.

 

The largest pirate fleet to exist was 30 ships and this was under the auspices of the British and led by Henry Morgan

 

The largest city taken by Pirates was Panama by 1200 pirates under Henry Morgan.

 

Betrayal was often a factor in both Pirate victories and defeats.

 

Pirates only very rarely beat regular navy crews though Morgan did so by utilising a fire ship to take out the Spanish flag ship in a battle which pitted 7 pirate ships against 3 Spanish ships. Overconfidence and poor morale were both significant factors in many of the defeats suffered by the Pirates.

 

Plainly the present pirate mechanics don't work, nor are the representative of historical pirates in any way.

 

Pirates should be limited to frigates of no more than 40 guns. 

Shouldn't be able to build ships though should be able to buy them.

The original idea of people being turned pirate seemed punitive though it hasn't worked out as such, so pirates should lose 20% of there experience if they die.

The can base out of free ports of where a nation allies to them, out of that nations ports. For instance the British supported many of the pirate activities out of Port Royal or looked the other way while the pirates attacked the Spanish.

[Snoggy]

Pirates should have double crew allotments. So if ship X has a 'max' crew of 200 for national players, pirates should get 400. I know it's a silly number, but in-game boarding isn't exactly historically accurate. Larger holds as well.

 

If that's not agreeable, halve the crews for nation players sailing traders. The merchants at the time were notorious for keeping small crews, bad pay, tons of work.... saves on wages. Would encourage traders making runs to *gasp* bring escorts, novel concept.

 

You're also going to have to tweak pirate XP gains. Like a 100x bonus. Imagine how bad the grind will be to get to Curse if you can only really engage cutters and snows.... 10-20 xp per battle... for 80k xp.... thought things were grindy now did you?

 

And the usual, pirates can't craft anything larger than a pirate frigate. But should be able to enter any port with a trading vessel. May as well just make all pirates have a smuggler tag.

 

If you're going to nerf the pirates sink for labor hours, you better be able to compensate them somehow. A ton of new pirate-only upgrades might be a way. With focus on boarding and ship speed. Or crafting refits of captured ships. Steal an indiamen, cut a buncha gunports and voila, nice big raider.

 

As for raiding, should be shallow water ships only.....that goes for both nations and pirates. Take out the towers, or at least strip the guns and make it a boarding battle only. Put a timer on the port so it can only be raided once every three days. And make nation capitals raid-able, why not? They weren't the size of london back in those days. Pirates sacked plenty of big towns in the carribean.

[Bulwyf]

I don't think the aim should be to encourage piracy. Being a pirate shouldn't be a fun time. Most real life pirates didn't arrive at that station in life voluntarily. 

 

You can make crews larger already by taking a crew space build and acquiring extra hammocks.

 

Ships sold to pirates should have the option of how they are built, ie you can take the ship with extra crew, rigging build, strength or planking.

 

The number of guns was a limitation of the ship design, for instance the Queen Annes revenge started as a frigate probably 38 guns and was modified to a slaver of 22 guns then taken back up to 40 guns so at the end of the day it only increased very slightly.

 

I would say that pirate ships should have some distinguishing features, perhaps a more weather beaten look (I would say a pirate looking crew excepting we have none) but be able to sail under any flag only dropping the pirate flag when they attack or if a national ship inspects them from close range.

 

This would allow them to get close to the various nations ships but run the risk of being detected.

 

There should be a way to be pardoned, possibly once every 3 months via payment of a fee to a nation which would then welcome you back into there arms. That fee to escalate rapidly with each subsequent attempt to regain nationhood.

[Aus Robert Maynard]

Although this may sound a bit far fetched, it is a possible solution to the current pirate mechanic drama.

 

Pirates should not be able to attack ports on mainland & large islands as these depots would be highly manned & easily re-enforced.

Pirates should be free to attack any ship or small island as this was a common practice of piracy.

When a pirate is captured or sunk, his account is sunk with it in a similar fashion to changing factions.

XP & crafting levels would remain the same but ships & booty would be lost or possibly by using a clan warehouse could protect some assets but would still have to create a new account.

 

A pirate's mandate is to get as much as you can any way you can with the penalty of death or imprisonment so this in effect would give a death penalty to a pirate commensurate with the law of the day.

This would make the pirate mechanic a more skill based game as the threat of " death " would be a constant.

I believe this would lessen the appeal of piracy while maintaining the hardcore pirates existence.

 

Just a thought - cannons at ease ....