Lannes Posted September 23, 2016 Share Posted September 23, 2016 (edited) Having seen the brothel load of ranks' names that the poor, pirate captains have to put up with, I would like to suggest a much more humane and not devilish sounding names. I got these from reading about pirates in history. My suggestions are these, below. They are all easily translatable into every one of the six national languages: Admiral (there is no reason why pirates should not have admirals) Vice-Admiral (a double entendre) Grand Captain (comes from Eastern 'Titanic Captain') First Captain Quartermaster Vessel Captain Master Mate Mister Edited September 26, 2016 by Lannes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maturin Posted September 23, 2016 Share Posted September 23, 2016 Mister? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serk Posted September 23, 2016 Share Posted September 23, 2016 Mister? What if we have a female pirate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuzzyhead12 Posted September 23, 2016 Share Posted September 23, 2016 What if we have a female pirate? Dragon? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sea Archer Posted September 23, 2016 Share Posted September 23, 2016 call the lowest rank "Pirate" instead of Mister Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anne Wildcat Posted September 23, 2016 Share Posted September 23, 2016 Pirate ranks are fine as is. Save admirals for nats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bougainville Posted September 23, 2016 Share Posted September 23, 2016 "Pirate ranks" sounds like an oxymoron. Yet such are the necessities of the game... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Powderhorn Posted September 23, 2016 Share Posted September 23, 2016 Pirates should have no ranks at all, and simply gain or lose maximum crew through their successes and failures 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hethwill Posted September 23, 2016 Share Posted September 23, 2016 Pirates should have no ranks at all, and simply gain or lose maximum crew through their successes and failures This. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blakdog Posted September 24, 2016 Share Posted September 24, 2016 The concept of Curse is good. Very much in keeping with the spirit of pirates in pop culture. I'm proud to be a cursed pirate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pietjenoob Posted September 24, 2016 Share Posted September 24, 2016 And getting outvoted and start all over again 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thonys Posted September 24, 2016 Share Posted September 24, 2016 Well "Pirate" is just fine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lannes Posted September 24, 2016 Author Share Posted September 24, 2016 (edited) Mister? Yes, it was the lowest rank on a pirate ship, from memory. call the lowest rank "Pirate" instead of Mister Pirate is not a rank, it is a condition. All are pirates, from the cabin boy to the Admiral. "Pirate ranks" sounds like an oxymoron. Yet such are the necessities of the game... True, pirates were democratic, and like the Roman army sometimes chose their 'imperators', pirates chose their commanders by vote. Pirates should have no ranks at all, and simply gain or lose maximum crew through their successes and failures This was not the historical case, though. Pirate ships had people who were ranked, as I stated. Well "Pirate" is just fine But, it isn't the case. Edited September 24, 2016 by Lannes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hethwill Posted September 24, 2016 Share Posted September 24, 2016 That's a bunch of pebbles. A captain was as important as a ship name. If anyone held the "ultimate" power in a pirate ship that's the Quartermaster. He's the doing doing the split for shares and being the ultimate crew representative. Captain has the ultimate power during chase, pursuit and combat. Outside of that everything is brought to vote - where to go, what to steal, where to sell and to whom. In some cases the old dogs and specialists, like navigator, linguist and obviously the Quartermaster will act like "praetors", being the "head" of the council and representing the diferente ideas aboard. That's the only comparison you can make to "Romans" ... lol. In the case of consorting and having several ships working together it was by renown and not by rank, so ultimate command of a fleet was given to the ship with more renown and only second consideration to the pirate captain. There's a lot to say about pirates but the only sure thing is - they wanted as much distance from the maritime and navy tradition they chose to abandon as much as they could, especially after 1713. ( plus you are looking only to anglo.saxon pirate tradition and forgetting they are only a small part ) The only rank truly necessary for NA is Captain or the ship name. If anything, renown, by plunder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Destraex Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 I very much doubt that pirates had a "gold standard" for ranks and even if they did, the ranks would not have worked as implied by the title. I mean they were not exactly phoning each other or had a centralised administration unit. Sure you would have had an Elected captain... so there is one rank. But then you miss ex privateer captains, Rule by Fear captains among a bunch of other sorts of pirate captains. You may have had a jumped up quartermaster so there is another. Naval men were superstitious in general probably especially when it came to pirates. So I have no problem with the ranks. When it came down to it though, if pirates had careers of two or three years then they were extremely lucky. Nations did a good job of ignoring superstition and hanging them 99% within there first year of piracy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sea Archer Posted September 26, 2016 Share Posted September 26, 2016 It might be an interesting option to have flexible ranks for pirates. If they win a battle they raise quickly, if they loose a battle, they drop again. So, as the captain is elected, the crew has to volunteer and can't be hired. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lannes Posted September 26, 2016 Author Share Posted September 26, 2016 (edited) The main point is, for Naval Action there needs to be a scale of ranks or you don't get the necessary crew for your ships, because that is based on rank. Get it? The other point is, the current names for Pirate ranks are neither historical nor appropriate. The third point is, some of you guys jump without thinking or reading completely first. Edited September 26, 2016 by Lannes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sea Archer Posted September 27, 2016 Share Posted September 27, 2016 I don't want to remove the pirate ranks, but since they are volunteers, the rank shall change according to the success of the captain. Even downgrading for loosing too many battles shall be possible. To compensate that, pirates shall have significantly more free crew that nationals. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 27, 2016 Share Posted September 27, 2016 No need for pirate ranks at all. A pirate is just a pirate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwartzT Posted September 27, 2016 Share Posted September 27, 2016 Leave ranks as they are now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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