Not according to David's own words:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/art...aben-Discusses-Elite-Dangerous-and-Space-Sims
Opinion: Why Pirating pay may not need buffed.
- Thread starter msyblade
- Start date
Not according to David's own words:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/art...aben-Discusses-Elite-Dangerous-and-Space-Sims
Why was I pirating around lave?
Lol I was wondering the same thing, but never saw a follow up
GluttonyFang is a well known pirate (from CODE I assume) who operates around Lave. I personally try to stay away from other competition whilst pirating and so do most other freelancers.
I think he means that as you're a new pirate you haven't realised that you're more likely to die to other pirates than bounty hunters if you pirate on CODE turf
Perfectly acceptable and I don't think he means it derogatorily.
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Granted - enabling multiple viable roles is the goal to make the game more interesting.
PvP Piracy as a role though .. purposefully enabling victimization of one player by another. Creating a role out of unbalanced combat, basically bullying; the threat of slaughter made meaningful with egregious death penalties.
Piracy as it is currently implemented should be scrapped, not buffed.
Found the trader . . .
They've been advertising piracy on their sales page since before the game was released. Scrapping piracy would be ridiculous. We're asking for better game mechanics to deal with it.
PvP piracy is only such widespread role, because pve piracy is so low paying. If npcs had better cargo, pirates will have more targets and not have to rely solely on players.
Piracy, pvp or otherwise, is not going anywhere. It's as much a role as trading or bounty hunting. To call it bullying is to intentionally misunderstand the game and how it works. It's like calling someone a murderer for killing you in counterstrike or C.O.D.
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There aren't enough traders in open for everyone to be a pirate. If you want it to work, solo mode must be removed, forcing traders to trade in open. Braben should have never caved in and made solo mode.
There's a flaw in the "If piracy was lucrative, everyone would do it" argument, and I am that flaw.
I have none, zip, zilch, zero interest in playing a pirate. The idea has no appeal to me at all. I am quite sure I am not the only one.
Now... I do agree that for those with an interest, piracy is in part its own reward. But only in part. It shouldn't be as lucrative as trading, because then you'd have more pirates than traders. But it should be possible for a skillful pirate player to operate at a profit.
You can't force everyone one in to open (although maybe they should for certain cgs but still not going to happen).
Having the npcs carry decent cargo would help for a start and making a way to negotiate with npcs would also be a step in the right direction. Pvp piracy will still happen but it will give other players a starting alternative to learn the profession and the professionals a chance to earn some money from npcs as well as players.
This would be as good as removing it. It's rather frustrating that a player can trade all day in solo mode until they save up enough for that giant ship and then start playing open once they have it. You can usually tell who's doing it too. It's those Anacondas with "mostly harmless" on them--but not always.
So yeah, making them completely separate would be the next best (or even possibly best) thing.
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I'd love to see NPCs with decent cargo. It'd be a nice break from all the combat loggers and interdiction busters.
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The worst is those huge convoys in strong signal sources. Multiple anacondas guarding T9's with 50 medicine and food in them.
They need black market changes badly as it's not a black market it's pure fencing and this sucks. It would also make smuggling viable as smuggling is completely broken.
Yeah, it was a rhetorical question. Couldn't care less about GF, or Code. They don't matter.I think he means that as you're a new pirate you haven't realised that you're more likely to die to other pirates than bounty hunters if you pirate on CODE turf
I think that improving NPC cargo would go a long way toward making a lot of players happy.
It would make the pirates happy because they could make money.
It would make the traders happy because the pirates would only spend PART of their time chasing players instead of ALL of it.
It would make the bounty hunters happy because piracy would be more viable, hence more targets.
I see no downside here.
It would make the pirates happy because they could make money.
It would make the traders happy because the pirates would only spend PART of their time chasing players instead of ALL of it.
It would make the bounty hunters happy because piracy would be more viable, hence more targets.
I see no downside here.
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Fixing the "Black Market" so it's a true black market and not fencing will make smuggling a viable profession and give the needed boost to piracy.
For some reason people take more interest in pirate debates rather than the smuggling ones which is why there seems to be a louder voice for fixing piracy over smuggling. Most of us believe they're both intertwined professions so I'll always be fighting the corner for smuggling just as hard as piracy.
It really sucks that Fd have been pushing the nefarious professions since day one in all their advertising but never actually addressed them properly. A black market update should be high priority imo.
every encounter with the CODE I've had (3 now) has been the best part of my game, and any rp'ing players in general (I got a comms hail in Fujin last night and some dude rp'ed me into doing a local faction mission to be able to buy tea, but stop oppression, it was awesome). I agree with OP in that piracy shouldn't be the core gameplay, but i'd love to see:
- major pirate power with a pirate king... with pirates not having territory or a home planet, but being able to take over stations like other factions. like the fed/empire balances each other, pirate/alliance could balance each other ideologically (both independent coalitions)... maybe the catch is that any station overrun by pirates can only get supplies from pirate npcs/player npcs, reducing the strength of their holds... forcing larger pirate empires to begin their own trading/mining missions to maintain their bases (the piracy just isn't enough) and adding the same variety of gameplay to pirates, only limited to pirate systems. pirate systems would be hard to maintain, instead encouraging piracy to be an underground, spread-out faction. I would imagine that the first step would be to start a black market at a station, which would be done by trading stolen/illegal goods
- pirate specific items... maybe illegal to equip if scanned, but things like a cloaking device, an FSD sapper that requires a LOT of power and reverses a charge, a "mirage" wingman/doppleganger, a weapon that shoots goo onto windshields to blind the player (which can be countered by heat levels which melt it off), emp weapons that disable without damage (maybe not just for pirates), fuel scoop-like siphon that steals fuel from target ships, fake beacon/ping they can activate to lure players in (obviously would also have to add some kind of new signal type like "rare signal"), pirate "traps" like rigging cargo to explode when scooped ........... scoundrel type items
- pirate economy - black market values should be higher based on demand... so if a system is craving food, food sold to the black market would buy at twice the price vs 1.5 when trading to the commodoties market. likewise, if demand is low, the black market would buy at half the price vs 75%.... so it's more like the regular market, only it amplifies the supply/demand... and items "illegal" in an area with low demand they won't buy at all because it's not worth.... but illegal with HIGH demand would maybe be even MORE valuable. Therefore a pirate would need to think a bit like a trader when choosing where to cash goods. Also, why not allow anyone to also BUY from the black market? Only it's marked as stolen from the get go, so can only be sold at another black market... pirate trading could therefore be MORE valuable than normal trading... all of a sudden, normal traders are turning to the black market for better hauls and taking the risks of getting fined for stolen goods. And bounty hunters are acting like pirates, by interdicting pirate traders! Also, perhaps turning in stolen/illegal cargo at the trading port will wipe your fine at the expense of profit if you give the salvage to authorities?
I'm not even at pirate level yet, but just wanted to throw these ideas out there!
- major pirate power with a pirate king... with pirates not having territory or a home planet, but being able to take over stations like other factions. like the fed/empire balances each other, pirate/alliance could balance each other ideologically (both independent coalitions)... maybe the catch is that any station overrun by pirates can only get supplies from pirate npcs/player npcs, reducing the strength of their holds... forcing larger pirate empires to begin their own trading/mining missions to maintain their bases (the piracy just isn't enough) and adding the same variety of gameplay to pirates, only limited to pirate systems. pirate systems would be hard to maintain, instead encouraging piracy to be an underground, spread-out faction. I would imagine that the first step would be to start a black market at a station, which would be done by trading stolen/illegal goods
- pirate specific items... maybe illegal to equip if scanned, but things like a cloaking device, an FSD sapper that requires a LOT of power and reverses a charge, a "mirage" wingman/doppleganger, a weapon that shoots goo onto windshields to blind the player (which can be countered by heat levels which melt it off), emp weapons that disable without damage (maybe not just for pirates), fuel scoop-like siphon that steals fuel from target ships, fake beacon/ping they can activate to lure players in (obviously would also have to add some kind of new signal type like "rare signal"), pirate "traps" like rigging cargo to explode when scooped ........... scoundrel type items
- pirate economy - black market values should be higher based on demand... so if a system is craving food, food sold to the black market would buy at twice the price vs 1.5 when trading to the commodoties market. likewise, if demand is low, the black market would buy at half the price vs 75%.... so it's more like the regular market, only it amplifies the supply/demand... and items "illegal" in an area with low demand they won't buy at all because it's not worth.... but illegal with HIGH demand would maybe be even MORE valuable. Therefore a pirate would need to think a bit like a trader when choosing where to cash goods. Also, why not allow anyone to also BUY from the black market? Only it's marked as stolen from the get go, so can only be sold at another black market... pirate trading could therefore be MORE valuable than normal trading... all of a sudden, normal traders are turning to the black market for better hauls and taking the risks of getting fined for stolen goods. And bounty hunters are acting like pirates, by interdicting pirate traders! Also, perhaps turning in stolen/illegal cargo at the trading port will wipe your fine at the expense of profit if you give the salvage to authorities?
I'm not even at pirate level yet, but just wanted to throw these ideas out there!
Please note I did say "as currently implemented"
Piracy as an idea could work well, but as implemented its a morally bankrupt imba setup with death penalties designed to cause pain to the victims. "Gimmie your cargo or Ill gank you" arrgh!.
COD and counterstrike do not have death penalties which translate into hours days and weeks of game time, your comparison is specious (kinda sounds right but is wrong). If there were less ludicrous death penalties taking risks would be more fun, more people would play in open, and piracy would be a more viable role.
If you want piracy to be a viable role split cargo on ship destruction. A small portion spills in space and the bulk reappears with your new ship. A cargo insurance implementation is exactly the solution this thread is looking for to improve the piracy role, and the game would be better all round.