Letter of Marque

[Marra Morgan]

I'll assume that you know what the concepts of Letters of Marque and Privateers are, so I'll get straight to the idea...

If you are Allied with a controlling faction who is at war / civil war, they can offer you a Letter of Marque.

This waives bounties from crimes committed against their opposing faction in any system that the issuing faction controls, for the duration of that conflict only.

Plunder and spoils taken from enemy shipping can be handed in to the issuing faction's agents for cash and influence.

Finishing your game of bowls before tackling the enemy armada is entirely optional

 

[Yolanta Purpura]

I think this is an excellent idea.

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

I didn't know what the Letter of Marquee was. But I get the gist of it.

Generally a good idea, but has some implications for trolling.
But lots of ideas have that. So yeah. +1. Lol

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead

 

[Phisto Sobanii]

What a great way to spice up War/Civil War states. Maybe when you're operating under a Letter of Marque you get bonus influence BgS wise as well.

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

Essentially, you're choosing to temporarily side with a 1 faction. Sort of.

So yeah, that means you'd be hostile to the other.

Anything that allows you to become hostile easier is a good idea.
It's too easy to be allied with everyone in ED.

 

[rootsrat]

Not a bad idea at all!

 

[XYZ]

I like it !

 

[phelbore]

Something new to do? I'll leave my +1 here (as long as it doesn't turn into a bunch of board flipping until the Letter mission pops up, hint hint).

 

[Limoncello Lizard]

Brilliant idea.

I'd add one additional suggestion for minor balance:
Your actions against the opposition faction lower your reputation two or three times faster than it normally would.

 

[askavir]

Love this idea.

 

[MK Regular]

So, legal piracy, provided that you have bought a permit from a faction that is at war, and limiting the pirateable ships to the opposing faction? This would be very welcome in ED. However, I would limit it to NPCs, things could get much trickier if players are allowable.

 

[Limoncello Lizard]

So, legal piracy, provided that you have bought a permit from a faction that is at war, and limiting the pirateable ships to the opposing faction? This would be very welcome in ED. However, I would limit it to NPCs, things could get much trickier if players are allowable.

Players would only be legit targets if they had Letters of Marque from the opposite faction. Sounds better and better.

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

Lovin' this idea more and more!

I hope FD are listening.

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

You should be able to get a letter of marque from any faction, not just the controlling one, otherwise you make it harder for a faction to take control of a system - which is what most player factions are doing.

 

[Marra Morgan]

You should be able to get a letter of marque from any faction, not just the controlling one, otherwise you make it harder for a faction to take control of a system - which is what most player factions are doing.

It would only make sense for the controlling faction to issue the LoM because it's their jurisdiction in which the bounties are being waived.

Thanks for the support and eloborations so far!

 

[rootsrat]

It would only make sense for the controlling faction to issue the LoM because it's their jurisdiction in which the bounties are being waived.

Thanks for the support and eloborations so far!

Not necessarily. The local space around a space port is under the jurisdiction of the controlling faction of that particular faction. Letters from such factions could only be valid in their respective local space, rather than the whole system.

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

Not necessarily. The local space around a space port is under the jurisdiction of the controlling faction of that particular faction. Letters from such factions could only be valid in their respective local space, rather than the whole system.

I'm thinking of the case where two player factions are present in the system - it's controlled by faction A and faction B is trying to take over.
As it stands at the moment, faction A and faction B have exactly the same set of options in how they attempt to win the war.
If you introduce Letters of Marque for ONLY the controlling faction, then faction A have an option that faction B do not - which doesn't seem entirely fair.

I know (but don't know the details of) that there's an issue with murder being unbalanced in the BGS right now - so I guess it would depend on whether this LoM concept addresses that or exacerbates it.

 

[Sylow]

I'll assume that you know what the concepts of Letters of Marque and Privateers are, so I'll get straight to the idea...

If you are Allied with a controlling faction who is at war / civil war, they can offer you a Letter of Marque.

This waives bounties from crimes committed against their opposing faction in any system that the issuing faction controls, for the duration of that conflict only.

Plunder and spoils taken from enemy shipping can be handed in to the issuing faction's agents for cash and influence.

Finishing your game of bowls before tackling the enemy armada is entirely optional

.
From a historical point of view: many of those who sailed with a Letter of Marque later were executed as pirates, sometimes even by the nation it was from.
.
Outside of that: hmm, yea. If you do so for the controlling faction, it would be acceptable that this faction doesn't put bounties on you. But it'd still be very logical if the faction you fight against will freely issue bounties against you, so in the end you'll still end up with a significant bounty on your head, the only difference might be which faction has put it there.
.
At the same time, i think in terms of game mechanic something similar could be achieved with significally less effort. Currently you can choose the faction you fight for -after- entering a combat zone. As soon as you leave the combat zone, your affiliation is lost again. It shouldn't be too hard to change that in just one detail: you have to be docked to choose your faction or to stop participating in a conflict. As soon as you undock, you are treated as a member of the faction you selected, till you somehow (by docking or by respawning) end up in a station again.
.
And even then i would say that docking should not reset your faction, but require manual input. (While respawning might be a good reason the choice. )
.
Sure it'd be not as "cool" as fielding a Letter of Marque, but it would work with already existing mechanics and most likely can be implemented with limited effort.
.

 

[rootsrat]

I'm thinking of the case where two player factions are present in the system - it's controlled by faction A and faction B is trying to take over.
As it stands at the moment, faction A and faction B have exactly the same set of options in how they attempt to win the war.
If you introduce Letters of Marque for ONLY the controlling faction, then faction A have an option that faction B do not - which doesn't seem entirely fair.

I know (but don't know the details of) that there's an issue with murder being unbalanced in the BGS right now - so I guess it would depend on whether this LoM concept addresses that or exacerbates it.

Ah, yeah, that makes sense. In that scenario yes, both should have access to LoM.

 

[Anopheles]

It was a great idea when I suggested it last year. Nothing happened, sadly.