I was thinking about the Beluga and the Panther Clipper, and I've been thinking about piracy. The link could be obvious, but I'll spell out my idea: what if we had pure trading vessels as targets for pirates?
"But Preacher?" I hear you ask, "How would this even work?"
Well, grasshopper, it's rather simple, actually. It's a two-step plan. The problem is, I think the steps might annoy a large section of the community.
"But Preacher, you're hated everywhere you go, why do you care?"
I don't hence the fact I'm going to tell you how easy it could be, and why it's unlikely to happen.
STEP 1: PURE TRADING PANTHERS
I've been hashing this out over a few different chat servers, and here's the best idea I can find: Belugas and passenger missions could be long distance missions worth a lot to complete, but with valuable cargo. Say 100mil for a round trip to Barnards w/ 50 "VIPs" worth 1mil each. Standard "fine that makes it unprofitable to dump contract and sell slaves" to prevent abuse. Then, add a caveat that x% must make it to complete the mission. I'm sure you can see where I'm going, so I'll move on to the next point.
The Panther Clipper, being able to buy out planets, will obviously need to be balanced. This is when it hit me: why not make it, and maybe the Beluga, "pure trading vessels"?
"But Preacher, you keep using that buzzword, what does it mean?"
Simply, grasshopper, they're able to trade, but not to fight. Say size 11 shields and PP but no hardpoints whatsoever, or at best a few smalls for fly swatting. What makes that worth it for the trader? Obviously the same thing we all want: jump range. Now, the fun becomes how to get those shields down in time to get the goods before they high wake or combat log, right? Well I never said it was perfect, but I don't think they'd jump at hull reinforcement packages, and the engineers should stop them using SCBs. They'd be like "boss enemies" for pirates, necessitating a wing to get the shields down, but with a good haul if you co-ordinated. It's a vague idea, but it could be ironed out with some community input and the second, possibly less popular step...
STEP 2: OPEN PIRACY NOW!
All of this will be useless if the Clippers spend all their time in solo or Mobius....sorry, "private groups". I've seen my fair share of NPC pirates, and I can't say I quaked in my shieldless Asp when I had it. Literally the only way I can see to make piracy even viable is to give CMDRs rewards for playing in open or even "open-only contracts". Now, I'm the last person to be told which group to play in myself, and if I want to do a fort run in open or solo is up to me. However, if I want to pirate or PvP, I obviusly don't have the same options available. Similarly, I think there should be some point wherein a trader should be forced into open anyway. Why? Because if you've made ELITE, you could do with more of a challenge, no?
I can already forsee some whinging from powergrinders, but it wouldn't affect "pure trade routes" at all, it would just give traders a way to make more money for extra risk if they desired to do so via missions "pure traders" wouldn't look at anyway. And therein lies my main point with open and solo since the beginning: it should be a choice, but the risk of open should by its nature come with added rewards. If I want to grind out money on my own or with friends in safety, I can do so. But if I decide to do a run in open and actually be in danger when I'm interdicted, I should get more than just bragging rights for doing so.
So yeah, it's a rough idea, and I'm sure it's full of holes, but I think it's a good one overall and I'm interested in people's thoughts on the matter. I'd prefer this not to devolve into another "open vs solo" debate, as we've just got past that, and rather look at the viability of the options presented on their own merit.
Oh, and whilst I'm here, and as an aside to the "high value cargo" idea....anyone wondreing if we'll get missions to smuggle ships inside of our ships in the future? Might be cool to pirate a Condor from a Cutter, eh?
"But Preacher?" I hear you ask, "How would this even work?"
Well, grasshopper, it's rather simple, actually. It's a two-step plan. The problem is, I think the steps might annoy a large section of the community.
"But Preacher, you're hated everywhere you go, why do you care?"
I don't hence the fact I'm going to tell you how easy it could be, and why it's unlikely to happen.
STEP 1: PURE TRADING PANTHERS
I've been hashing this out over a few different chat servers, and here's the best idea I can find: Belugas and passenger missions could be long distance missions worth a lot to complete, but with valuable cargo. Say 100mil for a round trip to Barnards w/ 50 "VIPs" worth 1mil each. Standard "fine that makes it unprofitable to dump contract and sell slaves" to prevent abuse. Then, add a caveat that x% must make it to complete the mission. I'm sure you can see where I'm going, so I'll move on to the next point.
The Panther Clipper, being able to buy out planets, will obviously need to be balanced. This is when it hit me: why not make it, and maybe the Beluga, "pure trading vessels"?
"But Preacher, you keep using that buzzword, what does it mean?"
Simply, grasshopper, they're able to trade, but not to fight. Say size 11 shields and PP but no hardpoints whatsoever, or at best a few smalls for fly swatting. What makes that worth it for the trader? Obviously the same thing we all want: jump range. Now, the fun becomes how to get those shields down in time to get the goods before they high wake or combat log, right? Well I never said it was perfect, but I don't think they'd jump at hull reinforcement packages, and the engineers should stop them using SCBs. They'd be like "boss enemies" for pirates, necessitating a wing to get the shields down, but with a good haul if you co-ordinated. It's a vague idea, but it could be ironed out with some community input and the second, possibly less popular step...
STEP 2: OPEN PIRACY NOW!
All of this will be useless if the Clippers spend all their time in solo or Mobius....sorry, "private groups". I've seen my fair share of NPC pirates, and I can't say I quaked in my shieldless Asp when I had it. Literally the only way I can see to make piracy even viable is to give CMDRs rewards for playing in open or even "open-only contracts". Now, I'm the last person to be told which group to play in myself, and if I want to do a fort run in open or solo is up to me. However, if I want to pirate or PvP, I obviusly don't have the same options available. Similarly, I think there should be some point wherein a trader should be forced into open anyway. Why? Because if you've made ELITE, you could do with more of a challenge, no?
I can already forsee some whinging from powergrinders, but it wouldn't affect "pure trade routes" at all, it would just give traders a way to make more money for extra risk if they desired to do so via missions "pure traders" wouldn't look at anyway. And therein lies my main point with open and solo since the beginning: it should be a choice, but the risk of open should by its nature come with added rewards. If I want to grind out money on my own or with friends in safety, I can do so. But if I decide to do a run in open and actually be in danger when I'm interdicted, I should get more than just bragging rights for doing so.
So yeah, it's a rough idea, and I'm sure it's full of holes, but I think it's a good one overall and I'm interested in people's thoughts on the matter. I'd prefer this not to devolve into another "open vs solo" debate, as we've just got past that, and rather look at the viability of the options presented on their own merit.
Oh, and whilst I'm here, and as an aside to the "high value cargo" idea....anyone wondreing if we'll get missions to smuggle ships inside of our ships in the future? Might be cool to pirate a Condor from a Cutter, eh?