The Imbalance of Pirates and Merchants

[Lana]

Maybe instead of the developer ruining the game, as it seems they are accused, they are challenging everyone to play a game that is not "click and shoot". Maybe the developers are evolving a game that continues to be a game that requires thought. Maybe the developers want players who do not count on re-spawning and getting back into action.

Oh... I think that this is misunderstanding Kart, if you are referring to the part of my story, where I talked about ''warrior'' kind of the game.
See in Wikipedia what ikariam is.

[Stan Rogers]

I don't think he was Lana but I'm sure he will clarify. Francois does have a point.This game moves in circles in regard to player development. If you develop ships and ignore warehousing, you could lose your ships on a bad day and then you wind up essentially starting over as you have no infrastructure.
I have found myself continuously developing almost all aspects of the game, Trading, shipbuilding, warehousing, establishing officers, hideout development and the list goes on.
If I neglect and one area of development, it comes back to bite me down the road.
It seems to be similar in pirating and fleet building. War fleets slowly get more powerful until a point where ships cannot get much larger or more developed and then along comes someone who demonstrates large powerful fleets are a liability and does embarrassing stuff with a couple well chosen voodoo cards and a Sow and Sloop. Big powerful fleets again fall out of fashion.

CJ made a point long ago based on their stats and business sense. Long term players were running out of places to advance to and challenging things to do. Admin felt these long term players were worth keeping around so instead of losing them to disinterest and lack of challenge, they created Hideouts, A place for the more long term players to spend unheard of sums of gold that a newer player has not yet access to.
When new person starts to play pirates, there are many new and interesting things to do but when everything has been explored, the "blush falls off the rose" and unless you are involved politically or socially, there is nothing to keep you here.
No, I don't think Avonmora is going to turn into "Farming for GC" but if one chooses, the opportunity is there.

[Stan Rogers]

FTR Kart, your points are concise and spot on assessment IMO

[Grogggy]

I've always advocated for piracy. I think maybe the consequences though of a major raid are a little steep.

Not sure where I come down these days, but even me is simply trading at the moment.

[Grogggy]

I know there is a skrimish thread somewhere, a quick fix would be to lower the danger recieved by the attacker in a skirmish attack. If it is to be a low gold reward, it should be a low risk--bonus points if you help out us pirates and make it zero danger:)

[Mohammed]

+1

[Stan Rogers]

I know there is a skrimish thread somewhere, a quick fix would be to lower the danger recieved by the attacker in a skirmish attack. If it is to be a low gold reward, it should be a low risk--bonus points if you help out us pirates and make it zero danger:)

Very good idea Cappy !
Perhaps admin could do a promotion much like the double plunder experiment a week or so ago. Not too sure of the coding needed to drop danger gained from skirmish to ,oh, lets say 4 danger points instead of normal 6.
I say 4 instead of 3 to avoid all skirmishes from happening just before the top of the hour resultant in a pirate not showing on the plunder board at all or just a few minutes.

Myself, if plundered, I'll hunt down the "pirate" and attempt recovery. I have roughly 3-4 hrs to find and extract revenge. Dropping danger gained means I have perhaps 1 hour to accomplish this task and gives a pirate a much better chance of getting away.

Agreed that the plunder gains do not balance out the risk of retaliatory strikes while a pirate spends the next 3 hrs waiting for "the other shoe to drop" while their danger remains in the visible range.

Not too sure if/how it would work but as we are in a state of development, certainly feasible to try it out if it's possible to modify without a lot of work for the devs.

[Sir Henry Morgan]

+1

Lower reward, lower risk. With traders able to attain insurance to cover some of their losses, seems the pirate should get a bit of a break with this feature as well.

[Hawk]

Very good idea Cappy !
Perhaps admin could do a promotion much like the double plunder experiment a week or so ago. Not too sure of the coding needed to drop danger gained from skirmish to ,oh, lets say 4 danger points instead of normal 6.
I say 4 instead of 3 to avoid all skirmishes from happening just before the top of the hour resultant in a pirate not showing on the plunder board at all or just a few minutes.

Myself, if plundered, I'll hunt down the "pirate" and attempt recovery. I have roughly 3-4 hrs to find and extract revenge. Dropping danger gained means I have perhaps 1 hour to accomplish this task and gives a pirate a much better chance of getting away.

Agreed that the plunder gains do not balance out the risk of retaliatory strikes while a pirate spends the next 3 hrs waiting for "the other shoe to drop" while their danger remains in the visible range.

Not too sure if/how it would work but as we are in a state of development, certainly feasible to try it out if it's possible to modify without a lot of work for the devs.

Not to mention that even winning the skirmish is hit or miss as you can't preview fleet you are attacking. Retaliations can be a very harsh penalty especially for newer players which skirmish should cater too. I mean, I can barely grind a profit out of it and I know what I'm doing. Skrimish could be a great tool for new players on the pirate path, giving them a method to have fun and pilfer gold while they get the hang of the game, regardless of the fact that they may be inexperienced and have few voodoo or allies. As of now though, it doesn't quite do that. I also believe it is headed in the wrong direction. If to make it viable as a source of income you have to level a building for it in your hideout, that eliminates new players from the equation.

[Stan Rogers]

worthless post by me deleted