by MAjesty » Tue Apr 16, 2013 3:20 pm
i'd like to emphasize a single point here once again.. cuz it really bothers me. the time-play-commitment expected of someone who is being a pirate is absurdly abusive to the player, especially in relation to the effect on other players in the game.
first. the attack itself, as i mentioned above will last for alot more then a few hours, a normal attack can easily stretch for 12 hours before the retaliation even happens... in order to get the most from the attack the pirate would have to log in every 2 hours until further notice, if he doesn't, his prize is partially forfeit. so you'd best have very adaptable plans, or nothing going on that day you know? .. worse yet, a large account can easily stretch for more then 24 hours, so either cancel the voodoo, lose the prize, or not sleep... and that expectation is abusive.
especially because of my second point.. in exchange for each attack, his account is now liable for 6 hours. in any given raid, you're going to want to hit as much as possible before the retaliation comes... for example, right now Shaydo is just going to town on me.. this is because of a British player i hit a good long while ago. however, there is virtually nothing i can do about it, except cast a hideout (RARE)-i've got maybe 3-5 of these in several months of play, which will prevent a single attack.... Shaydo (and the other people smacking the crap out of me whenever i build up danger) are getting huge in game benefits. 10 points per hit over a hundred + danger clears missions Uber fast. if i remember the marques mission properly, 200+ danger for me would give shaydo a MoW in a single sitting if he felt like it. he wouldn't have to log in every 2 hours, he can go do whatever he wants with his time, and come pick up his man o war in 5 minutes whenever he has his minutes free... the ability to clear even the higher missions in the game overwhelmingly outweighs whatever i stood to gain from doing a large raid. during this danger period, my time is again chained to my PG account. if i have too few gold, S is gonna start jacking my ships, if i have too much, S is gonna make seriously easy money on top of whatever Ranks he's getting out of the deal.... in light of that, i'm actually very fortunate that he's being nice enough to not do a huge string of attacks in one sitting... so um yea.. thanks S.... i will never have this kind of convenience, or at least it's unlikely... invariably, the people on My missions list have been merchants who only put themselves on the plunder screens with massive SotL fleets decked out with MCs and Drums of War...
that's a huge advantage against the pirate, and it seems inappropriate approach for a game supposedly About pirates... it would be one thing if all the pirates in this game were bots operating according to admin-set-parameters... then Merchant's Glory could be a fun shooting-gallery style game...but we aren't punching bags... we're playing this game in large part because Pirate is the coolest job in history.. we're people with our own lives outside of this game, and expecting several days of time-commitment on virtually Any Act of Piracy against a highly stacked deck, with virtually no time-constraints is just cruel....
however... i'm not just whining... i'd like to offer a better approach.
let pirates run for it... ie, during the raids themselves, anyone can hit them with say 3-5 hits before the pirate leaves from the plunder screen (unless the pirate continues the attack, and then he goes back up) but once they leave the port, the Chase is on! and integrate chasing them into the Patrol feature somehow, for example add a new button, patrol for pirates either with a set number of turns, or a variable number (like treasure hunt) with greater investments increasing the possibility of seeing the pirate in the port, or even getting a message like, "you just missed him, he's only an hour away.. he might have gone to Regis!" and have the amount of time a pirate is vulnerable to this sort of chase based on the traditional danger rating ie you piled up. so say 200 danger means you're on the run for a full 8 days... you could even plot a course for your fleeing pirate fleet, with a narrow to large window in each port based on how many turns you dump into successfully fleeing your pursuers.... stuff like this would give a bold pirate the opportunity to hit a large established player like the honorable Sir Henry Morgan, grab the gold and have an exciting chase, with SHM(the honorable) having to rally up his posse to come after me instead of just returning to the scene of the crime and taking pot shots at my boats..
just an idea, but mind you it's a really, Really good one.