A pirates life for me... - Page 3

dmm · #21 March 1st, 2001, 10:22 PM

quote:
Originally posted by suicide_junkie:
Anything you lose, you can replace.
Anything Pirates lose, they've lost for good.

Yes, but pirates would win some ships in every battle (unless appropriate countermeasures have been taken beforehand). So they do have a way to replenish.

But you're right, they should only attack isolated ships and small fleets. That's more likely to yield a net gain of ships. More importantly, if they don't take much at one time from any one player, then there's less incentive for players to use up space on ships with anti-pirate gizmos. So they need to keep their depradations below the "pain threshold."

[This message has been edited by dmm (edited 01 March 2001).]

WhiteHojo · #22 March 1st, 2001, 10:30 PM

Suicide - disregard my previous post - after I wrote it I went back and actually put my mind to work - you are correct, obviously large fleets would win out over ship capturing fleet - the little problem of the shield being permanately dropped on a ship that has captured another ship makes em rather easy targets - god but I hate that quirk.

Another thought - make em Organic. Instead of shields, load up w/regenerating armor.

thoughts.

(man I should be working)

------------------
Character is best defined as that which you do when you believe nobody is watching.

Suicide Junkie · #23 March 1st, 2001, 10:47 PM

quote:
So they need to keep their depradations below the "pain threshold."

Good point. However, even if they do enrage the race, they can lie low for a while.

Adding all that anti-pirate tech, will make his ships less efficient in battling his real enemies, and he'll have to switch back eventually.

quote:
the little problem of the shield being permanately dropped on a ship that has captured another ship makes em rather easy targets - god but I hate that quirk

Well, I don't mind it too much. Thats what regenerators are for.

quote:
(man I should be working)

Hehe me too.

Arrrrr! Maybe we should make "Parrot" a required component.

WhiteHojo · #24 March 1st, 2001, 10:56 PM

my god!!! I've had an Epefani (no jokes bout ma spellin)!!!!

Shield regenerators ARE for puttin back up shields!!!!

Just call me Homer. Dohhhh!

------------------
Character is best defined as that which you do when you believe nobody is watching.

dmm · #25 March 1st, 2001, 11:20 PM

quote:
Originally posted by WhiteHojo:
my god!!! I've had an Epefani (no jokes bout ma spellin)!!!!

epiphany

At least your vocabulary is good;
that's more impt nowadays, what with
spell checkers.

As long as you can recognize the correct spelling from a list of possibles!

EDIT: Just checked. Word 97 knows what you meant.

[This message has been edited by dmm (edited 01 March 2001).]

Marty Ward · #26 March 2nd, 2001, 04:03 AM

I think this is a great idea for a rade style but you have to give them planets or else create a whole new tech tree with extremely low research cost. Without it they will take forever just to research Light Crusiers much less any of the techs needed to pirate effectively.
They also should have special facilities available with the Pirate racial trait. A pirates den facility to store all their loot! This could also generate tons of intel and whatever other bonuses you want to give them.
You could really do a lot with this idea.
I think it certainly can be done and would be a bLast to play!

Str8_Gain · #27 March 2nd, 2001, 04:59 AM

quote:
Originally posted by dmm:
Maybe pirates should be Psychic, so they can keep going in the later game.

It would make sense, since it'd allow them to capture ships (relatively) intact without worrying about them using Self-Destruct. Then again, sticking Master Computers on is an easy counter to Alliegance Subverters.

Possible idea for new component (this ties in to my idea about a new racial trait, Machine Cultures): A way to subvert Master Computers. Of course, this would require hard-code changes to implement, since the current Abilities won't permit "Crew ConVersion" on a ship w/ Master Computers. A counter for this could be an Anti-Viral program running on the MC, that also protects against Computer Virus.

Str8_Gain · #28 March 2nd, 2001, 05:06 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Marty Ward:
[b]I think this is a great idea for a race style but you have to give them planets or else create a whole new tech tree with extremely low research cost. Without it they will take forever just to research Light Crusiers much less any of the techs needed to pirate effectively[b]

Well, this could be one reason to ally with them. You could always build "export" Versions of your ships to sell to the pirates (presumably one or two tech levels below what you have, to prevent them from stabbing you in the back). Give them better ships than they can research/capture in exchange for their support (not attacking your ships, and becoming a force of marque and reprisal against the other empires).

Another possible idea:RANSOM. Especially if they capture population transports.

Suicide Junkie · #29 March 2nd, 2001, 07:07 AM

As for technology, the pirates will STEAL it.

With only your homeworld, you would want to research a couple of ship sizes, and ship capture, and then depend on pirating to grow in tech and power.

Pirate racial traits would best include a resource storage component for starbases.

Speaking of which, maybe everybody should be able to build storage in orbit. say 1000KT of resources in a 500KT bay. If you keep costs & maintenance low, it could be useful.

Watch out for raiders though. Losing your storage could be dangerous...

Given a proper early priority on ship construction and ship capture, Human Pirates should be able to flourish.

WhiteHojo · #30 March 2nd, 2001, 04:56 PM

How bout starting em w/Light cruiser tech, ship capture tech, 2nd gen engines, cargo III tech, some type of shield tech (3 or 4 or 5?) or maybe make em organic w/org tech III (org armor III works pretty well for ship capture - don't have to worry bout droppin shields), recycle tech III, some type of shield defeating wpns and PDIIs??? All this coupled w/very low research rates should keep em from getting ahead too fast.

Maybe design their own ship yard construction tech tree that will only yield planet bound space yards to level I and allowing the space based Version to go to level III (couple this w/a 150% increase in space yard production and they could be competitive in the construction field w/o dominating - would also force em to build ships in orbit which for some reason to me seems more appropriate for pirates, no rational reason)

Increase their Intel production and lower reproduction rate (the combo of lower repro rate and the org tech of gestation vats, etc could be problemsome)

------------------
Character is best defined as that which you do when you believe nobody is watching.