I would like to suggest restricting the use of the give money command to stations and disallow it when you are in space. Right now pirating is not really pirating, it is extortion, i.e. "Give me 40000c or I will destroy you" as opposed to "drop all your cargo"

If players are forced to take cargo instead this brings up some more interesting situations. For example, A pirate would only be able to carry what his ship could hold forcing him to use a larger ship or to form a group so that they can slit up the cargo. A pirate victim might be able to hang around and pick up what was left after the pirate leaves, or might be more willing to engage the pirate after he is loaded down. It would also make pirating more of a crapshoot because you are only going to get what the trader is carrying (48 tones of Luxuries or 48 tones of food).

Players would still be able to transfer money at stations, say in the bar, which would still alow people to pool their recorces, hire help, or whatever.

I agree that pirates should be after your cargo, not your bank account number. Taxing seems too much like bullying. And now that ships with respectable cargo holds are becoming usable in combat, this makes even more sense.

I always thought pirates should work in groups -- e.g., a Corvus Vulture and Centaur -- so that they can grab all the cargo from exploded traders. The problem is there's no game mechanic to "enforce" this kind of partnership. Experience rewards won't be shared, and loot-sharing would rely on the honor system (ahem, we're talking about *pirates* here). So just like we need group trade missions, we need group pirating missions.

Hell no!

Consider the two perspectives:

Pirates place less value on cargo because they can only carry so much, selling it requires effort, and there is little reward for selling non-mission cargo. It is much more lucrative to extort money from a trader than it is to steal their cargo and sell it. Many pirates would rather add a PK to their stats than take cargo from a trader.

Traders value their cargo (they trade for faction standing, rewards, license levels, and credits) and their ship more than they value credits. It is much easier in terms of time and potential loss of faction standing to pay off a pirate than dump their cargo or loose another expensive ship.

Being able to /givemoney in space works for both parties. If the command is restricted to stations only, pirates will take the PK and possibly the remaining cargo, traders will not be given the choice. At least, that's what I would do ;)

"there is little reward for selling non-mission cargo"

Apparently you have no idea how much a full hold of phase array sells for.

If pirating had more ingame mechanics behind it there might be less extortion, but I really don't think taking away the /givemoney command from deepspace is the answer. While I'm all for hurting the pirates where it hurts them the most, I have to agree with them this is not a good idea.

There is no need for removing the ability to /givemoney in space. Those who need a quick getaway can still pay up. But if the trader doesn't want to be bullied for their lunch money, dump cargo, or die, there are other options. An alert trader can choose to run and drop some surprises for the pirate (mines and swarms come to mind), or hire an escort. Then the situation becomes:

Pie Rat: "Arr, yer dubloons or yer life"
Trader: "I think not" *Whistles to hired gun*
Escort: "How about some nice hot *BLAM* instead?"
Pirate: BOOM

It seems to me that extorition is fair game for a pirate.

I think this is a very bad idea. If you take away the option to /givemoney then I may as well forgo the warning hail and just blow everyone up. As it stands the Hail makes my intentions quite clear and give other players a choice.

EDIT: As it stands at the moment piracy is fun, hard and not very profitable. If you remove the /givemoney command option it becomes less about piracy and more about PK's.

You make it sounds like piracy is profitable but realistically you'd be lucky to bring in 50 - 100k per day. That's about equivalent to 15 minutes of mining at most.

Also wylfling, even pirates keep their word in this game. If you lie and cheat then it's impossible to maintain a working relationship and you quickly become alienated.

"Apparently you have no idea how much a full hold of phase array sells for."

Because every trader carries phase arrays right? Mostly its carbonic ore or some other crap like that.

The universe is a hard place. Get used to it!

Removing the possibility of in-space money transfers bugs me real hard.

I'm not a pirate, but it just wouldn't make sense this way. I even wish we could transfer funds to players in other quadrants (or even sectors) AND transfer to other owned characters.

Other than the occasional money boosts pirates may be in a position to rack up, theres not much futur and possibilities in being a pirate. Take money transfer out and you remove any hint of a futur for those who opt for this "alternative lifestyle".

I was pirated, once, when I was a noob (I'm still a noob, but I was noob noob then) and I remember being ticked. Then I understood what trives them and am actually quite amused to see one, once in a while. Nowadays, they very seldomly are in a position to actually get to me. But if some day I'm in a vulnerable position, and /explode isn't a financially viable alternative, then I'll gladly play along.

Shape, Tramshed, please dont view this as an invitation !! (Besides... catch me if you can...)

Roach, if you can't deal with being pirated, avoid gray space. And one day, if you feel you can take them, you ought to chase pirates and Bring Order To The Galaxy (tm).

--Mogul Velaio, Cromwell squadron, IDF.

Indeed, taking away /givemoney will only give the pirates one less reason to even give you a heads up, just BOOM, take your cargo, fly off.

As much as I'm against pirating, its hard enough already. And it adds a nice twist in the games. Besides, who gives pirates the money anyways? It easy to run from them! So at least let the gullible and naive traders give the pirates some extra income. Everyone who knows how easy it is to run, does so.

I think the givemoney command is good for pirating. Most pirates aren't going to go for cargo either way because it's too much of a pain and if they were interested in trading they wouldn't be pirates, now, would they?

This keeps them from becoming griefers and pkers too. And besides, no one said you ^had^ to give them money, did they?

argh ... NO!

I like to go around and give random 0/0/0/0 players a little financial support. That'd be kinda hard that way. :P

how about taking away the /explode command? i mean if you are not going to pay me or drop cargo (not that i take cargo), then i should be entitled to the kill dag nabbit!!

anyway, if you don't want to deal with pirates stay away from us... or become friends with the vipers and bring them along on your trips.. give us someone to play with. :)

I'm for restricting /givemoney, if not taking away the ability to /givemoney in space. I think the pirates have it too easy. There ought to be at least a bit more risk, like, 2 ships must dock in order to transfer money. That way, you can either evade, or /explode, if you're a victim who can't evade or fight back. Pirates have it too easy with the consequence-free xfer of money via the current /givemoney.

if you can't evade or fight back then you probably shouldn't be near the places the pirates hang out. If you do, be prepared to pay the toll. Otherwise, hire an escort.

Waleran.

You seem to think piracy is easy. It's probably the least profitable occupation in the game. I can make more money in an hour of trading than I can through a week of pirating.

I agree that we should take away the /givemoney command.

In its place, I suggest either

(a) /takemoney

(b) /giveboom

/me ducks

or you can leave /givemoney in the game. It's really great for transferring money between players.

Me: Aw crap... now I gotta freebus again...
Guildmember: here you go... pay me back whenever.
<Guildmember> has transferred 100000 to your account.
Me: Thanks!