Pirates should be renamed Mercenaries

or changed to behave like actual pirates.

from Sins Forums
It strikes me that Pirates don't actually behave like pirates at all. All they really amount to is a Mercenary force that goes and attacks whoever has the biggest fee on their head. Essentially they work for whoever pays the most, which is Mercenary basic code!

My idea I think rename the pirates into mercenaries or change the behaviour so they act like real pirates might behave. Instead of going for whoever has the biggest bounty on their head, pirates might go do things of their own accord.

- Have a small pirate force free roaming and attacking/stealing resources
- Pirates raid players based on how well players are doing. For example in a 4 player game if the pirates might raid the top two players (the ones with the most credits or resources/assets)
- Pirates demand protection money sometimes or they might attack.
- Pirates raid trade ships.

Something like that would make the pirates more "pirate"like instead of mercenary.
21,759 views 10 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top
It's just a name, and "pirates" sounds more threatening than "mercenaries".
Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top
I guess it depends how much distinction you place on the difference between 'pirate' and 'privateer' - from the point of view of the nation being raided, there's not much difference. ;)
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Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top
The current pirate implementation is decent, but the auctions really really suck. Whenever I hear "A pirate raid is imminent" I basically have to stop my game for a minute to babysit the pirate screen and make sure I don't get 30 corsairs rammed up my @ss. As much as I try to pay attention to the notifications, I always find myself reloading when the AI throws a last millisecond bid in. Putting more money in the pot doesn't really help either, since the AI will still bid higher if at all possible.
Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top
@ xbluedragonx
i actually like that idiea nice one
would be nice to have a third real pirate menace as well as the main merc threat ;) 
Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top
The current pirate implementation is decent, but the auctions really really suck. Whenever I hear "A pirate raid is imminent" I basically have to stop my game for a minute to babysit the pirate screen and make sure I don't get 30 corsairs rammed up my @ss. As much as I try to pay attention to the notifications, I always find myself reloading when the AI throws a last millisecond bid in. Putting more money in the pot doesn't really help either, since the AI will still bid higher if at all possible.
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This is exactly what I find myself doing too! It really shouldn't be like that when "pirate raid" (or mercenary bidding contest!) is imminent everything goes on hold while I sit there to add a bit more to the AI bid.

But still, I think there is more to it than just words. Privateer from old times is different from Pirate as well. Privateers were basically mercenaries too!

It would be nice to have both maybe? A Privateer/mercenary force just like now, and a real pirate faction which goes and does its own thing?
Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top
Hmm I'm not 100% sure here, but I think Mercenaries work on land and Pirates work in the sea... but space uses "Ships" that's why all the space stuff are related to the sea/Navy terminologies...
Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top

The current pirate implementation is decent, but the auctions really really suck. Whenever I hear "A pirate raid is imminent" I basically have to stop my game for a minute to babysit the pirate screen and make sure I don't get 30 corsairs rammed up my @ss. As much as I try to pay attention to the notifications, I always find myself reloading when the AI throws a last millisecond bid in. Putting more money in the pot doesn't really help either, since the AI will still bid higher if at all possible.
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Are you simply increasing the bounty on a single AI player to be higher than the one on you?

Try increasing the bounty on two or three AI players - they tend to get involved in a bidding war between them, and you can go about your business.

For example, if you find that someone's put 500 bounty on you, don't just bid a single AI up to 750 - bid two or three to 750. The AIs seem to realise that to give you the highest bounty will cost 500, but to give one of the other AIs the highest bounty will only cost 250, and bid accordingly.

Reply #8 from Sins Forums Top
The navy term for mercenary might be Privateer since in older times the powers that be gave authority to private warships to attack their enemies in times of war. Pirates are different in that they'd attack anyone who they thought was weak/rich or some such, and not just during war time.
Reply #10 from Sins Forums Top

Hmm I'm not 100% sure here, but I think Mercenaries work on land and Pirates work in the sea... but space uses "Ships" that's why all the space stuff are related to the sea/Navy terminologies...
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mercenaries are integrated into your own force. Unless they're working on there own specail thing but they still represent you (normally thats how they roll).....pirate loot, plunder, kill, rape, and destroy cause you pay them to but you don't your enemy to know that (normally) ....thats were they differ