Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 2:48 am
Hey, chuck_starchaser's more cynical than me, and that's quite a compliment! After reading your Privateer storyline, I can't help but think there are many more things in the Wiki than I've discovered--it always seems like there's some reference in forum threads to a gold mine I couldn't find.
In general, I think I can buy into your thoughts on the Privateer/RF storyline--as you said, there are many things that are speculation, but they're as good an answer as any other, so why not? I'm not sure I'd go as far in the Navy's corruption--I guess playing WC1 and WC2 made me think of the Confed Navy as pure as Starfleet. But, then again, if 99.99% of the organization is complety dedicated and honest, that would leave plenty of folks to run the illicit weapons sales you suggest, and plenty to try to stop them, with the rest just following orders whether they understand them or not.
The comments about the Merchant Guild got me thinking about how that would work--I've never seen any evidence of pirates leaving ME alone, and I'm a fully paid up member. (Then again, just because the game didn't implement something doesn't mean it isn't the right answer.) I think a logical approach would be for the Guild to pay off the pirates to stay out of certain systems, or to limit the number of pirates allowed to go raiding. Non-guild merchants benefit, too, but it wouldn't be obvious to anyone what was going on. The Merchant Guild could even spread rumors that certain systems were paying off pirate groups, and the pirate bosses wouldn't be likely to spread the truth. That could make for some interesting bar gossip. At pirate bases, different gossip could explain their version of why there's limited raiding in System X.
The other thing I was thinking about was why pirate bases don't get attacked. I think there's a second piece to this--assuming it doesn't transmit its location it would be very difficult, in reality, to find a base that doesn't want to be found. Privateer reduces solar system scales for playability, but we're really talking about finding something in a system spread out across billions of kilometers. That raises a question I've always wondered about--how do WC ships identify friend/foe? Assuming it's some type of transponder, here's my logic: once you're in space, the WC universe is pretty close to anarchy. You transmit your identity so your friends don't attack you. Everyone else can read your transmission, so your enemies know who you are, too. If you choose to not identify yourself, by turning off your transmitter, now everyone assumes you must be hiding your identity from them, and everyone will probably attack you. Not a good plan, so you leave your transponder on.
That also means the pirate base can leave bouys near the jump point that read your transponder. If you're someone they know, you get the base location. If not, you don't. In an asteroid field, the base's orbit will be affected enough that you'd take a long time finding it, and there'd be plenty of time to send a welcoming party for any Confed patrol that came looking (which would approach from some other vector). The base itself doesn't care what your relation is to any particular group--unlke in Freelancer, they are "open cities." It would be bad for business if they took merchants prisoner after landing. On the other hand, you might want to think twice about visiting that bar after landing--you might discover there are a lot of folks there who'd really like it if you had an accident.
Which leads me to one question I've never resolved--why is it I can blast someone out of space and not get in trouble, but if I do it on a base (like Regis did), it's murder?
I definitely agree that the Privateer economy is an area we could make a lot of improvements to. The real trick will be trying to create a robust free market that makes sense given the game's predefined locations for various bases.
Well, that ended up being longer than intended.
In general, I think I can buy into your thoughts on the Privateer/RF storyline--as you said, there are many things that are speculation, but they're as good an answer as any other, so why not? I'm not sure I'd go as far in the Navy's corruption--I guess playing WC1 and WC2 made me think of the Confed Navy as pure as Starfleet. But, then again, if 99.99% of the organization is complety dedicated and honest, that would leave plenty of folks to run the illicit weapons sales you suggest, and plenty to try to stop them, with the rest just following orders whether they understand them or not.
The comments about the Merchant Guild got me thinking about how that would work--I've never seen any evidence of pirates leaving ME alone, and I'm a fully paid up member. (Then again, just because the game didn't implement something doesn't mean it isn't the right answer.) I think a logical approach would be for the Guild to pay off the pirates to stay out of certain systems, or to limit the number of pirates allowed to go raiding. Non-guild merchants benefit, too, but it wouldn't be obvious to anyone what was going on. The Merchant Guild could even spread rumors that certain systems were paying off pirate groups, and the pirate bosses wouldn't be likely to spread the truth. That could make for some interesting bar gossip. At pirate bases, different gossip could explain their version of why there's limited raiding in System X.
The other thing I was thinking about was why pirate bases don't get attacked. I think there's a second piece to this--assuming it doesn't transmit its location it would be very difficult, in reality, to find a base that doesn't want to be found. Privateer reduces solar system scales for playability, but we're really talking about finding something in a system spread out across billions of kilometers. That raises a question I've always wondered about--how do WC ships identify friend/foe? Assuming it's some type of transponder, here's my logic: once you're in space, the WC universe is pretty close to anarchy. You transmit your identity so your friends don't attack you. Everyone else can read your transmission, so your enemies know who you are, too. If you choose to not identify yourself, by turning off your transmitter, now everyone assumes you must be hiding your identity from them, and everyone will probably attack you. Not a good plan, so you leave your transponder on.
That also means the pirate base can leave bouys near the jump point that read your transponder. If you're someone they know, you get the base location. If not, you don't. In an asteroid field, the base's orbit will be affected enough that you'd take a long time finding it, and there'd be plenty of time to send a welcoming party for any Confed patrol that came looking (which would approach from some other vector). The base itself doesn't care what your relation is to any particular group--unlke in Freelancer, they are "open cities." It would be bad for business if they took merchants prisoner after landing. On the other hand, you might want to think twice about visiting that bar after landing--you might discover there are a lot of folks there who'd really like it if you had an accident.
Which leads me to one question I've never resolved--why is it I can blast someone out of space and not get in trouble, but if I do it on a base (like Regis did), it's murder?
I definitely agree that the Privateer economy is an area we could make a lot of improvements to. The real trick will be trying to create a robust free market that makes sense given the game's predefined locations for various bases.
Well, that ended up being longer than intended.