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Bleyn
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IIRC, historically privateers were not quite the same as pirates.
Privateers were independant ships operating under Letters of Marquis from a particular nation. They did not have to fly the flag of that nation normally, but when challenged by warships of another nation they had documentation showing them to be authorized agents of a nation-state. Of course, all this really meant was that if captured they would typically be treated as an enemy vessel-of-war instead of a pirate. But, hey, being alive and in a P.O.W. camp was better than being hung by a yardarm until dead. The advantage to this arrangement was that for a poor nation it was cheaper to issue a few letters of marquis to a few captains willing to act as commerce raiders than to actually raise their own navy, especially since the smart monarch probably charged a fee for issuing the letters of marquis, and taxed the booty seized by the privateers. The monarch also had the option of disavowing any knowledge of the actions of the privateer if they started to become too embarassing. The only real risk for the privateer, other than capture, was that some nations choose to view privateers as pirates and killed them anyway.
Pirates, on the other hand, were not operating under authorization of any nation and were considered outlaws worthy only of death if captured.
It is a somewhat fine distinction, but an important one if it was your neck on the line.
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Ralf
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Sweden
Mar 2000
time: 06:15
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quote:
Originally posted by Mark L
But in Colonization the Privateers operated under a pirate flag, so you can't see who it belongs to. |
If they have included an anonymous privateer-unit in Civ-3, then the attack/defence-stats must be relatively weaker (you use it mainly against civil trade/cargo-ships and for blocking ocean trade-routes, anyway). Otherwise this unit becomes too powerful for its own good. Also, killing privateers cannot be considered an act of war.
Finally, there should be a risk involved, that your hidden identity actually gets revealed. Lets say: if an attacked civ manage to kill off two privateers of the same origin, within one and the same turn - then the privateers true identy gets revealed. And then that happens, the harassed civ can consider it as an act of war, by the now exposed civ.
Last edited by Ralf on 24-09-2001 at 19:39
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d_dudy
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quote:
Originally posted by SerapisIV
Yeah the stealth fighters can be as invisible as the F-117A that was shot down in Kosovo. |
then how about it's invisible 95% of the time and whenever one is shot down the local towns people are seen dancing on it?
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Your.Master
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Port Elgin, Ontario, Canada
Apr 2001
time: 05:15
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One thing that you seem to have forgotten is that in colonization a ship was rarely destroyed, it was merely sent back to the country (or, once built, a New World drydock) for repairs. To my knowledge, the chance of destroying a ship was random but influenced by the relative strengths of the ships. The privateer just had the advantage of stealing the enemy ship's stuff (trade was manual in Colonization and your main, often only, source of income, aside from goody huts which were worse than civs and razed native huts, which you can't depend upon what with the sheer strength of the Native nations) when they were damaged, and blocking sea lanes. Unless Civ 3's naval combat becomes more like Colonization, I can't see Privateers being a good idea (but maybe I'm just blind).
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Mihai
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Bucharest, Romania
Jan 2000
time: 07:15
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IIRC in Colonisation Privateers were wearing the black flag all the time, but if they attack you a message let you know which country they are.
In Civ3 it could be like this : once built you don't have control of the unit, it could not even appair on the map, but if you are at war or in very bad relation with a country your Prvateers attack their marchant ships and give you a %. It would look for the attacked civ somehow like gold loose to crime. You could order your Prvateers to attack the ships of a country that you are not at war, but you have then a chance that this get you at war with that civ (when they find out who's that Privateers).
But I think that in Civ3 the Privateers will be just a civlike naval unit with smaller attack/defence valute than a Frigate but with a great movement.
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24-09-2001 15:37
LOVE 
all I wanted was a spanish War Galleon, I used to attack them with my Shi*ty sloop 
and then get all Pis*ed off when I lost 
. Ah those were the days
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