PIRATES off the starboard bow!

[Sir Beane]

Historically even big naval powers used privateers extensively, especially the English. A letter of Marque (you were close Polemists) entitled an independant captain to undertake pirate activity against any nation at war with the nation which issued the letter.

Privateers, if captured, were entitled to be treated as prisoners of war. This meant they were much less likely to be excuted by hanging, but instead might be ransomed back to their sponsoring nation. This meant being a privateer was much preferable to piracy, if you had the choice.

Typically (especially in the caribbean) privatters were used as a vary cheap way to field a large fleet to harass and profit from enemy shipping and trade. Privateers rarely went after the actual navy (althought it occasionally happened). Privateers were suprisingly cheap for a nation to use. In most circumstances I believe a potential privateer had to pay to obtain a Letter and the benefits associated with it. The nation issuing the Letter could be entitled to a share of whatever a privateer captured, in return for providing them a safe haven to put into port and get repairs and supplies and granting them legal protection and legitimacy.

Apparently merchant captains and independant captains who were loosely affiliated with a paticular nation (such as the British merchant fleet or whaling fleet, or a West or East India Company Ship) would often seek to obtain a Letter of Marque simply to cover them in the event they ever had the opportunity to take a foreign ship.

In game privateers should be extremely tactically important to harassing your enemies trade lanes, forcing them to commit their fleet to protecting merchants without having to risk your own ships. The number of privateers that can operate under your flag could be dependant on your prestige, relative power in the location you are fielding them, and other factors such as the strength of your enemies and loyalty of your colonies.

The overall strength of the ships should be below that of real naval ships. Privateer crews would usually be smaller, less well trained and proffesional, have fewer or lower calibre cannons and would probably not have been operating in anything larger than a Corvette. They should definitely lose a one on one fight with the equivalent proffesional ship.

During Empire's time period privateers were more or less neccesary for a nation to use if it wanted to be a naval power, due to the fact everyone else used them. They were also used by smaller nations who could not afford to field a permanent proffesional navy.

So there's my take on privateers . Sorry for the wall of text I am far too enthusiastic when it comes to naval operation in this time period. Hope I was informative and not too confusing.

[Knight of the Rose]

We're operating on the brink of my historical knowlegde, but IIRC outright piracy and letters of marque in peacetime were in sharp decline in the year 1700, when empire starts. All Sir Beane has written holds true for the 17th century, but in the 18th there is a marked rise in state building and violence controlling agencies. This meant that piracy moved to the east coast of africa (I can make such a statement here without offering evidence, unlike in the monastery) and was removed from the carribian.

In wartime, some of the merchant fleet was used outside regular naval operations, and had different legal measures assigned to them. This meant that they operated as a private navy supplementing the national navy, but I wouldn't really call them pirates, as they had no legal basis what so ever after the signing of a peace treaty. They were "paid" by being allowed to capture enemy ships and sell it and its goods as fair game, and as far as I know it was quite a popular sport.

SO - in game mechanics should allow raising of small-ship navy, much like mercenaries in previous titles, but using pirates as a state would be a little off.

(Maybe this part of the discussion belongs more in the monastery...)

/KotR

[Celtic_Punk]

im sure you know CA doesnt care for "wee" historical details like that... look at egypt in RTW when their entire fanbased pleaded that they didnt do it.

[Polemists]

piracy moved to the east coast of africa

Is there any reason to think we won't be able to access the east coast of africa? It is my understanding the only area not included is south america (for whatever reason)

[Megas Methuselah]

South Africa won't be included either, methinks. I'm not sure about east Asia, but I don't it made the cut.