Suggestions Compiled

[Didz]

For this reason you wouldn't commission privateers unless you were at war.

I wouldn't be too sure of that, as I recall Drake had Royal approval to raid Spanish ships before England went to war with Spain. The real advantage being 'plauisible deniability' on the part of the sponsor if their agent was caught, or identified.

The advantage of privateers in times of open warfare was that they were a cheap and virtually self-sustaining means of conducting commerce raiding on an enemy without having to commission and maintain formal naval units.

The problem was that the men and ships employed in this role found the freedom and lifestyle suited them so much they didn't want to give it up when the war ended and their former employers removed their license.

Thus, in terms of ETW game mechanic's I would see the link as quite tangible. Factions should be able to hire 'Privateers' much like they hire any other agent, but once hired that privateer will operate independant of the control of the faction that hired it to prey on an enemy factions ships and trade lanes. As long as the 'privateer' remains under letters of marque from the hiring faction it will continue to function as instructed. However, if those letters are withdrawn, or if it ceases to find any source of legitimate revenue for a certain period of time it will revert to piracy and begin preying on any commerce in the area inlcuding that of its former employer.

This would result in a level of piracy directly related to the level of conflict over trade in the area, which is historically sound. Ideally, each pirate fleet would be considered a seperate faction within the game allowing non-pirate factions the ability to negotiate and deal with them as seperate entities, but that may be asking too much.

Once free of their obligations pirates will survive by earning revenue raiding trade lanes and trade ships and they will pay any faction willing to allow them access to their ports for repairs and to unload their cargo. They will even bribe local governors in remote locations to allow them to use their ports and islands as a safe haven.

So, what the player might get is a diplomatic message offering him 2,000 gold for 2 turns access to Port Royal from Captain Kidd. Another possibility would be to allow pirates to use any undeveloped port locations as though they were ports for repair purposes, this would produce a gradually dimishing number of safe havens for pirates as civilisation spread. Finally, of course any coastal province which rebels and has a pirate fleet in residence ought to have a chance of becoming a pirate haven. The pirate fleet effectively becoming a ready made navy to boost its revenues.