Kailric
Jack of All Trades
I think your idea about Pirate Hunters is good. We need a way to kill flotillas and squadrons in those cases where a colony can build one or more.
I haven't seen many Pirate Hunters in the current game, and my recollection is that I could sink them fairly easily. Is that incorrect?
I think Pirate Hunters should be kind of mirror images of Flotillas. You could even change the terminology and speak of Pirate Flotillas and Hunter Flotillas. Likewise with Squadrons.
Also, maybe depart from history and have the colony able to build its own Hunter Flotillas in much the same way that Pirate Flotillas are built. Maybe Hunters should recover loot on pirate ships.
Thinking about game balance is making my head hurt, it's so complex, and I don't want to make too long a post here. I see three major issues in the mod. The first is this Flotilla thing we're discussing here.
The second is the knife-edge balance of the early game, where a single incident can make the pirates or merchants get the upper hand for a very long time, or permanently.
The third is the victory conditions. The focus of the Privateers mod is really different from vanilla Colonization. I think the focus is the fight between colonies and between the Pirates and the Merchants; Europe really doesn't have that much to do with this. In regular Colonization the aim is to declare independence from Europe and win the resulting war. The Privateers in the mod--do they really add a help to a colony in this overall aim? Or are they more a distraction--something that makes it harder to win against Europe? Just that much more to do in the limited time available. If that's true, maybe the initial and victory conditions in the Privateers mod should differ from vanilla Colonization.
I don't want my post to be too long, or to discuss too many different areas. I will see if I can find something intelligent to say about issues two and three in separate posts.
I slowly have been working on the next update. I do believe I have upgraded the current Pirate Hunters if not I will be sure to do that so they will be something to fear.
I have been thinking of creating a leveling system for Naval Ships as well. But in the mean time I could add in a Pirate Hunter Promotion that you could give to your Navy ships. This promotion would greatly increase their chances vs Pirates. That one addition could balance things out perhaps.
Also, the Spanish currently don't have a Buccaneer Captain you can play as.. I was actually thinking of adding in the Pirate Hunter Pedro de Menendez de Avilles as a Leader for Spain. Sense Spain was mostly the target of pirates back in the day it would seem to fit to add an anti-pirate as a leader. Pedro would also seem to fit as he actually founded a colony named St. Augustine which he used as a base and routed (executed) the French pirate Huguenots at Fort Caroline. He would have bonuses vs Pirates of course.
And yes I been thinking on new Victory conditions for this Mod as well. One victory condition could be to amass a certain amount of pirated loot by a certain date. Also, similar to the Revolution but on a different theme you could seek to gain a certain amount of Pirate Affiliation before time expires. Once you do, one of the other kings could declare war on you and send his forces to wipe out your pirate empire. You then must survive the ensuing onslaught.
K, thanks for your feedback. Hopefully I can get an update finished this weekend or by the first of next week.