Loaf Warden
(no party affiliation)
Okay, I was glad at first to learn that they were putting Privateers into Civ III. But once I got the game and built my first one and saw how they were handled, I was sorely disappointed. It's no secret that Privateers suck in this game, and do not come anywhere close to fulfilling their potential.
Then a friend and I got to talking about what Privateers should be like in a game like this, and together we came up with the following model:
First of all, there should not be any one unit known as a "Privateer". In the real world, the word "privateer" does not refer to a kind of ship; it refers to the crew of the ship and their activities. And privateers were not by any means uniform in the type of ships they employed. We tend to think of pirates sailing around in frigates, but the real picture was by no means so clear cut. So, instead of having a Privateer unit, there should instead be a command that you can give to any naval unit (except perhaps for some of the more powerful modern ones) that would be called "Designate as Privateer" or "Grant Letter of Marque". This would allow the unit, be it Galley or Frigate or Cruiser or whatever, to function as a Privateer.
This, of course, would give Hidden Nationality to the ship. It should also allow you to put gold into your coffers by attacking other ships, since this is what privateers actually did. To be honest, I would prefer if they could find a way to tie it into Trade instead of just giving gold. The main function of privateers was to prey on foreign shipping for the benefit of the crown. The Privateers in Colonization were great for that, with their ability to steal cargo from other ships. Of course, in Civ III we don't ship cargo directly, but through phantom trade routes that a naval unit could not steal from. But if a way could be found, I'd rather have that happen than just say that each attack gives you x amount of gold.
Privateers should also be able to opt to capture enemy ships instead of just sinking them. There is much historical basis for this. The new ship would then have to be sailed to one of your ports for repairs, after which you could use it like your own. (This would be particularly interesting if you managed to capture a Man-of-War. Imagine capturing fleets of the English UU and then using them in a war against England.
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The drawback to using Privateers would be that if one is defeated, there would be a good chance the civ you attacked with it would be able to identify its origin. So now they know it's you who have been terrorizing their shipping, and now they want revenge! They could either declare war or demand heavy reparations.
This also brings up a really intriguing idea. Imagine you use a Privateer to capture a ship from Civ A. You sail that ship to one of your ports and fix it up. Then, before you launch it again, you designate that ship as a Privateer and send it against Civ B. But Civ B defeats it . . . and identifies its origin as Civ A! So Civ B thinks that Civ A was controlling it, and declares war against Civ A! It could be fun to manipulate the other civs like that. Of course, there would have to be a drawback to being able to do that. If you use Civ A's captured ship to attack Civ A, and they defeat it and realize you were the one attacking them with their own ship, now they'd be really angry. There'd be no way to avoid war in that situation. So you'd better use Privateers carefully, because there are consequences!
Anyway, that's our idea for a more realistic and more fun model of Privateers for Civ III. What do you all think?
Then a friend and I got to talking about what Privateers should be like in a game like this, and together we came up with the following model:
First of all, there should not be any one unit known as a "Privateer". In the real world, the word "privateer" does not refer to a kind of ship; it refers to the crew of the ship and their activities. And privateers were not by any means uniform in the type of ships they employed. We tend to think of pirates sailing around in frigates, but the real picture was by no means so clear cut. So, instead of having a Privateer unit, there should instead be a command that you can give to any naval unit (except perhaps for some of the more powerful modern ones) that would be called "Designate as Privateer" or "Grant Letter of Marque". This would allow the unit, be it Galley or Frigate or Cruiser or whatever, to function as a Privateer.
This, of course, would give Hidden Nationality to the ship. It should also allow you to put gold into your coffers by attacking other ships, since this is what privateers actually did. To be honest, I would prefer if they could find a way to tie it into Trade instead of just giving gold. The main function of privateers was to prey on foreign shipping for the benefit of the crown. The Privateers in Colonization were great for that, with their ability to steal cargo from other ships. Of course, in Civ III we don't ship cargo directly, but through phantom trade routes that a naval unit could not steal from. But if a way could be found, I'd rather have that happen than just say that each attack gives you x amount of gold.
Privateers should also be able to opt to capture enemy ships instead of just sinking them. There is much historical basis for this. The new ship would then have to be sailed to one of your ports for repairs, after which you could use it like your own. (This would be particularly interesting if you managed to capture a Man-of-War. Imagine capturing fleets of the English UU and then using them in a war against England.
)The drawback to using Privateers would be that if one is defeated, there would be a good chance the civ you attacked with it would be able to identify its origin. So now they know it's you who have been terrorizing their shipping, and now they want revenge! They could either declare war or demand heavy reparations.
This also brings up a really intriguing idea. Imagine you use a Privateer to capture a ship from Civ A. You sail that ship to one of your ports and fix it up. Then, before you launch it again, you designate that ship as a Privateer and send it against Civ B. But Civ B defeats it . . . and identifies its origin as Civ A! So Civ B thinks that Civ A was controlling it, and declares war against Civ A! It could be fun to manipulate the other civs like that. Of course, there would have to be a drawback to being able to do that. If you use Civ A's captured ship to attack Civ A, and they defeat it and realize you were the one attacking them with their own ship, now they'd be really angry. There'd be no way to avoid war in that situation. So you'd better use Privateers carefully, because there are consequences!
Anyway, that's our idea for a more realistic and more fun model of Privateers for Civ III. What do you all think?
