Pirates, privateers and dastardly villains

[WineGuy]

I remember back in earlier iterations of Civ, and maybe Colonization, that privateers could freely attack another nation's shipping/boats/etc without having to declare war. This was a fun mechanic (one of my favorite mechanics of the whole series!) and it would add to the enjoyment of playing Civ 6. Does anyone remember why the Privateer unit wasn't given this type of ability in Civ 6? Other nations would basically see your Privateer as a barbarian or a pirate, but you would secretly be in control. This would be more historically accurate and would give the Privateer unit a bit of a renewed purpose (and you could give the Skirmisher the same ability since they basically look like bandits right now [or at least make it a high-level promotion in the Scout line])

I've really enjoyed the Pirates scenario, and another excellent crossover from it into the main game would be to have "dastardly villains" like Blackbeard spawn from barbarian encampments. Having a barbarian unit with the power of a Corps/Fleet or Army/Armada would really increase the stakes when a place locates the unit, or vice versa. The Heroes & Legends mode begs the question as to why there couldn't be "dastardly villains" thrown into the mix to harass the players in the main game (or a game mode). Barbarians are generally a nuisance in all but the early game, and there is plenty that could be done to give their appearance a bit more impact. And of course there are legions of "dastardly villains" on both land and sea that historically troubled the more civilized world.

And...you could have World Congress emergencies to defeat a set of "dastardly villains"!

 

[Ticio]

I remember back in earlier iterations of Civ, and maybe Colonization, that privateers could freely attack another nation's shipping/boats/etc without having to declare war. This was a fun mechanic (one of my favorite mechanics of the whole series!) and it would add to the enjoyment of playing Civ 6. Does anyone remember why the Privateer unit wasn't given this type of ability in Civ 6? Other nations would basically see your Privateer as a barbarian or a pirate, but you would secretly be in control. This would be more historically accurate and would give the Privateer unit a bit of a renewed purpose (and you could give the Skirmisher the same ability since they basically look like bandits right now [or at least make it a high-level promotion in the Scout line])

I've really enjoyed the Pirates scenario, and another excellent crossover from it into the main game would be to have "dastardly villains" like Blackbeard spawn from barbarian encampments. Having a barbarian unit with the power of a Corps/Fleet or Army/Armada would really increase the stakes when a place locates the unit, or vice versa. The Heroes & Legends mode begs the question as to why there couldn't be "dastardly villains" thrown into the mix to harass the players in the main game (or a game mode). Barbarians are generally a nuisance in all but the early game, and there is plenty that could be done to give their appearance a bit more impact. And of course there are legions of "dastardly villains" on both land and sea that historically troubled the more civilized world.

And...you could have World Congress emergencies to defeat a set of "dastardly villains"!

I really love this idea!
It could fit very well with the grievance system (giving many grievances) or a Casus Belli too. It would also enhance Ching Shih as a Great Person. Right now, I always pass on him as my favorite way to play is pacific, but with your idea, it could be one of the best!
I could raid on commercial competitors without declaring war... East India Company or VOC style...

 

[WineGuy]

I agree. Not super tricky to implement since the mechanics are there, and it punches the fun factor way up in the mid-game with privateer raiding and "pirate hunting", emergencies and Casus Belli. At its core though I'm just baffled that privateers are so "meh" in their current incarnation. They went from a favorite unit to a "never build" in this iteration.

Speaking of things that would up the "fun", making city walls/urban defenses have a 1-turn delay from when an enemy is in range until they can fire at them. That would dramatically change how siege and raiding tactics work, and would make garrisoning a unit in the city actually more meaningful as an "emergency reaction force" that would get to counter-attack a turn before the city walls can open fire. This delay would solve the issue with siege weapons being sitting ducks on the turn they move into range of the walls.

 

[Piranga]

I wish they had focused on making a privateer unit and a few related systems (like you guys have suggested) in the base game instead of putting time into the Pirates multiplayer scenario.

 

[jasper]

Maybe if you lost control of the unit like partisans from spys. Or if you get 1 or 2 privates max.

Otherwise it's just naval free war. Just mass privates and war people without retaliation. I dont think it adds anything to the game.

 

[Palo]

Add grievances for privateer actions and it gets more interesting. Perhaps allow privateers to only target ships and trade routes after you denounce someone. I love the idea of emergencies getting triggered over privateers, too.

 

[Vandlys]

I remember back in earlier iterations of Civ, and maybe Colonization, that privateers could freely attack another nation's shipping/boats/etc without having to declare war. This was a fun mechanic (one of my favorite mechanics of the whole series!) and it would add to the enjoyment of playing Civ 6. Does anyone remember why the Privateer unit wasn't given this type of ability in Civ 6? Other nations would basically see your Privateer as a barbarian or a pirate, but you would secretly be in control. This would be more historically accurate and would give the Privateer unit a bit of a renewed purpose (and you could give the Skirmisher the same ability since they basically look like bandits right now [or at least make it a high-level promotion in the Scout line])

I've really enjoyed the Pirates scenario, and another excellent crossover from it into the main game would be to have "dastardly villains" like Blackbeard spawn from barbarian encampments. Having a barbarian unit with the power of a Corps/Fleet or Army/Armada would really increase the stakes when a place locates the unit, or vice versa. The Heroes & Legends mode begs the question as to why there couldn't be "dastardly villains" thrown into the mix to harass the players in the main game (or a game mode). Barbarians are generally a nuisance in all but the early game, and there is plenty that could be done to give their appearance a bit more impact. And of course there are legions of "dastardly villains" on both land and sea that historically troubled the more civilized world.

And...you could have World Congress emergencies to defeat a set of "dastardly villains"!

Firaxis, hire this man! : P

 

[jasper]

Firaxis, hire this man! : P

Considering they decided to drop the idea from future installments, id say they fired that man. Lol

 

[Casworon]

You can do this in endless Legend. Create armies you can disguise as barbarians and then harras opposing empires. It's a great idea and imo should return to Civ.

Maybe they cant attack cities and only pillage. But still it would allow you to harras opponents without full declarations of war.

Or maybe just keep it too privateers and maybe a new land unit, 'bandits' or something

 

[Palo]

Norway would be even more amazing if this were implemented.

 

[WineGuy]

Maybe if you lost control of the unit like partisans from spys. Or if you get 1 or 2 privates max.

Otherwise it's just naval free war. Just mass privates and war people without retaliation. I dont think it adds anything to the game.

Privateers can be beaten by Caravels and by Frigates and so if a player is feeling too harassed by pirates and/or privateers then they just have to build a bit of a naval defensive fleet to protect their trade routes and shores, Which mimics the importance of defensive fleets historically. As it stands now once most of the map is explored and the barbarian outposts eliminated there is really no need to build naval units unless you are attempting to sack a coastal city.

Norway would be even more amazing if this were implemented.

Generally speaking, I think that for Firaxis has made pillaging too lucrative. if the yields were cut in half, I still think it would be worth doing and it might reflect reality just a little bit better. As it stands now pillaging strategies, Norway or not, can really give you a boost in gold and faith and science and culture that would’ve taken handfuls of turns to accumulate otherwise.

Regarding anonymity, In the case of Norway they would have to declare war on whoever they are pillaging if they were using their long ships since, historically, people knew who the Vikings were and they knew who to blame when their villages were sucked. Pirates, and the nameless Raiders, would be able to conduct these raids without kicking off a “nation versus nation” war.

 

[Vargas1]

Maybe if you lost control of the unit like partisans from spys. Or if you get 1 or 2 privates max.

Otherwise it's just naval free war. Just mass privates and war people without retaliation. I dont think it adds anything to the game.

They could pretty easily incorporate a scaling mechanic, where there’s a random chance that your privateers get “found out” which increases with each action against the same target. So if you use your privateers to just attack the same civ over and over, that would be less effective than spreading it out.

 

[Mount Suribachi]

Maybe if you lost control of the unit like partisans from spys. Or if you get 1 or 2 privates max.

Otherwise it's just naval free war. Just mass privates and war people without retaliation. I dont think it adds anything to the game.

It's only for a short period of the game. They're quickly outclassed and I would suggest that the pirating mechanic doesn't work for subs, so I would remove it for them (but re-add the ability for them to go under the ice!)

Also, I do usually build 1 or 2 privateers. They are very useful for popping remote goody huts and barb camps since they can coastal raid and have a ranged attack.