My strange asks are really a must-have!

[Grey Roger]

Really? I thought we go rid of that. But we went back-and-forth so much, I don't remember anymore...


There should be a few-second "grace time" after surrendering to avoid that.
So two options:
1. Grace time needs to be longer
2. Manually aimed fire bypasses this grace time

The grace time is only for manual fire, isn't it? Auto-aimed fire should be safe without a grace period.

Indeed the Merchant License is a bit of an exception.
You get one warning if you seem to be behaving like a pirate and you lose it on the second offense.
This does NOT make you an "official pirate" though.

Apparently it does. I've a vague feeling that the licence I lost was actually Jack Sparrow's EITC licence, and as Sparrow is due to turn pirate anyway, I wasn't too bothered.

Do you think this should be more forgiving? Maybe only lose the Merchant License IF you turn "official pirate" (either intentionally or accidentally)?

I'd say no, the reason being the Merchant Licence is supposed to tell the world that you are a peaceful, honest trader. It's at risk if you're not peaceful or not honest, i.e you commit acts of piracy or are caught smuggling. If you want to attack enemy ships, get a LoM as well as a Merchant Licence.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Without that, if you had accumulated more than 1 million in gold, the crew will have wanted payment by division of plunder.

Maybe there should be a delay in that.
So if you have plenty of money for longer than a month, it triggers.
Crew should have some measure of patience, no?

And as a pirate, you'd be hostile to everyone except other pirates.

That should not happen.
You should only be hostile to the nation you offended, as well as their allies.
Unless it was a BIG act of piracy!

Also, the forts have very good eyesight. They can see you even if there's a lump of rock in the way. In this case, the lump of rock is called St. Martin. If you sail into Marigot under a French flag (and don't do anything piratical on the way ), Philipsburg fort notes you as French. If you then sail away, raise a Dutch flag, and try to sail into Philipsburg, the fort will attack you. In my case it's the other way round - if I sail into Philipsburg under a friendly flag, then pull away, raise a French flag and try to enter Marigot, I'm attacked. And that's why, when Ardent has to visit both ports, someone in Philipsburg recommends the tunnel.

Indeed the game is so stupid it doesn't understand "land" and Saint Martin is very narrow.
We've had problems related to that before.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

The grace time is only for manual fire, isn't it? Auto-aimed fire should be safe without a grace period.

It is for shots fired just after a ship surrendered to account for cannonballs still in the air at the time of surrendering.
In theory, it shouldn't matter how those shots were fired.

Apparently it does. I've a vague feeling that the licence I lost was actually Jack Sparrow's EITC licence, and as Sparrow is due to turn pirate anyway, I wasn't too bothered.

For clarity's sake, an "official pirate" is defined as:
- NOT hostile to the pirates
- Marked as "Pirate Captain" in the F2>Character menu

The only real consequence is:
- Can be attacked in random ports through talking to random civilians
- Can join the Pirate Brotherhood

That is what I remember of it anyway.

I'd say no, the reason being the Merchant Licence is supposed to tell the world that you are a peaceful, honest trader. It's at risk if you're not peaceful or not honest, i.e you commit acts of piracy or are caught smuggling. If you want to attack enemy ships, get a LoM as well as a Merchant Licence.

Yep, that's what I figured at the time too.
If you don't have a LoM, the Merchant License doesn't serve that much of a purpose anyway.
Unless.... Does it affect buy/sell prices? It did once, but I'm not sure anymore if that is still the case.
Check Build Info.txt; I think it should be detailed there.

 

[Ambrois LeGaillard]

uhm, I'm remained to the PanzerBlitz/Squad Leader times. I know what is a LoS/LoF but what is a LoM?

 

[Pieter Boelen]

uhm, I'm remained to the PanzerBlitz/Squad Leader times. I know what is a LoS/LoF but what is a LoM?

Letter of Marque; you get them from the governors.

 

[Grey Roger]

The main purpose of the Merchant Licence was to replace the toggle which dictated whether or not the crew become envious of large amounts of gold in the captain's locker. If you have a LoM then you can accumulate immense amounts of loot and the crew won't bother. If you don't have a LoM then you can still accumulate immense amounts of loot, it will just take longer because the profit made from selling cargo is somewhat smaller if you have to pay for it first.

But yes, according to "Build Info.txt", the Merchant Licence skips skill effects for selling cargo.