Is pillage dead?

Since I am back from the game after my holiday and the partial inactivity due to the refurbishing of my apartment, I noticed that the less and less people are pillaging. I'm not talking about our crew only, but about the Ocean in general. In spite of the numerous offers, ships are not manned. I have noticed (typing /w) that the number of people online is also decreasing and this impression has been confirmed by a hearty of mine, who came to the same conclusions.
What can we do to revitalize pillage and the crew in general? What would encourage the officers to run a pillage? And the jobbers to apply?

I was thinking of changing the ship restocking percentage and the crew shares. What if we we'll post offers retaining only 10%? Do you think people will come? In that case, in order not to lose money, if the pillage is not successful the Strong Box could cover the restocking costs. Maybe we could combine 10% with a booty share more favorable to the officers such as Crew Loyalty and Rank's privilege, so to encourage them to run pillages and encourage people in general to be promoted to that rank.

Here's the list of proportions of the cut when the booty is split with those shares.

Rank's Privilege
3 - Jobbing pirate
2 - Cabin person
3 - Pirate
4 - Officer
4 - Fleet officer
4 - Senior officer
4 - Captain

Crew Loyalty

4 - Jobbing pirate
4 - Cabin person
5 - Pirate
5 - Officer
5 - Fleet officer
5 - Senior officer
5 - Captain

The Cruel Shelf

5 - Jobbing pirate
10 - Cabin person
12 - Pirate
15 - Officer
20 - Fleet officer
20 - Senior officer
20 - Captain

What do you guys think about it?

I think this happens as it always has. The number of people online goes up and down like waves according to the time of year.

It's a cycle, lots of people online, then few, then more again... always has happened that way. When everybody is on holiday, the numbers decrease because lots of people go away... but then they come back (such as right now for us) and numbers start going up again... (Compare our numbers now with before).

We have already started to come to life once again, at least numbers-wise and I believe this trend will continue in the future.

Pillaging is another issue...

Personally, I think that most jobbers pay more attention to the way the booty is divided (with "jobber's delight" being the most attractive) than the percentage of restocking, which I believe not many focus their attention on.

As to how could officers be more stimulated to run pillages, I think the best answer would come from them. What would they need to feel more encouraged to run pillages? Maybe the low number of online mates doesn't help a lot either, but that's just a guess since I don't run pillages (:S) lol.

Just some thoughts.

B.

Personally, I run pillages if:
1. I have the time.
2. There a at least a couple of crewmates online.
3. There are no smhs going on.
4. I don't fell I have to check my stall.

1 is the most important factor and 4 is the least important one. Obviously the only factor we can affect is number 2. By recruiting more and trying to stay online more often.
It's an evil spiral, fewer people online means fewer and smaller (less exciting) pillages, wich leads to less active people... I have seen it myself and I have even noticed this with myself.

The Glimmer of Light changed it's cut a long while ago to Jobber's Delight. I can't really remember if it made any difference, but commons sense says it should.

Blackseagull wrote:
Personally, I think that most jobbers pay more attention to the way the booty is divided (with "jobber's delight" being the most attractive) than the percentage of restocking, which I believe not many focus their attention on.

Alright, but I think many people don't really know how the other share systems work and now that the percentage of restocking has been explicited, that parameter is more visible than the booty share. It's easier to recognize a number than a longer string, at a first glance.

Piratus wrote:The Glimmer of Light changed it's cut a long while ago to Jobber's Delight. I can't really remember if it made any difference, but commons sense says it should

This would prove my theory.
Anyway, I will make a couple of experiments changing the shares in the next days and recording the number of people who apply.

in my old crew before i joined glimmer they used to do prizes for the most one that made pillages like they gave him a sloop, that will make officers interesting to get that sloop well sloop cost a lot so maybe something else might do

Jobbers delight suggests a poor pillaging capable crew or officers. Having to offer extra for any jobbers to join.
The best jobs tend to be even. The other variations I never even apply.


Why do I not tend to run pillages. Lack of self confidence. Difficulty of getting jobbers. I like to do the b-nav, I would do it all day long, I suppose it is the people management, people leaving etc. the I find hard. Perhaps I should try much easier trips and take greenies to keep the ship crewed. Were the cuts lower for running them I would never bother at all. It is not like after restock the gain is huge, well for me, if even one battle is lost.
You have to make near 20,000 profit from cuts in 28 log in days, just to cover an officer badge, or you may as well just job.

JamesStGeorge wrote:Jobbers delight suggests a poor pillaging capable crew or officers. Having to offer extra for any jobbers to join.

Well, the important question is. Does the regualr jobber understand this?

Ahoy mates....I usually don't pay attention to the pay scale when i job out but i look at who is running the pilly and where on the ocean they be sailing ( i be still looking fer Oyster)...and if greenies be the main source of jobbers well thats fine by me ...we all have been there just starting out, learning the ropes....
Happy Pilliaging

captinthe wrote:in my old crew before i joined glimmer they used to do prizes for the most one that made pillages like they gave him a sloop, that will make officers interesting to get that sloop well sloop cost a lot so maybe something else might do

Not so long time ago we also had some competition like "best pillager of the week" but nobody taken this seriously, probably due to lack of officers capable to run pillies. We may try this again soon...

Pishkirlin wrote:

Piratus wrote:The Glimmer of Light changed it's cut a long while ago to Jobber's Delight. I can't really remember if it made any difference, but commons sense says it should

This would prove my theory.
Anyway, I will make a couple of experiments changing the shares in the next days and recording the number of people who apply.

How is the experiment doing?

On a side note, would the average jobber be less willing to join a crew with jobber's delight? It makes sense that if they can make more money as jobbers than as pirates they will be less likley to join.

Piratus wrote:How is the experiment doing?

I didn't manage to run it, cause I realized the crew policy changed to Oligarchic when I went dormant and it took me more than one week to re-establish autocracy (so to be able to change the crew settings). After that, I simply forgot to run the experiment.

Anyway, these graphics prove that the active population is dramatically decreasing lately. I would like to understand why SMHs are so popular nowadays, cause they are one of the causes of the death of pillage.