Poll Turks Island in "Colonial Powers" period

[Grey Roger]

At present, Turks Island in "Colonial Powers" is Pirate but its smuggling nation is British. This means that any ships near the port are likely to be British. So you either approach under a British-friendly flag and fight the fort, or you approach under a Pirate flag and fight the British, which will cost you any British or allied LoM you may have. (See "Piracy at Turks Island".)

To me, there seem to be three choices:

• Leave things as they are. You probably don't want to go to Turks Island if you're playing "Tales of a Sea Hawk" and still have a British LoM, or if you're playing "Hoist the Colours" and aren't ready to turn pirate yet.
• Change smuggling nation to Pirate. The fort is Pirate, so are nearby ships, so you can approach under a (possibly false) pirate flag.
• Swap nation and smuggling nation. The fort becomes British and nearby ships become Pirate. If you approach under a (possibly false) British-friendly flag, the fort leaves you alone but the ships attack. Sinking a Pirate ship won't cost you your membership of the Brotherhood unless you're a new member with hardly any points to your pirate name. You can do some more pirating later to regain any points lost by sinking pirate ships here.

Which would people prefer?

 

[The Nameless Pirate]

I would prefer what is more historically accurate.

As a general rule, I would say that the smuggling nation should match the island's nation.

 

[Grey Roger]

If Turks Island were historically accurate then there would not be a problem with the fort because it didn't have one.

From the Wikipedia article on Turks and Caicos Islands:

From the mid 1600s Bermudian salt collectors began seasonally visiting the islands, later settling more permanently with their African slaves. For several decades around the turn of the 18th century, the islands became popular pirate hideouts. During the Anglo-French War (1778-1783) the French captured the archipelago in 1783, however it was later confirmed as British colony with the Treaty of Paris (1783).

Another article about the Battle of Grand Turk describes the capture and subsequent failed British attempt to retake the islands, the failure being partly due to a couple of batteries of cannons which the British hadn't expected to be there. Both the French force which captured the islands and the British force which tried to recapture them were relatively small ships, nothing larger than a couple of 6th rate frigates on the British side. So the islands certainly didn't have a fort comparable to what is in the game.

But all that happened in the game's "Revolutions" period. "Colonial Powers" is covered by the bit about being a popular pirate hideout. We could make it more historically accurate by turning it into a near clone of Pirate Settlement on Nevis. Or you could vote for "Change smuggling nation to Pirate to match the fort."

 

[The Nameless Pirate]

The town should stay as it is in my opinion since it's unique, which adds to the diversity in the game. And diversity is good.

So I vote for option #2.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I voted "As it is now. Nation is Pirate, smuggling nation is Britain."

Obviously.
I am the one who set it up like that in the first place.
(For historical reasons...)

With this caveat: If the fort nation follows the smuggling nation (instead of matching with the town nation), then that is an obvious bug that should be fixed.

That being said, if you decide differently, I'm fine with that too.
It's your mod now.

 

[Grey Roger]

The majority is 3:2 in favour of changing smuggling nation to PIRATE to match the town's nation.

I wasn't one of the 3, though that's also what I prefer. If there had been a tie, I'd have voted as a tie-breaker; if the majority had gone the other way, I'd have accepted it; but neither of those happened.

Democracy prevails and the smuggling nation will be changed in "Colonial Powers" accordingly. Thanks to all who voted.