should I join MM tribe

[FutureForJames]

, which can only profit you.
.

I have to disagree with what this guy has to say. To say it can only profit u is rediculous, as it costs you 500s to begin with. At best, you spend 500s and may not have been the target of a raid regardless. 2nd, they may have the world mapped, but beyong the landscape, player settlements are dynamic. A map that was accurate as of yesterday, today could be wrong. Also, they may know where some settlements are, but who they belong to is another mystery to be solved...

Plus, as I have said before, any resources given serve to bolster their power.

Whatever the costs of Treaty may be, and one has to agree, they aren't really expensive, but you don't profit from it. It is like car insurance - you have to pay it regularly, so in case something bad happens you might just have a chance to get something back. There is profit in it - for the tribe. You don't get any profit, and you never will. And that is if you set aside the fact that paying it you acknowledge your status as obedient sheep slave.
Map is a whole 'nother thing. As it was already stated, what they have mapped does not refresh regularly and not to mention there are ways to mask your presence in a certain area, so that unless someone accidentally comes directly upon the doors of your claim, you could easily stay under the radar for months. It's all about luck. For example, if Coles hadn't started collecting for the Tribe, question is when would they find me. Unfortunately for me, I was unaware he was my neighbor.
And I don't know was it that I didn't pay their tax or that I just know how to play this game, but I seem to be progressing better than many tax paying players.
In the end it all comes down to how you want to play this game. If you just wish to be left alone and grow your crops in peace, like any other peasant farmer out there, paying treaty is most likely the easiest way for you. However, beware, as claims that it will make you safe might not prove so in the long run.

There may be a relative profit in the sense that there is a profit if you compare relevant scenarios: A) You form adequate defenses without the treaty or B) you form adequate defenses with the treaty. Any excess time spent on scenario A for defense purposes can be used to farm silver in scenario B. I do believe that the required extra time is large enough to make scenario B the prefereble choice on Plymouth for many players.

As for your "And that is if you set aside the fact that paying it you acknowledge your status as obedient sheep slave.", that is not a fact, that is an opinion. Very much like it is opinion to consider people to be slaves/sheeps to their government.

[TeckXKnight]

Profit gets relative and difficult to calculate when you try to fathom it from the air. You can make the case that you can live with minimal walls and defenses by paying other people protection money but you are, in all truth, still sacrificing safety. The value of absolute destruction is always going to be absolute, whether it's by your hands, some newbie raider, or another faction. Therefore the net gain by paying you is not building defenses, which can still lead to an absolute loss which infinitely outweighs the gain. On the other hand, you could raid him if he doesn't pay and builds his defenses and it's still an absolute loss. So he lost nothing more than he would have otherwise. The final scenarios are to pay you and build defenses, where he has the highest loss and absolutely no profit, and to not pay you and not build defenses, which has the highest potential profit.

The only difference for scenarios where he pays you is that to earn a profit he has to do more work searching for silver for the same net income before he can make any potential gains. Of course you can argue that some routes are safer than others but then how do you prove that? Life for many is short and brutish and for others it's pleasant and safe without reason or cause. Silly and complicated, as you can see.

As for comparing yourself to a government, you're more accurately defined as a protection racket. You're specifically making people pay you under the threat of violence or property damage.

[Cavern_Lurker]

Blahblahblah. There is profit in it - for the tribe.

Thank you for writing an essay but I'm pretty sure class is not in session today. However, I do believe you can still be "schooled"
The payment is a mere pittance. MM owns most of the stalls in Boston, are you really that naive to believe the treaty is how they make most of their money?
Seriously?

I understand you have recently parted ways with the world of Salem into deaths open arms due to the tribe, but to run around ranting anti MM in every little harmless post just make you look pathetic.
And to that I say good day sir.

User was banned for:
•Ban evasion (Realak)
If you wish to discuss this moderation do so in this thread: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=262 or send a PM to staxjax.

[FutureForJames]

(...)
As for comparing yourself to a government, you're more accurately defined as a protection racket. You're specifically making people pay you under the threat of violence or property damage.

I don't know if it was just a reflex to assume/post as if I were in any way positively associated with MM Tribe: but I am not, I don't even play in the same server.

I do agree with that there is a merit with comparing the MM system to a protection racket, but I believe that the value of their ranger services in itself is enough to justify the cost, which is why I compared them to a government.

[Procne]

I don't think he meant profit in silver. But profit in power and information. MM tribe cannot control everyone on the server unless those people willingly (by paying the treaty) submit.

[Cavern_Lurker]

I don't think he meant profit in silver. But profit in power and information. MM tribe cannot control everyone on the server unless those people willingly (by paying the treaty) submit.

Because MM was not full of power and information before the treaty?
You are delusional.

[FutureForJames]

I don't think he meant profit in silver. But profit in power and information. MM tribe cannot control everyone on the server unless those people willingly (by paying the treaty) submit.

Because MM was not full of power and information before the treaty?
You are delusional.

I disagree. While MM seems to have had plenty of power and information before the treaty, having a lot of extra eyes in different locations all over Plymouth would indeed help them on the information front.

[ameba]

"schooled"

=brainwashed
In that sense it's obvious you're more than well "educated".

The payment is a mere pittance. MM owns most of the stalls in Boston, are you really that naive to believe the treaty is how they make most of their money?

However, that "education" did not encompass the "Understanding of the Written Text" lesson. I never said what you claim I said.
Although, they're still making profit from the Treaty Tax. Or are you claiming otherwise?

but to run around ranting anti MM in every little harmless post just make you look pathetic.

Read the title of the thread. If you got the literacy skill.

To sum it up, every pilgrim has a choice. Pay the Tribe, or play the hide&seek with them. Pay or play, it's that easy. I find the latter more appealing.
I don't say MM tribe is necessarily evil. It's just that I couldn't stand being in the same group with fellow braves such as this one I quoted above. Difference in personalities, I guess.
But that has nothing to do with taxes. Or as they're officially called Free Merchants of Plymouth Raider Insurance. I believe I have no need for the insurance. And each of you should ask yourself a question: would you IRL buy a life insurance package if the salesman knocked on your doors and threatened you with bad things if you don't buy it?

[Procne]

Because MM was not full of power and information before the treaty?
You are delusional.

It wasn't and it isn't. It may be the strongest faction on the server but still it doesn't know where everyone lives. Especially fresh players. Or me. Why else would MM create the treaty?

edit: Currently, for new players it would be the best to live under the radar. Once (if) they are found by MM tribe they can make their decision - either pay and live under MM rule and obey them in every word, or move to somewhere else, or refuse to pay and be destroyed. I see no profit in paying MM beforehand.

[Mushibag]

just make you look pathetic.

User was banned for:
•Ban evasion (Realak)

lolled

As for the OP, if you really want to see if you'd fit in to joining the tribe, you should hop in their Vent some time, and see how you like it. I think it would take a "special" personality to be able to play with them.

Edit: Also, this: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1913&start=30