A new devlog entry has announced that the amount of points Pirates get for capturing a port will increase from four to five as part of changes to the Conquest system in Milestone 14. Also, the raided state that occurs when Pirates when a port battle will now last for 96 hours instead of 48 hours.

"Overall these changes should help to make Pirates more relevant in RvR, and increase the effects they can have on other nations," Lum said in the post. The purpose of these changes is to give Pirates a little breathing room if they lose a port battle and make it so they don't have to be constantly attacking ports.

You can read the full devlog here or below.

The Pirate nation has a unique place in the Conquest system in PotBS. Their ports can’t be permanently controlled by another nation, but they also can’t keep any ports they conquer. Because of this, Pirates accumulate points towards a server victory in a slightly different manner than nationals do.

As part of M14, we’re increasing the amount of points that Pirates get for capturing a port from four to five. I’ll go over some of the reasoning behind this.

Currently, Pirates get four points every time they Raid a port, while Nationals get 10. This means that for a Pirate to keep pace with Nationals, they have to win three port battles in order to get the same amount of points. Since every nation can only attack three ports at a time, this means that Pirates would always have to have their maximum amount of attacking ports at all times, and then they have to win all of those battles. When we increase those capture points from four to five, Pirates only have to win two battles to keep up with the Nationals. This means they don’t always have to be attacking ports and gives them a little breathing room if they lose a port battle.

The second change we’re making this milestone has to do with what happens to a port when Pirates captures it. When Pirates win a port battle for control of a port, the port goes into the Raided state. During the Raided state, no unrest can be generated at that port, and a pirate PvP circle forms around the port for the duration. The same is true when a National attacks and conquers a Pirate port.

Currently this Raided state lasts for 48 hours, after which a port goes into Martial Law for an additional 48 hours. We’re increasing the Raided timer from 48 to 96 hours, meaning a port will stay Raided until it returns to a peaceful state at the end of 96 hours. This means the Pirate PvP circle will stay around longer, and there will be less time where the port is “safe.” Pirates will be able to target a specific port, and keep it hostile longer. They still have to win port battles, a task that can be very challenging for the Pirate nation.

Overall these changes should help to make Pirates more relevant in RvR, and increase the effects they can have on other nations.