What does "wreckage from station and modules destroyed in minerals and gases" mean?

tell me where youve left some undefended modules and i will happily demonstrate. 

Also, there is a reasonable risk involved in being a pirate, its not all taking candy from a baby. A lot of the planets now are well defended, Ive even been reduced to ferrying passengers around to pay for some upgrades. although they will have a tale to tell their grandchildren, i really should charge them more.

If a planet or facility is well defended then it is not easy to loot. Not witht he fortification bonus.

With the proposed changes it would mean you could reduce your potential losses by picking up your resources regularly. But i think most of the folks whose stuff ive raized to the ground would agree they would have rather i just taken the resources they had on hand than loose all the modules.

But be warned, Piracy aint all sitting around drinking Rum...It can be bloody hard work.

I'm a lazy SOB - unless that hard work gets me more loot than other activities that require similar effort, why bother?

Sometimes i ask meself that very question. But Im a sucker for a pointy hat with a big feather in it!

So your mommy loves you, but otherwise your a bad egg, a scoundrel, a ner do well cad.

Then you sound like prime pirate material. But be warned, Piracy aint all sitting around drinking Rum, and chatting up the barmaids/barmen/donkeys (were not fussed about you leanings) It can be bloody hard work. Get a name for yourself and everyones going to be out to get you. So here is a little guide and some tips to get you started.

First things first, You really should finish that SEA course. They might all be a bunch of stuck up control freaks in the SEA, but the trainings second to none, and they do offer some pretty good incentives. Their Iridium armour will save your bacon, and that laser will be mighty persuasive when 'discussing' issues with your fans, but the primary reason is the second ship.

It might be worth considering not actually finishing the SEA course until your newbie protection expires, Run some missions in SOL, upgrade your FTL and WHG, perhapes do some interstellar missions, get some cash together, it will help you equip your ship. Heck you could even give mining with the MIF they had you buy and your mini station a go, just so you know what you wont be missing later on. All your modules will be safe from attack for 7 days, perhapes use this time to create some SLB's and kick start your research.

Once your done with the SEA, Do not under any circumstances sell either of your ships, but you can get rid of that pesky station they had you build. As a pirate youll want to be mobile, settling down is for when you retire.

Equip the bigger ship for raiding, Its up to you how to go about it, wether you fancy the hand to hand of marine combat, or prefer a viper / laser combo. Youll want that armour, and perhapes some shields. and a bit of cargo space to carry all the loot. Forget about carrying Miners or harvesters thats just a waste of space. If you go with marines then you will likely capture more hostages in your raiding. This is good for restocking the civs on your ship, but they do take up a lot of valuable cargo space.

The second ship youll want to fill with a bunch of them tech'o guys doing research for you, before long theyll have figured out how that laser works and youll be able to make a bunch of them. So park the ship somewhere nice and safe, Earth has allways been good, or one of those new fangled safe spots, and let them do whatever it is they do, just make sure they isnt looking into how to build a better miner.

When it comes to actually geting in a dust up, be carefull, dont just rely on the odds your combat analysis computer spits out, you will want to make sure youve taken a good look at what the other guy has installed. And dont let him slip some extra backup into orbit before you open fire.

Now get out there and raid a bit. Theres allways someone running passengers around SOL that has fallen asleep at the helm. Or have a go at a lightly defended planet/moon, Make a bit of a name for yourself. Dont overlook heading out a bit further, there are some strange folks out there colonists they call themselves that will happily pay you to take them out to a system, which you can then raid in, before return back to earth to sell the spoils.

When it comes to actually deciding what to attack you probably want to concentrate on some easy targets to start with. Use the Loot and Plunder option against a planet that has no station in orbit. You will want to avoid large stations, even medium sized ships can pose unexpectedly difficult challenges. Its not possible to know exactly what a captain has installed in their ship, but the power output should allow you to get some sort of feel for it. Remember that marines get a substantial defence bonus when fighting on a stationary object.

As a pirate you should think about your future, It may seem like a nice short term gain to loot a module then destroy/capture it for the minerals or resale value, but if you leave it there then you will be able to come back time and time again... besides the owner will be less likely to go into turtle defence mode and start heavily protecting all their stuff. You will be able to shop around, raid the planets mining the minerals that you need at the moment for weapons upgrades, or armour repairs. or those with high resale values. using the others as fueling stations.

If you do find a high tech module then a capture attack can make a lot of sense, use a marines bassed attack to maximise your chance of a successfull capture. and potentially obtain a few crew members in the bargain. The other time a capture attack could be considered is when a surface module has removed all of the assigned resource, although personally i find the space requirements of a low level module make it un-economical unless you are close to SOL.

But remember if you want to be truely feared, despised, hunted, and perhapes even celebrated then youll want to fly the skull and cross bones in your ships ID. So join up with [OX] every new member gets a big fluffy feather to put in their hat.

Sounds good. a few Comments.

If Im a joe shmoe working on some mining station and a bunch of pirates show up in orbit and attack only the marines defending me while broadcasting a message that says eject the cargo and we leave you alone, then im pretty likely to eject all the cargo for them to scoop up, in the hopes ill live. However, if they start shooting at everything. then Im likely to defend myself for a while before trying to sneak away from the module in my space suit before the whole place gets destroyed.

So.

Perhapes on the loot & plunder attack just have the military units fight? That way only they will take the casualties, if they are defeated then the civilians surrender, and the attacker can loot the resources. The defender then only needs to replace marines in the military units to be back to full strength. There could perhapes still be a chance that a military module does get destroyed, especially if the attack was overwealming, and id expect that not all marines get killed before they surrender, so that after the raid they can regroup and the planet/station is not totally defenceless untill new marines arrive.

Im not so interested in taking (more) prisoners. They take up way too much cargo space compared to their value as it is. Unless we can convert them to fuel, which is i guess kind of immorral  Id rather not capture more prisoners on a loot and plunder attack, id actually prefer less.  However i do think that people out to capture modules would normally be more interested in taking prisoners, so that they can then use them to crew the new module.

The fortification bonus of 5 when defnding against a capture / destroy attack wil likely make it necessary to attack with multiple ships against a single target during a player war. where destruction is the main goal, Which seems like a good thing. it might even help slow down the pace of a war somewhat. although i guess people will still be vulnerable to a QP aided Blitzkreig.

i hope to see you all out in space.

Really? You might regret saying that, but rest assured the lads and i are allready looking foward to seeing you.

Aye,

You could be onto something there. Here i was thinking that some squab was stealling it, but if its due to some technical fault as you say then i can rest assured that my crew is all solid.

Aye,

Its an Idea worth talking about.

The lads and I are really only interested in one thing, Getting enough money together to pay for our Rum. Were not into destruction just for the sake of it.

If we had the option to just loot a settlement instead of destroy it, well we most likely take it up. After all if we dont destroy it then it will be there to loot again later.

If we do loot the station/planet/ship then id expect that we get access to the specific goods that are being mined/stored there. rather than the minerals that go into making its modules.

Perhapes the dirtsiders could even have the option to surrender earlier than when theyve taken full damage if the attacker is using a looting focused attack, Sort of allows the owner to say that they will accept the occasional loss of the goods so long as they dont loose all their modules. Id expect there will be a few die hards that would also like to say they never surrender... well so be it.

Id still like to be able to capture a module every now and then though, especially those nice high mark versions that we simply cant build ourselves. So we wouldnt want to see that option dissappear.

I reckon this could be a win-win for both sides if done right.

A'right.

Im the captain of the Wraith. The lads and I have been working hard for the little guy. We noticed that the whole quadrant seemed to be cluttered up with the relics left over from the first great expansion, so weve been clearing them away for you. Lots of planets and moons have now been freed up for ya colonisation. Its thirst work so youll excuse us if we have a bit of R&R

Ah yes, and you know occasionally we can get a bit carried away, if we 'accidentally' reclaimed a working station or two im sure youll all agree that it is a small price to pay for the greater good.



(Out of Character : ooc

Remember this is a GAME, its supposed to be fun, and frankly it wouldnt be half so much fun without a few bad eggs now would it

)

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me.
We pillage plunder, we rifle and loot.
Drink up me 'earties, yo ho.
We kidnap and ravage and don't give a hoot.
Drink up me 'earties, yo ho.

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me.
We extort and pilfer, we filch and sack.
Drink up me 'earties, yo ho.
Maraud and embezzle and even highjack.
Drink up me 'earties, yo ho.

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me.
We kindle and char and in flame and ignite.
Drink up me 'earties, yo ho.
We burn up the city, we're really a fright.
Drink up me 'earties, yo ho.

We're rascals and scoundrels, we're villians and knaves.
Drink up me 'earties, yo ho.
We're devils and black sheep, we're really bad eggs.
Drink up me 'earties, yo ho.

We're beggars and blighters and ne'er do-well cads,
Drink up me 'earties, yo ho.
Aye, but we're loved by our mommies and dads,
Drink up me 'earties, yo ho.
Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me.