How to be a Pirate

[Scion]

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.

[aTraveller]

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?

[Bomale]

  NOoooooooooo, not a school for pirate.

  I love pirates, especially while Jack Sparrow.
  For others, it is better not to see has come out of the schools.

[Scion]

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!

[SirEmi]

            

[Heretic]

You know the game is gonna be fun when the admin himself starts to spam action packed Emoji 

[Sheb]

Actually it works pretty well: space stations are immobile and not as well armed as a pirate ship. And a pirate has nothing to loose but his ship.

[Jaqvaar]

not even his ship, Sheb. This game is designed so that whenever someone makes the mistake of investing on an immobile target (such as a mine or orbital station), the pirate can attack with no risk at all, as many times as he wants, until he eventually wins. There is nothing the base can do except have a huge and expensive ship move it away. The pirate however can move as he pleases, and find a different base to pick on.

The fact that there are no repercussions or risks whatsoever for piracy, as well as the fact that there is no other profit-making mechanism in the game, means that it's safer and more profitable to just attack anyone than try and plan, build, expand or explore.

Scion himself is a living proof of that: 0 skill, 0 investment, 0 effort, 0 risk. Just random attacks. Worse case scenario, he jumps away from the planet, big deal. Click on the target again. Repeat until successful.

Piracy would be a welcome addition to a vibrant economy, with rich corporations that could afford bounty-hunters and mercenary wingmen, and risks but also big profits for the pirates living on the edge. The merchants would have big profits, and a lot to lose, and therefore might invest in counter-measures. The pirates would weigh their options. Right now, it's nothing more than cyber-griefing.

Bullying in the school playground is not piracy.

[Tumppi]

well pirates also gain some minerals... this is how my cargobay was when i got back to sol...

i also have 8x Atmospheric harvester and 2x Mining facility... captured

[Scion]

not even his ship, Sheb. This game is designed so that whenever someone makes the mistake of investing on an immobile target (such as a mine or orbital station), the pirate can attack with no risk at all, as many times as he wants, until he eventually wins. There is nothing the base can do except have a huge and expensive ship move it away. The pirate however can move as he pleases, and find a different base to pick on.

The fact that there are no repercussions or risks whatsoever for piracy, as well as the fact that there is no other profit-making mechanism in the game, means that it's safer and more profitable to just attack anyone than try and plan, build, expand or explore.

OOC:

I agree with you Jaqvaar that the game as it stands makes it too easy for a pirate to destroy the work of others. That was why i was fully behind Bomales suggestion to modify things so that modules could be plunderd rather than destroyed. If i read a recent post from Sir Emi, then that suggestion is being implemented right now. There are also not that many ingame repercussions or risks, your right. Its impossible to track someone in game. Even if you could track people the game space is chock full of safe zones where you cannot attack. I would love the challenge of evading a tracker, or playing cat and mouse with a bounty hunter. However dont forget that the same technology should be available to us pirates... I would love to track down a nice big fat transport ship and plunder it.

On one point however you are wrong. Piracy is not some golden lotto ticket that leads to untold riches. Actually besides returning a poor profit its also self defeating. If i successfully raid in a system, then that system will be no good for raiding again for a good while. Even if i do have a successfull raid, then the return is pretty small. We get around a 10-20% return on the minerals used to manufacture a module. Sure if i attack a single or a small group of undefended modules on a planet then the risk reward for that particular attack is weighted in my favour. However the defendant either gives up completely, or learns to fortify their modules, there are plenty of lanetary instalations out there that i am unwilling to attack because the risk of damage to my ship is too high.

Regarding other profit making options. From what i gather, NPC pirate hunting turns a good profit, when you can get the jobs. Mining minerals must also be very profitable, because there are plenty of people doing that that are climping the top ranked players much faster than me...and my ships are laid out for combat, not economics, so other than me shutting down a few weapons all of my invested power is on display in that list.

Scion himself is a living proof of that: 0 skill, 0 investment, 0 effort, 0 risk. Just random attacks. Worse case scenario, he jumps away from the planet, big deal. Click on the target again. Repeat until successful.

Thats a little unfair. Just because the current system doesnt allow me to demonstrate my true abbilities... Im still here playing, that represents a reasonable investment in time, does it not? I deffinately dont consider myself a griefer either. I raided a few of your planets, thats true, we had a few games of cat and mouse on some others, but then i move on and looked to other players. I could have just continued to target your planets... but i didnt. I also try to be fairly egalitarian with the noobies. I may hit them a few times, but i dont keep going back over and over. Unfortunately you and a few of the other top ranked players in the game currently make 'big targets'... I imagine you have to deal with others besides me. Just one of the downsides of being at the top of a small heap.

Piracy would be a welcome addition to a vibrant economy, with rich corporations that could afford bounty-hunters and mercenary wingmen, and risks but also big profits for the pirates living on the edge. The merchants would have big profits, and a lot to lose, and therefore might invest in counter-measures. The pirates would weigh their options.

That would be cool wouldnt it... perhapes sirEmi will eventually get us there.