Sick of hearing "Piracy is too hard and yields poor profits"... what's new?

[kvmetternich]

I disagree with the OP. Piracy is the natural "counter" to trading gameplay. Trading without piracy (from both AI and CMDRs ) is really TOO MUCH profitable and safe compared to others professions. "Good and Evil forms a cosmic equilibrium", if you know what i mean.
And, last but not least, piracy has is own historical and romantic flavour.

 

[HectorW]

Piracy has always been extremely lucrative in reality. No reason it shouldn't be in ED.

True , but for very very few, and not for long.
and always you need vibrant trade for pirates to operate, so yes by all means make piracy very lucrative but much more dangerous (now danger for "pirate" is no existent). I mean 99% of current "pirates" should be unable to operate because of competent security forces and other mechanics. Most of them are not pirates anyway, just douchebags getting satisfaction from ruining other Cmdr game.

 

[kapitankev]

Piracy has always been and will always be a case of "Oh look how much money I've got, but I've got nowhere to spend it".

The way the game is right now, the income is low, but so are the consequences. If you want higher income and profit, then you can be damn sure you can expect much harsher consequences for pirating. None of this... "oh look, I've made 500k off those three hijackings, I'll just pay my 25,000 credit bounty and I'm done".

You have a deep misunderstanding about what piracy is. There's no code of honour that dictates a pirate should keep his bounty, it would be counter productive. The vast majority of pirates I see fly cobras, not the kind of ship you can survive long in with a bounty on your head. I'd wager the folks with million Cr bounties have far more substantial ships. Personally I find piracy difficult and barely profitable, however it is great fun.

The consequences for piracy should be stiffer though, higher bounties that can't be paid off but must be worked off, temporary docking ban at major systems......on the other hand they need to sort out NPC cargo and hatch breakers.

 

[Quineloe]

You're missing the point, people do take their rares all the way to lave or other systems nearby...you just need to hang about near a nav beacon and sooner or later you'll come across some. It's not that rare at all.

ok, what percentage of traders you interdict actually have distant rares and what percentage of them have local rares?

And yeah if I am missing the point, it's because you are using language wrong. You said station, now it's nav beacon.

The vast majority of pirates I see fly cobras, not the kind of ship you can survive long in with a bounty on your head.

Haha ok disregard the rest of my post, you are not a pirate. You have no experience with piracy, or probably this game. Cobra hard to survive in, my sides, my sides!

 

[Hitsuke]

You have a deep misunderstanding about what piracy is. There's no code of honour that dictates a pirate should keep his bounty, it would be counter productive. The vast majority of pirates I see fly cobras, not the kind of ship you can survive long in with a bounty on your head. I'd wager the folks with million Cr bounties have far more substantial ships. Personally I find piracy difficult and barely profitable, however it is great fun.

The consequences for piracy should be stiffer though, higher bounties that can't be paid off but must be worked off, temporary docking ban at major systems......on the other hand they need to sort out NPC cargo and hatch breakers.

So you're one of the griefers I'm talking about then. You AREN'T a pirate, don't fool yourself into thinking that you are either. You're a wannabe badass who wants to look tough by holding up haulers, but you don't want to run the risk of being hunted by higher skilled players if you keep the bounty.

Your suggestions sound good, but I HIGHLY doubt you and 90% of the current "Pirates" will continue with that playstyle if they were implemented... because that would be tough, and you guys like to feel badass without any risk involved.

Commit crime, profit, pay bounties, continue day job... no consequences.

 

[Narius Cen]

Can't have profitable piracy if serious piracy targets can defend simply by not playing in the same world. ED just isn't geared towards piracy.

 

[dsL]

aka pirates in ED are noobs that crying about nerfing trading.... nothing new
L2P
btw it's about solo trading, that's problem.

 

[uberdude]

aka pirates in ED are noobs that crying about nerfing trading.... nothing new
L2P
btw it's about solo trading, that's problem.

How is solo trading a problem? I trade in solo and have zero problems.

 

[kapitankev]

ok, what percentage of traders you interdict actually have distant rares and what percentage of them have local rares?

And yeah if I am missing the point, it's because you are using language wrong. You said station, now it's nav beacon.






Haha ok disregard the rest of my post, you are not a pirate. You have no experience with piracy, or probably this game. Cobra hard to survive in, my sides, my sides!

ok the reason I mentioned scanning ships entering lave station was to show you plenty of people are bringing distant rares there or to the other main rare systems around there, leesti etc....the trick is to just catch them at the nav point rather than at the station end. No one is suggesting you attack people as they leave the station....although I have had success with this a couple of times.

If you read my post again the point I'm making about cobras is this....while it's a fine ship there are plenty of larger ships about...clippers for example....roaming about in a cobra with a 500k bounty on your head isn't a smart move and I'd wager the players you see on the top bounty list aren't in cobras/vipers or any of the lower to mid range ships.

tbh you should just go try finding and pirating some distant rares rather than basing your opinion on videos you've watched online.

 

[Derath]

So you're one of the griefers I'm talking about then. You AREN'T a pirate, don't fool yourself into thinking that you are either. You're a wannabe badass who wants to look tough by holding up haulers, but you don't want to run the risk of being hunted by higher skilled players if you keep the bounty.

Your suggestions sound good, but I HIGHLY doubt you and 90% of the current "Pirates" will continue with that playstyle if they were implemented... because that would be tough, and you guys like to feel badass without any risk involved.

Commit crime, profit, pay bounties, continue day job... no consequences.

If they feel like badasses for avoiding bounties, fighting people who have no chance of victory and flying a cobra... they are using their imaginations, because that is the only realm that they are badasses in lol

On the opposite side of the offence, if you are not in a cobra, engage with piracy properly and don't wipe your bounty the earnings are still currently too low in comparison to a very care free profession, I think all the pirates would take quality of life changes over genuine income buffs, scooping is extremely tedious for example anything that improved that be it general scoop changes or outfitting new components to help with it would be great. I don't think the actual income needs a change, just the worst elements.

Oh and they are unless they change it pretty much going to kill it off in 1.2 so the whole threads probably going to get ignored when many of the none forum visiting pirates learn what the new mechanics are like.

Edit: When the min/max for profits on trading were ~ 400cr/t the traders complained heavily that their profits were poor, and that was in something that was extremely easy the difference is FD actually did something about that lol, can you really blame the pirates for hoping changes are made in their direction?

 

[Quineloe]

Cobra is faster than the Clipper.

If you're getting killed in a Cobra by a Clipper, you played poorly.

 

[Hitsuke]

If they feel like badasses for avoiding bounties, fighting people who have no chance of victory and flying a cobra... they are using their imaginations, because that is the only realm that they are badasses in lol

This is true Derath. BTW, none of this is aimed at players like yourself, who do your best to avoid exploiting and utilising mollycoddling game mechanics. It's the self-titled pirates who pay off fines & bounties every time they dock who boil my blood...

They remind of those real life criminals. The ones who try crime for the first time, and think it's easy. Then, when they get caught by the Police, they start crying (Literally crying) and beg for the Police to go easy on them "I've only done it once, please don't send me to prison, I won't last five minutes in there".

 

[reverendK]

i would like to see FD really punish people for getting bounties. You shouldn't be able to pay them off. you shouldn't be able to dock anywhere in the jurisdiction without the station itself blowing you up. NPC feds and bounty hunters should ACTIVELY HUNT YOU - not just shoot you if they happen to be around. and if your bounty exceeds 1-10 mil your locatio should be broadcast to bounty hunters in 5-20ly range.

and you shouldn't be able to jump in a sidey and lower your insurance. if you're a WANTED criminal you should have to pay something to get your ships out of storage - call it impounding. 2.5% or something of ALL your stored assets should be included in your buyback if you croak while wanted.

of course, that would mean nobody would EVER want a bounty of their head unless pirating and smuggling were worth doing.
which they're not.

 

[kapitankev]

So you're one of the griefers I'm talking about then. You AREN'T a pirate, don't fool yourself into thinking that you are either. You're a wannabe badass who wants to look tough by holding up haulers, but you don't want to run the risk of being hunted by higher skilled players if you keep the bounty.

Your suggestions sound good, but I HIGHLY doubt you and 90% of the current "Pirates" will continue with that playstyle if they were implemented... because that would be tough, and you guys like to feel badass without any risk involved.

Commit crime, profit, pay bounties, continue day job... no consequences.

You've just illustrated your lack of understanding again with a dose of projection thrown in for good measure.

Why would I want to get hunted down by bounty hunters? I get killed enough as it is thanks, I had a viper kill me earlier today as it goes while I was scooping up some stolen gold. no hard feelings, I should've been on my toes and had my ship outfitted properly.

Attacking tougher targets wouldn't be procuctive would it? why on earth would I do that? You're mistaking practicality for cowardice.

However just incase you're still feeling angry about "badass" pirates like me here's a reminder of why we do it:

1 - it's fun
2 - it's fun
3 - it's fun

Honestly it's really is FUN! Esp when you're hunting in a pack, repeatedly interdicting some poor bloke in an Adder. One of us will interdict him, he'll run take a bit of damage. As soon as he jumps back to SC my buddy is waiting right on his wake cloud to interdict him again! It's just a shame the hatch breakers don't work better, if they did peoples ships would take less damage all around. The interdiction damage I can sustain would make your eyes water!

 

[Quineloe]

I had a viper kill me earlier today as it goes while I was scooping up some stolen gold!

Really, a viper? Were you pirating in a sidewinder?

 

[kapitankev]

Cobra is faster than the Clipper.

If you're getting killed in a Cobra by a Clipper, you played poorly.

Do you know what? I've never actually gone up against a player in a clipper yet, I Assume they're armed and sheilded to the max so I just plain avoid them. Have you fought a clipper whilst in a cobra/viper? Maybe I'll give it a shot, my balance can take the rebuy cost.

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Really, a viper? Were you pirating in a sidewinder?

oh dear, there's a lot of testosterone on this thread.

 

[Quineloe]

Do tell, what ship did you die to a Viper with?

 

[Hitsuke]

You've just illustrated your lack of understanding again with a dose of projection thrown in for good measure.

Why would I want to get hunted down by bounty hunters? I get killed enough as it is thanks, I had a viper kill me earlier today as it goes while I was scooping up some stolen gold. no hard feelings, I should've been on my toes and had my ship outfitted properly.

Attacking tougher targets wouldn't be procuctive would it? why on earth would I do that? You're mistaking practicality for cowardice.

However just incase you're still feeling angry about "badass" pirates like me here's a reminder of why we do it:

1 - it's fun
2 - it's fun
3 - it's fun

Honestly it's really is FUN! Esp when you're hunting in a pack, repeatedly interdicting some poor bloke in an Adder. One of us will interdict him, he'll run take a bit of damage. As soon as he jumps back to SC my buddy is waiting right on his wake cloud to interdict him again! It's just a shame the hatch breakers don't work better, if they did peoples ships would take less damage all around. The interdiction damage I can sustain would make your eyes water!

Like I said, you're not a pirate, you're a griefer. It also IS cowardice... you want to grief the guy in the Adder, but you don't want the guy in the Viper to come looking for your bounty. You want to commit crime, free of consequence... poor game mechanics allow it, but that doesn't mean you should act like a raging screamer.

This is why they NEED to bring in mechanics that genuinely punish players for even lame acts of Piracy like you commit. It wouldn't affect players like Derath at all, because they play the role well and accept any consequences that go along with it.

 

[kapitankev]

re-read the thread

 

[uberdude]

Do you know what? I've never actually gone up against a player in a clipper yet, I Assume they're armed and sheilded to the max so I just plain avoid them. Have you fought a clipper whilst in a cobra/viper? Maybe I'll give it a shot, my balance can take the rebuy cost.

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oh dear, there's a lot of testosterone on this thread.

Would be an interesting fight. If the clipper pilot knows what he's doing. If he has all gimballed then you just keep spamming chaff and all he can do is sit there and get shot at. If he's a PVPer he'll have 1 set of gimballed and the other straight fire. No real reason for turrets since the clipper can turn on a dime.

Oh and IIRC my clipper with A6 thrusters would boost to 430 - 440. Not sure how well a cobra is going to outrun that.