Newcomer / Intro Where are those pesky pirates?

[Elorius]

Finally bought the game and love it so far. I have been flying around a little doing courier work and some very minor trading in the starter sidewinder.

I decided that I want to try some fighting and accepted a mission to kill two pirate vessels in the Alrai sector KH-V B2-1. This is an anarchy sector that as far as I can tell only consists of a sun and nothing else. I have now been flying around there for hours and except for an initial communication where they offered me money to turn against my employers I haven't spotted any pirates at all. Lots of other signals detected but those have been ongoing battles, illegal salvage, the odd hauler (what are they doing there?) and ships that seemed legit with no sign wanted status.

My questions is, does pirates show up as wanted on scans when I'm in an anarchy system?

Is there anything I can do to find them, rather than flying around aimlessly in space?

If I do find a pirate and are so far from the star that it is considered deep space and not in the system, will it still count as a kill towards my mission?.

I sort of plan to buy some valuables and fly around with to see if that brings out any pirates. Is that a viable plan or does a full cargo hold affect the maneuverability of my unmodified starter Sidewinder too much?

 

[Dommarraa]

In an Anarchy system, nobody shows as wanted (with the odd wierd exception). A KWS Scanner will help you see if they have bounties, which is a good sign, but not guaranteed.
Anyone who asks what you are carrying, is a Pirate. If you carry any cargo, any Pirate will attack you.

Flying about is bad. Sit at 0% throttle anywhere in the system, and wait for them to come to you. DO NOT go into SSS (Strong Signal Sources), you will die. WSS will have cargo but no Pirates, USS is where you will find them.

 

[Elorius]

Thank you!

I'll try that out.

 

[Kr4ftw3rk]

What I do Elorius is I'll buy 1 unit of gold and put it in my cargo hold (this aids in enticing any pirates to fire on me after I get scanned... a lot of times - if you don't have anything in your cargo hold the pirates will just scan and then leave). Then I go to the designated mission system, set throttle to 75%, and while cruising to the furthest object in the system (or to another mission objective) I'll be monitoring the left panel for any WSS, USS, and SSS. It's real easy to unknowingly fly by the signals, especially if you're cruising too fast. They don't always appear in front of you.

As Dommarraa mentioned, WSS are usually for dropped cargo/loot missions, USS are basically for finding pirates and completing assassination missions or updating a previous contract, and SSS are usually traps or other large convoys flying around.

Also, if you're trying to rank up (Empire or Federal), and you're asked to kill pirates in the system you're ranking up in... check who the pirates are associated with first. You don't want to kill those who are associated with the entity you're trying to become allied with.

 

[Dommarraa]

Then don't fly at 75%. Signals appear randomly in time, not in space, so travelling does not increase the number that you see. They appear at a suitable distance from you to be able to slow down, so the faster you are going the longer it will take you to slow down.
When you at 0%, as soon as they appear, you can point at them and disengage

 

[Kr4ftw3rk]

Then don't fly at 75%. Signals appear randomly in time, not in space, so travelling does not increase the number that you see. They appear at a suitable distance from you to be able to slow down, so the faster you are going the longer it will take you to slow down.
When you at 0%, as soon as they appear, you can point at them and disengage

I didn't say 'traveling' in space increases the number of signals. Many times I'll be tasked with several missions in the same system. 1) pick up dropped loot (WSS) 2) deliver cargo to a station 3) assassination mission (USS), all in the same system. So instead of speeding to the delivery point I'll set my speed to 75% (sometimes slower) so as to give myself time to spot those 'randomly' timed instances. Otherwise they may appear and I'll have missed them because they appeared at an angle where I didn't/couldn't see them through the cockpit view so I found myself constantly going back and forth from center view to the left panel and back. Now, I just set my course at 75% (or slower) and maintain my view on the left panel and wait for the signals to show up on the list. It works for me and have been able to rank up quicker, but only because of multi tasking missions and spotting the signals as soon as they appear.

There is no way I'm going to sit there at 0 speed waiting for a signal(s) to 'randomly' show up... I'd rather be a little more productive than that. Like you said the faster one goes the longer it takes to slow down, which is another reason I'll travel at 75% (or slower). As soon as I spot a signal I don't have to worry about overshooting it. The only downside so far (depending on how you look at it) is I seem to get interdicted more often. Could be just a coincidence.