Is pirating and smuggling worth it?
- Thread starter jockmcplop
- Start date
So I haven't tried pirating yet....never used an interdicter.....what is the normal process? Get an interdicter and snatch ships than shoot out their cargo latch? I have a vulture and have been having my way at RES and combat zones. Getting a little bored. When you interdict a NPC do you have to destroy it? I stopped at a USS last night and found an unfactioned clean T9. I thought, what the heck so I started firing on it thinking it would drop cargo. Well it didn't and I destroyed it....actually murdered it. Got fined and had to go pay it off.....not a very productive encounter. So when you pirate what exactly do you need to outfit your ship? Right now I have it outfited for combat and it is pretty much unstoppable....
- - - Updated - - -
In the combat zones do they carry cargo?
- - - Updated - - -
In the combat zones do they carry cargo?
Deleted member 38366
D
-- Deleted --
Last edited by a moderator:
Pick the right systems and they'll drop gold and palladium ... hit the smugglers and you'll get battleweapons and slaves.
Haven't really tried if it's actually profitable since I'd have to swap from by BH loadout to something with cargospace ...
- - - Updated - - -
You need to target the cargo hatch or use limpets, probably will still end up destroying a lot of them since many won't stop attacking you ...
I've never seen them drop cargo, probably not.
Piracy for beginner players is seriously hard work. very rarely will you get high priced goods, so even without deaths breaking even is pretty challenging. Bounty hunters are a real threat as your ships have flimsy shields and poor masslock factors, so when escaping you rely on pure speed. Even when you strike it big, your very small cargo space will only allow for a small booty. Multipurpose ships fitted for trading, but with guns, are a considerable threat (ie trader Cobra with 4 gimballed pulses against an eagle without chaff is almost impossible)
Piracy with a high end ship however is very easy. The strong shields allow high waking out even if you get masslocked. Your large cargo hold will allow you to take 30t or more, which even with a basic 6k commodity is almost 150k. You masslock everything, so you don't care if they submit or not. Your targets have a far higher insurance rebuy, so they're far more likely to surrender some cargo. When comparing rare pirating vs Cobras, Type 6s and Asps with pirating Type 7s, Pythons and Type 9s, the latter will almost always give cargo up without even forcing you to shoot. When pirating rare traders however, it is extremely rare for them to give up any cargo at all without being forced to.
Another advantage of big ships is their longer range. If you pirate in a Viper, as I'm trying right now, your jump range is a bit of a joke and you'll find yourself forced to sell where you are, as there may not be an Anarchy system within your range, adding more risk, unless there's an off-faction station in your system with a black market.
As for upcoming changes, scoop drones will only benefit big ships. Small ships won't have the capacity for this.
It's pretty much the exact opposite of what you'd expect, piracy starts out really, really hard (in a sidewinder for a new player it's probably impossible), and becomes pretty much trivial in the late game.
Making money in the Viper is actually possible, but the entry fee is at least 1 million credits.
Piracy with a high end ship however is very easy. The strong shields allow high waking out even if you get masslocked. Your large cargo hold will allow you to take 30t or more, which even with a basic 6k commodity is almost 150k. You masslock everything, so you don't care if they submit or not. Your targets have a far higher insurance rebuy, so they're far more likely to surrender some cargo. When comparing rare pirating vs Cobras, Type 6s and Asps with pirating Type 7s, Pythons and Type 9s, the latter will almost always give cargo up without even forcing you to shoot. When pirating rare traders however, it is extremely rare for them to give up any cargo at all without being forced to.
Another advantage of big ships is their longer range. If you pirate in a Viper, as I'm trying right now, your jump range is a bit of a joke and you'll find yourself forced to sell where you are, as there may not be an Anarchy system within your range, adding more risk, unless there's an off-faction station in your system with a black market.
As for upcoming changes, scoop drones will only benefit big ships. Small ships won't have the capacity for this.
It's pretty much the exact opposite of what you'd expect, piracy starts out really, really hard (in a sidewinder for a new player it's probably impossible), and becomes pretty much trivial in the late game.
Making money in the Viper is actually possible, but the entry fee is at least 1 million credits.
Last edited:
I make ~500k cr an hour in a cobra.
Is that considered bad or just average for a pirate?
This is just in normal busy high tech systems.
Is that considered bad or just average for a pirate?
This is just in normal busy high tech systems.
Last edited:
That's probably fairly well for a cobra, how do you get targets you don't masslock to drop stuff?
Smuggling needs a serious overhaul.
At a minimum a distinction should be made between stolen and illegal goods.
There should also be a distinction between stolen goods you need to get rid of, but that are not in demand and stolen goods that are in demand. The latter should be much more profitable. There is no reason you should be forced to sell them at half price at the black market.
Also smuggling legally bought goods that are illegal in another jurisdiction (like tobacco, or combat weapons) should be very profitable when sold on the black market.
At a minimum a distinction should be made between stolen and illegal goods.
There should also be a distinction between stolen goods you need to get rid of, but that are not in demand and stolen goods that are in demand. The latter should be much more profitable. There is no reason you should be forced to sell them at half price at the black market.
Also smuggling legally bought goods that are illegal in another jurisdiction (like tobacco, or combat weapons) should be very profitable when sold on the black market.
Last edited:
I'm really disappointed we keep seeing posts like this.
1. Black market price for stolen goods is 75%, not 50%
2. Black market already makes a distinction between stolen and illegal. Illegal goods that are not stolen sell for full price.
3. regular economy demand already applies. Selling stolen Palladium to an industrial station will give you considerably more money than selling stolen Palladium to an Agricultural planet.
There's the fair point you're making that illegal good demands are not any different from regular demands, the notion of low demand for illegal Tobacco and therefore a price below galaxy average is ridiculous, but it gets buried in misinformation.
The other problem is that demand for battle weapons does not exist unless FD seeds it (as done with Lugh and the new CG). You can never profitably trade battle weapons at a black market unless there's a CG or event associated with that station. The only other options are Seeking Weapons ISS, but those don't pay too well (less than 7600), you have no return trip, it counts as smuggling and on top of those, the background simulator does not create these ISS, they're seeded by FD. Might as well do them away completely at this point. They're just like Seeking Luxuries, but not as good because battle weapons are a lot less common in both availability and stock size.
I don't get many commanders at my location but if I do I usually have to chase them (wake scan) before they eventually give up. Good fun and a battle of wills more than anything but can be time consuming if I need to grind credits. Sometimes I get to scan and I know if the chase is worth it.
I scan all trade ships and if the cargo is bad value I leave them. I only bother with loot that is expensive.
I just scan, drop their shields and attach limpet. Most, when they take agro, they stay and fight back or try defend the cargo hatch. They seem to cancel the FSD.
I've got it so I can drop shields and attach limpet, even if they have guns to destroy the limpet and I can do it really quick.
I also use the signals while I'm waiting for passing traders to interdict.
32 cargo x 5k cr = 160k cr at black market.
I can fill it 3 times an hour on a good day but twice is easy doable.
That is ofc if I'm working that hour rather than just chillin' waiting for traders to interdict.
I reckon I can push that figure. Where I am is alot of gold and other expensive bling being sold.
If I see a player trading here I know he got some good loot.
Last edited: