Pirates do not unite.

[Iskariot]

Viper interdicts and declares piracy: you drop 16 tons of your cargo and hit supercruise. why pay for repairs and risk losing even more cargo than that?

It is a matter of principle never to give in to piracy.

I will play pirate myself eventually, but out of principle I will not target other humans ever. Victimizing other players is not the kind of interaction with others I seek and as there are more than enough npc who have invested nothing and will lose nothing if I pirate them I choose them as my target.

 

[vonFelty]

Yeah real pirates of old were concerned with the booty rather than killing people and sinking ships.

If they used their heavy cannons and sunk a cargo ship then they couldn't get any loot.

Pirates that just shoot traders without making demands only result in them not getting any profit out of it.

And when the bounty hunters come, the "bad" pirate won't have any credits to replace his ship and gear.

The "good" pirate will get the hauler to drop the loot without killing the ship. After all in a combat ship you usually won't be able to haul everything a Type-6 or 9 has.

 

[StayFrosty]

Parley?

 

[Zvanya]

Yeah real pirates of old were concerned with the booty rather than killing people and sinking ships.

If they used their heavy cannons and sunk a cargo ship then they couldn't get any loot.

Parley?

Is this where people get their ideas about what pirates are/where like? Romantic pirate movies?

Why would a pirate let a robbed ship and crew go? No, pirates would capture the ship and possibly kill the crew. Now the pirates have 2 ships, one conveniently laden with cargo. There were periods of time in which pirates did not often murder the victims, on the theory that it would make other ships more likely to fight to the death.

 

[Speculative]

Pirates rarely killed people. If you look at the Piracy regions in the world now, you have the most notable - Somalia (horn of africa) region - The piracy there was threatening, but they would not kill people. The moment that it escalated to deaths, the navies (notably the french) got involved and now they have convoys with naval escorts and merchant ships are now allowed to carry armed guards - upthrust, use too much violence and you money stops coming in.

Go to the south China Sea, and again there are threats, but not many ACTUAL killings. The pirates there are more interested in the ships and cargo. Kill people there, and again, navies pop up and there is no mercy shown, it is good night mr pirate.

The most aggresive pirates on the seas at the moment are in Nigeria. They take you for ransom. They are not a gentlemans pirate. Now there are navies over there, shooting them, and again convoys.

The pirates in REAL LIFE that manage to keep going are the ones that understand what they CAN earn from the ship and don't kill people.

Obviously this is a game and there are no Navies to provide convoys, but there ARE police protection areas, bounties and the equivilent of convoys or guarded routes - solo or group play.

I like Fremen's style of piracy. I have even seen him in SC occasionally, and if he or others like him manage to pin me down, I will evade/fire back. If I can I will get away, but if you knock my shields down and start damaging my hull, then pause to tell me to dump cargo and I will live, then I will... but please give me some time to work out how as I have not had to do so yet!

 

[Adept]

Is this where people get their ideas about what pirates are/where like? Romantic pirate movies?

Why would a pirate let a robbed ship and crew go? No, pirates would capture the ship and possibly kill the crew. Now the pirates have 2 ships, one conveniently laden with cargo. There were periods of time in which pirates did not often murder the victims, on the theory that it would make other ships more likely to fight to the death.

It's because piracy in Elite is quasi-legal. As long as you don't blow up ships, the governments just want their cut in the form of the minor bounties the pirate pays to keep the heat down.

Trigger happy killers are bad for business, and the governments have a high interest in stamping it out.

Additionally, Elite is also a game, and encouraging mechanics that avoid things getting frustrating and upsetting make a lot of sense both for the devs and the majority of players.

 

[Robert Maynard]

Why would a pirate let a robbed ship and crew go? No, pirates would capture the ship and possibly kill the crew.

Then they are murderers, not pirates - with the law enforcement response that goes with it.

 

[Ian Phillips]

Is this where people get their ideas about what pirates are/where like? Romantic pirate movies?

Why would a pirate let a robbed ship and crew go? No, pirates would capture the ship and possibly kill the crew. Now the pirates have 2 ships, one conveniently laden with cargo. There were periods of time in which pirates did not often murder the victims, on the theory that it would make other ships more likely to fight to the death.

And two seriously undermanned ships that they would have trouble sailing and fighting. Why do that and probably lose everything?

 

[Koen]

Pirates do not unite. They really don't. I don't mean to rain on anyone's parade, but when pirates organise to form a united front and claim territory, they become a faction (albeit an illegitimate and violent one) and are pirates no more.

Not necessarily: pirates can form gangs, and gangs can claim teritory in the sense that they have a base of operation where they keep rival gangs out and demand that independent pirates either join them or face the consequences. They might eventually evolve into a faction, but that is not assured.

Elite has had gangs of pirates since 1984, and Braben has talked about NPC pirates taking over space stations in E: D.

Edit: I think that the discussion about pirate ethos is pretty weird: pirate gangs can and do attract anything from the greedy rationalist who is only after loot to the sadistic psychopath who wants to cause grief and everything between those.

 

[Hawkmoon]

Yeah real pirates of old were concerned with the booty rather than killing people and sinking ships.

If they used their heavy cannons and sunk a cargo ship then they couldn't get any loot.

Pirates that just shoot traders without making demands only result in them not getting any profit out of it.

And when the bounty hunters come, the "bad" pirate won't have any credits to replace his ship and gear.

The "good" pirate will get the hauler to drop the loot without killing the ship. After all in a combat ship you usually won't be able to haul everything a Type-6 or 9 has.

Real Pirates of old did not want anyone to tell the navy who robbed them hence "Dead men tell no tales". If they were never identified as pirates then they would never be tried and hung as pirates (and most were hung for smuggling and other crimes not piracy). In Elite they could make it similar where a merchant would need to get to within range of a station/police ship to report a pirate and if he did not survive then the pirate does not get the negative rep for the attack.
So pirates would have a choice, kill and don't get the rep or let them live and pay the fine/fight the law.

 

[Zvanya]

It's because piracy in Elite is quasi-legal. As long as you don't blow up ships, the governments just want their cut in the form of the minor bounties the pirate pays to keep the heat down.

Trigger happy killers are bad for business, and the governments have a high interest in stamping it out.

Additionally, Elite is also a game, and encouraging mechanics that avoid things getting frustrating and upsetting make a lot of sense both for the devs and the majority of players.

Agreed. And in the last few hundred years real world piracy has changed to sometimes being almost civilized, and it's reasonable to suppose that it may become even more civilized in the furure. I have absolutely no issues with the way FD is handling it.

But piracy goes back not just hundreds but thousands of years, and for most of that time piracy and murder went together.

And two seriously undermanned ships that they would have trouble sailing and fighting. Why do that and probably lose everything?

There were considerably more pirates aboard than required to crew the ship. If the pirates only had a minimal crew they wouldn't be able to overpower the merchant ships in the first place.

 

[rand_h]

Now I'm not for Piracy.. bit of a bounty hunter / vigilante / freelance policeman myself but I do hear what you're saying.

People have the concept of piracy all wrong, it's like they start with piracy and it degenerates into some crazy notion of bounty hunting or mass murder. Sure in the golden days of piracy in the high seas people walked the plank and slept by Davy Jones' Locker but there was profit to be made first or else there was no point to it.

If I could mass lock a ship completely and board and steal the anaconda or type nine..let the pilot walk the plank...that would be nice...

 

[woodsc23]

Pirates do not unite. They really don't. I don't mean to rain on anyone's parade, but when pirates organise to form a united front and claim territory, they become a faction (albeit an illegitimate and violent one) and are pirates no more.

Incorrect. Brethren of the Coast was a coalition of pirates and privateers which was active during the 17th and 18th centuries. However as they were more commonly known as buccaneers they were still pirates who engaged in piracy towards the Spanish shipping fleets in the Caribbean during the 17th century.

Now you can claim that this supports what you're saying and to a degree I would maybe agree. However, Privateers may have sailed under a nations flag and carried a letter of marque they still engaged in piracy. Buccaneers, corsairs, and privateers are all still pirates.

So I do firmly believe that a group of pirates would still be considered pirates, Space Buccaneers, whatever you wish to call them. They can still form under the Jolly Roger and steal your [turnips] in the name of piracy.

 

[Yaffle]

Don't forget that the absence of Pirates also causes global warming:

(if you are a fan of correlation not meaning causation, check out here. My favourite being Miss America and Murders by Steam or Heat).

 

[EAGLE 5]

Don't forget that the absence of Pirates also causes global warming:

(if you are a fan of correlation not meaning causation, check out here. My favourite being Miss America and Murders by Steam or Heat).

"In life there are lies, damn lies, and the there are statistics"

Samuel Clemens a/k/a Mark Twain