One for the Pirates....

[Ory'Hara]

So from what I've seen in a couple bug reports and some slight discussion here and there, there is currently no viable way to pirate NPC's.

I used to do it back in the day (oh, youth) when powerplants were actually required for NPC's to fly their ships. I've also just found out recently that over the past several months people found a way to make ships submit by taking out their FSD's and guns, but from what I've read, apparently that no longer works.

Can we use this thread as a way to composite information/experiences to see if anybody finds any new method of piracy? I've been unsuccessful so far since 3.3 in the rare chances I've had...been hard enough to even find any freighters to begin with for some reason, probly as a result of there being so few system states at this point.

(and no, please do not even mention the "shoot them once and then sit there while they fly circles around you shooting you" method, that should be confined to some weird nightmare where you're stuck playing ED but everything sucks cuz it's a nightmare)

 

[SlickPBW]

There sure is. Low temperature diamonds pay quite well nowadays. Even at the black market. Here’s my method using my Corvette “Jolly Roger”. (Yeah, no imagination):

Find agriculture system with anarchy. LHS 278 is good.

Scan ships in SC. If they have a refinery or mining lasers, they are carrying LTDs. Best are T7s & T9s.

Interdict. And shoot them to agro. Since 3.3 some will try to run even after agro. Get them to try to attack you repeatedly.

Use shield tanking strategy. If you can’t withstand long term fire, strip enemy shields and snipe all point defenses and lasers till they are mostly harmless BUT you must leave at least 1 real weapon not counting mining lasers or they will high wake. Seeking missiles work great for module/weapon sniping.

Then stop. Pips to 4-1-1. Rotate so bogey is under your cargo hatch but slightly off to one side. This is to minimize his fire killing your limpets. Launch hatchbreakers and collectors till he’s drained. SCBs help shield tanking.

If good pirate, leave. If bad pirate, kill him and scoop mats.

Rinse & repeat till full or out of limpets.

Find good place to sell. Black Market and high buy price for LTD.

Bask in your skill and profit.

 

[Ouberos]

FD only want us to shield tank. It's because Pirates are the greatest pilots and everyone else is jealous.

Luckily Pirates are also the most inventive Pilots and adapt to their amateurish attempts to consign us to history.

May I direct your attention to the Drag hounds and the Ion Mines? I am sure you will figure the rest out.

Oh and for the particularly talented might I suggest you abandon a UA near to where a NPC miner has deployed his collector Limpets?

Yes, that's right, the malfunctions effect their cargo hatches too.

Oh look, it's raining Void Opals.


Yo ho ho.

 

[Deleted member 115407]

FD only want us to shield tank. It's because Pirates are the greatest pilots and everyone else is jealous.

Luckily Pirates are also the most inventive Pilots and adapt to their amateurish attempts to consign us to history.

May I direct your attention to the Drag hounds and the Ion Mines? I am sure you will figure the rest out.

Oh and for the particularly talented might I suggest you abandon a UA near to where a NPC miner has deployed his collector Limpets?

Yes, that's right, the malfunctions effect their cargo hatches too.

Oh look, it's raining Void Opals.


Yo ho ho.

Wow, what an idea!

 

[Ory'Hara]

[shield tanking method]

"(and no, please do not even mention the "shoot them once and then sit there while they fly circles around you shooting you" method, that should be confined to some weird nightmare where you're stuck playing ED but everything sucks cuz it's a nightmare)"

 

[SlickPBW]

I misunderstood. I thought you were asking for help. But you were really just looking for a soap box. Proceed.

 

[Ory'Hara]

May I direct your attention to the Drag hounds and the Ion Mines? I am sure you will figure the rest out.

Wow, missiles and mines, 2 things I never use in any space combat game I ever play. [haha] Further research warranted.

abandon a UA near to where a NPC miner has deployed his collector Limpets

:O:O:O:O

now THIS is the kind of creativity I started this thread for! That is truly fascinating.....seems like a lot of effort (tracking down UA, having a resistant cargo rack), but potentially worth it for the novelty of it....and the $$$$

 

[Ouberos]

I misunderstood. I thought you were asking for help. But you were really just looking for a soap box. Proceed.

Shield tank Pirates are the worst Pirates.

Get some finesse.

 

[Ouberos]

Wow, missiles and mines, 2 things I never use in any space combat game I ever play. [haha] Further research warranted.




:O:O:O:O

now THIS is the kind of creativity I started this thread for! That is truly fascinating.....seems like a lot of effort (tracking down UA, having a resistant cargo rack), but potentially worth it for the novelty of it....and the $$$$

Piracy is rarely about the money. I would quit now if it's credits you are after.

Of course, if it's a life of the freebooter you crave, the notoriety and the satisfaction that comes with knowing you are a better Pilot than rank or credits can define, well carry on me hearty.

Also, we get the best RP.

 

[Ory'Hara]

Piracy is rarely about the money. I would quit now if it's credits you are after.

True, I know it's about the least efficient way to make money in ED, but I still like to optimise it the best I can. Last time I was out pirating T9's before the PP bug I was getting a few mil per haul. And that's also why I roll into CG's with my 96t cargo rack. If I get ya I want some reward! Not like those pirates in Vultures/Couriers/whatev, which are great cuz they're fast, but I need all my tools and all your cargo! That's where my Python comes in.

 

[Yure]

There sure is. Low temperature diamonds pay quite well nowadays. Even at the black market. Here’s my method using my Corvette “Jolly Roger”. (Yeah, no imagination):

Find agriculture system with anarchy. LHS 278 is good.

Scan ships in SC. If they have a refinery or mining lasers, they are carrying LTDs. Best are T7s & T9s.

Interdict. And shoot them to agro. Since 3.3 some will try to run even after agro. Get them to try to attack you repeatedly.

Use shield tanking strategy. If you can’t withstand long term fire, strip enemy shields and snipe all point defenses and lasers till they are mostly harmless BUT you must leave at least 1 real weapon not counting mining lasers or they will high wake. Seeking missiles work great for module/weapon sniping.

Then stop. Pips to 4-1-1. Rotate so bogey is under your cargo hatch but slightly off to one side. This is to minimize his fire killing your limpets. Launch hatchbreakers and collectors till he’s drained. SCBs help shield tanking.

If good pirate, leave. If bad pirate, kill him and scoop mats.

Rinse & repeat till full or out of limpets.

Find good place to sell. Black Market and high buy price for LTD.

Bask in your skill and profit.

Alright so this thread is relevant as recently I've been unsuccessful at rescuing hostages.

Thanks for the tips. Question though, how do you deal with point defenses?

Currently I run a Flechette Build dropship but point defenses puts a stop to that. Problem I end up with is that I'd be going up against a T-9 with a crap load of cargo and they never drop my hostages.

 

[Ouberos]

True, I know it's about the least efficient way to make money in ED, but I still like to optimise it the best I can. Last time I was out pirating T9's before the PP bug I was getting a few mil per haul. And that's also why I roll into CG's with my 96t cargo rack. If I get ya I want some reward! Not like those pirates in Vultures/Couriers/whatev, which are great cuz they're fast, but I need all my tools and all your cargo! That's where my Python comes in.

PvP piracy is different. In a larger ship be mindful of the need to make a getaway. CG's these days can be dangerous if you have a bounty.

Whatever works is good though.

 

[Goose4291]

An important thing thats being overlooked is once you've found your prey, force them to high wake and carry a frame shift scanner and follow them through.

Eventually you'll end up in anarchy system, and you can now pillage to your hearts content.

 

[Ory'Hara]

PvP piracy is different. In a larger ship be mindful of the need to make a getaway. CG's these days can be dangerous if you have a bounty

Yeah, I'm fully aware of the risks, haha. Definitely had some chases here and there, but the decent speed, ability to absorb some damage and larger mass of the ship preventing mass lock has usually been a strong enough combination.

 

[Ory'Hara]

So regarding drag missiles and mines, it seems like the procedure would be something like this......

- shoot their drives with missiles till their drives are at 0%, so when they drift, they will be drifting slower than normal as a result of drag effect
- once drives at 0%, maneuver in front of them and drop mines to stop their drift so they're dead in the water
- hang out behind them while hatch breaking, in position to give their drives a quick tap when they inevitably reboot/repair them

Correct me if I'm wrong? Unless you don't want to give away all your secrets, which as a fellow....trader....I can understand.

Also seems like this would work decently well with seekers, no? Don't have access to packhounds, never done any power play/pledging whatsoever....seems kind of counterintuitive for a pirate to be pledged to a faction, hah.

 

[Ouberos]

Get Packhounds and Grom bombs. They help. Seekers and Dumbfires can get same special effects but the branded ones are best.

After that practice.

Mines can be difficult to use. A faster, more manoeuvrable ship than your target is essential. You need to fly over their heads and fire as you pass. Then boost away so you don't get hit. Then turn and knock out engines so they drift slow.

DD5 on your engines all the way. No exceptions. Clean drives are very limited in scope. I have run experiments and there is no comparison.

The trader will reboot their engines. If you have taken their PP out also it helps but not always possible on a T6 or similar sized.

Check the response times of the local law. Again I have run experiments and you will need to do so also.

The law drop in at the point the first shot occours so allow the trader to fly awaya bit can help.

You can sometimes avoid them with SR but once they have seen you the game is up.

Only a hero stays to fight. Pirates slip away. There's always another Trader along soon enough.

Fly Casual Cmdr.

 

[Marra Morgan]

Oh and for the particularly talented might I suggest you abandon a UA near to where a NPC miner has deployed his collector Limpets?

Yes, that's right, the malfunctions effect their cargo hatches too.

Oh look, it's raining Void Opals.


Yo ho ho.

This is why you're my favourite pirate [heart]

 

[Julio Montega]

There sure is. Low temperature diamonds pay quite well nowadays. Even at the black market. Here’s my method using my Corvette “Jolly Roger”. (Yeah, no imagination):

Find agriculture system with anarchy. LHS 278 is good.

Scan ships in SC. If they have a refinery or mining lasers, they are carrying LTDs. Best are T7s & T9s.

Interdict. And shoot them to agro. Since 3.3 some will try to run even after agro. Get them to try to attack you repeatedly.

Use shield tanking strategy. If you can’t withstand long term fire, strip enemy shields and snipe all point defenses and lasers till they are mostly harmless BUT you must leave at least 1 real weapon not counting mining lasers or they will high wake. Seeking missiles work great for module/weapon sniping.

Then stop. Pips to 4-1-1. Rotate so bogey is under your cargo hatch but slightly off to one side. This is to minimize his fire killing your limpets. Launch hatchbreakers and collectors till he’s drained. SCBs help shield tanking.

If good pirate, leave. If bad pirate, kill him and scoop mats.

Rinse & repeat till full or out of limpets.

Find good place to sell. Black Market and high buy price for LTD.

Bask in your skill and profit.

Shield tanking is just no-skill.
Piracy used to be about tactics, danger and skill
not milking transports 24/7 using OP shields.

Now with NPCs repairing engines (is this in now? wasn't in Beta),
ION mining is less viable, as is shredding drives and stopping the ships.
Both methods involving skill, piloting and art.
Using big ships and your money as skill replacement for piracy techniques just leaves a sour taste
and shows how simple and stupid NPC coding is.

FD you have to compensate us pirates for the loss with NPC comms and allow us to send demands.
Hatchbreakers need to eject clustered packs of cargo in bigger numbers, and collectors need to do the job faster.

 

[Julio Montega]

So regarding drag missiles and mines, it seems like the procedure would be something like this......

- shoot their drives with missiles till their drives are at 0%, so when they drift, they will be drifting slower than normal as a result of drag effect
- once drives at 0%, maneuver in front of them and drop mines to stop their drift so they're dead in the water
- hang out behind them while hatch breaking, in position to give their drives a quick tap when they inevitably reboot/repair them

Correct me if I'm wrong? Unless you don't want to give away all your secrets, which as a fellow....trader....I can understand.

Also seems like this would work decently well with seekers, no? Don't have access to packhounds, never done any power play/pledging whatsoever....seems kind of counterintuitive for a pirate to be pledged to a faction, hah.

The procedure is this:

- find target
- target drives and drop shields
- damage drives to around 1 volley of packhound equivalent hp
- drop ion mine to completely stop the target while it still is under drag effect (hitting shields on weak transports works)
- unleash hell on the drives

Result:
- target at full stop without engine power
- happy pirate

However, i read that NPCs now fix their drives with repair and reboot,
so fully stopping will not really work anymore if that is the case.


Vid:

Spoiler

[video=youtube;udMrUClNFJ0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udMrUClNFJ0[/video]

 

[Gully Foyle]

FD only want us to shield tank. It's because Pirates are the greatest pilots and everyone else is jealous.

Luckily Pirates are also the most inventive Pilots and adapt to their amateurish attempts to consign us to history.

May I direct your attention to the Drag hounds and the Ion Mines? I am sure you will figure the rest out.

Oh and for the particularly talented might I suggest you abandon a UA near to where a NPC miner has deployed his collector Limpets?

Yes, that's right, the malfunctions effect their cargo hatches too.

Oh look, it's raining Void Opals.


Yo ho ho.

ARrrrrrrrrRrr Here's your bottle of overproof rum.