When the conditions are just so, LTD piracy is just about as profitable as LTD mining.
NPC piracy is gone away, what to do now?
- Thread starter Barlog M.
- Start date
When the conditions are just so, LTD piracy is just about as profitable as LTD mining.
Ah, I see. Not that it's my thing, but it would seem to me that anything that makes it a bit more challenging would be welcome and fun.
No one is this thread!
Although I'm happy to see the "alleged" end to the shield tanking, Cargo hold mining gameplay FD had introduced for Piracy I will,
A) Believe it when I see it.
B) Suspect the FSD no cool down bug is still present.
They claimed to have fixed it, and at first glance they had but if you spent time damaging a ships modules, such as PD, weapons and drives they would suddenly activate their cheat mode and reboot/repair without losing any power, then they could be able to jump the second you drop into real space. This is a particular issue with the skilled Elite Military Courier type NPC who carry two PD and are very aggressive.
So having to damage a target again to steal from it is only exciting if these other bugs have been fixed. (I would link my bug reports going back several years but see FD's Balance pass on the issue tracker)
My experience with FD would suggest not.
In a way i can confirm this. I don't pirate NPCs, but i spent some HAZres time yesterday. And more than once, a non-wanted NPC under attack now spammed mines and hurried to get out of the system, with criminal NPCs on its tail. (The mines are nice explosions, makes it easier to find the criminals... useful thing.
)On criminal NPCs trying to run away: it happened, but not more frequently than before. And they still run late enough that you can easily still blow them up before they make the jump. (Unless you are in a small ship. Then the low number of weapons might become an issue. )
Pirating NPCs is my bread and butter along with exploration.
The FSD cooldown bug is still present in a few situations where you interdict an NPC again after following its wake, but I've only seen it with wanted NPCs so far. But for the vast majority of situations, it's fixed afaik.
Ideally, NPCs of similar rank would use similar tactics as I would while trying to avoid being pirated. The terrible piracy, combat, logistical, and instancing impersistence mechanisms in place wouldn't have survived so long if NPCs were credible characters rather than piniatas of credits, cargo, and materials placed in our paths purely for our CMDRs benefit. It's like Westworld, only they may never have the tools to revolt.
I can confirm this as well, based on a trusted source. I personally am THRILLED about this new behavior. I know it will make things more challenging for some players, but it's the right kind of challenging. IMO the NPCs should behave as actual pilots in actual spaceships (not CMDRs playing a video game) would behave, and a T6 or Beluga is much more likely to run for it's life than turn around and try to fight a BattleConda (or any pirate for that matter), unless perhaps it is a Deadly or Elite trader, in which case I'm okay if they stay and fight if they have a chance of winning (as in, I'm pirating using a small ship like an Adder).In a way i can confirm this. I don't pirate NPCs, but i spent some HAZres time yesterday. And more than once, a non-wanted NPC under attack now spammed mines and hurried to get out of the system, with criminal NPCs on its tail. (The mines are nice explosions, makes it easier to find the criminals... useful thing.
On criminal NPCs trying to run away: it happened, but not more frequently than before. And they still run late enough that you can easily still blow them up before they make the jump. (Unless you are in a small ship. Then the low number of weapons might become an issue. )
As to the other question, I sometimes pirate NPCs. I used to do it for BGS purposes, but then I stumbled across an NPC with LTDs, and that opened my eyes to the financial possibilities of pirating.
I can confirm the improvement of NPC behaviour. Pirating as it is now is actually exciting and you have to be quick and efficient if you want to earn your money. With LTD it is still good money (I made about 20-30mil in one hour, while figuring out how to do it), although you have to adapt to the new A.I.. The NPCs differ in regard to their rank and this new piracy actually demands that the player uses most of the tools at his disposal.
I don't have the mats at the moment to get the new drag experimental, but I strongly assume that its inclusion was because of the improvement of PvE piracy. I wonder why this massive improvement of a gameplay element wasn't communicated at all.
I don't have the mats at the moment to get the new drag experimental, but I strongly assume that its inclusion was because of the improvement of PvE piracy. I wonder why this massive improvement of a gameplay element wasn't communicated at all.
This is just becase even they don't consider it a "improvement".
Just more one wall in place to make piracy unprofitable again, sight.
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other than a few edge cases (LTD piracy perhaps) the main issue with piracy is it just is not worth it thanks to the rampant inflation.
I am not a pirate, i am a bounty hunter, however often a mark will drop their pants and give me their wares....... the problem is, it simply is not worth my time to stop and scoop, even if it is a fairly profitable item like gold.
piracy was at its best close to launch and has slowly got more and more pointless as time goes on.... (like i said aside from a couple of specific edge cases... but were piracy balanced properly we would not be ignoring 99% of loot dropped in front of us imo).
cant comment on the mechanics after the latest update however...... but i would agree that piracy is largely broken
I am not a pirate, i am a bounty hunter, however often a mark will drop their pants and give me their wares....... the problem is, it simply is not worth my time to stop and scoop, even if it is a fairly profitable item like gold.
piracy was at its best close to launch and has slowly got more and more pointless as time goes on.... (like i said aside from a couple of specific edge cases... but were piracy balanced properly we would not be ignoring 99% of loot dropped in front of us imo).
cant comment on the mechanics after the latest update however...... but i would agree that piracy is largely broken
I'd say it's still very profitable, just not absurdly profitable. Before this change one could simply wait until the ships hold was filled. That wasn't gameplay, it was using a bug.
I used a corvette for my test of the new piracy, which isn't the optimal ship for the new piracy gameplay, at least not without DD5 Drives. Fast ships are probably better. Yet I was still able to get good money out of it. You just have to adapt a bit. In a big ship you should get the 7A Collector Limpet, it makes a difference in collecting the cargo quickly. A 3A hatch breaker is also very useful, as now not every limpet might make it. It's certainly more fun this way, and possible without using the new drag.
By shooting the drives you can force the NPC to reboot, which will give enough time for 2 hatch breaks. For very profitable targets, i.e. T-7 or T-9, a wake scanner is useful, as you'll want to follow them when they run. A T-9 with LTDs is still a jackpot that can pay out easily 50-100 million.
I used a corvette for my test of the new piracy, which isn't the optimal ship for the new piracy gameplay, at least not without DD5 Drives. Fast ships are probably better. Yet I was still able to get good money out of it. You just have to adapt a bit. In a big ship you should get the 7A Collector Limpet, it makes a difference in collecting the cargo quickly. A 3A hatch breaker is also very useful, as now not every limpet might make it. It's certainly more fun this way, and possible without using the new drag.
By shooting the drives you can force the NPC to reboot, which will give enough time for 2 hatch breaks. For very profitable targets, i.e. T-7 or T-9, a wake scanner is useful, as you'll want to follow them when they run. A T-9 with LTDs is still a jackpot that can pay out easily 50-100 million.
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The new drag prevents boost, so, no more BOOSTING. (At least if it work on npcs). - And it will be reversed in 1 week or less to the old drags again.
Wake scanners are useless since the npcs will jump to another systems, some of them can be non-anarchy ones - so no piracy.
Collector limpets will blow the cargo if you collect while moving, hach breaker limpets don't work more than 1 each time. (last one to reach the target will expire).
BLowing drives/powerplants don't work, npcs don't stop moving. (Intertia for drives and FDEV logic for powerplants).
I'm aware how they work. What I've said, was that they would have been useful, but are not necessary. Shooting the drives isn't complicated.
We are still discussing piracy, an illegal endeavour? If you want to earn the real money, you'll even have to smuggle your stolen goods.
(LTD piracy isn't only possible in Anarchy systems)As for using more than one hatchbreaker, if your target uses mines or has point defence, you'll better use more than one.
In regard to limpets and movement, that's why I found 7A Limpets very useful. You might have to stop, but collecting stuff is very fast with 4 limpets. Usually you'll find more miner Asps than T-7s and they are empty after 3-4 hatch breaks. A broken thruster prohibits boosting and high waking, that's all you need.
That's what the real-life crooks around here said when people started locking their doors... Go sift through shipwrecks if you have a problem with NPCs running away like any sane pilot would.
Now if there is a bug in the NPCs, like ignoring mass-lock, dropping mines while charging FSD, etc, then you have a legitimate complaint. Otherwise, "git gud" at pirating or change professions
Isn't that what they made those drag munitions for?
But yes as others said, target their FSD. Use your hatchbreaker limpit w/out killing their hull. That's how I always did those missions that require you to pirate. They won't run if they're not taking dmg will they? Just shields have to stay down.
Haven't had to drop shields for hatch breakers in quite some time. Don't remember exactly when that changed, but think it was 2.X
I use hatch breakers to annoy griefers (or make then laugh), even if they aren't carrying cargo. It's often the only "weapon" I own that can penetrate their shields!
Pirating NPC for LTD is still doable after the April patch. However, the change of NPC AI just made it much more time consuming and boring, not more challenge. I guess that someone in FDev would think that chasing NPC around with hatch breaker limpets is "challenging" game play.
This is just another one of game plays that FDev doesn't play and has no clue how actual players do. Good job, FDev for ruining NPC pirating.
This is just another one of game plays that FDev doesn't play and has no clue how actual players do. Good job, FDev for ruining NPC pirating.
You are wrong, because players have asked for this. But feel free to pirate other CMDRs if you think the AI is not accurate. Maybe you can talk a CMDR into sitting still for you so you can easily take his LTDs. If you'd like, I'll dump a bunch of biowaste outside Jameson Memorial. It's not quite worth what LTDs are, but at least you won't have to work for those credits
You are wrong, because players have asked for this. But feel free to pirate other CMDRs if you think the AI is not accurate. Maybe you can talk a CMDR into sitting still for you so you can easily take his LTDs. If you'd like, I'll dump a bunch of biowaste outside Jameson Memorial. It's not quite worth what LTDs are, but at least you won't have to work for those credits
Are you back to play ED, Duck? Or still waiting FDev to fix your elephant butt while having fun trolling on ED forum?