Balancing of NPC piracy
- Thread starter CaptainPugwash
- Start date
Precisely. And the grapple is not a game changer if it's still so hard to find a good prey. Changing the way the prey is randomized can be a game changer. 
Yesterday I found a Type-9 with 297T of LTDs in her hold. Novice and shieldless but with point defence and mine launchers.
Once I took down drives and both point defence turrets, she was at 18% hull. And then she suicided by spamming mines while rotating.
Pirate's life is cruel sometimes...
Once I took down drives and both point defence turrets, she was at 18% hull. And then she suicided by spamming mines while rotating.
Pirate's life is cruel sometimes...
1000% know this experiance.
Only on the ships full to the brim of lush goods though. You never see it happen to those full of biopoop.
Theres a very sadistic programmer at fdev is my theory...
My last T9 was a couple of weeks ago: disabled it and was waiting for the cops to arrive while I kept my distance, screen goes blank as I get some weird anti virus warning, after which zilch, nada, T9 has sneaked off my radar.Yesterday I found a Type-9 with 297T of LTDs in her hold. Novice and shieldless but with point defence and mine launchers.
Once I took down drives and both point defence turrets, she was at 18% hull. And then she suicided by spamming mines while rotating.
Pirate's life is cruel sometimes...
I think a good balance fix would be if they simply increased the value of the cargo found in private and military couriers. At the moment the cargo they carry is still worth peanuts compared to LTDs, even after the reduction in the value of LTDs and they're much harder prey than minersPrecisely. And the grapple is not a game changer if it's still so hard to find a good prey. Changing the way the prey is randomized can be a game changer.
Yep, it's a simple balancing change that would make a big difference to the game for piracy: even a hold full of LTDs isn't worth more than about 50-60m at current prices, and we are talking about the high end where you need reasonable skill and an engineered ship, so I would pitch the cargo hold of an elite level courier at 100m.
I have a maybe-related question regarding trade routes shown by GalMap.
Is there an easy way to determine which commodity is the route about? The only way I know is ticking and unticking options on the list of all commodities and see when the route appears/disappears. Which sucks.
Is there an easy way to determine which commodity is the route about? The only way I know is ticking and unticking options on the list of all commodities and see when the route appears/disappears. Which sucks.
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It does suck, and I don’t think there is a way, no, but I would love to be proved wrong.
After a month of carrier-powered from-time-to-time piracy (CGs and quite a lot of BGS work in the meantime), I have to admit that my initial observations regarding more variety in prey cargo were mistaken. Today I sold almost 430 M worth of looted stuff, 375 M of which goes to LTDs and 30 M to the courier stuff (gems, antiques, relics and jewellery). All other worthwhile commodities (in my case: bromellite, painite, cobalt, silver, gold, samarium, platinum and osmium) do happen but only occasionally. And it seems there is no pattern for them. Or at least I failed to find the pattern by now.
The variety of looted ships is quite nice, though. From harmless Sideys (I happened to rob 1T of Gold from one) to pretty well tanked Pythons which make me use majority of pack-hounds ammo to strip them from drives, guns and point defence turrets. They also behave differently which sometimes leads to crazy events.
So, the fun is there but it seems LTDs are still the only predictable way of becoming a Space Samuel Bellamy. Couriers are even more predictable and even more fun to rob but the value of cargo is much lower due to limitation in both prices and quantites.
The variety of looted ships is quite nice, though. From harmless Sideys (I happened to rob 1T of Gold from one) to pretty well tanked Pythons which make me use majority of pack-hounds ammo to strip them from drives, guns and point defence turrets. They also behave differently which sometimes leads to crazy events.
So, the fun is there but it seems LTDs are still the only predictable way of becoming a Space Samuel Bellamy. Couriers are even more predictable and even more fun to rob but the value of cargo is much lower due to limitation in both prices and quantites.
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This gels much in line with my experiance since I got my carrier. I have some very random hauls, and some interesting mixes of things. It has given the chance to go out and play with some of the random scenarios and uss though, as storage of stolen items is the best thing out there for me.
I am not in it for the money thankfully so the low profit margins are not particularly concerning.
Not a career for those in a hurry to make credits. However a "living" can be made...
90mins of LTD ships... Sundays raiding Today...
Boo not one T9 dam...
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Speaking of T9: I met one yesterday, 308T of LTDs onboard. Sometimes I wish my piracy vessel had more than 136T of cargo.
It was very active day for LTD yesterdaySpeaking of T9: I met one yesterday, 308T of LTDs onboard. Sometimes I wish my piracy vessel had more than 136T of cargo.
There was a mini LTD boom yesterday But I failed to take part in it, it was way to early after the price tick for me... LTD hit 590K clean (~430K stolen ) at 3 stations at a round 4:30PM with over 2000 demand each...
Ill be ready for next time... but I hope to be the first to find it on WGC app this time... but likely not as other seam to be very active the last week...
Wow, respect, I'm not desperate enough to watch the prices in real time. Sold my LTDs for a mere 255-259k. Which was the highest price ever for me, anyway. In my pre-carrier era I've never managed to get more than 90k.
In terms of credits everything is more rewarding.
In terms of fun is quite the opposite.
In terms of fun is quite the opposite.
Ooh, nice! That's another criterion for balancing as T9s often have little more than 200t - why can't these damn lazy miners fill up their holds? In a T9 I want 512t please fdevSpeaking of T9: I met one yesterday, 308T of LTDs onboard. Sometimes I wish my piracy vessel had more than 136T of cargo.
If you know where and what to look for you can consistently find ships with high value cargo. There are posts in this thread detailing exactly where to look