Newcomer / Intro How can PVE piracy be effective?

[thisisforspendingmoney]

Alright I am having some issues making PVE piracy work for me. I am going for LTD's by targeting transport vessels with mining lasers. I supercruise around anarchy agricultural systems, scan the vessels, interdict appropriate vessels and attempt to acquire their cargo. I am having multiple issues:

1) Finding appropriate vessels.
It takes time to fly around in supercruise and find transport vessels with mining lasers. Spawn rates of appropriate vessels for LTD piracy seems low.

2) Disabling the ship.
I have tried all types of methods, but none seem to work. Targeting thrusters/drive usually ends up destroying the ship first. Targeting the power plant seems to do nothing. Even with the power plant disabled, the npc seems to fly, shoot and recharge shields just as well when the power plant is at 100%. I don't have Horizons, nor want to get the expansion and do engineering, so weapon mods are not viable.

3) Obtaining the cargo.
Because I cannot disable the npc ship, whether I use hatch breaker limpets or disable the cargo hatch, the cargo gets spread around over a large area. The npc ship is still spinning and thrusting so the cargo is spread all over. Also since I cannot disable the ship, usually I need to destroy the ship before I have gotten all the cargo out. Since the cargo is spread out over such a large area, most of it despawns before I can get it.

4) Collector limpets seem useless
The collector limpets I have (3A) have such a small range that they are not very helpful and half the time they seem to destroy the cargo rather than put it in my hold.

Piracy does not seem to be an effective way to have fun and make credits as I find no challenge in fighting the npc ships and can find a way to actually get a good amount of the cargo from the ships. Any advice on how to make it work?

 

[Dommarraa]

PvE Piracy has never been very profitable. There are new "targets" in 3.0, but I dont know if that is anything more than the raidable Megaships.

1) Yep

2) Check you are using the correct weapons to do maximum module damage on the thrusters, but that will only keep them still long enough to do a reboot. I am a regular Laser/MC type of guy so no expert, but I suspect you would be better off with Rails or Cannon. You might be better off just letting them run, using the hatchbreakers, and tidying up afterwards. PP is not a good target, NPCs dont cheat (much), they are just a lot better at active Module Priority than you (or I). Dont be a cheapskate, ignore the moaners, there are plenty more people finding Horizons and Engineering lots of fun.

3/4) A 3A Collector isnt much of a hoover, you could do with more even if it sacrifices some Cargo. No idea of your ship, build, or how many LTD you expect from a haul. To stop them crashing into your hull, you need to be going slower than 50 when the cargo hatch is open, and not maneuvering.

 

[Robin of Spiritwood]

Props to any player who tries this out.
It's a highly technically demanding line of work, with low reward/hr, but really fun if you have the skills.

Even with the power plant disabled, the npc seems to fly, shoot and recharge shields just as well when the power plant is at 100%.

That should NOT be taking place.
File a bug report with details.

 

[Dommarraa]

That should NOT be taking place.
File a bug report with details.

Actually it could well be legit. IIRC Disabled PP means 30% power, not 0% as many assume. As an example, I picked one of my FDL builds at random (which are not renowned for having excess Power), and with Thrusters+Shields+Sensors+2 Beams I was at about 35%. Its not out of the realms of possibility for an NPC to APPEAR to be undamaged. A human would be kacking himself on no life support, FSD etc, even if they had the wherewithall to fiddle with the module priorities correctly.

 

[Marra Morgan]

1) Finding appropriate vessels.
It takes time to fly around in supercruise and find transport vessels with mining lasers. Spawn rates of appropriate vessels for LTD piracy seems low.

Yep, that's just how it is. Valuable stuff is rare.

2) Disabling the ship.
I have tried all types of methods, but none seem to work. Targeting thrusters/drive usually ends up destroying the ship first. Targeting the power plant seems to do nothing. Even with the power plant disabled, the npc seems to fly, shoot and recharge shields just as well when the power plant is at 100%. I don't have Horizons, nor want to get the expansion and do engineering, so weapon mods are not viable.

There's currently a bug with NPCs still going at 0% Powerplant.
(See Known Issues, first line under Gameplay)
Not much we can do about that.
When the bug is fixed though, you shouldn't need to mod your weapons - stock multicannons, cannons and rails are fine for the job.

3) Obtaining the cargo.
Because I cannot disable the npc ship, whether I use hatch breaker limpets or disable the cargo hatch, the cargo gets spread around over a large area. The npc ship is still spinning and thrusting so the cargo is spread all over. Also since I cannot disable the ship, usually I need to destroy the ship before I have gotten all the cargo out. Since the cargo is spread out over such a large area, most of it despawns before I can get it.

Fit a nice tanky shield and as many B-rated Collector controllers as you can. Stay still, and the mark should come to a rest at about 1km as it shoots at you (they usually have feeble weapons). Then spam them with collector limpets and remain still as your hold fills with sweet shiny goodness.

4) Collector limpets seem useless
The collector limpets I have (3A) have such a small range that they are not very helpful and half the time they seem to destroy the cargo rather than put it in my hold.

Stay still.

PvE Piracy has never been very profitable. There are new "targets" in 3.0, but I dont know if that is anything more than the raidable Megaships.

LTDs currently sell on the standard Black Market for around 88k a piece. Delaine's and Antal's markets will pay 10% more. Your typical T7 miner hauls around 128 shinies. I'll let you do the maths

And yes, there are new targets in 3.0 carrying some very interesting and valuable cargoes! If you see any Private Courier Services, they might just be worth a closer look

 

[ArchAngelofDeath]

Yep, that's just how it is. Valuable stuff is rare.



There's currently a bug with NPCs still going at 0% Powerplant.
(See Known Issues, first line under Gameplay)
Not much we can do about that.
When the bug is fixed though, you shouldn't need to mod your weapons - stock multicannons, cannons and rails are fine for the job.



Fit a nice tanky shield and as many B-rated Collector controllers as you can. Stay still, and the mark should come to a rest at about 1km as it shoots at you (they usually have feeble weapons). Then spam them with collector limpets and remain still as your hold fills with sweet shiny goodness.



Stay still.



LTDs currently sell on the standard Black Market for around 88k a piece. Delaine's and Antal's markets will pay 10% more. Your typical T7 miner hauls around 128 shinies. I'll let you do the maths

And yes, there are new targets in 3.0 carrying some very interesting and valuable cargoes! If you see any Private Courier Services, they might just be worth a closer look

Great info. You make me consider pirating as a new line of work after my engineering grind ends.....which at this rate will be on 6 months [knocked out]

 

[thisisforspendingmoney]

3/4) A 3A Collector isnt much of a hoover, you could do with more even if it sacrifices some Cargo. No idea of your ship, build, or how many LTD you expect from a haul. To stop them crashing into your hull, you need to be going slower than 50 when the cargo hatch is open, and not maneuvering.

Hmmm, having to basically stay still makes collector limpets less useful than I had hoped.

There's currently a bug with NPCs still going at 0% Powerplant.
(See Known Issues, first line under Gameplay)
Not much we can do about that.
When the bug is fixed though, you shouldn't need to mod your weapons - stock multicannons, cannons and rails are fine for the job.

Ah thanks for this info.

Fit a nice tanky shield and as many B-rated Collector controllers as you can. Stay still, and the mark should come to a rest at about 1km as it shoots at you (they usually have feeble weapons). Then spam them with collector limpets and remain still as your hold fills with sweet shiny goodness.

This seems like an interesting tactic. I may have to try it if they don't fix the power plant issue soon. For now I am going to rank grind to get a FAS.

 

[Dommarraa]

Hmmm, having to basically stay still makes collector limpets less useful than I had hoped.

If you want to be effective, you have to use Limpets. Even 1 collects faster than you can manually (unless you are some ninja). To collect 100 or so items before they expire, you will probably need 6 or more limpets active (and position yourself correctly to minimize round trip time)