Making money as a pirate, is it possible?

[Old Duck]

I've been enjoying my new "night job" as a pirate. Thank you Frontier for giving us Borann! And thank you those who mine in Open. "Acquiring" LTDs is not my issue, selling them is. This is a pirate noob question, but do black markets mirror the regular markets when it comes to demand and price? In other words, is it possible to sell stolen LTDs at a price that is at least close to what I can sell clean LTDs for? Currently I'm selling stolen LTDs at a huge loss compared to actual mining them myself.

If the answer is "Yes", then how? If the answer is "No", then this is bad game design. Why would pirates even bother pirating when mining is so easy? Mr. "I guess my kids will go hungry" just needs to trade in his combat weapons for mining lasers. If anything, there should be piracy-based missions that offer MORE than market value (for "reasons") for things like LTDs, to make this valid form of gameplay actually make sense.

FWIW, I'm pirating for the challenge and the fun gameplay, but still, it would be nice if I could make enough credits to make it worthwhile.

 

[Riverside]

Begging is more profitable.

 

[VoluptaBox]

How much are you actually selling them for? I remember trying it once and getting like 850k or whatever from the first black market I visited. While it's not the insane prices you can get otherwise, it's still very good right? Unfortunately, if you use standard mining as the standard for what good CR/H should look like, literally any activity in the game will seem pointless.

 

[Old Duck]

Begging is more profitable.

If a fleet carrier fence could actually CLEAN illicit cargo, then I would see an actual player-based economy emerging. Fences could buy illicit cargo at much higher prices than black markets but at a lower cost than actual clean markets, but since the fence service (in my version) "cleans" the item, the carrier owner could then turn around and sell those items at the regular market for profit. I'd happily utilize somebody's FC for this service. But it only works if the owner can sell on the clean market, not the lame black market.

 

[SP_Predicador]

I've been enjoying my new "night job" as a pirate. Thank you Frontier for giving us Borann! And thank you those who mine in Open. "Acquiring" LTDs is not my issue, selling them is. This is a pirate noob question, but do black markets mirror the regular markets when it comes to demand and price? In other words, is it possible to sell stolen LTDs at a price that is at least close to what I can sell clean LTDs for? Currently I'm selling stolen LTDs at a huge loss compared to actual mining them myself.

If the answer is "Yes", then how? If the answer is "No", then this is bad game design. Why would pirates even bother pirating when mining is so easy? Mr. "I guess my kids will go hungry" just needs to trade in his combat weapons for mining lasers. If anything, there should be piracy-based missions that offer MORE than market value (for "reasons") for things like LTDs, to make this valid form of gameplay actually make sense.

FWIW, I'm pirating for the challenge and the fun gameplay, but still, it would be nice if I could make enough credits to make it worthwhile.

The Economy in Elite is a mesh. Is not balanced, is not rewarding for many of the professions, all the people works doing the few activities that give a good amount of money when is needed. There is a lack of a partially driven economy, real market laws, and so on.

I have luck because I like minnery even before Beyond. And also like Passangers because is almost the only economic/professional interaction with NPCs on fly. But I almost left trade for those reasons.

 

[Old Duck]

How much are you actually selling them for? I remember trying it once and getting like 850k or whatever from the first black market I visited.

Per 1 ton LTD? I wasn't getting that, more like 240K or something (it was below the galactic average). But I wasn't shopping around for a specific black market like I would a regular market. Do different black markets buy at different prices? If so, can I use a tool like EDDB to find the best markets?

 

[CoyoteXStarrk]

Can you make money? Sure.


Can you make enough money to matter? No.

 

[VoluptaBox]

Per 1 ton LTD? I wasn't getting that, more like 240K or something (it was below the galactic average). But I wasn't shopping around for a specific black market like I would a regular market. Do different black markets buy at different prices? If so, can I use a tool like EDDB to find the best markets?

Maybe I just got lucky then, I'm not sure what kind of prices you can actually get. Any idea what the normal price for LTDs was in the commodity market at those stations?

 

[rawbert]

they have the option to abandon theyre cargo legally i think. just say if they dont drop it legal style you'll blow them up.

 

[Old Duck]

they have the option to abandon theyre cargo legally i think. just say if they dont drop it legal style you'll blow them up.

Unfortunately I rely more on hatch-breakers than I do negotiations (it's hard typing in VR). Someday when I figure macros out...

 

[Riverside]

If

Yeah.

 

[Bigmaec]

Piracy is no approved FD gameplay.
Go mining at Borann, citizen.

 

[Old Duck]

Piracy is no approved FD gameplay.
Go mining at Borann, citizen.

I am mining, just with hatch-breakers instead of prospectors

 

[Bigmaec]

I am mining, just with hatch-breakers instead of prospectors

Horribly inefficient.

One point defense makes your day miserable, and the sale prices of blackmarket goods are bad.

Also players tend to log as soon as they see a triangle on the scanner.

In short, piracy doesn't pay (perhaps with the exception of LTD NPC piracy, but my experience on that field is zero, not enough traffic in Colonia or I was unlucky)

 

[CoyoteXStarrk]

What FDev should do is give every system a heavily guarded ship that has a unique cargo. Let's call it "Valuable Crap". This ship is loaded down with Valuable Crap and is guarded. It spawns at least once an hour or so in every major system and lasts until it is brought down. And the Valuable Crap it is carrying is worth around a 500 thousand to a million credits per ton depending on the markets. Which I think would be fair considering how much more effort goes into piracy than mining. Also it would be a risk vs reward endeavor seeing as the ship as I said would be heavily guarded. And it's not like the ship would be carrying nothing but Valuable Crap. Maybe just 10-20 tons per ship. And while we are at it lets make it to where this commodity can only be attained via piracy.


This would not only make piracy a more viable money making occupation, but it could also lead to some pretty dramatic gameplay. Imagine if 3-5 pirates are in the Sol system and they all find the money ship at the same time. Would they work together and divide the cargo? Would they turn it into a free for all?

 

[Dillon Fallon]

What FDev should do is give every system a heavily guarded ship that has a unique cargo. Let's call it "Valuable Crap". This ship is loaded down with Valuable Crap and is guarded. It spawns at least once an hour or so in every major system and lasts until it is brought down. And the Valuable Crap it is carrying is worth around a 500 thousand to a million credits per ton depending on the markets. Which I think would be fair considering how much more effort goes into piracy than mining. Also it would be a risk vs reward endeavor seeing as the ship as I said would be heavily guarded. And it's not like the ship would be carrying nothing but Valuable Crap. Maybe just 10-20 tons per ship. And while we are at it lets make it to where this commodity can only be attained via piracy.


This would not only make piracy a more viable money making occupation, but it could also lead to some pretty dramatic gameplay. Imagine if 3-5 pirates are in the Sol system and they all find the money ship at the same time. Would they work together and divide the cargo? Would they turn it into a free for all?

Thing is, what you're suggesting is pretty much how things are currently. Right now I could go to an industrial system and sure enough, along will come along a T-7 with a refinery and a belly full of LTDs. How difficult this is depends on the security level, but even a smash and grab with a single hatchbreaker will get me around 7 LTDs in 2-3 minutes (then rinse and repeat, avoiding bounty hunters). If I'm feeling brave and boop the T-7 to a stop after killing the drives, I'll probably fill the 64t hold of my pirate Krait. Knowing the local markets I could then sell this at 700k per ton.

With more practice I'll no doubt graduate to something bigger since I'm nowhere near being able to empty a T-9.

 

[Kira Mikamy]

NO.
theres no pirating in elite dangerous.
NPC only transport biowaste and tears of solo players.

the rest of pg\solo player arent good enough to defend herself against another brain.

im sorry

 

[Krash]

I am mining, just with hatch-breakers instead of prospectors

I saw you in Borann system chat last night. I almost asked you to test your skills on my T10. I'm setup to repel the pesky NPCs, but not sure how I would defend against a CMDR pirate. Lets say, you drop my shields, and I'll give you 50 LTDs.

 

[CoyoteXStarrk]

Thing is, what you're suggesting is pretty much how things are currently. Right now I could go to an industrial system and sure enough, along will come along a T-7 with a refinery and a belly full of LTDs. How difficult this is depends on the security level, but even a smash and grab with a single hatchbreaker will get me around 7 LTDs in 2-3 minutes (then rinse and repeat, avoiding bounty hunters). If I'm feeling brave and boop the T-7 to a stop after killing the drives, I'll probably fill the 64t hold of my pirate Krait. Knowing the local markets I could then sell this at 700k per ton.

With more practice I'll no doubt graduate to something bigger since I'm nowhere near being able to empty a T-9.

I get that, but the process as I understand it is a bit hit or miss and it is just not a good way to make money. My idea would make it a more guaranteed process and would make it more financially lucrative as well. Also by increasing the reward you would be increasing the number of players that would be willing to give it a shot. Which would lead to more player interaction as well.


It would also have the added bonus of giving griefers in Open something to do with their piracy talents instead of ganking noobs at Deciat.

 

[Old Duck]

I saw you in Borann system chat last night. I almost asked you to test your skills on my T10. I'm setup to repel the pesky NPCs, but not sure how I would defend against a CMDR pirate. Lets say, you drop my shields, and I'll give you 50 LTDs.

My method of piracy is somewhat "unique". You drop in close to an LTD hotspot (let me know which one) and do your mining thing, and I'll be happy to try my piracy thing.