Piracy is ,by far, the lowest money-earner in ED. And smuggling is 2nd to last. Most pirates/smugglers do it because they love the gameplay. They have to find other ways to support their felonious ways. Trading, missions, bounty hunting in RES, etc. This is horrible for players and the devs if people just leave the game in frustration. I left for 6 months because I couldn't make it as a pirate or a smuggler. I came back and there have been a lot of great changes. But piracy and smuggling are still neglected.
This is from ED's game description: "Some may know you as an ally; others will call you a pirate, a bounty hunter, a smuggler, an explorer, an assassin, a hero... Fly alone or with friends, fight for a cause or go it alone; your actions change the galaxy around you in an ever unfolding story."
Pirate is first on the list. I bought this game to be a pirate/smuggler. Both need huge buffs.
Smuggling: If I buy a good where it's legal and sell it on the black market where it's illegal, the profit should be huge. But with huge reward, there should be huge risk. If you get scanned with illegal goods coming into a station, the station should blow you up.
I can think of 4 fun ways of smuggling:
1: Just like we have now, speed. Small, fast, agile ships make it into the station before any scan is completed. Great for beginners and pros alike.
2: Also the current technique, silent running. Keeps you stealthy until your almost in the station. More advanced than speeding in and less likely to end up scanned and blown to bits, if done correctly.
3: For those with more cash, a module that masks your illegal goods. Police scans will show you carrying medicine, tea, etc. Make it so huge ships can't equip this module, like the Python, T9 and Anaconda. Maybe the power requirements grow exponentially with increased volume. Or something similar.
4: For those with limitless cash, pay off the police at a station for an amount of time. A day, a week, a month. Once you pay off the cops, you can bring in your T9 full of narcotics.
Piracy: If traders knew how poor pirates are, they would drop cargo out of compassion! This needs to change. Here are my ideas on this.
1: Hatch breaker limpets need to be ammo, not taking up precious cargo space. Preferred pirate ships have very limited cargo space. Having to manage limpets is so frustrating! If I jettison my limpets, they get mixed up with the pirated goods floating in space. And the whole time there is a timer ticking away for when the police show up.
2: Shooting a cargo hatch to zero should dump all of the cargo into space. Using a hatch breaker limpet should release all of the ship's cargo. And quickly. This is so important. From the moment a pirate shoots a ship, the police are on their way. When pirating high rank npcs, they usually fight to the death while the hatch breaker limpets (HBLs) are being shot. Having to repeatedly shoot HBLs at the target takes so long that by the time the npc is dead, the police are already arrive and you have a few seconds to scoop before your shields drop.
For players, running from a player pirate would be more of an important decision. "I'm in a adder and they're in a cobra. Hmm. If I try to run, can I FSD out before the pirate takes down my shields and uses a HBL?"
3: NPCs need to drop way more valuable goods.
4: Black market prices need a huge buff. Maybe 80%. This would also help smugglers.
5: The time it takes for the police to arrive needs to be way longer.
Pirates and smugglers need some love. Let me know if I @#$%ed anything up...
This is from ED's game description: "Some may know you as an ally; others will call you a pirate, a bounty hunter, a smuggler, an explorer, an assassin, a hero... Fly alone or with friends, fight for a cause or go it alone; your actions change the galaxy around you in an ever unfolding story."
Pirate is first on the list. I bought this game to be a pirate/smuggler. Both need huge buffs.
Smuggling: If I buy a good where it's legal and sell it on the black market where it's illegal, the profit should be huge. But with huge reward, there should be huge risk. If you get scanned with illegal goods coming into a station, the station should blow you up.
I can think of 4 fun ways of smuggling:
1: Just like we have now, speed. Small, fast, agile ships make it into the station before any scan is completed. Great for beginners and pros alike.
2: Also the current technique, silent running. Keeps you stealthy until your almost in the station. More advanced than speeding in and less likely to end up scanned and blown to bits, if done correctly.
3: For those with more cash, a module that masks your illegal goods. Police scans will show you carrying medicine, tea, etc. Make it so huge ships can't equip this module, like the Python, T9 and Anaconda. Maybe the power requirements grow exponentially with increased volume. Or something similar.
4: For those with limitless cash, pay off the police at a station for an amount of time. A day, a week, a month. Once you pay off the cops, you can bring in your T9 full of narcotics.
Piracy: If traders knew how poor pirates are, they would drop cargo out of compassion! This needs to change. Here are my ideas on this.
1: Hatch breaker limpets need to be ammo, not taking up precious cargo space. Preferred pirate ships have very limited cargo space. Having to manage limpets is so frustrating! If I jettison my limpets, they get mixed up with the pirated goods floating in space. And the whole time there is a timer ticking away for when the police show up.
2: Shooting a cargo hatch to zero should dump all of the cargo into space. Using a hatch breaker limpet should release all of the ship's cargo. And quickly. This is so important. From the moment a pirate shoots a ship, the police are on their way. When pirating high rank npcs, they usually fight to the death while the hatch breaker limpets (HBLs) are being shot. Having to repeatedly shoot HBLs at the target takes so long that by the time the npc is dead, the police are already arrive and you have a few seconds to scoop before your shields drop.
For players, running from a player pirate would be more of an important decision. "I'm in a adder and they're in a cobra. Hmm. If I try to run, can I FSD out before the pirate takes down my shields and uses a HBL?"
3: NPCs need to drop way more valuable goods.
4: Black market prices need a huge buff. Maybe 80%. This would also help smugglers.
5: The time it takes for the police to arrive needs to be way longer.
Pirates and smugglers need some love. Let me know if I @#$%ed anything up...
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