Piracy - interaction & the player base

I think that one of the main problems is that interaction and RP take soooo long. In the time it takes to type out "you interdicted me - what do you want", your shields are down and you're sucking space. Most traders simply won't take the chance that a CMDR who pulls them out of SC isn't going to toast them straight off. Voice comms would be great, but there isn't really a system for that as yet.

It'd be great if voice comms were automatically on (an opt-in option in config maybe) between whoever is in same "instance". That goes without notion, that the comms should be robust enough to actually work 100% the time.
 
you missed me. Otherwise you'd have another option... "heave to and negotiate"

I usually negotiate with pirates. They demand X I tell them "I'll give you Y, abandoned not jettisoned" we both leave with greater profits than from any other outcome.

You would have been one of the best interactions i had in game, i did meet a few players like that and it made me want to carry on playing.

Not only would i have written down your name and kept to any promises i made but it would have made my gaming session worth the time invested.

The issue i had was i was trying to make my stream worth watching and without some of these types of basic interactions from a game of this type it quickly becomes boring and empty. Viewing figured across the board for Elite on twitch kinda show this unfortunately.
 
I don't mind being pirated. When I get interdicted by a human I immediately cut my engines and text "DON'T SHOOT". I've had interesting results. One of these days I need to dig out the videos and post them up on YouTube.
 
It'd be great if voice comms were automatically on (an opt-in option in config maybe) between whoever is in same "instance". That goes without notion, that the comms should be robust enough to actually work 100% the time.

Unless you love a Scottish accent you really don't want your comms channel peppered with whiskey tinged profanity when a pirate NPC Imperial Clipper rams me at a Nav Beacon lol
 
My problem tends to be that once combat seems inevitable, typing is a waste of time and distracts too much. If there were an easy way to have speech to text integrated to the comm system, it would go a long way to helping. Not everyone wants to voice chat and not everyone can easily multitask flying and typing
 
I understand what the OP is saying but then I stopped to think. If this WERE a real situation and you were a real trader in space suddenly being interdicted by a real pirate and knowing that you only had a few seconds to make decision that may get you killed or not. Then being a real trader and very scared at the moment then you would likely do one of the things the OP is complaining about. So, you see, the actions ARE the RP the OP is looking for.
 
Unless you love a Scottish accent you really don't want your comms channel peppered with whiskey tinged profanity when a pirate NPC Imperial Clipper rams me at a Nav Beacon lol

Hey, that'd actually make the immersion more believable - rum-drunk pirate going "YARR!" in the comms. What's not to like? Oh wait what... ah, the drunk drivers getting nailed by NPCs? Even funnier :D
 
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System wide chat, I think it would go a long way towards improving the interactions between players, and I remember it was something FD were looking into, in one of the twitch casts they did, haven't heard anymore about it though.
 
My controls (saitek flight YOKE, not joystick) place my keyboard up and out of the way unless I lean forward and remove hands from controls- As was stated above, there just isn't time to be ready to fight/flight and also type.

But regarding Pirating in general: I never give anything, and will do anything to cause as much damage and money lost on the pirates' end as possible. You want to be a Pirate? Then you get treated like a pirate. I always find it humorous when i read posts from pirates complaining that the people they interdict aren't nice enough to stop and surrender their cargo.

When I am interdicted I am usually greeted with Weapons Fire immediately. If not I almost always get some rude message...as though THAT will send me shivering in my boots and handing over the loot.

Possibly if I was asked, I might think about it, or at least started talking. After all, the pirate is causing me to possibly lose a lot of rares and money, as well as the time it took to collect all of it and travel far to sell it.

I have no problem if you want to be a pirate; just remember that you've chosen a profession historically occupied by the lowest, of the low criminal elements, and should be treated as such in game....it's all about realism, right?
 
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I understand what the OP is saying but then I stopped to think. If this WERE a real situation and you were a real trader in space suddenly being interdicted by a real pirate and knowing that you only had a few seconds to make decision that may get you killed or not. Then being a real trader and very scared at the moment then you would likely do one of the things the OP is complaining about. So, you see, the actions ARE the RP the OP is looking for.

Not when i am explicitly stating i'm not going to damage their ship if they stop and respond, In a real situation i assume most people would prefer to stop and barter for their life rather than die for nothing :)
 
Hi SubSynk, I got your bounty yesterday. Had no idea you were doing this as a streamed event.

All I can say is people like you really add a lot to this game. It is strange how piracy turns out to be the most selfless profession in Elite. Not surprising that you can't find a pirate to hunt on most days.
Tried pirating in Yembo myself for some time and got similar (maybe a bit better) results. Maybe I'll also go all out at some point just for the hell of it.
Hope you'll forgive us bounty hunters for not typing during a fight, for my part I was too excited/concerned with not dying to be distracted by chat :) This isn't the kind of opportunity that comes often.

Good luck in your future endeavours. I don't know that your problems can be solved without a private group - everyone plays the game for different reasons. I would totally join if there was a group that would be committed to this sort of (not necessarily peaceful) interaction :)
 
My controls (saitek flight YOKE, not joystick) place my keyboard up and out of the way unless I lean forward and remove hands from controls- As was stated above, there just isn't time to be ready to fight/flight and also type.

But regarding Pirating in general: I never give anything, and will do anything to cause as much damage and money lost on the pirates' end as possible. You want to be a Pirate? Then you get treated like a pirate. I always find it humorous when i read posts from pirates complaining that the people they interdict aren't nice enough to stop and surrender their cargo.

When I am interdicted I am usually greeted with Weapons Fire immediately. If not I almost always get some rude message...as though THAT will send me shivering in my boots and handing over the loot.

Possibly if I was asked, I might think about it, or at least started talking. After all, the pirate is causing me to possibly lose a lot of rares and money, as well as the time it took to collect all of it and travel far to sell it.

I have no problem if you want to be a pirate; just remember that you've chosen a profession historically occupied by the lowest, of the low criminal elements, and should be treated as such in game....it's all about realism, right?

Yea maybe try watching any of my highlights with player interaction and you'll realise that not all players feel as you do. Piracy is just as valid a profession in Elite as any other and the lowest of all profits by far.

Without piracy the game would be missing one side of a triangle that makes up the base core gameplay mechanics and Elite would be a shell of what was originally planned.

Here is a good example of a player that enjoys the immersion that piracy adds to the game. http://www.twitch.tv/time_of_chaos/c/6107293
 
Not when i am explicitly stating i'm not going to damage their ship if they stop and respond, In a real situation i assume most people would prefer to stop and barter for their life rather than die for nothing :)
Where i come from if a pirate caught you and starts a conversation you reply because escaping is impossible AND ship loss is much more expensive.

Here everyone has a hope of FSDing out or if that doesn't work you just take a 5% hit, no biggie.
 
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Hi SubSynk, I got your bounty yesterday. Had no idea you were doing this as a streamed event.

All I can say is people like you really add a lot to this game. It is strange how piracy turns out to be the most selfless profession in Elite. Not surprising that you can't find a pirate to hunt on most days.
Tried pirating in Yembo myself for some time and got similar (maybe a bit better) results. Maybe I'll also go all out at some point just for the hell of it.
Hope you'll forgive us bounty hunters for not typing during a fight, for my part I was too excited/concerned with not dying to be distracted by chat :) This isn't the kind of opportunity that comes often.

Good luck in your future endeavours. I don't know that your problems can be solved without a private group - everyone plays the game for different reasons. I would totally join if there was a group that would be committed to this sort of (not necessarily peaceful) interaction :)


Gratz on getting the bounty!

Glad to hear my arrival in Yembo added some fun/immersion to Elite for you, i really appreciate the feedback.

Good luck to you too and fly safe commander :)
 
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There are those, myself included, that believe the interdiction itself is the aggressive action requiring a response. Live free or die. Give me liberty or give me death.... not just words. :) By interdicting me you are restricting my liberty and therefore automatically an enemy who should not and will not be negotiated with.
 
There are those, myself included, that believe the interdiction itself is the aggressive action requiring a response. Live free or die. Give me liberty or give me death.... not just words. :) By interdicting me you are restricting my liberty and therefore automatically an enemy who should not and will not be negotiated with.

.... unless they're quick enough to scream, "don't shoot! Want to talk!"
 
There's as much an implied pirate code of conduct as there's honour amongst thieves. If the intention is a silent killing spree then it's murder or even an assassination. If there's a demand for booty before a single shot is fired then its piracy. Simplisticly put of course, but if I was met with a demand and I didn't have the firepower to defend myself against the CMDR ship then I'd drop cargo after an interaction. I'd rather escape with my hull intact and cargo still to haul than be destroyed trying to escape.
 
Not sure a suicidal pirate adds any immersion.

Once you have pirated for months with little to no interaction it kinda becomes a bit pointless and leads one to do crazy things, i actually got so bored of having 4 mill on my head and constant NPC interdictions (like every 10 seconds) that i figured pirating isn't a way of getting interaction in this multiplayer environment even though its all pvp.
 
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