Please teach this long term player how to pirate

Ashnak

Ashnak
As a minimum, you'll need hatchbreakers and collector limpets. I'd suggest you drop the scoop and restrict yourself to local actions, that way you can equip class 3 hatchbreaker - not just for the number of limpets, but the larger classes give you more range and faster hacking.
Collectors as many as feasible - I tend to use the collectors in targeted mode, i.e. one collector per item collected, as they're faster that way.
Shields and weapons - no idea. As you saw, I run shieldless and low signature - but that was just my idea, I'm not an experienced pirate. Weapons on a Cobra might be a waste of mass if you want to tackle T-9s.
 

Sensei Jacksama

Sensei Jacksama
I use an alliance challenger for dedicated piracy. It has enough speed to outrun the targets and a class 6 cargo rack is big enough for most targets. It also has enough hard points to effectively deal with any escorts the target might have.

To start off I have two engineered cytoscramblers. They have minimal hull damage but hight shield damage. What I do after picking my target is open fire with my normal beam laser until the last shield ring is about to drop. Then I switch over to the cytos and strip off the shields without damaging the hull.

Next I target the drives with a high capacity packhound missile and unload the entire clip before the target jumps away. When they are disabled target any point defences it has and take all of them out with the packhounds.

Next fly next to the target to get in sync with it's trajectory so you are flying in exactly the same direction. Wait for it's shields to recharge and come back up. Next fly just up ahead of it and turn off flight assist. Unlock the ship and then relock it again so your weapons will target it's center of mass. Flip around 180 and maneuver your ship to where your coasting directly in it's trajectory.

Now use a class 1 cannon with force shell equipped to slow it down by hitting it directly at it's center of mass. You can't get it to stop completely but if you can drop it's speed down to at least 20-30 then you can follow behind and collect dropped cargo without stopping.

Here is my build if you want to see.

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
s.orbis.zone s.orbis.zone
 

VR andysonofbob

VR andysonofbob
Again!

I really appreciate this thread.

Some people are saying you might not even need weapons?
Is this true for those "liberate hostages/diplomatic pouches/whatever" missions? You can do these weaponless?
How? Won't the target run away? Pressumably you do this near anarchy stations?

So something like this one? (I have swapped the build @goemon suggestion.)

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
s.orbis.zone s.orbis.zone

I am happy to mess about for a bit to get more money, there is no rush. (And this is an alt account!) I am just curious about trying new gameplay. :)

Thanks again! And I appreciate all your patience!
xxx
 

Ashnak

Ashnak
Just did a couple of hostage liberation missions, the only thing that fired were my point defenses 😁

Drop in the mission SS, locate the victim, shoot a hatchbreaker. Yes, the victim won't stop for you - but they don't run (wake out) either. Victim drops cargo, collect, if necessary repeat.
Both were "Threat 3" - the T-9 didn't even try to pick up its litter, the DBX tried to collect its containers, turned into a race who got them first. I had to synthesize another batch of limpets.

Mission targets have not triggered any security response so far or resulted in a fine/bounty - but I haven't had any illegal retrieval (i.e. "steal") missions, either.
 

Drelthar

Drelthar
[VR] andysonofbob said:
Some people are saying you might not even need weapons?
Is this true for those "liberate hostages/diplomatic pouches/whatever" missions? You can do these weaponless?
How? Won't the target run away? Pressumably you do this near anarchy stations?
Click to expand...

What people mean is, you can exploit the AI of the game by firing a hatch breaker, which will make them turn hostile, this will sometimes make them go into attack mode, and shoot at you - this is where your massively overpowered shield comes in, then you sit there and keep firing hatch breakers and collectors while they circle you tickling your over engineered shields and dropping their cargo which your collectors pick up.

Sometimes they just carry on flying instead of attacking you.

This is boring. I do not call this piracy.
 

goemon

goemon
Drelthar said:
What people mean is, you can exploit the AI of the game by firing a hatch breaker, which will make them turn hostile, this will sometimes make them go into attack mode, and shoot at you - this is where your massively overpowered shield comes in, then you sit there and keep firing hatch breakers and collectors while they circle you tickling your over engineered shields and dropping their cargo which your collectors pick up.

Sometimes they just carry on flying instead of attacking you.

This is boring. I do not call this piracy.
Click to expand...
you can do it with a bit more rolepplaying by silent running and staying out of auto-resolve distance.

boring with liberate goods missions, very interesting for me when pirating a military convoy (as you have to fly in the middle of the convoy while keeping distance to all ships and overpowering PD by good positioning from hatchbreakerlimpet to targets cargo hatch) - but iwouldn't call it piracy, irt's thieving.
 

LifesAJourney

LifesAJourney
I tried Frog but didn't have Manifest Scanner equipped at a time. In 4-5 hours I got two AspXes with 20-ish LTDs onboard each and only one Type-9 with mining stuff which escaped (no Pack Hounds and not enough skills to quickly disable T9's engines using rail guns), so no idea what she had in her cargo.

I use bump method to stop the vessels, it's quite fun, too. :)
 
Last edited:

CaptainPugwash

CaptainPugwash
CMDR QUANTIS TRAP said:
Now that LTD prices are gimped and demand crashes every time you sell them, I don't know why Frontier doesn't bring back the LTD T9s!
Click to expand...
They do exist still, I bagged one at FROG a couple of weeks ago.
No where near what it was before, I agree. I find you can get them in the first few days after the system has gone into boom, but I suspect that some of us pirates like to kill our NPC prey for the mats, as after a few days the system’s economic sliders degrade, maybe because it goes into pirate attack.
 

whalefish

W
NPC piracy is actually really fun (if you can master the bump stop, just takes some practice), and a fun way to make some dough if you're lucky. And contrary to a couple whiners on the thread, there are still T9's with LTDs, I've found a few over the course of a week of pretty casual gaming. Search the forums for LTD piracy and you'll find some good tips on finding the right systems. T9's aren't the only good hauls though, I've found Krait Mk2's with around 100 LTDs, similar with a Keelback. I focused on Anarchy, Low, and Med Security systems. Med security can be a bit tricky to evade the cops, but also where I've found the best hauls. I found that I had to disable my targets drives while they are moving fairly fast, then follow them closely for about a minute or so until the cops jump in, hit silent running until they fall off my scanners, then finish the job. It takes a while to unload 100 diamonds. I fly a Krait II, a fun ship to pirate in. Have fun!
 

VR andysonofbob

VR andysonofbob
Hello again!

I think I am getting my head around it :)

Would it be possible to check the following and fill in the one blank I have please? And take a looksie at my Cobra.
BTW - I don't have access to Pack Hounds and doubt I will be able to for a while (is it at least 4 weeks?) and CBA to unlock engineers UNLESS there is a lvl1 engineer who is really worth the effort.
  1. Accept a "liberate hostages/diplomatic pouches/whatever" mission.
  2. Find target
  3. Interdict
  4. Thermals for dropping shields
  5. Use my [BLANK - can't be packhounds] to take out the targetted point defences, then engines, and then the target's collector limpet controller
  6. Somehow steady the drifting ship
  7. Use Cannons for hatches
  8. Scoop the loot [EDIT - I am planning to manually scoop the loot]
  9. Take to Black market
Questions:
What is the best, non-PH weapon to take out engines or point defence?
Do I need the hatchbreaker limpits - if so what is the point of the cannon? Is it for targets that are spinning too much?

Something like this?
I know! I know! What do you want the Class 1 fuel scoop and the SRV for?? I just do.

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
s.orbis.zone s.orbis.zone

I have put a C1 and C2 beam on the left side and a C2 cannon on the right side. Not sure what to put on the right side's small slot?

Thanks again!
xoxoxox
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom