Please teach this long term player how to pirate

VR andysonofbob

VR andysonofbob
Hi all.

I have never been able to bring myself to do it! Even to AIs. But want to give it a go.
Briefly:
  • I am not into min:maxing
  • I prefer ships with character.
  • Happy to call it a day after 2 or 3 successful... acquisitions?
  • Defo don't want to destroy target, even AI.
  • Don't mind running away if I bite more than I can chew

So I would really appreciate some tips to get me started e.g.:
  1. Most thematic ship?
  2. How should I equip said ship?
  3. What systems to aim for?
  4. Basic strategies?
  5. Things to watch out for, be wary of?
  6. Do I need to wear a funny hat?
Any advice, gratefully received!
 

GroG79

G
Pirating players: Most dont use hatchbreakers. You do not need special weapons. You need to know where and how to find players. Entice them to a fight. If they think you will gank them they will for sure run or log. A lot will accept the roleplay if it is obvious.

Pirating NPCs: You need lots of limpets or hatchbreaking will take a long time. Use big A-rated hatchbreakers. You need to learn to stop a drifting ship. I find this the most challenging part. A weapon with kinetic energy helps to stop the target. Get good at destroying drives. Packhouds are preferred as point defence can not take all packhouds down. NPC with point defence are much harder as you will need to destroy the PD or they will keep killing your limpets. Repair limpets are optional but very handy if you damage the player too much. You need a interdictor and a wave scanner is needed for higher rated targets as they are likely to jump away at least once. You also need lots of cargo space as it would be a shame to have to leave ltd behind. I also suggest a point defence as they get rid of mines. Tho most shields can take the hits.

Forget doing this for the money. The T9s with LTD are gone. It can take a loooong time to find a juicy target.

My current build: https://s.orbis.zone/a1qr

Possible cargo today; I have seen a couple of t7 with ltd but very very rare:
1604432391062.png


Old days

1604432866659.png


1604432902970.png


Trying to get a high price

1604433002179.png



Let me know if you have more questions. I did not cover all your questions
 
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Drelthar

Drelthar
Cobra Mk3 is a good small pirate ship.
Krait Mk2 is an amazing medium pirate ship.
Large ships aren't real pirates.

Manifest scanner or your not a real pirate.

Something that's good at crushing shields.

Missile (preferably pack hounds) for taking out the drives.

Once the thrusters are busted, hatch break the thing and scoop what you can.

Aside from choosing targets you can actually get the shields down from - I have no advice for targets. I ojhnly really pirate players, to do so I find the places where mining stuff is selling high and wait (or use a wake scanner to find out peoples routes and wait in anarchy systems between the mining location and selling location)
 

goemon

goemon
recommend a clipper, but have done most pve piracy in either a python or AspE. seekers for the drives and point defense. actually a fully seeker ship can work well against single targets (engineer half of the missiles for shielddamage)

but as i have learned to steal without a shot fired, i stopped pirating and went thief.

you don't need a hat, but at least a cap.
 

Dillon Fallon

Dillon Fallon
If you're looking for PvE piracy- try boom state industrial systems with high populations, no ringed gas giants and no other economies. Look for ships with mining equipment (just don't get confused with mine launchers after a few glasses of rum).

Industrial systems are the things that NPCs particularly like importing LTDs into.

Boom state seems to increase the frequency of mining ships, but that's still a matter for debate AFAIK. High population systems are the same, but this seems more reliable.

Ringed gas giants in the system occasionally spawn mining NPCs with a hold full of limpets.

Other economies are basically a contaminant which spawns mining ships with rutile and galite.
 

Michael Whatever

M
Well as a first toe in to the pirate infested water you could try the following:

Manifest scanner, hatch-breaker and collection limpets. Loiter in an anarchy system and target any ships with your hatch-breakers (important NOT the controlling faction) arriving at the largest starport. Collect the goodies.

No shots need be fired. No fines or bounties.
You can actually rob them inside the starport (so long as you have docking permission)! ---- err or so I hear ;)

Of course, from this point onwards it's a downwards spiral into the depravity of full bloodied piracy.

Funny hats optional, but an inflatable parrot adds considerably to the immersion. Have fun.
 

Thepirateorc

Thepirateorc
Drelthar said:
Cobra Mk3 is a good small pirate ship.
Krait Mk2 is an amazing medium pirate ship.
Large ships aren't real pirates.

Manifest scanner or your not a real pirate.

Something that's good at crushing shields.

Missile (preferably pack hounds) for taking out the drives.

Once the thrusters are busted, hatch break the thing and scoop what you can.

Aside from choosing targets you can actually get the shields down from - I have no advice for targets. I ojhnly really pirate players, to do so I find the places where mining stuff is selling high and wait (or use a wake scanner to find out peoples routes and wait in anarchy systems between the mining location and selling location)
Click to expand...
My cutter very good for pirating players, it has its advantages

Mass lock them
Its fast
Lots of room for your piracy gear
Tanky
Can put on a variety of weapons

Disadvantages

Turning is terrible
Drifts
 

CaptainPugwash

CaptainPugwash
[VR] andysonofbob said:
Hi all.

I have never been able to bring myself to do it! Even to AIs. But want to give it a go.
Briefly:
  • I am not into min:maxing
  • I prefer ships with character.
  • Happy to call it a day after 2 or 3 successful... acquisitions?
  • Defo don't want to destroy target, even AI.
  • Don't mind running away if I bite more than I can chew

So I would really appreciate some tips to get me started e.g.:
  1. Most thematic ship?
  2. How should I equip said ship?
  3. What systems to aim for?
  4. Basic strategies?
  5. Things to watch out for, be wary of?
  6. Do I need to wear a funny hat?
Any advice, gratefully received!
Click to expand...
There is still plenty of fun to be had in piracy, NPC or otherwise. T7s and T9s can still be found, although LTDs can't be sold at over 1 million/t like last year.
By all means come and pirate with us and compare notes. You don't need a G5 engineered ship and most of the general purpose ones can do NPC piracy, although some are better than others. I like the Python as it can fit enough cargo racks to more or less empty a T9 (which you can still find), but there are several other good alternatives among the medium ships. Once you get used to the mechanic you can start pirating in high sec systems where you also need to evade the cops - this is also eminently possible.
 

LifesAJourney

LifesAJourney
I've tried the life of an NPC pirate several weeks ago. Prepared a nice Phantom with all bells and whistles onboard (except for Pack Hounds since I'm still in the process of unlocking them). The most difficult part is finding a good prey. I tried several recommended locations but flying circles for 15-20 minutes just to find a single AspX with several LTDs is not really funny. Maybe I do smth wrong, dunno.

Anyway, once I get Pack Hounds, I'll give it another shot. I'd love to go pirating instead of mining which I find boring as hell. Maybe I'll eventually figure out where and how to hunt to see interesting ships more often. :)
 
Last edited:

GroG79

G
[VR] CaptainPugwash said:
There is still plenty of fun to be had in piracy, NPC or otherwise. T7s and T9s can still be found, although LTDs can't be sold at over 1 million/t like last year.
By all means come and pirate with us and compare notes. You don't need a G5 engineered ship and most of the general purpose ones can do NPC piracy, although some are better than others. I like the Python as it can fit enough cargo racks to more or less empty a T9 (which you can still find), but there are several other good alternatives among the medium ships. Once you get used to the mechanic you can start pirating in high sec systems where you also need to evade the cops - this is also eminently possible.
Click to expand...

"which you can still find"

Please enlighten me! I have not found T9s with LTD since a looong time
 

Ashnak

Ashnak
For starters, have you tried the "liberate hostages/diplomatic pouches/whatever" missions?

You get to pirate an NPC ship, and those are conveniently presented in a mission specific SS. My ship for that is a DBX, Cold Ethyl. Flies at 15% heat with weapons deployed. The usual mission target T-7 doesn't even attempt to shoot at me. I had a DBX recently that actually shot back (and successfully recovered two hostages, so I had to deploy a second hatchbreaker). The single turreted beam they could aim (more or less) at me was no big worry, though.
I'm thinking about replacing the cannon with a missile (packhounds?) launcher - I haven't actually needed any of the guns yet (hatchbreakers work through shields), but these may be more useful to silence my target's guns.
 

VR andysonofbob

VR andysonofbob
Ashnak said:
For starters, have you tried the "liberate hostages/diplomatic pouches/whatever" missions?

You get to pirate an NPC ship, and those are conveniently presented in a mission specific SS. My ship for that is a DBX, Cold Ethyl. Flies at 15% heat with weapons deployed. The usual mission target T-7 doesn't even attempt to shoot at me. I had a DBX recently that actually shot back (and successfully recovered two hostages, so I had to deploy a second hatchbreaker). The single turreted beam they could aim (more or less) at me was no big worry, though.
I'm thinking about replacing the cannon with a missile (packhounds?) launcher - I haven't actually needed any of the guns yet (hatchbreakers work through shields), but these may be more useful to silence my target's guns.
Click to expand...
Brilliant! I hadn't even thought of these missions.

Here is my ship atm, it's all I could afford on this account. Would it be possible to kit it out with what I need to get by please?

Coriolis EDCD Edition

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

Thanks!
 

goemon

goemon
[VR] andysonofbob said:
Brilliant! I hadn't even thought of these missions.

Here is my ship atm, it's all I could afford on this account. Would it be possible to kit it out with what I need to get by please?

Coriolis EDCD Edition

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

Thanks!
Click to expand...
i don't think you can outfit a cobra for piracy with that money ...

but maybe an adder?

Coriolis EDCD Edition

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

otherwise you could start with a cobra stealing from ships leaving anarchy stations as detailed sowmewhere in this thread.

Coriolis EDCD Edition

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

a single good find should allow you to outfit a more serious piracy cobra.
 
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