Hi commanders and fellow pirates,
I just wanted to share my recent experience at PowerPlay piracy.
So first of all, you may consider doing this if:
- You want to undermine another Power matching your alignment (e.g.: Archon can pirate undermine Sirius, Aisling can pirate undermine Patreus). 5 merits per ton.
- You want to help your Power delivering fortification packages (eg.: Pirate the Kumo Crew Transport vessels to collect marked slaves and deliver them yourself to Harma). 1 merit per ton, like you get via regular fortification task.
Some numbers (I may update / extend the list later). Below is the max amount of PowerPlay cargo I could observe, per ship type. The amount varies and you may find less or more:
- T9: 50 tons (250 merits)
- T7: 28 tons (140 merits)
- Clipper: 16 tons (80 merits)
- Asp: 14 tons (70 merits)
- Orca: 10 tons (50 merits)
- Cobra: 7 tons (35 merits)
- Hauler: 4 tons (20 merits)
(merits calculated for piracy undermining)
I got on average above 900 merits in less than 1h30m. It can be much more if more T9s spawn.
Here is how I proceed:
- I use a Clipper, which has more than enough firepower, large cargo capacity, very agile if you know how to fly it and can get the hell out from almost anything (because with a class 4 shield and no shield cell bank, you are not looking for a good fight, right?)
- Once you have found and interdicted your prey (I would focus on T7 and T9s whenever possible), target the powerplant and get close (1km - 500m).
- Open fire only when your are facing the top of your prey or its belly. You will wreck the powerplant in no time. Mind not to destroy your prey in the process.
- Once the powerplant is at 0%, the prey will come to a stop. Fire a hatch breaker limpet.
- In the meantime, get your ship slightly below your prey, and orient your cargo hatch the same direction as the one from your prey, and deploy your cargo scoop.
- Once your prey drops cargo, launch another hatch breaker...repeat... After a few seconds the first limpet has attached, fire another one so that it will attach right next after the previous one.
- Fire your collectors in area mode (you may keep the prey targeted, but do not target any canister).
- Your collectors will get the canisters to you in no time since you are very close to them, and keep using hatch breakers until your prey is depleted.
- Then, retract cargo scoop, hardpoints and get the hell out before the security shows up (it did not happen to me once in a Medium security system).
Here is a video illustrating the method, with step by step explanations:
[video=youtube_share;5w_nuujelPg]https://youtu.be/5w_nuujelPg[/video]
Bottom line:
- Piracy undermining is less efficient than regular undermining if you do the latter in a wing since each wingmate gets the merits (e.g.: 90 merits each for a wing of 3 destroyed, total 360 merits collected if you are in a wing of 4 wingmates.
- For Piracy fortification, don't forget to go collect regularly your allotment (25/50 tons ever 30 minutes at rank 4/5).
- The PowerPlay canisters collected that way are stolen. Mind to avoid (or not) the scan when you go deliver them at the station.
- But more than anything else: IT IS FUN!
EDIT: it seems that the security response scales either with your bounty (which is not so high since you don't destroy ships) or the amount of infractions...which is pretty cool actually. While I could initially collect all 50 tons from T9s, I get now interrupted by Viper/Eagles after collecting 30...then Anacondas show up while I collect the last ones.
I just wanted to share my recent experience at PowerPlay piracy.
So first of all, you may consider doing this if:
- You want to undermine another Power matching your alignment (e.g.: Archon can pirate undermine Sirius, Aisling can pirate undermine Patreus). 5 merits per ton.
- You want to help your Power delivering fortification packages (eg.: Pirate the Kumo Crew Transport vessels to collect marked slaves and deliver them yourself to Harma). 1 merit per ton, like you get via regular fortification task.
Some numbers (I may update / extend the list later). Below is the max amount of PowerPlay cargo I could observe, per ship type. The amount varies and you may find less or more:
- T9: 50 tons (250 merits)
- T7: 28 tons (140 merits)
- Clipper: 16 tons (80 merits)
- Asp: 14 tons (70 merits)
- Orca: 10 tons (50 merits)
- Cobra: 7 tons (35 merits)
- Hauler: 4 tons (20 merits)
(merits calculated for piracy undermining)
I got on average above 900 merits in less than 1h30m. It can be much more if more T9s spawn.
Here is how I proceed:
- I use a Clipper, which has more than enough firepower, large cargo capacity, very agile if you know how to fly it and can get the hell out from almost anything (because with a class 4 shield and no shield cell bank, you are not looking for a good fight, right?)
- Once you have found and interdicted your prey (I would focus on T7 and T9s whenever possible), target the powerplant and get close (1km - 500m).
- Open fire only when your are facing the top of your prey or its belly. You will wreck the powerplant in no time. Mind not to destroy your prey in the process.
- Once the powerplant is at 0%, the prey will come to a stop. Fire a hatch breaker limpet.
- In the meantime, get your ship slightly below your prey, and orient your cargo hatch the same direction as the one from your prey, and deploy your cargo scoop.
- Once your prey drops cargo, launch another hatch breaker...repeat... After a few seconds the first limpet has attached, fire another one so that it will attach right next after the previous one.
- Fire your collectors in area mode (you may keep the prey targeted, but do not target any canister).
- Your collectors will get the canisters to you in no time since you are very close to them, and keep using hatch breakers until your prey is depleted.
- Then, retract cargo scoop, hardpoints and get the hell out before the security shows up (it did not happen to me once in a Medium security system).
Here is a video illustrating the method, with step by step explanations:
[video=youtube_share;5w_nuujelPg]https://youtu.be/5w_nuujelPg[/video]
Bottom line:
- Piracy undermining is less efficient than regular undermining if you do the latter in a wing since each wingmate gets the merits (e.g.: 90 merits each for a wing of 3 destroyed, total 360 merits collected if you are in a wing of 4 wingmates.
- For Piracy fortification, don't forget to go collect regularly your allotment (25/50 tons ever 30 minutes at rank 4/5).
- The PowerPlay canisters collected that way are stolen. Mind to avoid (or not) the scan when you go deliver them at the station.
- But more than anything else: IT IS FUN!
EDIT: it seems that the security response scales either with your bounty (which is not so high since you don't destroy ships) or the amount of infractions...which is pretty cool actually. While I could initially collect all 50 tons from T9s, I get now interrupted by Viper/Eagles after collecting 30...then Anacondas show up while I collect the last ones.
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